Understanding the nature of competitive examinations is the essence of deciding how to approach them.

You need to have a cool head to tackle competitive tests.

AT THE outset, we should realise that competitive examinations are radically different from school / college examinations, which aim at measuring the knowledge or skills of the candidates with reference to certain fixed standards, and awarding them marks, pass, class, distinction and so on.

If the candidates do not come up to a particular level of competence, they fail. On the other hand, there is no pass or failure in a competitive examination.

Characteristics : Any competitive test has the limited objective of ranking the candidates based on relative merit. For this reason, the questions in many competitive tests are of the multiple-choice objective type. All questions would be compulsory, and, irrespective of their difficulty levels, would carry equal marks.

It is true that in tests such as the Civil Services Examination and the main segment of Joint Entrance Examinations for admission to India Institutes of Technology (IITs) have descriptive type of questions. But these are exceptions.

A competitive test is more a time test than a knowledge test. Even the best candidate may not be able to answer all the questions correctly in the allotted time; nor is it necessary. A candidate need not bring forth the answer from his memory; but he has to use his power of discrimination in selecting the right answer from four or five options supplied in the question paper. Questions may be involved, and not direct as in school/college examinations. This is to a certain extent understandable, since the very objective of the test is elimination of a large number of candidates in the effort to identify the cream.

Testing nerves : For many candidates the examination may prove to be a question of nerves, since they consider the effort to secure a job or a crucial admission as a matter of life and death. The performance of those who lack in confidence may not reflect their knowledge and full capability because of their tension.

These distinctive characteristics point to the need for a systematic drilling that simulates the environment in the examination hall.
If the actual test uses the OMR type answer sheets (optical mark recognition for computerised valuation), test rehearsals may involve the use of such sheets so that the candidates become familiar with the requirements. Remember that in a time test of a competitive nature, even a couple of seconds may turn the results one way or the other.

There are sound strategies in effectively handling objective questions. The candidate who knows most need not necessarily score the highest marks in any examination. This is particularly significant in competitive examinations.

Over ambitious : Do not be too ambitious by trying to answer all the questions correctly in the limited time. Skip the difficult questions. There is no point in wasting time before the hard nuts. Save such time for answering relatively easy questions that follow.
If we have the obstinate approach of trying to answer all the questions in the available time, and wasting too much time before hard questions in the hope of solving them, we may have to regret in the end for not being able even to read some of the easy questions for want of time. Do not waste time by reading all the questions from the beginning to the end of the paper. In the conventional examinations where we have the option to choose some of the questions, we invariably read all the questions in the beginning in our effort to locate the questions we can answer best.

Such an exercise is of no use in competitive tests, since there is no `choice’ in the questions. You had better read the questions one by one from the beginning, and move forward answering the easy ones and skipping the tougher variety.
You may get time for a second round to try a hand at the questions that were skipped in the first round.

Competitive examinations are different from school examinations. The questions are often not straightforward ones.

Getting them right : A competitive test demands a fine appreciation of the concepts involved.

Many competitive tests have questions from areas not usually covered in the curricula of schools or colleges. For example, logical reasoning or mental aptitude, a favourite of the competition masters, is not a usual academic subject.

Even though elements of general knowledge appear in subjects such as history, geography, and science, a systematic coverage of the diverse areas in the usual general knowledge menu is a different kettle of fish.

Most competitive tests do have questions from conventional subjects such as arithmetic and English. But the style of questions would be different from the academic routine of schoolmasters. A direct question involving a mathematical formula is not common in a competitive test.

Element of application : There would be some element of application or an inversion. A candidate who has learnt the definitions and formulae by heart would score high marks in a school examination. But he may not go very far in a competitive test that would demand a fine appreciation of the concepts involved. Of course, there are mechanical strategies to circumvent such appreciation of the basic concepts.

Such strategies emphasise repeated drills of a perfunctory nature, using a large number of questions that were asked in the previous competitive tests.

Let us illustrate some of the different styles adopted in the reasoning segment of competitive tests.

If five cats would kill five rats in five minutes, in how many minutes would 100 cats kill 100 rats?
(The answer is five minutes. A cat would kill a rat in five minutes. We have to go by the logic of the examiner, and not pick holes in the assumptions that may not be very sound!)

Pointing to Sudheer, Usha said: “His father is the only son of my paternal grandfather.” How is Usha related to Sudheer? (a) Sister (b) Cousin (c) Niece (d) Daughter (e) None of these.
(This is an exercise in simple logic. Usha’s father is Sudheer’s father as well. The answer is `a’ - Sister)
Identify the odd man out: Efficiency, Punctuality, Fame, Honesty, Wisdom.
(Among these, Fame is not the quality of a person, whereas all the others are qualities. So, the right answer is Fame.)

A farmer had 100 cows. All but five died. How many are alive?
(The answer is obviously five. But what is being tested here is not just logic or reason, but his knowledge of the English language. He should know that in this context, “but” means “except”. The test thereby loses some of its validity. By validity is meant the quality of a test, actually testing what is intended to be tested. In the instant case, the objective before the examiner is to test the logic of the candidate, but he lands himself at testing proficiency in language. In order to overcome this disadvantage, many tests employ non-verbal questions. Such questions do not involve words or numbers except in the introductory statement. They make use of pictures, which are free from the language burden.)

Questions of analogy
See an example.
Food : Menu :: Book : ?
(a) Library (b) Catalogue (c) Shelf (d) Press (e) Librarian
(The items of food are often selected from a menu card. Books can similarly be selected from the list furnished in a catalogue. The right answer is “b”. Non-verbal questions on analogy, using sketches, are also common.)
There can be questions that ask the candidates to fill up the terms in a series involving numbers or letters or both, following a
specific logical order.
The first task is to unmask the specific order and then to apply the principle for finding the new terms. This principle may be followed in framing questions with pictures that follow specific patterns in progression.

Let us have a look at some kinds of questions in English.

Arrange the following words to make a sensible sentence.
Hard if succeed you work will you.
(If you work hard, you will succeed.) Sometimes a few jumbled sentences would be given and the candidates asked to find the logical order of the sentences to make a meaningful paragraph.

Pick out the most effective word to fill the blank.
Pramod is a …………boy of our cricket team. We are proud of him.
(a) superlative (b) richer (c) wonder (d) dull (e) good (Answer is C)

Other types involve locating the error in a sentence, identifying a misspelt word, selecting the right synonym/antonym, and comprehension of a passage for answering objective questions based on it.

Tags: Competitive Exams, Tips