NDA 2 2022 GAT Preparation | Aim 315+ Marks

Hello NDA aspirants, finally the wait is over and NDA 2 2022 GAT paper strategy is out (for 4th sept 2022). In this article, I will provide you NDA General ability test paper detailed analysis as well as strategy to be followed for 6-7 months, which can give you 315+ score in NDA GAT paper provided that you are dedicated enough to work hard for upcoming 6-7 months. It will need daily 5-6 hours of study if you want to complete this GK paper sources in 6 month time span (Don’t worry, this article is a step by step guide for NDA GK preparation).

This article contains every minute detail of NDA GAT paper and is lengthy too. You may find it little boring, but believe me, if you will follow this strategy as specified, no one can stop you from scoring 315+ marks in NDA GK paper. We will study subjects from grass root level so that all basics are crystal clear and hen focus on advanced topics.

I recieved many questions related to NDA exam preparation like “How to prepare for NDA exam from class 10th /11th, best NDA preparation book, etc which will be thoroughly covered.

Many NDA aspirants consider it as GK paper, but it is General Ability Test paper which contain major subjects like English, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, History, Defence news and little current and static GK topics. If you think that NDA GK paper strategy or NDA GAT preparation can be done from a single book, then you are wrong. That time is gone as single book is not sufficient as per today’s exam trends. Considering the current NDA exam pattern and increasing competition, UPSC demands you to study from best sources for different subjects.

Level of NDA GK questions as well as NDA PCB (Science questions) is rising day by day. That’s the reason why I have given detailed strategy to cover maximum NDA exam syllabus in optimum time.

• Main reason is that, they underestimate NDA GAT paper and especially English portion of GAT from which 50 questions are asked. (33.33% of NDA GAT paper)
• Major focus of science background aspirants is on Maths paper, and they think that they will easily clear GAT paper with last few day’s preparation.
• NDA Maths paper is of 300 marks and GAT paper is of 600 marks. But still, everyone is busy preparing for Maths and do not want to give even equal preference to NDA GAT preparation.

And even if some aspirant manages to clear NDA written exam cutoff on borderline, he fails to find his name in Final Merit list (due to less overall score). So, don’t just aim to clear the written exam cutoff (30% marks). Your aim must to score maximum marks in GAT paper.

To clear any exam conducted by UPSC, you need to score 40-42% marks. So, your aim must be to score 50% marks in written exam, that maybe NDA Maths paper or NDA GAT paper

You may find NDA toppers scoring 350-380 marks in NDA General Ability Test paper. But we will set a realistic goal of scoring around 315 marks which is achievable with this strategy. Attempting too high number of questions can be risky and is not recommended as negative marking can reduce your score very badly as 1.33 marks are deducted as penalty for 1 wrong answer (for NDA GAT).

So, let’s mainly focus on accuracy to achieve our target of 315 marks, for which we need 79-80 correct attempt out of 150 questions (with minimum wrong questions)

(It is possible to maintain accuracy in NDA GAT paper, as there is no risk of calculation errors like NDA Maths paper. In case of GK, Either you know answer or you don’t know)

It is necessary to know types of questions asked from each subject so that you can give preference accordingly. It’s a good news for Science background aspirants that major chunk of questions are asked from English, Physics, Chemistry and Biology which need to be your strong zones.

Pattern is 90% same for every attempt. So, you can use if for your study reference. Just make sure that topic with high weightage are completed first so that NDA preparation is more specific and targeted.

It is very easy to get 25 correct questions from English section without any specific study. But if you want to take this number to 40+ correct questions, then you will need good grammatical and comprehension skills, which can be developed with hard work and rigorous exercises.

• Ordering of sentences (very easy)
• Idioms and Phrases (one time effort)
• Comprehension (very easy)
• Spotting the error (will need some efforts as told in strategy below)
• Fill in the Blanks (Easy but tricky questions)

• Synonyms
• Antonyms

Maximum aspirants begin NDA English preparation directly with practice questions and no one cares if they are strong in English grammar or not. Practice is must, but it’s not the first step of preparation. Most of the English questions need basic grammar study and knowledge of grammar rules.

For example: Spotting the error, fill in the blanks, ordering of sentences and ordering of words, etc

 Stage 1 

“Completing A to Z grammar rules and concepts from “Wren and Martin English grammar Book” in first 25-30 days”

You may be thinking that it’s too lengthy process, but it is necessary to have basic grammar concepts cleared at initial stage. You will not find direct questions from this book, but this book will help you gain a strong grammatical foundation which will be helpful in those 50 questions of English section.

Begin with noun, pronoun, tenses and end with direct indirect, passive active voice. Even if you complete 70-75% rules of this book, you will get fantastic results. (Tried and tested by our NDA as well as CDS exam aspirants)

 Stage 2 

“Daily 1-2 editorial reading from The Hindu or Indian Express Newspaper”

Strong Reason to read daily 1-2 editorials:

• Comprehension, spotting the errors ,ordering of sentences will be highly scoring.
• Few Current affairs questions can be solved with this editorial reading
• “daily hard words” list of editorials will be helpful in antonym and synonyms
• Highly helpful in SSB Interview (GD, personal interview, etc)

 Stage 3 

Solving English section questions from “Latest NDA and NA Pathfinder book”

Generally many aspirants begin with this stage. But if this will be stage three, it can bring wonders. And when you have done with first 2 stages, 3rd stage will just be an exam oriented practice for you.

NDA Pathfinder book is specially designed considering NDA syllabus and types of questions asked in NDA paper. Also, It updates previous year questions after every attempt. So, it’s recommended to buy a latest book if possible. (If you can’t afford, continue with existing one)

 Stage 4 

Solving 10 previous year question papers in time constraint (freely available on www.upsc.gov.in)

This exercise of solving 10 previous year question papers of General Ability Test will be very helpful in English as well as other sections. No question will repeat, but the pattern and trend of asking the questions is more or less same in every attempt.

After completing the NDA English paper strategy, next important section of NDA GAT paper is Physics, Chemistry and Biology (Also called as general science). If you will analyse the level of questions asked in NDA exam, application and numerical based questions are asked in Physics and Chemistry. And Biology is asked from 12th NCERT book which is much higher level to non-biology background aspirants. In short Engineering entrance level questions can be seen in Physics and Chemistry.

So, we will study these subjects from 11th and 12th NCERT’s of Physics and Chemistry. But no need to read page to page chapters of these NCERT books. I will give you list of Important chapters from 11th and 12th NCERT Books which you need to cover at any cost.

These are important chapters which you need to revise at least once before attempting actual exam. Let’s begin with important 11th NCERT Chapters:

After completing these 9 chapters of 11th NCERT, Complete the whole 12th Physics NCERT as all chapters are important. 14 Chapters of Physics NCERT will be helpful for other entrance exams also. And if these NCERT books are done and revised, most of the physics questions will be solved (around 20 questions from Physics)

And 20 + questions of NDA GAT paper is definitely not a topic to be neglected. So, cover NCERT chapters as told.

These are important Chemistry chapters which you need to revise at least once before attempting actual exam. Let’s begin with important 11th Chemistry NCERT Chapters:

After completing these 11 chapters of 11th Chemistry NCERT, Complete the whole 12th Chemistry NCERT as all chapters are important.

• 150-160 marks weightage is given for Physics and Chemistry which needs detail study from best sources (Strong basics plus numerical practice).
• NCERT books are published by Government so probability of questions directly appearing from NCERT books is very high (especially for exams conducted by UPSC)
• These books will help you for NDA written exam, board exam as well as Engineering entrance exam, as NCERT forms base of all those papers. (to be very practical)
• If you will cover any NDA exam oriented book for Physics and Chemistry, I bet you, it is not possible to build strong foundation which is necessary to solve application based questions in actual exam.

It will be very cumbersome to study NCERT books for Biology. Instead study Biology or General science section from “NDA and NA Pathfinder Book”. This biology section can help you to answer 7-8 questions easily out of 10-12 questions asked.

Biology section of NDA and NA pathfinder book is a compact source which needs at least 1 revision so that you can recall facts at the time of exam. Do not waste time in biology basics, directly mug up the biology facts. (We just need to aim 10 correct questions from this section)

For Geography section of NDA exam preparation, you need to go these 5 basic NCERT books to answer A to Z questions.

Complete these 4 geography Books in 4-5 days: (1 day each)

After completing these basic books, cover 11th standard Geography NCERT Book: (7-8 days max)

(Note: Also study maps of these basic books. Direct questions can be seen from it.)

After studying these books, you can solve almost all Geography questions in UPSC NDA exam.

It is not practically possible to study NCERT for History (It’s too lenthy). So, I will give best and cost beneficial Solutions.

• Complete “History” section of “NDA Pathfinder book”. It is to the point and exactly what you will need for NDA exam.
• Otherwise, History section (especially freedom struggle) from Lucent GK book.

But its recommended that you go with NDA Pathfinder for History (as you need Pathfinder book for English as well as Biology preparation)

No need to devote any special time for this section. If you will do all above sources, it’s more than enough. Current affairs, Static GK and Defence news are very diverse topics which can waste your time for very less number of questions.

Same is the case with defence related current affairs.

For English preparation, we will be reading 2-3 Newspaper editorials daily. Some questions can also be asked from it.

There is no single NDA preparation book which many NDA aspirants demand. You need to do a proper combination of important chapters of NCERT Books, some reference Books, NDA Pathfinder book and newspaper editorials.

Its highly appreciable that you are serious about your NDA preparation from class 10th. I will just tell you to study your academies in detail so that all concepts are crystal clear.

After your 10th Board is complete, your actual preparation for NDA exam will begin. 

• The strategy which I have designed is inline with 11th and 12th NCERT Books. So, start following above strategy from 11th standad itself.
• Develop the habbit of news-paper reading which will be helpful for written exam plus SSB Interiew
• Arrange a visit to National Defence Academy (Passing out Parade) so that you exactly know the importance of being part of one of the most prestigious training academy of India.
• Keep yourself physically and mentally fit with regular Yoga and other exercises.
• Be in the group of highly motivated aspirants. If you don’t have such group, be in continuous touch with me.

Nothing different.  UPSC NDA preparation strategy remains the same for you too. You have complete 1 year in your hand where you can cover each and every subject in detail. You can begin SSB preparation by doing small activities on daily basis.

You can build a very strong foundation which will be helpful for your NDA exam, 12th Boards exam as well as any other entrance exam which you will give after 12th standard.

Focus mainly on English, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Almost 60% portion will be completed here. Then focus on Geography and History as per strategy to complete your UPSC NDA GAT preparation.

You have the NDA 2022 preparation strategy with you, now it depends on how dedicatedly you study to achieve your dreams. Start preparation from today itself. Don’t wait for right time to come.
I am repeating it again,

Hopefully you understood what I mean to say.

And if you have liked this article, do recommend our site with other aspirants too.

Jai hind !!