General Intelligence and Reasoning
Direction: NESW Clock — Imagine standing at center of clock: North=12, East=3, South=6, West=9. Right turns add hours (+3=90°), left turns subtract. If facing North and turn right, you face East (12→3 o'clock).
Blood Relations: Generation Levels — Assign +1 for parents/uncles/aunts, +2 for grandparents, -1 for children/nephews/nieces, -2 for grandchildren. Add levels to find relation type; spouse relations stay same level (0).
Coding: Alphabet Position — A=1, Z=26. For reverse, use 27-formula: reverse of N-th letter is (27-N)th position. Example: C(3)↔X(24) because 27-3=24. Speeds up letter-shifting codes.
Mirror Image: SVATAMA — Only vertically-symmetrical letters look identical in mirror: A, H, I, M, O, T, U, V, W, X, Y. Asymmetric letters reverse. Water image flips top-bottom; mirror flips left-right.
Dice Opposite Faces — Standard die: 1-6, 2-5, 3-4 are opposite pairs (each pair sums to 7). If three faces visible, the three hidden faces are their opposites. Use sum=21 (total of all faces).
Series: Difference of Differences — For tricky number series, write first differences, then second differences. Pattern often emerges in second/third level: +2, +4, +6, +8 or perfect squares (1, 4, 9, 16).
General Awareness
Appointments: Current Top 5 — President: Droupadi Murmu, PM: Narendra Modi, CJI: rotate every ~2 years (verify latest), RBI Governor: Shaktikanta Das, Election Commissioner: Rajiv Kumar. Update quarterly from current affairs.
Ancient Texts: VeRUSaPu — Four Vedas: Vig, Rig, Sama, Yajur. Order by antiquity: Rigveda oldest. Upanishads (philosophy), Sutras (rituals), Puranas (mythology) come later chronologically.
Mughal Sequence: BABAJASH — Babur, Akbar's father Humayun (skip), Bar-Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb. Six main rulers; remember Akbar's religious tolerance vs Aurangzeb's orthodoxy for MCQs.
Indian Geography: BRAHMAPUTRA states — Brahmaputra touches: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam only (in India). Originates Tibet (Tsangpo), enters India at Arunachal, exits Bangladesh. Longest river flowing through Assam valley.
Constitution Articles: 14-15-16-19-21 — Fundamental Rights cluster: Art. 14 Equality before law, 15 No discrimination, 16 Equal opportunity in employment, 19 Six freedoms (speech, assembly, movement, etc.), 21 Life & personal liberty.
Vitamins: Fat-ADEK, Water-BC — Fat-soluble: A, D, E, K (stored in liver/fat, overdose possible). Water-soluble: B-complex, C (excess excreted, need daily intake). Deficiency diseases: A-night blindness, D-rickets, C-scurvy, B1-beriberi.
Physics: ROYGBIV — Visible light spectrum: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet. Red has longest wavelength/lowest frequency; violet shortest wavelength/highest frequency. Remember for dispersion questions.
Quantitative Aptitude
Divisibility by 11 — Alternating digit sum: (sum of odd-position digits) - (sum of even-position digits) must be 0 or multiple of 11. For 2728: (2+2)-(7+8)=4-15=-11, divisible. Fast mental check.
Percentage-Fraction: Key Conversions — 12.5%=1/8, 16.67%=1/6, 20%=1/5, 25%=1/4, 33.33%=1/3, 50%=1/2, 66.67%=2/3. Memorize these; converting mid-calculation saves 15-20 seconds per question.
Profit/Loss: Cost Price Formula — If SP and profit% known: CP = SP×100/(100+profit%). If SP and loss% known: CP = SP×100/(100-loss%). Mark-price problems: always find CP first, then apply successive discounts.
Time-Speed-Distance: Relative Speed — Same direction: subtract speeds. Opposite direction: add speeds. Train/platform problems: add lengths and divide by speed. Convert km/h to m/s: multiply by 5/18 (or divide by 3.6).
Compound Interest Shortcut — 2 years: A = P(1+R/100)² = P[1 + 2R/100 + R²/10000]. For R=10%, two-year factor = 1.21. For R=5%, factor = 1.1025. Memorize common rates to skip calculation.
Mixture-Alligation: Cross Method — Draw X with mean in center, cheaper/dearer on top arms, differences on bottom arms (cross-subtract). Ratio = (dearer-mean):(mean-cheaper). For two mixtures combining to average value problems.
Geometry: Angle Sum — Triangle=180°, Quadrilateral=360°, Pentagon=540°, Hexagon=720°. Formula: (n-2)×180° where n=sides. Exterior angle sum always 360° for any polygon. Each exterior angle of regular n-gon = 360°/n.
Mensuration: π Approximations — Use π=22/7 for calculation-heavy problems; π≈3.14 for quick estimates. Surface areas: Cylinder=2πr(r+h), Cone=πr(r+l), Sphere=4πr². Volumes: Cylinder=πr²h, Cone=⅓πr²h, Sphere=4/3πr³.
English Language
Active-Passive: BY-OM Rule — Active → Passive: Object becomes subject, add "by + agent," verb becomes "be + past participle." Tense of 'be' matches original tense: "He writes"→"is written," "He wrote"→"was written."
Narration: Reporting Verb Tense — Direct → Indirect: Present→Past, Past→Past Perfect, Will→Would, Can→Could, May→Might. "Today"→"that day," "tomorrow"→"the next day," "yesterday"→"the previous day." First person changes per speaker.
Idioms: Body Parts — "Cost an arm and leg"=expensive, "Eye to eye"=agree, "Heart in mouth"=frightened, "Foot the bill"=pay, "Hand in glove"=conspiring. Most SSC idioms use body metaphors; group by body part.
One-Word Substitution: -CIDE endings — Suicide (self), Homicide (human), Regicide (king), Genocide (race/group), Fratricide (brother), Infanticide (infant), Patricide (father), Matricide (mother). Common SSC pattern for "killing of X."
Confusing Pairs: Principal/Principle — PrincipAL=person (headmaster, main actor; has "pal"). PrincipLE=rule/standard (moral principLE, scientific principLE). Effect=noun (result), Affect=verb (influence). Stationary=still, Stationery=paper goods.