With the date for preliminary exams just around the bend, aspirants need to gear up and put in their best effort to clear the level and move on to the main exams. As the count of aspirants goes up every year, the competition becomes more and more difficult to overcome.

To get past the prelims and move on to the other levels, a candidate needs to have proper preparation strategy in place. Here are some tips and tricks to help aspiring candidates breeze through the prelims and the other levels with ease.

Preliminary Exam Overview

Preliminary exams consist of three sections namely, English, Numerical ability, and reasoning ability. English section has 30 questions while the other two carry 35 each, making up to a total of 100 questions, which a candidate needs to answer in 60 minutes.

With the time being limited and the presence of negative scoring, you should be careful about how you handle the questions and in which order. Below are a few tricks and tips to help you answer the maximum questions and without negative scores.

Preparing for Reasoning Section

The reasoning test helps to assess your problem-solving skills and mental agility. Unlike numerical section, which is based on formulas, this section requires proper understanding of a question to get the right answer.

Some tips for this section include:

1. Practice with the model and the exam papers of previous years
2. Questions are mostly based on coding/decoding, syllogism, blood relations, directions, seating arrangements, ranking, classification, and analogy and data sufficiency - Attempt questions which you are confident of answering correctly and in lesser time
3. Leave the puzzle and seating arrangement questions for the last as they eat up valuable time

Numerical Ability

This part of the preliminary exams will give you good scores if you attempt the questions on profit/loss, data sufficiency, time-work, percentage, simplification and approximation which can be done easily even for candidates who are weak in mathematics.

What do you need to succeed?

Three important criteria determine your success in the exam. They are:

1. Answering with accuracy
2. Swiftness in answering
3. Smart Time management

Depending on your speed and accuracy, the time spent on each section may differ. But generally 10 minutes for English and 25 minutes each for numerical and reasoning sections is sufficient.

Practice Makes Perfect

As the saying goes, practice is necessary for acing your prelims. Make use of the online mock tests and practice questions and answers to help with your preparation. These tests help to evaluate your level of preparation and help you train for the exams in a better way.

Exam Day Tips

During the exam, make sure you are cool and composed. When you panic or get agitated, your mind will not function properly which can affect your answering capacity and accuracy alike. Attempt questions which you have practiced well and it is best to avoid trying out new concepts or tricks on the exam day.

A proper and systematic preparation, ample practice with mock test papers, and smart time management give you the confidence to attend the questions during the exam in a calm and analytic manner. Your chances of scoring cut-off marks or a higher score increase when you follow the above tips.