How to prepare for General Ability Paper of ESE in minimum time (Part I)

Written By: Ankit Shukla (ESE-2015 AIR 38)

Every stage of the examination is a deciding factor in your final selection. So is the role of General Ability (GA) Objective Paper in ESE which is of 200 marks. You need a perfect strategy which suits you because 800 marks are based on technical paper. You should not invest much time in GA preparation, so that you can devote enough time to technical preparation as well.

But then what is the perfect strategy ? How can you ensure a good GA performance without wasting much time ? This article basically answers these questions.

Keeping in mind the marks ratio, you need to devote 1 hour for GA preparation for every 4 hours of Technical preparation. You may change your time durations as per your strengths and weakness. For some students, English is a cup of tea, so you can focus more on technical side. But for those who have weak English may increase time duration for English preparation. But if you are weak in both then better you focus on technical side because it carries more weightage.

Now English carries 100 marks and it is the easiest part of ESE where you can score without much hard work.

In ESE English Paper, there are 6 types of questions (as per ESE-2015)-

                                                           Questions asked in ESE 2015

1) Comprehension                                        15

2) Ordering of sentences                               9

3) Sentence Improvement                             6

4) Spotting Errors                                          7

5) Selecting Words                                       14

6) Synonyms/Antonyms                                9

Today I will talk about first three types of questions-

Comprehension and Ordering of sentences are the easiest of all. These questions do not require any practice (mind my words, NO PRACTICE is required) because these are process oriented questions. If you know the process you will do it correctly. Lets know what is the process.

1) For Comprehension-

a) Read the passage very fast, to get central idea of the passage (never read it twice because some passages become clear only when you read questions) .

b) Now start reading questions. You may need to go back to the passage but now you know exactly what you have to look for.

Lets see an example-

As soon as you read this question, you go back to the passage on the fourth line. Answer is written there ‘serenity’ which also means ‘calmness of mind’.

That’s how I made all comprehension questions correctly done in very less time (Thanks to UPSC for asking 15 questions of passage type).

2) In Ordering of Sentences, follow the below steps-

a) Read the first line and last line. Many times the answer is hidden in one of these two lines only.

b) Find some word which connects to one of the sentences given in options. You have to find the continuity between given sentences.

c) As soon as you find one continuity, check that order sequence in answer. Many a times only one options suits your order sequence, and you are done. Rush to the next question.

Caution: These questions can waste your time a lot. So if you are stuck in any of these question just leave it for the moment. Come back after sometime (your mind will get refreshed in the meantime).

d) If more than one option is present, repeat steps b) and c).

Lets see an example-

After reading first sentence S1, then sentences PQRS, we find that girls are thinking of something. Q seems appropriate after S1 because it mentions the word 'things'. Q also seems appropriate before P as 'those things' are discussed in P. There is only one option Starting with QP. That’s it. Option d is correct.

Now we come to the last part of our today’s article.

3) Sentence Improvement type questions require practice but very less because not many questions come on this. So you can practice these questions before exam from any solved book. You can take help of any coaching material like MadeEasy General English book. There you will find and learn the basic grammer which applies in sentence making.

UPSC gives you a grammatically distorted sentence. You just replace the underlined portion of the given sentence with all the phrases given in options and read in your mind one by one.

If you find 'new phrase' more suitable in the sentence,then tick that phrase otherwise choose ‘No Improvement’ option.

Lets see an example-

'Listen' is used when you are deliberately hearing something by choice. But here ‘a strange noise’ tells you that this sound was not dependent on your choice. So ‘I heard’ is more suitable here.

This is all about today’s article. Two more articles , one for other three types of questions in English and one for General Studies preparation will be posted soon.

Keep yourself update and just think about ESE 2016 and nothing else.

You BREATHE easily everyday but just think if are not allowed to breathe, your life comes to rest. Similarly TIME comes easily , don’t take it for granted. Just use it to the maximum of your capability. Only then you will be rewarded with something great and worthwhile.

          --------  ANKIT SHUKLA (ESE-2015 AIR 38)


How to prepare for General Ability Paper of ESE in minimum time (Part II)