General Knowledge & Reasoning
ICOSNAP for Directive Principles — Indian Constitution's DPSP: I-Industrial welfare, C-Cottage industries, O-Organization of village panchayats, S-Separation of judiciary, N-Nutrition & living standards, A-Agricultural & animal husbandry, P-Protection of monuments.
VIBGYOR for Rainbow — Visible spectrum order: Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red (increasing wavelength). Useful for light-related physics questions in Science section.
HOMES for Great Lakes — North American Great Lakes mnemonic (often appears in world geography): Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior.
Quit India: 8-8-42 — "August 8, 1942" = 8+8+42 = 58. Remember as "Quit India @58" or just "Double-8 in '42" for this pivotal freedom struggle date.
Fundamental Rights: 6 Categories — Remember FREEPS: Freedom (speech/expression), Right to equality, Exploitation prohibition, Educational/cultural rights, Property (removed, now legal right), Six total groups (now 6 in Part III).
Intellectual & Mental Ability
Dice Opposite Faces Sum to 7 — Standard dice: opposite faces always add to 7 (1-6, 2-5, 3-4). Quickly identify hidden faces in cube problems.
Mirror Image: Vertical Flip Rule — Letters symmetrical on vertical axis (A, H, I, M, O, T, U, V, W, X, Y) look same in mirror; others reverse horizontally, not vertically.
Ranking: Total = Sum + 1 — If A is 7th from top and 15th from bottom, total = 7+15–1 = 21 persons. Always subtract 1 (person counted twice).
Syllogism: Venn Validity — Draw overlapping circles for each statement. If conclusion circle-relationship matches any possible Venn arrangement, it's valid; test all possibilities systematically.
Clock Angle: 11M/2 — Angle between clock hands = |11M/2 – 30H| where M=minutes, H=hours. At 3:15, angle = |11×15/2 – 30×3| = 7.5°.
Science & Simple Arithmetic
Divisibility by 11: Odd-Even Difference — Alternate digit sum difference divisible by 11. For 12342: (1+3+2)–(2+4) = 6–6 = 0, divisible. Quick check for large numbers.
Percentage-Fraction Shortcuts — 12.5%=1/8, 16.66%=1/6, 20%=1/5, 25%=1/4, 33.33%=1/3, 50%=1/2. Convert instantly instead of calculating; saves 10-15 seconds per question.
Speed-Distance-Time Triangle — Draw triangle: D at top, S and T at bottom. Cover what you need: D=S×T, S=D/T, T=D/S. Works for all variants.
Profit %: Always on CP — Profit% = (Profit/CP)×100, Loss% = (Loss/CP)×100. Never use SP as base unless explicitly asked; common trap in MP Police exams.
LCM×HCF = Product Rule — For two numbers: LCM(a,b) × HCF(a,b) = a × b. If given three values, find the fourth instantly.