General Studies
DAPERMI for Disaster Types — Natural disasters: Drought, Avalanche, Pandemic, Earthquake, Riverflood, Meteor, Inundation. Helps recall major disaster categories for Disaster Management questions.
Budget Components REDC — Union/State Budget has four key parts: Revenue receipts, Expenditure (revenue + capital), Deficit indicators, Capital receipts. Quick checklist for budget analysis questions.
Five-Year Plan Memory: 1-2-3-4-5 — 1st Plan (1951) = Agriculture, 2nd = Industry, 3rd = Self-reliance, 4th = Stability, 5th = Poverty removal. Each number loosely maps to priority shift in Indian planning.
Mitigation vs Response Clock Rule — Before 12 o'clock = Mitigation (early warning, building codes, drills); After 12 = Response (rescue, relief, rehabilitation). Time-based split for disaster management phases.
Mental Ability and Reasoning
BODMAS Trap Check — Always check if Division comes before Multiplication in left-to-right scan; many aspirants auto-apply M before D and lose marks. Write D-M-A-S on rough paper first.
Syllogism Venn Circles — Draw two overlapping circles for "Some A are B"; completely contained circle for "All A are B"; separate circles for "No A are B." Visual method prevents conclusion errors.
Data Sufficiency: AD-BCE Rule — If Statement I alone works = A; Statement II alone = D; Both together needed = C; Either alone = B; Neither sufficient = E. Memorize this AD-BCE order to match answer codes.
Coding Pattern: +13 Caesar — For alphabet-shift codes, +13 (half-alphabet) is most common. A↔N, B↔O... Quick mental check: if code looks random, try ±13 first before complex patterns.
Series Missing Term: Odd-Even Split — When number series seems irregular, separate odd-position and even-position terms. Often two independent simple progressions (like +2 and ×2) running parallel.
Clock Angle Formula — Angle between hands = |30H − 5.5M| degrees, where H = hour, M = minutes. For "11:10", |30×11 − 5.5×10| = 275° (or 85° acute).
Quantitative Aptitude
Divisibility by 11 Trick — Alternate digit sum difference: 7359 → (7+5)−(3+9)=0, divisible by 11. For quick factorization and HCF/LCM problems in Number Systems.
SI-CI Difference Shortcut — For 2 years: CI−SI = P(r/100)². For 3 years: CI−SI = P(r/100)²(3 + r/100). Saves 20-30 seconds per compound interest question.