JUST A GUIDANCE FOR PA/SA ASPIRANTS

Disclaimer:- All Information provided in this post are Compiled by A. Praveen Kumar for in good faith of Postal Assistant Exam Aspirants. Author of blog does not accepts any responsibility in relation to the accuracy, completeness, usefulness or otherwise, of the contents.

Friends, last year I published Postal Assistant exam material and model cum practice papers. All the aspirants welcomed my efforts and appreciated countrywide. This year also I am planning to post valuable information / quality material and model papers at free of cost in my blog. (Last year material is available ( akulapraveen.blogspot.com & http://sapost.blogspot.in/) @ Blog Archive, select the months Oct-2012, Nov-2012, Dec-2012, Jan-2013, Feb-2013, Mar-2013, Apr-2013)

I am receiving mails form the Postal Assistant exam aspirants regarding books to refer & how to prepare and publishing of quality study material.

Books are keys to success for any exam. Candidates should polish their basics by using best books. Candidates make big mistake while choosing books for exams. Never choose all in one book, these kind of guides doesn't concentrate on fundamentals. 

For Arithmetic:  (Any two books)

1. Quantitative Aptitude by R.S.Aggarwal

2. Magical book on Quicker Maths by M.Tyra

3. Numerical ability and Quantitative by P.K.Mittal

4. Quantitative aptitude by Arun Sharma

5. Quantitative aptitude by Abhijit guha

6. Quantitative aptitude by A.Gulati

For Reasoning section: (Any Two)

1.A modern approach to Verbal and Non-Verbal reasoning by R.S.Aggarwal

(R. S Aggrawal’s reasoning series is ok, but there are no shortcuts in these books. All are traditional methods).

2. A modern approach to logical reasoning by S.Chand

For English section: (Any Two)

1. For English you can buy any English Grammar book of your local language. This will help you getting basic idea on English grammar. Later you can switch to any Standard English grammar book like "Intermediate English Grammar" of Raymond Murphy or Wren & Martin

2. Objective General English by R.S.Aggarwal.

3. Objective English for Competitive examinations by Hari mohan Prasad and Uma Rani Sinha.

For General awareness: (Any Two)

1.General awareness and Current affairs digest by M.Laxmikanth

2. General knowledge and General awareness by Ravi chopra

3. Advanced Objective general knowledge by R.S.Aggarwal

4. Current affairs and General awareness by M.G.Rahmani

5. General knowledge by Manohar Pandey

For Current Affairs you can buy Pratiyogitha Darpan / Kiran (If you can afford around Rs. 75/- per month) Mahindra’s Current Affairs (it costs you around Rs. 30/-) or any leading competitive exams magazine of your language. But no book is perfect; better to make your own short-notes on Current Affairs.

1.    Just Remember, Almost all the topics they cover in Postal Assistant exams are of the classes 6th to 10th. So, Even a 10th Standard kid can clear this exam, if given enough time. With me? But the thing is, you have to complete the paper in given time. So, don't you think you can do it with little efforts and practice? (This is the same answer for those people who say, "I am not from science background. That's the reason why I can't write Postal Assistant Exams". Friends, you just lack practice. Not skills. Remember it).

2.    Stop saying, I have so many family problems. So, can't concentrate on preparation. First let us know, who the hell on earth don't have problems? See, nobody will remember your problems when you failed in the exam. Even your mom, dad and close friends will say that you lost it because of your negligence. Can you show me a single person, who sincerely says that you lost it because of your personal problems? Friends, they don't know your feelings, they don't want your emotions, all just they want is to talk about your success. So just stop searching reasons for failures and start make yourself ready for the exam.

3.    Stop thinking, What if I lost this exam? Pretty good question, isn't it? The answer is, the earth never gonna blast, the sun never gonna turn black and the most important thing, you never gonna die because of it. May be some blank faces and emotional atyachars for two or three days. Later everything gonna be fine. The only disappointing thing is, you just have to wake up in sad mood on the very next day of your result. But it’s not such a big deal. You will start preparing for another exam. After all we are here to win. Nobody gonna die as a loser. Who knows?  This may be your last step towards your goal :) Be positive. Just avoid negative thoughts. 

4. Is Coaching Necessary to clear the Postal Assistant Exam?

Of course not. Now a day’s almost all coaching institutes have became money minded. They just concentrate on covering topics rather than explaining them. So, if you are sincere enough, then you surely can prepare on your own without taking the help of any coaching class. By doing so, you can save your valuable money and time. The only best thing with coaching classes is, they just provide you the good environment of preparation. I mean, you will be motivated if people around you are continuously discussing about the issues related to preparation. Ofcourse, you can create this environment by making a group with your friends too. Combined studies and sharing ideas really help you prepare well. But make sure that all your friends are sincere and enthusiastic as you. 

5. What if I don't have good friends?

No problem, you can join in any Facebook group (Postal Assistant Exam) in which people who prepare for exams interacts and helps each other. But don't waste too much time in chatting with others. 5 to 10 minutes per day for a good cause is Ok.

6. Gathering Materials:

Don't try to buy every book with the name "Postal Assistant" on it. So, before going to collect the materials just read the syllabus. Make a list of topics to read; according to it you can buy the books. Books list are mentioned above.

7. Making Timetable:

If you are working somewhere: If you are working somewhere then it may not possible to dedicate the whole day on your preparation. Try to spend at-least five hours per day on preparation. Morning two hours and night time 3 hours. Try to practice Aptitude and Reasoning sections at morning. Try to manage reading news paper during the day time. At evening you can concentrate on English / General Knowledge section according to your convenience and interest. On holidays better work with practice sets and General Awareness topics. 

If you are completely dedicated to Exams: Congratulations. You have the whole day with you to prepare. But don't be a book worm. Too much of anything is good for nothing. Try to wake up at 4 (We know its really difficult for you at initial days. But trust us , your body will get used to it within 4 or 5 days). Work with Aptitude and Reasoning sections according to your convenience. You can prepare till 8 or 9 depending on your interest. Later you can have breakfast and do your favorite task for 1 hour. Later read the news paper and note important points. Try to remember if there are any new names and numbers / dates. Complete your lunch by 1 PM. Walk around for 10 to 15 minutes. Have a quick nap for two hours. Wake up by 4 PM. Prepare English for Two hours. Complete your dinner by 9. Prepare general awareness or any other subject according to your convenience. Go to bed by 11 PM Sharp. 

8. Starting Preparation: Before starting your preparation, just mug up the following things

·      Math tables upto 20

·      Squares up to 30

·      Cubes up to 15 

·      Powers of 2 (upto 12)

·      Powers of 3 (upto 6)

·      Complements of 100 (the difference between 100 and the given number). This will help you calculating faster. 

·      Try to learn 10 new English words per day (including Antonyms and Synonyms) (you should do this upto 7 days before your exam)

·      Learn Place value of Alphabets

9. During Preparation : 

·      For Aptitude and Reasoning: Pick any topic and try to learn the basics of the topic. Once you feel you perfectly got the topic then only go for problems. And remember, example problems are always easier to read and understand. It something like, riding bicycle when somebody is holding it. At that time you will feel that you are perfect at bicycle riding. But before going to the race, you have to test yourself whether you can really ride it or not. More than 70% of our friends fail at this point. Why to point others? Even my brother too does this. He is a lazy bug. He just opens the book, reads the concept and says "It is easy!!!" and sleeps. But after exam he comes with a sad face and says "Di, the paper was very tough. Even I also couldn't answer more than 100 questions (!!!). Nobody can clear this exam". Then where on the earth all those people who have cleared the exam came from? From mars? The only problem is, he has laziness and attitude. Which they don't have. Hope you have got what I am trying to say. Practice... Practice... Practice.... Practice till the end of your exam.

·      For English Language:  Try to learn the basics first. Later you can go with concept. And remember, spoken English is different and competitive English is different. You shouldn't be a fluent English speaker or you shouldn't learn every English word to clear the Exam with good marks. Just learn the basics perfectly and practice well. That's enough. 

·      Making Notes for Current Affairs: It’s better to depend on THE HINDU or The Times of India to make your CA notes. If you have any problem with them then you can go with any local language news paper. Maintain a notebook for Current Affairs. Read the news paper completely. Just write the date in the notebook as the main heading. Make some sub headings like International Events, National Events, Economy, Sports, People in News etc. Don't copy the news paper as it is, just 2 or 3 lines are enough. Try to highlight if there are any names or numerical values. And don't write everything you see in the news paper. They won’t ask you about silly things like Politician's second wife, Bollywood heroines' daughter and Cricketer's ankle pains the topics which the news papers publish as  their main headlines. Just ask yourself a question "Is it going to be appear in the exam?", if you feel YES, then write it. If you feel no then don't write. Of course, its not such an easy task as we are saying. We too agree. But trust us, day by day you could observe the improvement in you and finally you will be the expert of making Current Affairs notes.

9. Spirituality: Yep you heard it correct. Believe in god. Daily pray for 10 minutes (it would be more nice if you can Meditate). Of course, we are not saying that the god will show you the correct options during the exam. But the feeling "somebody is there to help me" makes you stay calm and peaceful.

 10. Merely passing the exam won’t help you at all. Your job is totally dependentent on the rank you get. The higher rank you get, the more chances for the selection. So, don't just try to clear the exam. Try to give your best. 

Final words : Friends, I hope this article will help you in your preparation and last but not the least, the main aim is to provide information and complete quality study materials of competitive exams for free. So, feel free to review my materials/ postings. So please feel free to share your views on the topics which are not clear in this blog, the areas which I should concentrate more and any other improvement you want to see in "akulapraveen.blogspot.com"  & http://sapost.blogspot.in/so that I can make them available soon. All the Best.