General Studies
Disaster Triple-3s — Natural disasters: 3 hydro (flood, tsunami, cyclone), 3 geo (earthquake, volcano, landslide), 3 climate (drought, heatwave, coldwave). Man-made: 3 tech (nuclear, chemical, industrial), 3 social (riot, terrorism, stampede).
PREM for Disaster Management Phases — Preparedness, Response, Emergency relief, Mitigation. Core cycle for all disaster questions in that sequence.
VIBGYOR for Rainbow Geography — Standard visible spectrum mnemonic doubles as altitude vegetation zones: Violet=alpine, Indigo=coniferous, Blue=temperate, Green=deciduous, Yellow=grassland, Orange=scrub, Red=desert (low altitude/hot).
River Right-Hand Tributary Rule — Face downstream direction. Right-bank tributaries join from your right, left-bank from your left. Helps in map-based river questions instantly.
Monsoon Onset June-1 — SW monsoon officially arrives Kerala around June 1 (±7 days). Withdrawal starts September 1 from NW India. Anchor dates for monsoon questions.
Tropic Latitudes 23.5 — Tropic of Cancer 23.5°N, Capricorn 23.5°S. Sun directly overhead only between these on solstices. Critical for climate zone demarcation.
Economic Development
CRR-SLR-Repo Hierarchy — CRR (4%) < SLR (18%) < Repo (6.5%) — typical ranges. CRR with RBI (no interest), SLR in liquid assets (earns interest), Repo is borrowing rate.
CAMELS for Bank Health — Capital adequacy, Asset quality, Management, Earnings, Liquidity, Systems. RBI's six-parameter bank rating framework.
Base Rate vs MCLR — Base Rate replaced by MCLR (Marginal Cost of Funds-based Lending Rate) from April 2016. MCLR more sensitive to policy rate changes.
Telangana Movement and State Formation
1969 Agitation: Jan-Nov-Jan — Started January 1969 (student protests), peak November 1969 (police firing/369 martyrs), ended January 1970 (8-point formula). Date anchors for movement timeline.
Mulki Rules 1919-1974 — Enacted 1919 (Nizam era), controversy peaked 1969, Supreme Court struck down 1974. 55-year span for administrative history questions.
Telangana Formation 2-6-2 — Bill introduced Feb 2014, Lok Sabha passed Feb 18, Rajya Sabha Feb 20, President assent March 1, state formed June 2, 2014. Remember 2nd June as formation day.
Mental Ability and Reasoning
BODMAS Strict Order — Brackets, Orders (powers/roots), Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction. Left-to-right for equal precedence (D-M, A-S). Most missed: DM and AS are equal priority.
Divisibility Rule 11 — Alternating digit sum. 12,345: (1+3+5)-(2+4)=9-6=3, not divisible. If difference is 0 or 11's multiple, divisible by 11.
Blood Relations: Parental Direction — "Son of brother" = nephew. Always process innermost relation first, then work outward. Brother first, then his son's relation to you.
Clock Angle Formula — Angle = |11M - 60H|/2 degrees, where H=hours, M=minutes. At 3:15: |11(15) - 60(3)|/2 = |165-180|/2 = 7.5°.
Calendar Day Code OSNETJ — Odd years (1,3,5,7,9,11)=31 days, Sept/April/June/November=30 days, Feb=28/29. Quick month-days recall.
Seating Arrangement: Fix One — In circular arrangements, fix one person's position first to eliminate rotational duplicates. Remaining (n-1)! arrangements. Cuts calculation time by 80%.
Data Interpretation
Percentage-Fraction Shortcuts — 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. Instant conversions for faster calculation in DI.
Ratio to Percentage — If A:B = 3:5, then A is 3/8=37.5% and B is 5/8=62.5% of total. Denominator is sum of ratio terms.
Bar Graph: Vertical = Actual — Always read vertical axis for actual values, horizontal for categories/time. 60% of bar graph errors come from axis confusion.
Pie Chart Degree Rule — 1% = 3.6 degrees. Quick check: 10%=36°, 25%=90°, 50%=180°. If sector looks 90°, it's 25% of total.
Average Change Shortcut — If average of n numbers is A, and you add number x, new average = A + (x-A)/n+1. Saves recalculating entire sum.
Compound Annual Growth Rate — CAGR = [(Final/Initial)^(1/years) - 1] × 100. For 2 years doubling: CAGR ≈ 41.4%, not 50% (common trap).