HPSSSB · Tricks & mnemonics

HPSSSB tricks & mnemonics — save minutes on exam day

Subject-wise short tricks and memory hacks for HP Subordinate Services Selection Board (HPSSSB). Each one is meant to be used in the exam hall — read it, then lock it in with a quick practice question.

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General Knowledge (National & International)

VIBGYOR for Rainbow — Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red—remember spectrum order; also helps recall visible light wavelengths from shortest (380nm) to longest (750nm) for science questions.

UN Organs: GASTEC — General Assembly, Administrative Tribunal, Secretariat, Trusteeship Council, Economic & Social Council, Court (ICJ)—six principal organs of United Nations quick recall.

Mahatma Gandhi's 3 Monkeys — See no evil (cover eyes), Hear no evil (cover ears), Speak no evil (cover mouth)—represents Gandhian principle of non-participation in evil deeds.

Indian Nobel Laureates: TRAK-RS — Tagore (Literature-1913), Raman (Physics-1930), Amartya Sen (Economics-1998), Kailash Satyarthi (Peace-2014), Ramakrishnan (Chemistry-2009), Subramaniam Chandrasekhar (Physics-1983).

Himachal Pradesh General Knowledge

HP Border States: PUJH — Punjab, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir (now UT), Haryana—four states touching HP boundaries (plus Tibet internationally).

HP Formation: 5 States Before Statehood — 1948 (Chief Commissioner's Province), 1950 (Part C State), 1956 (Union Territory), 1966 (after Punjab reorganization got current area), 1971 (became 18th state on January 25).

Major HP Rivers: BRSC — Beas, Ravi, Sutlej, Chenab—four major rivers flowing through Himachal Pradesh, all tributaries of Indus system.

HP Districts by Altitude Memory — Lahaul-Spiti (highest, coldest), Kinnaur, Shimla, Kullu, Mandi, Kangra (largest area & population), Hamirpur, Bilaspur, Solan, Sirmaur, Una, Chamba—12 districts total.

Hindi and English Language

FANBOYS Conjunctions — For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So—coordinating conjunctions connecting independent clauses in English grammar; memorize for error spotting.

Sandhi Types: SVVY — Swar Sandhi (vowel), Vyanjan Sandhi (consonant), Visarga Sandhi (visarga :), three main types in Hindi sandhi rules.

Active-Passive Voice Trick — Subject-Verb swap: "Ram eats rice" becomes "Rice is eaten by Ram"—object becomes subject, add 'by' before original subject, verb takes helping verb form.

Common Muhavare Pattern — "Aankhon mein dhool jhonkna" (deceive), "Haath dhona" (wash hands off)—body-part idioms often mean metaphorical actions, not literal.

Reasoning and Numerical Ability

Divisibility by 11 — Alternating digit sum: if (sum of odd-position digits) minus (sum of even-position digits) equals 0 or multiple of 11, number is divisible by 11. Example: 121→(1+1)−2=0.

Blood Relations Quick Code — Mother's/Father's side: maternal/paternal; siblings' children: niece/nephew; your children to siblings: niece/nephew; parents' siblings: aunt/uncle; diagonal generation skips add "grand" or "great".

Clock Angle Formula — |30H − 6M + M/2| gives angle between hour and minute hands at H hours M minutes; use for quick calculation instead of drawing.

Direction Sense: NESW Clockwise — North→East→South→West rotates clockwise (90° each); Left turn = anticlockwise, Right turn = clockwise; starting point matters.

Profit % Quick Formula — If Cost Price = CP, Selling Price = SP, then Profit% = [(SP−CP)/CP]×100; if two successive discounts d1%, d2%, net = d1+d2−(d1×d2/100).

Time-Distance: Relative Speed — Same direction: subtract speeds; Opposite direction: add speeds; Meeting problems use combined speed; overtaking uses speed difference.

Work Formula: M₁D₁H₁/W₁ = M₂D₂H₂/W₂ — Men, Days, Hours per day, Work done—keep units consistent; if men double, days halve for same work (inverse proportion).

Average Addition/Removal — When new number added, average change = (new number − old average)/(new count); when one number increases by x, average increases by x/n where n=total numbers.

Compound Interest Shortcut — For 2 years: CI−SI = (P×R²)/10000; for 3 years at 10%: amount becomes 1.331P; successive percentage changes: a+b+(ab/100).

Computer Knowledge

OSI Model: Please Do Not Throw Sausage Pizza Away — Physical, Data Link, Network, Transport, Session, Presentation, Application—seven layers bottom to top for networking basics.

Primary Memory Types: RAM-ROM — RAM (Random Access Memory) volatile, loses data on power-off; ROM (Read Only Memory) non-volatile, retains data; RAM faster than ROM.

MS Office Suite: WEPA — Word (documents), Excel (spreadsheets), PowerPoint (presentations), Access (database)—four main Microsoft Office applications tested frequently.

TCP/IP Port Numbers — HTTP:80, HTTPS:443, FTP:21, SMTP:25, POP3:110, DNS:53—memorize common port numbers for networking questions; HTTP Secure = 443.

Database Keys: PCFU — Primary Key (unique identifier), Candidate Key (potential primary), Foreign Key (references another table), Unique Key (no duplicates allowed)—key types in DBMS.

AI-curated from widely-used exam techniques — always sanity-check a trick on a practice question before relying on it in the hall.

Tricks stick when you USE them

Take a free HPSSSB mock right now — apply these tricks under the clock and see your speed jump. No signup needed to try a 5-question quiz.