2020 The Next Topper
Your guide for SSC The Next Topper (TNT)
[HOW TO STUDY?]
This booklet will provide you proper guidance on how to start
your preparation for SSC and how to maintain your zeal for it.
This contains experiences from my journey of preparation for
SSC. This will prove beneficial especially for those who are new
in this field and want guidance on how to start their
preparation.
PREFACE
If you are a student who is aspiring to achieve his/her
dreams and are ready to dedicate yourself completely, this
book is for you. The following chapters will help you to
realize what you should do and what you should avoid
while preparing for a competition exam. I completed my
engineering in 2018 and since then I have cleared multiple
exams like Intelligence Bureau (Security Assistant), CHSL
2018, CHSL 2019, CGL 2018, CGL 2019. Obviously, these are
not any hardcore rules which you must follow. You can
improvise them as you wish. However, keep in mind you do
not get de-route while doing so. This book will prove
beneficial especially for those who are preparing for
government jobs such as SSC.
Happy learning!
CHAPTER 1
BELIEVE IN YOURSELF
It doesn’t matter if you are preparing for NEET, JEE, CA, or
a government job or any other such exam. What matters is
that you are a student. As a learner we all are same.
Therefore, the first thing you need to do is believe in
yourself. Someone is doing it, right? Someone cracked the
exam in the first attempt which you have failed multiple
times. Someone has secured an All India Rank while you
are struggling to clear the very first level of exam. Why?
Are they special? Do they have more than twenty-four
hours in a day? Perhaps your answer is no. If they can do
it, you can do it too. Preparing for an exam is like solving a
puzzle. You have multiple pieces with mainly, your
hard work, time management, self-analysis, etc. You need
to put all these pieces at certain places so that you
get the most effective results. In other words, you need to
solve this puzzle. So are you ready?
CHAPTER 2
KNOW YOURSELF
Before going on a trip, what do you do? You do the planning, right? You check for hotels, trains, planes, prepare an
itinerary. Why do you go to such an extent for a trip which
will last for 2-3 days? Exactly….You do this so you can get
the most out of it. You can enjoy to the fullest even under
time jurisdiction. But you decide to appear in an exam,
where you have to compete with more than twenty lakh
aspirants (considering SSC, which is also a multi-level
exam) without any proper planning and strategy. Why?
Therefore my first advice to you is to know yourself. No
one knows you better than you know yourself. Learn
about your pros and cons. You need to know about the
chemicals before you start a chemical experiment. In the
same way, you need to know yourself before you change
yourself. If it demands, change yourself. There is a saying
which goes like “Change is the only permanent thing”.
Don’t be afraid of change. Before you study the exam
syllabus, study yourself. Know your strength and
weaknesses because in the time following you are going to
work on them. Step out of your comfort zone. Great things
won’t happen to you unless you move out of your
comfort zone.
CHAPTER 3
ALWAYS REMEMBER WHY YOU STARTED
All of us have different reasons to start. I was fascinated
by a certain job in SSC CGL. That job was not just my
dream but more than that. I wanted that job at any cost.
And obviously, a job so fascinating was no piece of cake.
Whenever I felt like giving up I knew my competitor who
might have had his eyes set on the same job might be
studying at the time when I was zoning out. In the
scenario, where you experience a cut-throat competition
you get to realize the importance of time. The importance
of this chapter is to tell you how to fix yourself when feeling
de-motivated. Ask yourself “Am I satisfied with my current
scenario?’ If the answer is yes, you do not need to do
anything and continue your life the way it is. But in case
your answer is no, Wake up…it’s time to shine. Because if
you are not satisfied with your current position, that itself
is the source of all the motivation you need. Only you can
change your life and you can do it.
CHAPTER 4
BE HONEST TO YOURSELF
I have seen a lot of people who keep complaining like a
child. The topmost complaint is ‘I study for ten hours a day,
but my results are not satisfactory’. I want to ask all those
students who feel the same…In case you are studying ten
hours a day, can you be honest to yourself that you
studied effectively in those ten hours. Or in the name of
break you were scrolling on Instagram, liking posts on
Facebook, or you kept spacing out once in a while. You can
tell a lie to your family and friends but you cannot fool
yourself. You know well how much effort you put into your
studies and what is responsible for your marks.
If you come across a weak point of you, don’t make it your
insecurity and try to hide it, rather work on it and bring
your weakness at par with your strengths. Don’t study to
show your parents that you are working hard studying late
at night
or early in the morning. These are all useless
because if you won’t work hard the results are not going
to change by themselves. Work hard in such a way that
even if results are not favorable to you, you can take a
stand and make eye contact with yourself and proudly
say, ‘Fuck these results! I gave my best’.CHAPTER 5
This chapter is for those who are new in the field of
competitive exams and do not know where to start. To all
such students, I would like to say that Great things take
time to happen. There is a saying which goes like, “Rome
was not built in a day”. As in the fore mentioned chapters I
have already told you to know about yourself. Once you
are done with it, you need to set small goals. Before you
set your foot on the moon, you need to devise a machine
that would enable you to fly. Hence, setting up a
Herculean task as your goal will bring nothing but despair
to you. Instead set small goals and work diligently to
achieve them so that you stay motivated and aspire for
more. Don’t rush things. Always Remember, “SLOW AND
STEADY WINS THE RACE”. You don’t need to run, but to
walk continuously at a certain pace. There is no point in
embellishing a dream if you can’t experience the taste of
the feat of success of achieving it. There is no shortcut to
success. The sooner you embed this in your mind, the
sooner you get the results. Patience and hard (smart) work
is the only key to success.
CHAPTER 6
Before you start your preparation, know the syllabus of
your exam properly. Don’t make light of anything. Go
through the syllabus thoroughly and know where you
stand. Analyze everything so that you can make a
blueprint of your preparation. Every skyscraper stands on
a strong foundation. Your foundation is the basics of every
subject. Make your wings stronger before you start flying
high. Give your time to clear the basics. Moreover, no
teacher is bad. They all are giving their best to teach you.
It’s not your duty to judge them. Try to gather knowledge
from wherever possible. The Internet is full of study material. If
you say you have nothing to study is the worst possible
excuse in contemporary times. If possible, refrain
yourself from appearing into any exam unless you
complete your syllabus. Different exams have a different
syllabus and require a different modus operandi. During
my preparation, I appeared in only a handful of
examinations and that too once I had completed the
syllabus. Too many chefs spoil the food. Therefore, do not
listen to others and decide which job suits you.
Once decided, give your best to achieve the feat of living
your dream.
CHAPTER 7
This is probably one of the most important things when it
comes to the preparation of any government job exam.
However, I have seen many aspirants committing the same
mistake when it comes to the attempting of PYQs. There is
a misconception among students that attempting PYQs
will make them realize where they stand in the
competition. PLEASE MAKE SURE IT WON’T. The main
purpose of PYQs is to make you familiar with the
examination pattern and enable you to draw a blueprint so
as to ignite your preparation. Feel free to attempt 2-3
previous year's papers. But make no mistake by considering
your marks in the evaluation. Instead, evaluate your
performance subject wise. It will give you a broad idea
of your strengths and weaknesses. As I mentioned
earlier, don’t be ashamed to accept your weaknesses.
Work on them and reach the pinnacle of the summit.
CHAPTER 8
3 R’s (READ, REVISE, REPEAT)
This golden formula will help you with improvement in every
subject. First things first, remove the mentality of thinking
that there are intelligent people and there are dull people.
It is true that some are born with great minds. But the majority of us are not like that. We all start from scratch. And as you have completed your school and
college it is for sure that you do not lack intelligence. The
only thing is that you are not using it to the fullest. The
people who do so are known as intelligent people.
This formula is an overview of how you should study.
Whenever you study a new thing and you understand it
well, you think that it was an easy concept and you won’t
forget it ever. But you are mistaken. Depending on your
retaining ability, you will forget the above mentioned in a
certain number of days. As a matter of fact, it is
scientifically proven. Therefore, make a habit of frequent
revision. If I ask you what is 89*56? you will do the calculation
in your mind. But if you ask you what is 2+2? You will say 4 in
mere nanoseconds. You know why? It’s not because it is
easy. Obviously not! Don’t forget the hard time you had
had in nursery or Kindergarten when you learned these
things for the first time. But now, you have done 2+2=4 so many times that your mind processed the results within a fraction of time. This same thing will happen to you at the
examination center. You won’t be able to remember a
formula or a vocabulary which you have read one or two
times but only those which you have done hundreds of
times. Therefore, revision is very necessary when
preparing for a government job. Make a revision schedule
as per your requirements. Revision after three days,
weekly or fortnightly, depends on you.
In other words, READ REVISE REPEAT.
CHAPTER 9
Obviously, you are not supposed to work like a donkey but
to work smart. Suppose you start to sail a boat from one
coast and you have to reach a pinpointed location on the
opposite coast. Now suppose you stray from your path by
1 degree only and start to move straight on the deviated
path. On reaching the opposite coast, you will realize that
you might have landed miles apart from your destination.
To put it simply even if you detour just a bit from the
genuine path but keep treading it without fixing it, results
could be catastrophic. Hence, it is very important to keep track of your progress through frequent analysis. Be it
previous year questions, mock tests, or quizzes; be regular
in touch with what is in trend. Besides, even if you are
unable to improve the outcomes with the strategy you are
following, perhaps there is a limitation in your strategy.
There is a saying which goes like,” Change your strategy,
but not your goal”. Hence keep improvising but do not
stop at any cost. Make sure you are doing things properly
as they are meant to be. Guide yourself through the cave
to reach the opening. Cooperation is a good thing but
relying on others is not that a good idea. You have enough
experience to judge between correct and wrong.
CHAPTER 10
There is no denying to the fact that your selection is 80%
hard work and 20% luck or some might say it is 90% hard
work and 10% luck. You cannot control the luck factor. It is
a bitter truth that your selection solely depends on your
performance in the examination hall. Obviously, your
performance in the examination hall depends on your
preparation. But there is also no denying that there are
students who are unable to score well despite their hard
work. Luck might not be in their favor. But you cannot let
your “luck” decide your destiny. Work hard to change your
future because you know you can do that. There is no
book or no video which can keep you motivated till
eternity. It comes from within. Develop an appetite to
learn. The more you learn, the more you grow. Even if you fail,
take it as a lesson, realize what went wrong, and next time,
go to the battlefield with better preparation and after
fixing all those issues. Because, if you can’t change yourself
how are you supposed to change the results?
SUMMARY
I have written all the important points in my opinion
which will help you to stay motivated. Share this booklet
with your friends, if you find it helpful. As a fellow
aspirant, I have also experienced all those difficulties
which you are experiencing during your preparation. But,
keep in mind, only those who tackle these impediments
see their name in the merit list and receive their joining
letter.
@Vikash Choudhary (9530287572)
vikash.k.1994@gov.in
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