Common Mistakes That Prevent Candidates from Cracking Sarkari Exams

Government jobs are one of the most popular job choices in India. In India every year lakh of candidates take up one or more Sarkari exams SSC, UPSC, Banking, Railways, State PSC, Police Recruitment, Teaching Exams and many more). Candidates sometimes even fail to qualify even after months or years of hard preparation and the most important reason behind the failure is generally not a lack of IQ or ability, but the mistakes in preparing the examination, and they bring a negative impact in the preparation and in the exams. 

Making a list of such mistakes and not following them may enhance chances to clear the exam. Given below are some major causes behind cracking of Sarkari examinations.

1. Starting Preparation Without Understanding the Syllabus

The biggest and perhaps the most frequent mistake committed by the candidates in preparation for the examination is they are unaware of the official syllabus and exam pattern. Most of the examinations are bound by rules and regulations, such as official syllabus, marking scheme, subject weightage, etc. A candidates’ lack of awareness of these factors is prone to wasting a lot of time on low-scoring topics.

Candidates must analyze the following before beginning their preparations:

• The entire syllabus
• The pattern of the exam
• The number of questions
• The marking system
• How negative marking works
• The pattern of previous years’ questions

2. Lack of a Proper Study Plan

A large number of candidates prepare without a timetable. They study whenever they feel like it and skip from one subject to another at will. This sort of preparation usually does not cover the whole syllabus.

Having an effective study timetable can enable candidates to stay consistent and monitor their progress. Targets should be set on a daily basis, weekly basis, and on a monthly basis depending upon the date of the exam.

Enough time needs to be spent on:

• Learning
• Revising
• Taking mock tests
• Staying abreast with current affairs
• Making practice rounds

Consistency counts for more than hard work.

3. Ignoring Previous Year Question Papers

Past Year Papers happen to be one of the best sources for preparing for exams conducted by Sarkari. Nevertheless, quite a few students restrict their preparations to books and coaching material alone.

Preparation through solving past year papers provides insight into:

• Level of question difficulty
• Priority areas
• Common themes
• Time management
• Changes in exam pattern

By solving past year papers, students become familiar with the actual atmosphere of examinations.

4. Overdependence on Multiple Study Materials

Most aspirants feel that the accumulation of more books will help them succeed. Therefore, they buy many guidebooks, take many courses, and attend many online classes at once.

This leads to confusion and information overflow. Instead of reading many books on one topic, aspirants should concentrate on a few books and revise them a number of times. Revision is more important than studying new material.

5. Neglecting Revision

Aspirants make one mistake where they concentrate only on acquiring knowledge about the new subjects and neglect revising what they have already learned.

The memory capacity of any human being has the tendency to forget things automatically. Unless the students revise what they have studied, everything they learn gets weak until the time of examinations.

Students who score good marks devote some time for revising during their preparation period.

6. Poor Time Management

Good time management is essential while preparing and writing the paper.

Most candidates spend their time on favourite topics neglecting the weak topics. While writing the paper, they lose a lot of minutes at tricky questions and don’t know how to answer and pass over them.

Students should try to solve questions with a timed approach. Mock tests should be done to discover the time-wasting topics.

7. Not Taking Mock Tests Seriously

Mock tests create a realistic test atmosphere for evaluating your readiness for the actual exam.

Unfortunately, several individuals either skip out on mock tests or take them without seriousness. There are people who are concerned about nothing other than the marks they get in the test.

The value in mock tests lies in identifying errors like:

• Wrong answer selection 
• Difficult questions that consume more time
• Low marks in certain subjects/topics
• Miscalculations
• Mistakes in guesswork

8. Ignoring Current Affairs

Current affairs have significance in several competitive exams such as SSC, Banking, Railways, UPSC, State PSC, and Defence exams among others.

The preparation of current affairs is usually delayed by aspirants till the last moment, which results in a bad show in the general awareness segment.

Candidates must make it a regular practice to read newspapers, update themselves on reliable sources, and maintain notes for the purpose of revision.

9. Excessive Reliance on Guesswork

Some candidates base their performance in the examination on wild guessing in particular tests where there is negative marking.

Educated guessing may be helpful at times, but too much guessing can really bring down a candidate’s score.

A candidate needs to work towards having an excellent grasp of concepts instead of relying on chances.

10. Lack of Consistency

Most candidates enter into preparation with a lot of vigour and enthusiasm but ultimately fail to sustain it. Many short breaks and erratic study patterns accompanied by distractions hamper with your performance.

Preparing for a competitive exam is like a marathon and not a race, wherein a few months of regular everyday studies is always beneficial than occasional binge of study.

You can get the best results even if you study for just a few concentrated hours every day for several months together.

11. Ignoring Physical and Mental Health

Some candidates have given up on sleeping, exercises and any form of recreation with a view to getting in more studying hours. This leads to stress, worry, exhaustion, loss of concentration.

A body in good health can aid effective studying. Candidates should maintain;

• Proper sleep
• Proper diet
• Regular exercise
• Short breaks in between studying
• Stress management

Physical and mental health can contribute significantly to one’s performance in examinations.

12. Comparing Preparation with Others

In this social media era, people compare their preparation with their friends, toppers or social media influences. That creates lots of stress and self-doubt. Every aspirant has their own pace of learning, their own academic background and learning method. So it’s no use comparing with others and they should put more effort in their preparation by improving their weaker sections.

Conclusion

More than hard work is needed to crack the Sarkari exam. It needs smart preparation, perseverance and the will power to not make mistakes at all. Planning, revision, skipping mock tests, taking too many materials and irregular studies are some main causes of failing in a competitive exam. The selection chance can increase in selecting the appropriate test pattern, planned and appropriate study plan, regular revision, taking practice test, and also the mindset of the applicant. By avoiding mistakes applicants will get the opportunity to fulfill their dream government job.