The

TISSNET
GUIDE
From CRACKTISS

 Learn the TISSNET exam pattern

 Complete Syllabus Simplified
 Learn How To Plan Your Preparation
 Learn How To Prepare for Each Topic
 Updated Booklist To Prepare for Each Topic
 Step By Step Blueprint for Success in the
TISSNET

By Hemant Rajurkar
Copyright © 2015-16 CRACKTISS. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise indicated, all materials on these pages are copyrighted
by the CRACKTISS. All rights reserved. No part of these pages, either
text or image may be used for any purpose other than personal use.
Therefore, reproduction, modification, storage in a retrieval system or
retransmission, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or
otherwise, for reasons other than personal use, is strictly prohibited
without prior written permission.
Table of Contents
BEFORE YOU START............................................................................................ 1
HOW TO USE THIS DOCUMENT ......................................................................... 4
KNOW YOUR EXAMINATION .............................................................................. 6
THE TISSNET EXAMINATION ............................................................................ 11
HOW TO PREPARE FOR EACH SECTION OF TISSNET ........................................ 22
General Awareness ...................................................................................... 22
Mathematical and Logical Reasoning .......................................................... 34
English Proficiency ....................................................................................... 40
THE COMPLETE BOOKLIST................................................................................ 44
PLANNING YOUR PREPERATION ...................................................................... 47
Know what your speed is. ............................................................................ 49
Know What all to read. ................................................................................ 50
Know How to read it. ................................................................................... 52
Make Notes. ................................................................................................. 53
Revise. .......................................................................................................... 54
Solve the Question Papers ........................................................................... 56
HOW TO SOLVE THE QUESTION PAPER? ......................................................... 60
NOTES MAKING ................................................................................................ 63
And Done ......................................................................................................... 69
 About This Book

This book meant to be short, not long. You will get

the exact information that you need to crack the
TISSNET examination in this book. You will learn what
is the pattern of this examination, how to decode
your syllabus, how to plan your preparation
beforehand, how to step by step go through your
preparation and how to rapidly complete your
syllabus. It also includes some tips while preparing
for each topic of the examination.

I have presented these guidelines in the clear and

concise manner so that it will not be difficult for
anyone to understand and implement.

After reading this book, you actually have to do the

necessary hard work required for this examination.
Your success will make the purpose of this book
worthwhile.
 BEFORE YOU START

The first step towards your journey to cracking the

TISSNET is to have a clear understanding about your
goals. Why you want to appear for this examination?
Do you have a keen interest in working in the social
and governmental sector after passing this
examination? Are you really interested or you just
want to try as an opportunity? Or someone has
cracked this examination before and you want to
appear as a talented person in front of them?

If your answer is other than your burning desire to

work in the social sector or in the government, you
need to check whether its worth to invest your time
and efforts preparing for this examination. If you are
really passionate towards developing the situation of

1
millions of people through your work, then you are
on the right track.

Such an honest introspection would save your

diffused efforts and will save a lot of your time you
are going to invest in the preparation of this
examination.

Also, for cracking this examination you don’t have to

come from the reputed background or from elite
institutes.You have to be rich to get through this
examination.

But what is required from you is the burning desire to

be a part of this reputed institute and willing to do a
lot of hard and smart work. You need to be ready
mentally and with studies to get through this
examination. We will discuss it in the coming
chapters as I will walk you through this, step by step.

2
The preparation stage for any examination is the
most crucial stage of your life. During this period you
will come to know your strengths, weaknesses and
interests. It gives an opportunity to know yourself
better. Preparing for the TISS is one of the best
period of your life as you will come to know yourself
better. Most of your perceptions about society and
government will take a firm foundation in this stage.
It will be a chance to know yourself better, know
about the society better and being the best of you.

3
 HOW TO USE THIS DOCUMENT

This document will serve you as a lighthouse in the

vast ocean of the preparation. There are numerous
books, other websites, coaching centers and other
mentors to tell you different things. This guide will
help you to sail through the vast ocean of the
preparation and will bring you at a right destination.

This guide contains a lot of fundamentals which are

the most important to crack the TISSNET. These
fundamentals we often forget and do the vague
preparation of the subjects. The right strategy will be
do what is necessary for this examination. It is not
about what this exam expects from you. Also
remember that this exam is not to eliminate you, but
it is to selecting you in the TISS.

4
I would suggest you to go through this book again
and again. While preparation, keep it as your guide.
Whenever you feel you are missing something in the
preparation, refer to this guide as your mentor. Do
not rush the things. Absorb what fundamentals are
given in this book and digest it. Reread the
fundamentals if you have to. In a nutshell, consider
this document as your friend, philosopher and guide.

5
 KNOW YOUR EXAMINATION

Before starting your preparation, it is important to

know what is the pattern of the examination, its
process, structure and various aspects related to the
preparation. TISSNET have made recent changes in
the pattern of the examination for 2016.

TISS issues notification for its various programs on its

website http://www.tiss.edu. The complete
instructions should be read for the TISS MA
programs. It should be read very carefully to
understand the pattern of the examination, its nature
and related information. If there are some changes
which recently has been made, you will come to
know these by going through the notification.

Your preparation will be more focused when you will

know what the examination expects from you. A

6
thorough understanding of the nature of the
examination will not only make your preparation
focused, but will also give you an edge over other
aspirants.

The nature of the exam can be analyzed through the

following ways:

 A thorough notification on the TISS website for

the MA programmes.
 Understanding of the syllabus.
 A thorough understanding of the previous years
of question papers and recent trends.
 Discussion in detail with your teachers,
successful candidates, friends and seniors.

All of the above points are important to understand

the nature of the TISSNET exam and what we can
expect from the examination.

7
Plan of the examination

The whole TISS examination consists of three

successive stages:

 TISSNET examination (Objective type). To select

the candidate for the Pre Interview Test.
 The Pre Interview Test(Written or GD).
 The Interview.

To get a final selection in TISS, you have to clear all

the stages of this examination. The person who clears
the TISSNET will be able to get to the Pre Interview
Test of the process. Likewise, the person who clears
the PIT will be called for an interview. The person
who clears the interview will get admission to the
TISS institute.

8
Failure in any of the stages will result in non-
admission of the candidate in the TISS. He/She will
have to appear for the next year’s TISSNET.

However, clearing all these stages does not

guarantee you to get admission in TISS. There are
limited seats and number of candidates appearing for
this examination are relatively high. You will have to
score high in all the stages of the examination to be a
top ranker. The top rankers will get the admissions
according to availability of the seats and for the
exams they applied while filling the application form.

This book specifically made for the guidance to clear

the TISSNET, i.e. the first stage of the examination.
This first stage is very much important for you.
Failure at this stage means you won’t have any
chance to compete further in the examination. You

9
will have to apply for the TISSNET next year in the
case of failure at this first step.

10
 THE TISSNET EXAMINATION

The TISSNET examination consists of 100 marks, 100

questions and 100 minutes The test will be of
multiple choice questions, and will be conducted
online. There will be no negative marking for the
wrong answers.

Lets have a look what TISSNET examination consists

of.

Broadly, TISSNET is divided into the three sections.

1. General Awareness.
2. Mathematics and Logical Reasoning.
3. English Proficiency.

These three components are the main part of the

TISSNET examination. Each one is a pretty broad
topic within itself.

11
Let’s see how many questions will be there in
TISSNET from each of the topics mentioned above
and for how many marks.

As already mentioned, TISSNET consists of 100

marks. Now these questions are further divided into
different topics within the above mentioned broad
categories. Let us see the number of questions asked
from each topic.

1. General Awareness (30 questions,30 marks).

2. Mathematics and Logical Reasoning (35
questions,35 marks).
3. English Proficiency (30 questions,35 marks).

It is very important to understand the ratio of

questions to the marks. Because while solving the
questions you can take decisions which questions to
solve and which questions to leave.

12
Now, let’s dive into the actual components of each of
the topics above. This will give you a better idea
about what you will be asked in the examination and
can prepare accordingly.

According to the TISS official website you will be

asked questions on the following topics. Now I am
dividing these topics from the broad categories of
topics.

1.General Awareness

 Current Events.
 Significant Political Events or Political
Information.
 History of India and the world.
 Geography and General Geology.
 Sociological Awareness.
 Economic Processes Literature.

13
 Personalities (From all around the world).
 Fine arts and Music. (From all over the world
which is well known).
 Films and actors and actresses around the
world.

2. Mathematics and Logical Reasoning

Mathematical Reasoning:
Note: This is based on Last Year’s question
paper
 Basic Geometry
 Properties of shapes, areas, volumes.
 Basic set concepts.
 Speed, Distance, Time.
 Ratio and Proportion.
 Basic Algebra.
 Simultaneous equations.
14
  Number theory.
 Simple and Compound Interests.

Logical Reasoning:

 Identifying patterns in a set of numbers and

alphabets and their relationships.
 Determining validity of the conclusions based
on given premise.

Note: TISS only mentions Analytical ability and

Logical Reasoning in its syllabus.Therefore, I would
suggest to prepare important mathematical,
analytical and logical reasoning topics. These are:

 Average
 Problems on Ages
 Percentage
 Profit and loss
15
 Ratio and proportion
 Allegation and Mixtures

Reasoning

 Analogy
 Coding Decoding
 Series Completion
 Logical Sequence of words
 Number Ranking and Time sequence test
 Statement- Arguments
 Statement- Assumptions
 Statement- Course of actions.
 Statement- Conclusions

Non-Verbal Reasoning

 Series
 Analogy

16
 Classification
 Analytical Reasoning
 Mirror and Water Images
 Completion of incomplete pattern

Note: Questions on mathematics, analytical

ability, and reasoning are of very basic level in
the TISSNET.

3.English Proficiency

 Analogies.
 Vocabulary.
 Vocabulary and appropriate pairing of words.
 Reading comprehension.
 Antonyms.
 Rearranging the sentences to form a logical and
meaningful paragraph.
17
Last year, There were six types of tasks in the
English Proficiency test. The first 5 were listed
above. Each task had 5 questions carrying 1 mark
each. That means 5 sections x 5 questions=25
questions for 25 marks. The sixth section, i.e.
rearranging the sentences had 5 sentences to be
rearranged for 2 marks each. That means
5 questions x 2 marks each= 5 questions for 10
marks.
This is how English section was divided into 30
questions for 35 marks.

If you have a solid understanding of from which

topics questions are asked in the examination, you
will definitely have an advantage as you don’t have
to jumble up in the examination. Basics like these

18
 can prove to be very important in cracking any kind
of examination.

TISS 2016 Changes

MODIFICATION / UPDATE IN TISS NET 2016 FROM THE EXAM

FORMAT THAT WAS ANNOUNCED EARLIER:

TISS NET 2016 WILL NOT HAVE NEGATIVE MARKING FOR ANY
PROGRAMME INCLUDING HRM. CANDIDATES WHO HAVE APPLIED FOR
A SINGLE PROGRAMME OR MULTIPLE PROGRAMMES WILL BE
ATTEMPTING A SINGLE QUESTION PAPER WITH 100 QUESTIONS FOR A
DURATION OF 100 MINUTES, THIS INCLUDES CANDIDATES WHO HAVE
CHOSEN HRM IN COMBINATION WITH OTHER PROGRAMME/
PROGRAMMES.

No Negative Marking
TISSNET 2016 will not have any negative marking.
This is a huge advantage for the students.
However, this criteria should not be taken as
granted to mark all the answers even if you don’t
know the correct answers.

19
So, how you can score maximum marks while
taking advantage of no-negative marking?

The solution is to have at least 80-85% accuracy.

That means if you have solved 100 questions( just
for an example), 80-85% of your answers should be
correct. Of course, this is possible only if you have
practiced a lot of questions before the
examination. If you are solving 100 questions and
you get only say, 40% correct answers, then your
score will surely go down.

Therefore, the moral of the story is, prepare well in

advance for this examination. Do not depend on
the luck and don’t bluff too much in the
examination hall. Prepare well and your half of the
battle will be over.
20
Now lets see how to prepare for each section for
the TISSNET.

21
HOW TO PREPARE FOR EACH SECTION OF
TISSNET
General Awareness

Most of the people who are preparing for the

TISSNET fear this section. But it is one of the most
easiest section to prepare. Also, it is fun as you
increase your range of information in various
subjects. It is easier to solve in the examination as
you know the answers to the question beforehand,
if you have prepared well. Also it takes very less
time in the examination hall to solve the question if
you know the answer well (usually 9-10 seconds).

General awareness is also a scoring subject. You

just have to prepare well.

22
Now lets go into the components which comes
under general awareness section and how to
prepare each of them.

The best way to prepare for the General

Awareness is from the newspapers. If you have
already been reading the newspaper then you
have an advantage. If not, well you have to read
them online.

There are major newspaper publication online

nowadays and they have archives of newspapers
according to the date. If you want to know about
any news or its background, simply go to these
newspaper’s website and search there. Here are
some of the websites which are important.
 www.Indianexpress.com
 www.thehindu.com

23
  www.timesofIndia.Indiatimes.com

You can also prepare from any good current affiars

book. I would not suggest books such as
Competition success review as these books are
expensive and contains lot of advertisement than
the actual material.

The best books to prepare for current affairs can

be Mahendra publications, book or Arihant
publication books. These are available in the
market mostly everywhere. Their content is precise
and price is less.

Also last year, some static GK questions were

asked. These were questions, for example, longest,
tallest type and capital of the countries, etc. You
can prepare this from any of the good GK book for
e.g. Pearson GK book or Manorama Year book.

24
 1. Current Events

Current Events means everything that is happening in

India and around the world. It can be the major
events, Geographical events, political events,
economic events, social events, Scientific events etc.

Prepare all these things from the current affairs

magazine as stated above

2. Significant political events or political Information.

The first thing you have to know in this section is the

constitution of India.

Our constitution contains information about

structure of the government, its functions,
institutions and responsibilities. It also contains our
rights as a citizen any many more things.

25
By far the best book to prepare for this is Indian
Polity by M Laxmikanth. It is quite a heavy book for
reading, but you just have to read the concepts from
it.

Important chapters from this book to read are

 Preamble of the Constitution

 Central Government
 State Government
 Parliament
 Fundamental Rights, Funtdamental Duties and
Directive Principles of the state policy.

If you do not want to go through such a big book,

then you can prepare it from Arihant GK or Pearson
GK book.

There are some important political events which are

happening in India and the world.

26
For example Indian political events- Election in Bihar,
Jan Lokpal Bill, Women’s Quota etc.

Major international political events such as different

summits such as SAARC, BRICS, G20, Indian Science
Congress, etc.

Other political events such as Ukraine crisis, Syrian

crisis, Conflicts between countries such as India and
China on border issues etc.
Prepare this from the current affairs magazine.

3. History of India and world

History of India is divided into three parts- Ancient,

Medieval and Modern.

But most of the questions in the exam will be on the

modern Indian history. Now Modern Indian History
27
starts from 1857 to 1947(from revolt of 1857 to the
independence of India in 1947)

You can read the history from the school textbooks

or from the NCERT. The problem is NCERT is heavy to
read and sometimes difficult to get at some places.

The exact to the point and concise book for history is

A Brief History of Modern India by Spectrum
Publication.
World History- Arihant/Pearson GK book.

4. Geography and General Geology

For general geology follow this Wikipedia link

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology

In Geography, generally questions on the Indian

geographical Structure are asked. These include-

28
Indian Peninsula- How it emerged, Indian River
Systm, Indian Mountain System, Indian Climate,
Indian Forests, Indian Coasts and Islands etc. You can
prepare this from NCERT 11th and 12th.

If you want to prepare this from a book, then you can

use-

Arihant GK book/ Pearson GK book. OR

Indian and World Geography By Majid Hussein.

Do not get overwhelmed by the volume of the book.

You just have to prepare basics from the book. Just
ask yourself simple questions while preparing.For
example- What is Indian River System? You can then
search in the book for your answer. When you get
your answer from the book, preparation for that
topic is over. You can now take notes and revise. It
does not need any high funda preparation.

29
5. Sociological Awareness

Sociological awareness includes problems which are

pertaining in India. These include Poverty,
Unemployment, Education, Women and Children
Issues,Naxalism, Religious conflicts, Problems of SCs
and STs etc.

The best book to prepare these issues is Wizard

Social Issues & Institutions (Fifth Edition)

Also, while preparing from this book, go through the

online newspaper websites to check current news
about these sociological issues.

6. Economic processes Litrature

In economy you will have to read about how overall

economy works. You should know what is GDP, GNP,

30
National Income, Inflation, Deflation, Convertibility of
Rupee, Budgeting and so on.

Do not read Dutta and Sundaram for economy cause

it will take a lot of your time as this book have tons of
unnecessary data.

The good book in the market for the economy is

Indian Economy By Ramesh Singh. It has covered
nearly all the aspects of the Indian economy. This
book is quite bulky, but you don’t have to read
everything from it. Again, do only basic and
conceptual reading.

You can also use Indian Economy Special Edition by

pratiyogita darpan. This is a good book with all the
things consolidated, but you need to know the basic
concepts first.

31
Arihant GK book/ Pearson GK book is also good to
prepare for the economics.

7. Personalities (From all around the world).

This included the heads of the organizations such as

UN, World Bank, IMF, Asian Development Bank,
RBI,World leaders, Nobel prize winners, Indian
personalities who have won national and
international awards etc.

Also pay special attention to sports personalities and

people who work in the social sectors. Also cover
famous personalities who died recently.

32
You can read this from any current affairs magazines
such as Arihant or Mahindra publications or you can
search it on the Wikipedia.

8. Fine arts and Music

You will have to read the famous personalities in the

field of fines arts and music. Give special attention to
the people who have recently won any awards or
whose work has fetched a great price.

If these people are in the news, it can be read from

the current affairs magazine itself. Do not do any
extensive research on them.

9. Films and Actors and actresses around the world

In this section you will have to read about various

film actors and actresses who are In the news

33
recently, who have won significant awards such as
Oscars, national awards etc.
You can cover these from the current affairs
magazine as stated earlier.

Mathematical and Logical Reasoning

1. Basic Geometry and basic algebra, Properties of

shapes, areas, volumes.

I am combining these three in one section as

preparation for this is on the similar lines.

In this section you have to prepare basic geometry

such as lines, angles and the Pythagoras theorem.

Basic algebra contains set theory and other formula

based questions such as

(a + b)2 = a2 + 2ab + b2; a2 + b2 = (a + b)2 − 2ab

34
In algebra questions will be simple based on such
formulae.

You can do these formulae based questions and basic

geometry from Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive
Examinations by R.S. Aggarwal.

Set theory you will have to cover from the school

textbooks or you can search online. Here is a link to
one of such resource for set theory.

http://www.math.toronto.edu/weiss/set_theory.pdf

Do not go too deep into the set theory as the ratio of

efforts and output is very less. It is not wise to spend
a day or two learning a set theory when only 1 or 2
questions may come from it.

Properties of shapes, areas and volumes- You can

prepare it from Quantitative Aptitude for

35
Competitive Examinations by R.S. Aggarwal. It is
given in a clear way in this book.

1. Simultaneous Equations-

It is an old school mathematics, but you will have to

bear with it. Here is a good link to prepare for it-

http://www.cse.salford.ac.uk/physics/gsmcdonald/M
1A_02_Algebra_Main_02_Simultaneous%20equation
s.pdf

Solve basic problems on it. And again try to solve it

from the school textbooks or search for the problems
on the google. Solving 15-20 examples will be
enough.

36
2. Number theory

For this again, you will have to visit your school

textbooks.

Get acquainted with the integers, fractions, squares,

cubes, prime numbers, factorials, rational numbers
etc.

Also prepare for the divisibility rules. Additions,

subtraction and multiplications.

You can prepare this from Quantitative Aptitude for

Competitive Examinations by R.S. Aggarwal. Do the
following chapters

 Numbers
 H.C.F. & L.C.M. of Numbers
 Decimal Fractions
 Simplification
 Square Roots & Cube Roots

37
  Average
 Problems on Numbers
3. Speed, Distance,Time. Ratio and Proportion.
Simple and Compound Interests.

You can prepare this from any of the MBA material or

from RS Aggarwal’s quantitative aptitude book.
Although the best book to prepare quantitative
aptitude is How to Prepare for Quantitative Aptitude
for CAT. by Arun Sharma. Solve level 1 problems only
as TISSNET difficulty level is not that high.

Also prepare following important chapters:

 Percentage
 Profit and Loss
 Partnership
 Alligation and Mixtures
 Time and Work

38
Logical Reasoning

1. Identifying patterns in a set of numbers and

alphabets and their relationships.

You can prepare this from-

A Modern Approach to Verbal & Non-Verbal

Reasoning by R S Aggarwal

Prepare the following chapter

 Series Completion ( From the both verbal and

non verbal reasoning).

2. Determining validity of the conclusions based

on given premise.

Prepare the following chapters

 Data Sufficiency
 Assertion and reason
39
 You can prepare these chapters from the any
good MBA material.
Also prepare-
 Statement- Arguments
 Statement- Assumptions
 Statement- Course of actions.
 Statement- Conclusions
(The list of topics to prepare is given in the
TISSNET syllabus in this book)

This area of Mathematics and Logical Reasoning

needs a lot of practice. Therefore, you will have to
solve a lot of questions on these topics.

English Proficiency

1. Analogies
40
Prepare this chapter from first chapter Analogy A
Modern Approach to Verbal & Non-Verbal Reasoning
by R S Aggarwal.

2 .Vocabulary, Vocabulary and appropriate pairing

of words.

Vocabulary building is not a one month process. If

you are reading continuously and making efforts to
understand the meaning of the english words, this
section won’t be difficult for you.

The best way to build the vocabulary is by reading

the newspapers and marking words from it, and
then finding its meaning from the dictionary. Make
sure you are writing down these words in your

41
notebook so that you can revise those words again
and again to remember for the long time.

To practice those words for this exam, you can

practice it from the book Objective General English
by RS Aggarwal. Prepare Vocabulary chapter from it.

3. Antonyms

Prepare Antonyms chapter from Objective General

English by RS Aggarwal.

4. Reading comprehension

Reading comprehension tests your ability to

comprehend the given passage correctly. Again, if
you have a habit of reading newspapers then this will
be easy for you.

42
To prepare reading comprehension, if you have
Objective General English book, you can prepare
comprehension chapters from it.

Another good book for the preparation of this topic is

Proficiency in Reading Comprehension Simplifying
the ‘Passage’ for you by Ajay Singh.

5. Rearranging the sentences to form a logical and

meaningful paragraph.

In this section you will be given 4-5 sentences in the

random order. You have to rearrange those
sentences to make a logical and meaningful
paragraph.

You can prepare this chapter from from Objective

General English by RS Aggarwal.- Rearrange of
sentences chapter.

43
 THE COMPLETE BOOKLIST

Here is the complete list of books for your reference-

1. General Awareness

Current Events

Mahindra’s or Arihant Publication current affairs

books (Last 6 Months).

Political Events or Political Information

Indian Polity by M Laxmikanth.

Arihant/Pearson GK.

History Of India And The World

A Brief History of Modern India by Spectrum

Publication.
Arihant/Pearson GK.

44
Geography and General Geology

Indian and World Geography By Majid Hussein.

Arihant/Pearson GK.

Sociological Awareness

Wizard Social Issues & Institutions (Fifth Edition)

Economic Processes Litrature

Indian Economy By Ramesh Singh.

Indian Economy Special Edition by Pratiyogita

Darpan.

Arihant/Pearson GK.

2. Mathematics and Logical Reasoning.

How to Prepare for Quantitative Aptitude for CAT

by Arun Sharma.

45
Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Examinations
by R.S. Aggarwal.

A Modern Approach to Verbal & Non-Verbal

Reasoning by R S Aggarwal.

3. English Proficiency

Objective General English by RS Aggarwal.

Proficiency in Reading Comprehension Simplifying

the ‘Passage’ for you by Ajay Singh.

Important Note: Most of the books above are

reference books. You do not have to read them page
to page. Most of your preparation of History,
Geography, Polity and Economics can be finished
from the Arihant/Pearson GK book. Buy above
mentioned books only when you are not able to
understand from the GK book.

46
 PLANNING YOUR PREPERATION

The most important aspect of the preparation for any

exam is – Planning. Without planning you are like
wandering in the new city, with no clue where are
you heading. Preparation for the TISS is also the same
if you don’t know what you are doing.

Without planning, how much you ever read, how

much hard work you invest, they might not be
directed towards the goal and it all ends up getting
wasted. Most of the hard working people don’t
realize this and they fail in the attempt.

Therefore, for this examination, only hard work

won’t suffice. You also have to work smart. It should

47
be an Intellectual Hard Work. Your whole preparation
should be backed with a proper planning, intellectual
hard work, and feedback to yourself whether you are
doing it correctly or not.

But how to plan your preparation?

I will make things here easier for you. There is a

simple plan to follow for the TISS. And it’s not
complicated. Here it goes.

1. Know what your speed is.

2. Know what all to read.
3. Know how to read it.
4. Make notes (if you feel necessary).
5. Revise.

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 6. Solve questions (very important- can not be
skipped).

Sounds easy plan? Good. Now let us dive into each of

these components of the plan and see what does it
mean.

Know what your speed is.

You need to know what your reading speed is. Unless

you know how much time you take to go through a
certain topic, it is not possible to know whether you
can complete all things necessary before the
examination. As everyone has different
reading/learning speed, it is necessary for everyone
to introspect what amount of time it takes to learn
the things.

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Know What all to read.

After assessing your learning speed it is important for

you know what you are going to cover for this
examination. What subjects you need to read, which
books you have to refer and what topics from these
books you have to cover.

Make a chart of the all the books and topics you need
to cover and in front of each topic, write an
approximate time in which you will cover this topic.
This estimation will give you an idea about how long
it will take you to cover all the topics.

Also, you cannot cover each and everything which

will be asked in the examination. Therefore do the
topics which are most important for the examination
first. Do not mistake it for not covering other topics.
But you must give priority to the most important

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topics first. Planning is all about maximizing the
outcomes of the efforts.

Now, the question is- How you decide what to

read/prepare for the TISSNET examination?

Do not worry though. There is a separate section for

the booklist for TISSNET in this book (Given Above).
Also, you have to collect the important topics from
your friends, seniors, teachers and from other places
according to your observation of the question
papers.

Now, as you have books and topics list with you, try
to weight these topics according to the priority and
prepare according to it.

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Know How to read it.

The most important requirement for studying any

topic is- 100% focus. You won’t be able to absorb the
material properly if you are not focused. While
reading try to understand the concept first. Ask
yourself a lot of questions while reading and try to
find your answers in the book.

Do not read too many books for the same topic. Stick
with the one or two good books. Believe what you
are reading. Do not read too many books when
examination is near.

This examination needs a lot of basics with the

conceptual clarity. You do not need to do any high
funda preparation for this exam. Do not study like
you are going to write a research paper.

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Make Notes.

There is a lot of material to prepare for the TISSNET

and you will not remember everything you read.
Therefore, to get over this vast amount of material is
to prepare notes.

Now you must be frightened when I said to prepare

notes. You will say we already don’t have enough
time to prepare for the material and this note making
will be an overhead.

But consider the last few days before the

examination when you will try to revise the material,
and you will have to go through all these books again.

Doesn’t it feel time consuming? What if you only

have to go through the 20% of the material you
already read? Does it sound simple?

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You will have to consolidate the material you have
learned in the 20% by making notes. Also, notes
should be simple and short.

I will tell you how to make notes in a whole other

topic in this book.

Revise.

Everyone can not remember what he/she reads for

the first time. According to the popular research
nearly 80% of the learned material will be forgotten
within 24 hours.

This is called as forgetting curve or Ebbinghaus curve.

It looks like this-

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It says after 3 days you will forget 100% of the
material you have learned if you don’t revise!

Therefore, to remember whatever you have learned,

you will have to revise it within the first 2 hours, then
within 24 hours, and then after a week.

You will save a lot of time and efforts by revising.

Also, you don’t have to revise the whole material

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again, but you will have to revise your notes! How
simple is that.

That means your revision will be fast, as you already

know the material and you don’t have to invest your
time in learning it again. Also, you will have to revise
only 20% of the material so you will save a lot of
time.

Solve the Question Papers

Solving question paper is very important part of the

whole process, still many people completely ignore
it. Practicing the question paper beforehand give a
lot of advantages in the examination hall. It is like a
mock drill before going for the firefighting! You
cannot be dead when actual fire emerges!

Most people don’t have this practice of solving

question papers. Even if they have a descent
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preparation they fail to clear this examination just
because they don’t get skills of attempting the actual
examination.

Benefits of solving question papers-

1. It consolidates your learning: While soling

question papers, you have to actually apply the
concepts you are learning. This consolidates
your thoughts and you can apply your
knowledge better.
2. It increases your speed and accuracy: The old
saying- practice makes man perfect applies
here. By practicing the question papers, you
become familiar with the questions.This helps
to increase your speed and accuracy.
3. It helps to recognize your strength and
weaknesses: While solving question papers, you
will come to know in which areas you are

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 stronger and which areas needs more work.
This is very much helpful as it will give you
insights about which areas you have to prepare
for maximizing the score.
4. It gives you the strategy: The questions you are
practicing in the question papers may not get
repeated in the actual examination, but it will
give you the strategy about which questions to
solve and which questions to leave, which
questions takes more time and which questions
can be solved quickly. This insight is very
important as you can’t afford to waste your
time in the examination hall.

Can you get now how important is solving the

question papers?

Solving question papers bring within you the skills to

maximizing your score through cultivating speed and

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accuracy in solving the questions and also developing
a strategy to solve a question paper.

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HOW TO SOLVE THE QUESTION PAPER?

TISSNET do not have a sectional time limit. Therefore,

you can solve the question paper as you want. You
can start solving the paper from any section or you
can switch in between.

However, I will recommend you to start from a

section you are strong enough and start solving the
questions. Solve the questions you are confident
about solving. When you come across a difficult
question in between, do not get stuck on it and lose
your time. Leave such question as it is and move to
the next question. Or else there will be a little time to
solve the questions you are comfortable with, and
with a lack of time you can make mistakes.

When you have marked the questions you were

confident about, you can revisit the questions you

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were unable to solve before. If you are confident that
you can solve such questions, then only solve it, else
leave that question.

You can then move to the next section you feel

confident about and can solve the questions in this
section with the same strategy detailed above.

After solving all the question paper by this method,

and if you have time left, you can revisit any unsolved
question and try to solve it. In this manner you can
solve the entire question paper without leaving any
simple question.

Sometimes, you don’t know the answer of the

difficult questions. In this case you can make an
educated guess about it. Look at the options of the
question and mark the answer you feel most
appropriate. But do not overdo it.

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Your maximum score will be dependent upon your
level of preparation, your revision and your practice
of solving the question papers.

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 NOTES MAKING

I have already discussed how important it is to make

notes for your TISSNET preparation. But it is
everyone’s personal decision. Some people may feel
uncomfortable reading from the notes. But making
notes prove to be the best strategy in the long run.

Notes making have certain benefits- Some of these

are:

1. It shortens the amount of material you will have

to read.
2. It reduces the time and the efforts of your
preparation.
3. It consolidates your thinking.
4. It removes last minute searching of the
material, when you don’t remember from
where you have read the topic.

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 5. It makes your revision fast.
6. Large amount of material can be glanced
quickly so that you can get the complete scope
of the syllabus.

Remember: Notes making is not about copying the

material from the books and writing it as it is in your
notebook.

Instead, notes making should be very short, clear and

understandable by yourself.

Consider notes as the key to the vast material lying

inside a room. You have the key, you can open the
lock anytime you want and can access the material
inside a room.

How you can do it?

Make the Miro Notes.

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What are the micro notes?

These are keywords driven notes which can be used

as a shortest possible notes.

Whenever you will read something, e.g. from a

paragraph, it will have some important keywords
within it. You will have to identify these keywords
and write it down. Also, you have to write these
keywords in a such a way that you will remember the
whole passage from these keywords.

I will explain this with an example.

The following topic is taken from the Wikipedia and it

is about the Indian Independence Movement.

The term Indian Independence Movement encompasses activities and

ideas aiming to end first East India Company rule (1757–1858), then
the British Raj (1858–1947). While the word "independence" is often used
to characterize this movement, in the local languages of India, the

65
movement was referred to as Swaraj - which means "self-rule" -
movement. Therefore, the movement should be correctly referred to as
Indian Self-rule Movement or as Indian Sovereignty Movement. Because
the people of India were in no way dependent on anyone except
themselves, it is incorrect to call it Independence Movement.

Now, I have marked main keywords from the

passage. By reading these keywords you will come to
know what the Indian Independence Movement was.

Now your notes will look like this-

Indian Independence Movement - end first East India Company rule

(1757–1858), End British Raj (1858–1947).

Swaraj-"self-rule" movement. Also called as Indian Self-rule Movement.

Now even if you remember these keywords, you can

remember the whole passage. All other material can
be forgotten and it’s even not necessary.Only the
important keywords should be remembered.

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Just write down such keywords from the material you
are reading. Whatever you are reading make that
material 20% smaller just by picking the right
keywords from it.

With this method you will also save the time in

making notes. Also, they will be simple, easy to read
and easy to revise.

While solving the questions of Mathematics and

reasoning, Make notes of the methods you used to
solve a problem.

For example- you are solving a problem of speed,

time and distance, and you came across a method
which will solve the problem quickly. Then you have
to actually write down the method by which you
came across the solution. Don’t do it for each and
every topic or problem. Just make such a note for the

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problems which are difficult to solve or you want to
remember.

While solving the english proficiency problems,

especially the reading comprehension, make a note
of where you actually got wrong while coming to the
solution of the question. While solving the other
problems of the reading comprehension, these notes
will come handy in measuring and observing your
thought process and you will come to know the right
way of solving a problem.

Notes makes your life easier and will give you an

edge as it helps you to evaluate yourself while
preparation.

If you have less time to prepare, make notes of only

important topics or topics which you will need to
read from the two books.

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 And Done

Here we reach to the end of the document. It is

amazing to finish reading this right? I have made all
the efforts to guide you through the TISS
examination. If you have any queries, you can
contact me through the website
cracktiss.wordpress.com

I wish you all the best for your TISSNET examination.

And thank you for the reading.

Hemant Rajurkar

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