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Strategy to prepare for SBI PO and LIC AAO Exam Simultaneously

It is often difficult to focus on two different exam preparation together. But candidates who want to try their luck at multiple government jobs, need to do it anyway. Currently, SBI PO exam and LIC AAO are two major recruitments that are going to take place in the coming few months. The SBI PO Prelims exam will be held from 8th June onwards and LIC AAO Prelims will take place on 4th and 5th May.

As you can see that both the exams are going to take place almost back to back. So how can candidates manage to prepare for two exams simultaneously without any problem? Keep reading to know how.

Understand the exam pattern and find the similarities

The SBI PO Prelims exam pattern is as follows:

Subjects Number of Questions Time Duration
English Language 30 1 Hour( Each Section Caries 20 Minutes)
Quantitative Aptitude 35
Reasoning Ability 35
TOTAL 100

 

The LIC AAO Prelims exam pattern is:

S.No Section No of Questions Max Marks Duration
1 Quantitative Aptitude 35 35 20 minutes
2 Reasoning Ability 35 35 20 minutes
3 English Language
with special emphasis on
grammar, vocabulary
and comprehension
30 30* 20 minutes
Total 100 100 60 minutes

 

As you can see that luckily, both these exams have similar exam pattern and weightage of marks. The only difference between the two exams is the time distribution. While SBI PO Prelims exam allows you to attempt any question in any section within 60 minutes, LIC AAO will give you strictly 20 minutes per section, which means you need to finish all the questions from a particular section within a stipulated time and you can’t go back once the sectional time is up.

Shortlist the sections that you need to prepare

Since the exam pattern is similar to each other for SBI PO and LIC AAO, the main sections that the candidate needs to focus on are:

  • English Language
  • Quantitative Aptitude
  • Reasoning Ability

English Language section for both the exam carries a weightage of 30 marks while the other two sections, Quantitative Aptitude, and Reasoning Ability carry 35 marks each.

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Find similarity in both the syllabus

Now that you know that the exam pattern is similar for both the exam, move to the next step, i.e., to determine whether or not the syllabus are also similar. For SBI PO and LIC AAO, the syllabuses are almost similar, except for a few more chapters to cover in SBI PO. The detailed syllabus for both the exam is mentioned below:

SBI PO Prelims Syllabus

Reasoning Quantitative Ability English Language
Logical Reasoning Simplification Reading Comprehension
Alphanumeric Series Profit & Loss Cloze Test
Ranking/Direction/Alphabet Test Mixtures & Allegations Para jumbles
Data Sufficiency Simple Interest & Compound Interest & Surds & Indices Miscellaneous
Coded Inequalities Work & Time Fill in the blanks
Seating Arrangement Time & Distance Multiple Meaning/Error Spotting
Puzzle Mensuration – Cylinder, Cone, Sphere Paragraph Completion
Tabulation Data Interpretation
Syllogism Ratio & Proportion, Percentage
Blood Relations Number Systems
Input Output Sequence & Series
Coding Decoding Permutation, Combination &Probability

 

LIC AAO Prelims Syllabus

Reasoning Quantitative Aptitude English Language
Data Interpretation

Number Series

Coding Decoding

Boast & Streams

Clocks & Calendars

Syllogism

Seating Arrangement

Blood relation

Coded Inequalities

Number System, Number Theory

Decimals and Fractions

Simplification

Ratio and Proportions

Profit and Loss

Mensuration

Average

Mixture and Allegation

Problems on Ages

Time & Distance/Work

S.I. and C.I

Partnership and Profit & Loss

Data Interpretation

Reading Comprehension

Sentence Arrangement

Cloze Test

Error Spotting

Sentence Improvement

Synonyms-Antonyms
Phrases

Elementary Grammar

Create a study plan and stick to it

Now that you have syllabuses for both the exam, for each section, segregate chapters based on your preparation level into 3 categories:

  • Chapters you already know
  • Chapters you know but need to revise
  • Chapters you have to learn

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Depending on the categories mentioned above, you can divide the syllabus of the 3 sections and make a weekly plan to cover all the categories systematically like this:

Days Categories
Monday

Chapters you know but need to revise

Tuesday

Chapters you have to learn

Wednesday

Chapters you know but need to revise

Thursday Chapters you have to learn
Friday

Chapters you have to learn

Saturday

Chapters you already know

Sunday Practice Mock Tests

 

You are free to make changes in the study pattern as per your convenience but whatever you do, spare a complete day for practicing mock tests. Also, while preparing for category 1 and Category 2, try to solve 2-3 mock tests in between from all the 3 categories.

Practice until you perfect it

As you can see that, you have almost a month left for SBI PO Prelims exam and 2 months for LIC AAO exam, utilize this opportunity to get your preparation strategy in place and get ready for both the exams simultaneously. If you are a working aspirant, you can also check the hacks to prepare for government exams along with a job here.

 

Hopefully, this article will be helpful to thousands of candidates out there who are struggling to balance the preparation for more than one exam. Try out our strategy mentioned and let us know if it worked for you!