How to prepare for SSC, Bank PO, Railways & CAT simultaneously?
CAT, SSC, Railways & Bank POs overlap in the syllabus by about 70%, which is why many students prepare for these exam categories simultaneously. Honestly, preparing for these exams is not very difficult if you are planning it well. So how do we go about it?
Decide your focus first
No matter how many exams you are preparing for, you need to target one exam, which is your dream. Basis your interest and your abilities, you should figure out which exam will be your goal.
Understand differences in the syllabus of different exams
Once you are clear with the syllabus for your target exam, you need to understand how is the syllabus for other exams different from your target exam. Generally, the differences would be additional subjects or changes in difficulty levels. Note down these differences at one common place
We have created a summary for you to understand the differences between syllabuses in the below table keeping Bank PO exam as the reference, but you should dig deeper to be clear with nuances
| Bank PO (Ref.) | Quantitative Aptitude | Reasoning Ability | Data Interpretation/ Analysis | English | GK/ Subject specific |
| SSC | Geometry is additional, level of question is easier than Bank PO | Few extra topics like dice, cubes but easier in level | Easier than Bank PO | RC & grammar is similar, prepare for SSC specific vocab | Current affairs is similar |
| Railways | Only high school math of easy level | Easy level | Easy level | Not required | Current affairs is similar |
| CAT | Tougher questions. Few topics like functions, geometry, coordinate geometry are additional. | Different topics and time consuming tough questions are expected | Difficulty level is higher than Bank PO | Extremely focused on RC | Not required |
Be very thorough with exam timelines
Figure out dates (even if tentative) for all the exams you will appear for, even if tentative. It’s important to understand how much gap you will have between different exams and the sequence of your exams.
Build your schedule for the preparation with timelines
You need to build your preparation schedule keeping the target exam in mind. Once you have created the schedule, you need to figure out where and how you incorporate additional differences for other exams in your schedule. For example, if you are preparing for the Percentages for Bank PO exam, a similar topic would be seen in CAT too. But you would need to give some additional time to practice some tougher questions of percentages as the difficulty level of CAT would be slightly higher. If there is a topic which is completely different and needs a lot of effort but carry very little weightage, you can also skip it and focus on your strength areas.
Join mocks for all possible exams
You should join mock tests for all the exams as that will give you an idea that where you stand in each of the exams with your ongoing preparation. Try to analyse your weakness in depth after each mock and try improving your score in subsequent mocks.
Be thorough with the last ten-year papers for each exam
The best way to get the closest idea of these exams is by reviewing previous ten-year papers. You will also get a sense of the difficulty level, syllabus differences, number of questions & speed expected when you go through actual exam papers.
Do not skip any exam
The more exams you appear for, the better your chances of conversion. Irrespective of seats and cut-offs, make a point to fill out the form for every exam in your selected areas. Not that you will get better exposure, but your conversion chances will shoot up.
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