Prelims Strategy - Anshul Hindal

Prelims

Earlier toppers used to say that if you give 50 mocks then prelims could be cleared. This might be true when you have to intelligently guess out of the options.

Given the change in the pattern of questions last year I would advise that spend more time on studying rather than giving mocks. Reduce the number of mocks to 15-20 and study more. Paper would be unpredictable.

Secondly the misconception that you need to attempt 90+ questions needs to end now . In questions where elimination is not possible the probability of getting them wrong is much more . So i would advise you to attempt only if you know the answer. For example Last year If you get 38 net questions correct you would have qualified. So avoid negative marking .

CSAT

The most unpredictable part of prelims where no strategy would work. We dont know what level of mathematics and reasoning would be asked in this paper. So the practice of giving more mocks which was follwed in Paper 1 should be shifted to this paper.

First of all make sure that you are well versed with all the previous year questions (Probably last 5-7 years) and I would advise those who are not confident to take a test series from any coaching. More practice would definitely build your confidence.

Do not give all your attention to only one section (Maths,Reasoning,English). Our aim is to do all the easy questions from all the sections.

Some of the topics which i feel you need to learn basic formulas

1 Number system

2 Permutations and combinations

3 Polynomials (Basic factorisation)

4 Interest, Discount , Profit etc

Going by the 2023 paper direct formulas may not be applied in the question but they will definitely help to solve intermediate steps .

Prepare yourself mentally and physcially for an unpredictable paper so that you can tackle anything in exam.

All the very best 🙂