Strategy to score 65+ marks in IBPS PO Prelims 2016

IBPS-PO Prelims 2016 is approaching. With the intense competition in the IBPS PO exam, merely qualifying the cutoff will not take you to the Mains exam. Obtaining a high score is essential to beat the intense competition. With merely 2 months left for preparation, the time has arrived when the candidates need to really work hard to compete against over 20 lakh candidates in the IBPS-PO Prelim exam.

Keeping the candidates’ concern in mind, we have devised a strategy which will aid the candidates to score 65+ marks in the IBPS PO Prelims 2016.

Two-phase strategy to score 65+ in IBPS-PO Prelims

Strategy Prior to the Exam

1. ‘SMART WORK’ Instead of ‘HARD WORK’

The intense competition arises the need of ‘SMART WORK’ instead of ‘HARD WORK’. Start by reviewing the previous year papers of IBPS-PO Prelims and prepare a list of the most important and high-yielding topics. Next, commence your preparation with the most important topics and advance to the less important topics in the later stages.

2. Learn and Develop Shortcuts and Tricks

You must learn new and effective tricks and shortcuts which will aid in solving the questions at a faster pace. Instaed of focusing on shortcut formulas, try to see how you can completely avoid calculations. For this, learn tables, squares and reciprocals up to 20 in order to reduce your calculations in the Data interpretation and other sections of Quant section of the IBPS-PO 2016 Prelims exam.

3. Lay Equal Emphasis on All Sections

You must lay equal emphasis to all the sections and must not get too much obsessed with any single section. Remember that each section has its own contribution and you need to clear sectional cut-offs too. Therefore, you must prepare all sections with equal dedication.

4. Devise Time Management Strategy

Time Management can only be learnt through adequate practice and therefore, you must attempt a large number of mock tests in order to learn effective time management. Try to improve your time management with each attempt. For this, you must strive to reduce the amount of time invested in each section and per question with each attempt.

5. Work on Accuracy

Accuracy is an important factor affecting the overall performance in the exam. Work on your accuracy since lower accuracy will award you negative marks. Attempt mock tests as much as possible to enhance your accuracy for the exam. After each test, see how many questions were attempted incorrectly and see why you made those mistakes.

6. Attempt Online Mock Tests

From the very beginning, strive to improve your speed by attempting speed tests. Check your performance after each attempt and work on your weaknesses. Don’t plan to devote the last one month to attempting online mock test series. This is a very wrong strategy. Instead take full length mocks every week and increase the frequency to twice a week in the final month. This will help you get accustomed to the online platform and also expose you to a wide variety of questions. You will then go with a sound strategy to beat everyone else in the exam.

7. Consistent Revision

Spend an adequate amount of time in revising all the important topics, formulas and shortcuts. For this, make notes while you study. This reduces revision time. Consistent revision is essential since it helps in retaining the information till the exam time.

8. Go with a Set Strategy In the Exam

Frame a strategy on the order in which the sections are to be attempted, the amount of time to be invested to each section and per question and decide your minimum targetted attempt. Your attempt must be planned to not just scre eough to clear the cut-off but much higher.

Strategy While Attempting the Exam

1. Do not Get Too Obsessed With Any Section

Make sure that you do not invest too much time in any section since it will lower your overall performance in the exam. If you find that you are unable to answer questions even from your strong areas, mark them for review and move ahead.

2. Implement Sound Time Management Strategy

Since the exam comprises 100 questions to be attempted in a time duration of 1 hour, the question to time ratio is less than 1. This implies that you cannot afford to invest too much time to any question. Devote pre-decided time to every section and do justice to all the questions asked.

3. Have Awareness of Your Strengths and Weaknesses

Have a precise awareness of your strong and weak areas prior to appearing in the exam. Attempt questions which will help you get through the exam easily and do not attempt questions on unprepared topics in the beginning.

4. Attempt Group Questions on Priority

Group questions help you fetch 5-6 marks at a stretch in one attempt. Therefore, try to attempt questions based on Data Interpretation, puzzles, para jumbles and Reading Comprehension on priority. This will greatly help you to boost your score in the IBPS PO Prelims 2016.

5. Make Intelligent Guesses/Avoid Blind Guesswork

In case you do not know the answer to too many questions, the only option is to attempt such questions through Intelligent guesswork. Review the options and try to eliminate the most irrelevant ones. From the options left out, try to figure out the option which best satisfies all the conditions given in the question. Avoid blind guesswork since it will only award you negative marks for each incorrect response.

6. Focus on Clearing Sectional Cutoffs

You must attempt an adequate number of questions in each section to ensure that you are able to get through the sectional cutoff of each section and not only the overall expected cutoff.

7. Be Smart with English

Try to attempt questions based on Cloze test, fill in the blanks, error correction and reading comprehension questions in the beginning as they can be solved quickly and are highly scoring.

We are sure that the candidates can definitely score 65+ marks in IBPS PO prelims 2016 if the aforesaid tips are implemented efficiently. So prepare well and practice hard to crack the exam in the first attempt.