I am sure you have already started preparing for NICL AO (Administrative Officer) Examination 2015. To stay ahead in the race it is very important to make your own strategy. Here we are trying to guide you for your upcoming NICL AO Online Examination which is scheduled to be in April 2015.

The paper will consist of five sections for Generalist Discipline and six in case of Specialist. The test paper will be set to gauge you on different subjects viz;

1. Reasoning
2. English Language
3. General Awareness
4. Quantitative Aptitude
5. Descriptive English Language

As each section will have 40 question carrying 40 marks , you cannot really think of leaving one and concentrating on other. All the sections need thorough preparation.

Lets get started with Preparation Tips For NICL AO Exam 2015

1. Time Management : We have around three months in hand for NICL AO exam’s preparation. So without wasting any time get glued to your books. Divide these 90 days appropriately. If you think 90 days will be enough for your preparation, you are completely off base. If you divide 90 days by number of sections you have i.e. 5, you will be left with JUST 18 days for preparation.
2. Study in a time bound manner. Give more time to sections you are think you are weak in or not conceptually strong.
3. Section wise Strategy 

Reasoning

Most people find Reasoning Section difficult and time consuming. But believe me this is one of the easiest section that you will see in your paper.

• For questions on Coding-Decoding, alphabet series, syllogism, it is better if you write down the alphabets and then solve these instead of playing in your head.
• Practice questions on seating arrangement, Assertion and reasoning and decision making questions. Make your own short cuts or strategies to solve these questions. These questions may look difficult but are actually simple. So PRACTICE as much as you can because if you have not attempted a particular type of question before your exam, it would be very difficult to attempt those questions in your exam  unless your luck favours you that day.

Quantitative Aptitude

Quantitative section can be easy to score if you understand the basics and have practised variety of questions. Learn the formulas specially of mensuration and trigonometry. Because if you do not remember the formulas you won’t be able to proceed with such questions. You should practise problems on HCF and LCM, average, percentage, time and speed, pipes and cisterns etc. Start practising/ revising your NCERT Books and then may be you can take up a book which will help you with short cuts.

General Awareness

This section is very very crucial. Current affairs of National & International news, Important dates, Current Science, Technology, Sports & Culture, Currency, Capital, United Nations etc. are topics from which questions are generally asked. Apart from ‘general questions’, focus on current affairs related to insurance, banking and economics Sector. There can be some questions on computer knowledge as well. As such, there is no prescribed syllabus for this section, so you will have to memorise everything you come across in your daily life. Keep a track of current news. Start reading newspapers if you have not already.

English Language (Objective)

English can be very easy to score for those who have command over the language. But some people are not very comfortable with the language more specifically with grammar. They need to work hard for this section. English is usually not given much importance and we tend to give more time to other section but this is certainly not a good thing to do. Build your vocabulary by learning new words daily and then revising them every alternate day or so. Keep dictionary on your study table.

English Language (Descriptive)

Comprehension, Précis and Essay writing can take a lot of your time. In NICL AO Exam you will get three questions and 45 minutes for these. Divide your time accordingly. Don’t waste too much time on a particular question. For essay, jot down the important points some where in rough space and elaborate one by one. For Comprehension, check out the questions first to know what you need to find. Make sure to read first and last paragraph carefully. It will help you understand the tone of the essay.

4. Speed – Practice as many questions you possibly can. Once you finish brushing up a topic, it would be very helpful if you solve practice papers on that particular topic. This will help you know whether you have understood that chapter or not and also help you boost your confidence. One more important thing as the exam would be an online one if you are not accustomed to reading on computers, you may find it difficult to read quickly and answer. Also for Descriptive exam you will have to type your essay, précis on computer, work on your typing skill.

5. Strong and weak section – Once you get hold of the syllabus, mark the topics which you find are easy for you and those in which you are not very comfortable. Take up easy topics first, revise, practise and put them aside. Now take up difficult ones. Clear your concepts, practice them daily, revise the formulas, theorem and identities which are there in those chapters.

6. Read the question twice – Understand the question carefully before answering it. Don’t be in haste to attempt a question even if you are familiar with the type of question.

7. Time – Time is very important in all the competitive exams. Don’t waste your time if you get stuck with a question. Move on to solve other questions and later if time permits try the ones you have left earlier.

8. Practice previous year papers – After you are done with your preparations, start practising sample papers and previous year paper. Set an alarm before sitting for the test and check your speed. See how many questions you could attempt in the allotted time. this will give you a rough estimate to where you stand and then you can work accordingly.

9. Negative Marking – There will be negative marking for every wrong answer you mark. Attempt only those questions which you are confident about. DO NOT make a wild guess, you will end up losing a lot of marks.

10. Relax – Most importantly keep calm at all the time. Be it while preparing for the exam or in your exam. Undue stress can have a bad impact not only on your performance but health too. And no one wants that.

Hope that these tips will help you in your NICL AO Exam 2015. Let us know if you have any query by commenting in the box below. We will try to answer them asap.

Best Wishes !

Photo credit: John-Morgan / IWoman / CC BY