How do I prepare for SSC CGL at home/without coaching?

Mahendra Faroda 

AIR 129, ASO in MEA , SSC CGL 2018 first attempt

This  answer is given by Mahendra Faroda got selected as ASO in MEA in CGL 2018

I think he have Cleared that exam. So, he will be suitable to answer this question.

What He think About CGL -

This might be a little detailed answer so bear with me for the length of the answer, but this will cover maximum part so read the whole answer. I have given many tips in this answer which gave me some extra edge while preparing.

Since 2019 free youtube classes and videos has grown so much that whatever you want to know is on YouTube and in multiple options too. You just need to combine that with good material and “consistency”.

About SSC CGL Exam:

Stages —

Prelims — 200 marks

Mains — 400 marks

Descriptive — 100 marks

CPT — need to pass only

Some Important tips to have good quality preparation :

For prelims you can't cover all 4 subject in one day daily so make time table in a way that you give more weightage of time to one particular subject for 20–30 days or as suitable and change the time table after that and give that extra weightage to some other subject. So basically you will have to prepare many timetables and abide by them all.

For better utilisation of time use list making technique in which you always make a list of topics you will cover next day before you go to bed on that day and abide by that list and don't go to sleep before you complete that list and seriously prepare the list on the previous night and not on the same day in the morning. This will help alot.

Prelims —

• Reasoning — 50 marks 

 This part aspirants start scoring 30+ even at the starting and anyone can cover easily from YouTube videos topic wise just search the name of the topic add reasoning or reasoning tricks with it and watch any video you find helpful in solving those questions. 

Makes notes at once and rely on those notes only and practise daily 1–2 quiz of 15–30 questions of different topics it will make you gain that extra advantage from those who think they will practise reasoning once a week in a mock test and get good marks. But they don't see that by practising reasoning just for 10–15 minutes daily you might reduce the time you take to solve reasoning part in exam from 12–15 minutes to 7–8 minutes and that will make a huge contribution in the main exam.

• General awareness — 50 marks 

I have answered in detail about this part and how i prepared this part in an answer "My answer to How do I prepare for the SSC CGL general awareness part?"  

I would recommend to go through this answer once it is the complete answer on how i prepared with the help of YouTube videos, books and tricks and how i prepared notes of GA. 

This process helped me get 30.5 marks raw in GA part in my first attempt in a paper everyone said GA part was moderate to high level.

• English — 50 marks  

This part with the same syllabus covers 200 marks in mains so prepare it seriously.

Material to go through — “ SP BAKSHI, MB publication , Plinth to Paramount, mirror of common errors, word power made easy, the Hindu, Previous Year Questions".

You can take help of YouTube videos and channels like Aman vashisht, jaideep Singh, unacademy etc.

Make notes of your own and revise but most importantly practise more and more from various sources like quizzes on various apps, MB publication , mirror of common errors and all the other and develop understanding for English to develop the sense that you can find the mistake or words which require to be filled in the blank.

Initially you might feel some trouble going 20+ but after some time you will see great change and will score much better.

• Quantitative Aptitude — 50 marks 

Again same syllabus makes 200 marks in mains also so prepare very seriously.

Material to go through “Kiran previous year, Rakesh Yadav and most importantly handmade notes of all topics and mocks and quizzes"

YouTube channels teachers — Abhinay maths, Pawan Rao sir, Ramo sir, Gagan pratap sir and some more.

I have checked material of abhinay sir and Pawan Rao sir only and i found it helpful and prepared notes by combining both the material with some coaching notes

These notes will be too bulky so prepare short notes of all the topics in max 100 pages.

Short Notes which i prepared had been shared on my TG channel which you can download.

Most important thing of this particular part is practise and mocks.

I can definitely say that after mains exam I had solved 25000+ questions atleast. Or i think the number is much more than that.

Now,

Mains — 400 marks

Quant — 200 marks

English — 200 marks

This is the time those short notes are most useful.

This was my general time table for those 3 months while preparing for mains

• Revise short notes — one hour
• Calculation practise — 30–40 minutes
• Quant mock — 2 hours
• Analyse quant mock
• Revise one topic of english if you have time

English mock — 2 hours

Analyse English mock

Now if you couldn't revise one topic of English

Give quizzes of quant mains level

Revise quant topic or important questions or something related

Vocab — 1 to 1.5 hour

This was mine

This was my daily time table and trust me it's enough as it was enough for me atleast.

For mains you need to study anything new continuously. Go for something new only if you feel need to go for it. Othervise just revise and solidify your preparation with daily mocks and multiple revisions.

• Descriptive exam —

 Just read about general and famous topics and practise some writing skills

Trust me for descriptive exam you are never fully prepared or never less prepared. Never expect you will get great marks because you have written something really great or never expect you will fail or get bad marks because you couldn't write up to the mark.

Just do your best in pre and mains so you don't have to rely on descriptive at all.

• CPT — 

It's computer proficiency test. You don't need to worry much about it. Just be prepared for typing which is easily achievable if you practise daily for 45- 60 minutes or so and just do one or 2 exercise of powerpoint and Excel once in a while and you will be just fine.

This completes the whole journey of Mahendra Faroda .

Hope it will helps you.