GK for TISSNET: Strategies and tips

TISSNET is the entrance test for the M.A. Human resource program at Tata Institute of Social Sciences. This program is one of the country’s most searched-for HR programs. Now TISSNET preparation is somewhat different from planning for other MBA entrance exams. The key difference is that relative to the others, TISSNET is not as complex. But the General Knowledge section is a different matter entirely. So the key is to learn how to crack the GK section and let’s look at what tactic we should try to crack TISSNET GK and pave our way to TISS.

What is TISSNET all about?

Confused? Get free mentor-ship by experts 

Firstly, let’s have a look at what it takes to crack this exam.

TISSNET is divided into three parts, Quant, Verbal & General Awareness. The weightage varies a bit between the sections.

• English Proficiency
• General Awareness
• Quantitative Aptitude

Section Name	Number of questions
English Proficiency	30
Mathematics & Logical Reasoning	30
General Knowledge	40
Total	100

How to prepare for TISSNET 2022?

1)    English Proficiency:

This section is pretty easy. This section contains Reading Comprehension as well as other entrance tests. The questions in RCs are pretty direct. Apart from RCs, you should also prepare for analogies, fill-in-the-blanks, paragraph summaries, Para jumbles, sentence correction, etc. Also, read daily. Try out different topics every day. This will help you to get acquainted with different subjects. Continue to identify the central idea of every article you read. And while you’re reading various articles, learn all of the new words you come across. This will also help in English use. Also reading daily will make your reading speed better.

2)    Quantitative Aptitude (including Logical reasoning):

If you have done Quants for the other management entrance tests, then you are more or less prepared for this section. Overall, most of the topics are covered in this section. Moreover, the level of difficulty is medium. Your focus should be on variety and not the complexity of the questions. This section also contains Logical Reasoning questions such as the identification of patterns of numbers, relationships, premises, conclusions, etc. Be also familiar with the various types of Data Interpretation questions. Because they now and then tend to show up. If the calculation speed is good, you can zoom in through this section. So continue to revise tables, triangles, cubes, percentage points, etc.

3)    General Awareness:

Now comes the important part, the GK section. This section puts all of the candidates in a challenge. It appears to be very daunting, with its massive syllabus, for a student who is studying for the exam. Because of overconfidence or lack of planning, many people struggle to crack this portion. Now let’s look in-depth at this section.

GK for TISSNET

Strategies for TISSNET GK

As you must have noticed from the breakup, the weightage for GK is much higher than the rest of the sections. So, with 40 questions allocated to GK alone, it becomes an important aspect of the exam. An accuracy of 70% is necessary for the GK section to actually get through the cut-off.

Analysis of GK questions:

Also check: How to save time in quants and DI

Reading comprehension tricks and tips

Out of the 40 questions, 29 questions are from Static Gk while 11 are from Current Affairs GK. This clearly shows the emphasis on Static GK over current affairs. Each question carries one mark and no negative marking. The Important topics that are covered in this paper are:

• Economics
• History & Geography
• Fine arts, Social/Important Films
• Literature, Social Awareness
• Politics
• Well-known personalities
• Current Affairs
• Sports
• Social Issues
• Miscellaneous

The current affairs will come from the happenings in the last year. These are primarily based on Social issues as well. For example, in the last year’s paper, current affairs questions were based on topics like the Metoo movement, Fake news, etc. Apart from that topics on the Economy and the Nation are also commonly asked.

Now if we come to the Static GK, questions are largely based on History, Geography, Polity, Economy & Science. You have to delve deep into these topics and study them in order to actually score well in this section. Last year, about 6-8 questions were of an easy difficulty level, while the rest were of moderate to high difficulty level. A good attempt rate will be to attempt at least 25 questions and get a score of 20-21. The whole section will not take too much time either, so take it up first and try to solve it within 20 minutes.

So how to get started? The best way would be to go through the past papers and analyze the questions in this section. You will then get a brief idea, about what topics are usually targeted. Let’s now also look at a robust strategy to prepare for your GK section in TISSNET:

How do I prepare GK for TISSNET?

GK for TISSNET: Tips and tricks

Static is the Key: 

As we can see from the analysis mentioned above, static GK holds more weightage as compared to the Current GK. Now, Static Gk is something you cannot prepare within a day or two or even a month. You have to start preparing for it months in advance. And ensure that you keep revising what you have learned. This kind of Gk will test your memory and awareness in subjects and matters that you will not know ordinarily. So there is no other way than to invest time and learn about these topics.

Click here to get access to various Static GK topics useful for TISSNET

Read newspapers daily:

Newspapers are a great source of information and don’t be misinformed that they only provide current gk. A lot of newspapers like TOI, and Hindu get in-depth of prevailing issues, that also cover previous facts and information that can become a part of your static GK. Hence, make a habit of not just reading the paper, but also analyzing such content and learning about them. Read articles, especially on new laws and government schemes/policies.  This is the most reliable and easy way to daily prepare for GK.

Make Notes:

Make notes on each topic that you read about. This is the best way to retain the knowledge that you have just learned. Also, when you write things down, it not just helps with retaining it, but also helps in the easy revision of the topics. So as you keep reading new topics, don’t forget to update yourself on every topic that you have already covered.

Go through past papers: 

Tissnet previous year’s papers

A good practice would be to start going through the previous years’ GK papers. This will give you a fair idea of how the questions are formed and how to approach your study material keeping in mind these topics.

Solve mocks:

What could be a better way to prepare than to solve mocks? It will help in your all-around strategy formulation and increase your familiarity with the exam. In fact, solve each and every mock that you can get your hands on. Because it will teach you how to manage your time while taking the test. You’ll also get a feel for each portion of the strong and weak areas.

Also, check out the tissnet mocks and practice with the actual TISSNET format

Just remember to not spend too much time on the GK section. Try to spend only 15-20 minutes on it, and try to get a higher accuracy for your attempts.

Understand GK for TISSNET is different from other MBA exams GK:

TISSNET GK is very different from other MBA exams. So, candidates tend to make the mistake of following the same preparation pattern as they do for MICAT, IIFT, etc. Most of the other MBA exams focus more or equally on current gk, but TISSNET has more focus on static gk. Also, the type of questions asked are also different (socially oriented), soo understand all these facts, solve mocks and past questions, and prepare accordingly.

Overall, remember that this section can be the deciding factor in your overall score.  So give you 100% in preparing for this section.

All the Best!!

Also read: List of Banks in India with their headquarters and current head