SSC CGL Study Materials - All You Need To Know

Keep on covering your basis as far as SSC CGL Study materials are concerned? The yearly SSC CGL recruitment examination is the proverbial pearly gate for opportunities within all government departments at the staff level.

The SSC CGL Exam

The SSC CGL exam is the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) exam for Combined Graduate Level (CGL) is the one point recruitment paper organised by the Staff Selection Commission. They aim to examine and recommend candidates as government staffers across all departments by gauging their abilities on a series of minimum thresholds.

These thresholds, covered under nearly all SSC CGL study material guides, include English comprehension, writing abilities, logical reasoning and your understanding for general knowledge, understanding and general intelligence.

SSC CGL Study material guide -

Now that you know about the subjects, it's time to pick and choose your study material carefully. You can begin with the syllabus that lists SSC CGL study materials, readily available on the official website. We would, however, recommend picking up additional texts and guides, to ensure that you bring your A-game to the big day.

The official website (run on .nic.in - the national informatics centre-based website), lists the syllabus for this recruitment paper in three distinct sets - TIER I, TIER II and TIER III.

TIER I:

Scouring for SSC CGL study materials for the TIER I exam? The set includes a deep-dive into the following subjects:

i) General Intelligence and Reasoning:

ii) General Awareness

iii) Numerical ability

iv) English Comprehension  

i) General Intelligence & Reasoning: 

Here, the SSC CGL 2020 will quiz candidates on their understanding of analogies, similarities and differences, spatial visualization and orientation, problem-solving abilities, analysis, judgement and decision-making abilities.

There are also questions around visual memory, discrimination, relationship concepts and different levels of arithmetical reasoning.

ii) General awareness: 

Here, a candidate needs to be aware of the environment they live in and the application of concepts to day-to-day society. Pick up SSC CGL study materials which will cover your bases about India, its neighbouring countries and the latest developments in politics, culture, economy, Indian constitution and scientific research. If you're also preparing for the UPSC exam, you can apply your studies there to cover this aspect of the exam.

iii) Numerical Aptitude:

Here, be ready to be quizzed around your understanding of numbers and their application in a variety of situations. You may face computations on whole numbers, decimals, fractions and relational conditions between complex questions. 

Add any practice papers you may find around arithmetical concepts to your set of SSC CGL study materials. Mainly work on 10+2 level questions among them.

iv) English Comprehension: 

Here, get ready to be quizzed on your understanding and application of English as a language. That means reading and comprehension, writing abilities, nuances of grammar and use of knowledge gained from passages. Remember, that this, like other TIER I papers, will remain a multiple-choice question paper.

TIER II 

The TIER II for the SSC CGL 2020 exam is also a multiple-choice question paper with three distinct sets which apply according to the post you've applied for. 

The first set is for those candidates who're keen on positions like assistants, inspectors (for IT, excise, police, CBI), assistant enforcement officers, divisional accountants, accountants, auditors and tax assistants, among others. It covers a test for arithmetical abilities and English language comprehension.

These are two-hour examinations each, and you can cover them through the same SSC CGL study materials you've used for TIER I examinations.

The second set is for those who wish to apply for positions as statistical investigators and compilers. For these individuals, the TIER II examination will also include a third paper, which could be in commerce, mathematics, statistics or economics.

The third set of TIER-II examinations are for those individuals who're keen to join the government as sub-inspectors in the Central Police Organisations. These individuals get quizzed only on their abilities to understand and comprehend the English language. The examination is fairly intensive though - you need to clear a 200-question exercise for 200 marks. You get two hours and forty minutes to complete this challenge.

Here is the syllabus for common subjects:

i) English language and comprehension:

The English language and comprehension piece aims to check a candidate's understanding and knowledge of the language by recognition of errors. Typical questions you may face here include fill in the blanks (with the use of verbs, prepositions and articles), check on vocabulary and spellings, phrases and the correct usage of words. You may also get to showcase your understanding of sentence structures, completing sentences and phrases.

ii) Arithmetical abilities:

A little advanced as compared to the basic arithmetical ability paper in TIER I, this one will check how well you can understand, decipher and solve problems around number systems, whole numbers, decimals, fractions, percentages, ratios and averages. 

You will also see a check for your abilities in the application of basic maths - through calculation of interest, profit and loss, discounts, time and distance exercises and ratios.

iii) Specialised papers:

These include specific papers for specialised streams. You can find the following examinations here (and plan your SSC CGL study materials accordingly).

A. STATISTICS 

The statistics steam covers the following items Probability, Probability Distributions, Binomial, Poisson, Normal, Exponential. 

- Compilation, classification, tabulation of Statistical Data, Graphical presentation of data. 

- Measures of central tendency, measures of dispersion, means of association and

contingency, scatter diagram, correlation coefficient, rank correlation coefficient

and linear regression analysis ( for two or more variables ) excluding partial

correlation coefficients. 

- The concept of the population (random samples, parameters, statistics, the

sampling distribution) and an estimation of confidence intervals. 

- Principles of sampling - (simple random, stratified, systematic sampling) and

errors in the process.

- Concepts of Hypothesis – Null and alternate, Testing of hypothesis for large

samples as well as small samples including Chi-square tests

- Index Numbers, Time series analysis – components of variation and their

estimation. 

B. ECONOMICS 

This segment includes a section of general economics and Indian economics.

For General economics, this would include:

1. Demand and Supply Analysis, including Laws and Interaction of Demand and Supply. 
2. Production Function and Laws of Returns 
3. Commodity Pricing – Characteristics of various Market Forms and Price Determination under such Market Forms 
4. Theory of Factor Pricing – Rent, Wage, Interest and Profit 
5. Theory of Employment – Classical and Neo-classical Approach
6. Keynesian Theory of Employment – Principles of Effective Demand. Meaning and Importance of Investment, Relation between Saving and Investment, Multiplier Effect and the process of Income Generation, Post Keynesian Development. 
7. Nature and Functions of Money, Value of Money, Fluctuations in the value of Money – Inflation and Deflation, Monetary Policy, Index Number. - International Trade-Free Trade and Protection, Theories of International Trade. 
8. Foreign Exchange – Determination of the rate of Exchange – Purchasing Power Parity theory and Balance of Payment Theory. 
9. Public Finance – Nature. Scope and importance of Public Finance 
10. Taxation – Meaning, Classification and Principles of Taxation, Incidence of Taxation. 
11. Deficit Financing 
12. Fiscal Policy. 

Indian Economics and General Statistics

1. Statistical Investigation – Meaning and Planning of Investigation. 
2. Collection of data and editing of data. 
3. Types of sampling. 
4. Schedule and questionnaire. 
5. Presentation of data – classification, tabulation, etc.
6. Measures of Central Tendency. 
7. National Income and Accounting – Estimation of National Income, Trends in National Income, Structural changes in the Indian Economy as seen in National Income Data. 
8. Agricultural sector – Agricultural Development during Plan Period, Rural Credit, Agricultural Price Policy, Rural Development Co-operation and Panchayati Raj. 
9. Industrial Policy and Industrial Development. 
10. Problems of Economic Development – Indian Planning – Objectives, Techniques and its evolution, Five Year Plans and Role of National Development Council. 
11. Profile of Human Resources – Population and Economic Development, Demographic Profile of India, Nature of Population Problem – Poverty, Inequality, Unemployment Problem, Labour Problem, Population Control and Government Policy. 
12. New Economic Policy and Welfare Schemes. 
13. Indian Public Finance – Indian Revenue, Foreign Aid. 
14. Indian Banking and Currency system. 

TIER III -

Even though TIER III in this exhaustive process is a personality test, interview or a skill-based test, it also requires a dose of preparation. Pick your SSC CGL study materials for this piece which help you enhance your communication skills, presentation skills and commonly asked interview questions.

We hope that this plan on SSC CGL study materials put you on the right track when it comes to preparing for these big days. Do keep us posted about your progress by listing it in your posts and on comments on this piece. You'll crack it for sure!

All The Best To All The SSC CGL Aspirants !