The Staff Selection Commission (Combined Higher Secondary Level) Exam, conducted on November 1, 2015, saw certain changes as compared to the previous yearâs papers. Overall, the difficulty level of the paper ranged from easy to moderate, just like the morning slot. A major difference between the morning slot and the afternoon slot was that certain sections which were easier in the morning slot were difficult in afternoon slot, and vice-versa. The afternoon slot also saw indefinite number of sets with 1 unique question paper, just like the morning slot. All sections, except English Language, were available bilingually, that is, in both English and Hindi. Each question was followed by 4 options. There was a negative marking of 0.25 marks for each incorrect answer.
The pattern of the paper was as given below:
| Section | Total Questions |
Level of difficulty |
Good Attempts |
Approximate time taken (in minutes) |
General Intelligence |
50 |
Easy-Moderate |
32-35 |
35 |
English Language |
50 |
Moderate |
35-38 |
25 |
Quantitative Aptitude |
50 |
Easy-Moderate |
33-35 |
45 |
General Awareness |
50 |
Easy-Moderate |
20-25 |
15 |
Total |
200 |
|
125-140 |
A score of about can be considered a good score.
Expected Cutoffs (Out of 200 marks)
For Typing Test for LDC
UR (General) |
OBC |
SC |
ST |
108-112 |
98-102 |
92-95 |
88-92 |
For Skill Test for Data Entry Operator
| UR (General) | OBC |
SC |
ST |
115-118 |
105-110 |
100-104 |
90-95 |
General Intelligence
The section primarily saw questions of moderate level of difficulty due to few tricky questions. One erroneous question was observed in the afternoon slot, in which none of the options were correct. The morning slot had a question on ranking arrangement while the afternoon slot did not have this topic. As compared to last year, the section saw additional questions on Dictionary arrangement, and, Cube and Dice. Last year, the section had a few questions from Blood Relations and Calendars, which were missing this year. Overall, this section was more difficult in the afternoon slot as compared to the morning slot.
Topics |
Number of questions |
Level of difficulty |
Odd one out |
9 |
Moderate |
Series |
6 |
Moderate |
Directions |
2 |
Easy |
Visual Reasoning |
4 |
Easy |
Verbal Reasoning |
2 |
Moderate |
Analogy |
9 |
Moderate |
Puzzles |
4 |
Moderate |
Word Matrix |
1 |
Easy |
Dictionary Arrangement |
2 |
Easy |
Venn Diagram |
1 |
Easy |
Cubes and Dice |
1 |
Moderate |
Word formation |
2 |
Easy |
Blood relation |
1 |
Easy |
Coding decoding |
3 |
Easy |
Maths based questions |
2 |
Easy |
Meaningful order |
1 |
Easy |
English Language
There was a significant change in the English section this year, as compared to last year's paper. The first change was that this yearâs paper also included questions on Active/Passive, Direct/Indirect, Sentence Jumble and FIB, which were not present last year. This change was also seen in the papers of the morning slot. There were three differences in the papers of the morning and afternoon slot. In the morning slot, the questions of the Cloze Test were not in the same order as the blank numbers while in the afternoon slot, the questions were in the proper order. So, the candidates of the afternoon slot had an easier Cloze Test as compared to the morning slot. Another difference was in the Sentence Jumble questions. In the morning slot, there were 4 Sentence Jumble questions while in the afternoon slot, there were 3 Sentence Jumble and 1 Para Jumble questions. The third difference was in the difficulty level of the FIB questions - the questions of the afternoon slot were slightly more difficult. Overall, the afternoon slot was slightly easier than the morning slot.
The details of the section are as followS:
| Topic | Number of Questions |
Level of Difficulty |
Antonyms |
4 |
Moderate |
Synonyms |
4 |
Easy-Moderate |
Cloze Test |
10 |
Easy |
Spellings |
4 |
Easy-Moderate |
One word Substitution |
4 |
Moderate |
Sentence Correction |
4 |
Moderate |
Error Spotting |
4 |
Easy-Moderate |
Idioms/Phrases |
4 |
Moderate |
Direct/Indirect |
2 |
Easy-Moderate |
Active/Passive |
2 |
Easy-Moderate |
Sentence Jumble/Para Jumble |
4 (3+1) |
Easy-Moderate |
FIB |
4 |
Moderate |
Quantitative Aptitude
The afternoon slot had two questions from True Discount, which were not seen in the morning slot. This topic is a rare occurrence in this paper, as seen on comparison with the previous year papers. A major part of the section was based on Algebra, Trigonometry, Geometry and Data Interpretation. A major difference in the section this year was that this yearâs paper did not see any question in Series while there were upto 3 questions in the last year's paper. Also, the section was easy last year, except for a few questions in Geometry while this year saw a few moderate questions in Trigonometry as well. The afternoon slot was slightly easier on comparison with the morning slot.
The details of the section are as follows:
| Topic | Number of Questions |
Level of Difficulty |
Number System |
6 | Easy |
Percentage |
4 | Easy |
Profit, Loss & Discount |
1 | Easy |
SI & CI |
1 | Easy |
True discount |
2 | Easy |
Ratio/Mixture/Alligation |
1 | Easy |
Time, Speed & Distance |
2 | Easy |
Time & Work |
2 | Easy |
Average |
2 | Easy |
Algebra |
5 | Easy-Moderate |
Geometry |
6 | Easy-Moderate |
Mensuration |
4 | Easy |
Trigonometry |
5 | Easy-Moderate |
DI (Bar Graph) |
4 | Easy |
DI (Pie Chart ) |
5 | Easy |
General Awareness
The difficulty level of the afternoon slot paper was moderate to difficult. As compared to the morning slot, this slot did not have any questions about ancient history. Major part of this section comprised questions from Science and Ecology/Environment. World History and World Geography had one question each. Though the questions from Miscellaneous portion were direct in nature, their difficulty level was higher compared to morning slot. On the whole, the afternoon slot was slightly more difficult in comparison to the morning slot.
The details of the section are as given below:
Topic |
Number of Questions |
Level of Difficulty |
History |
||
World History |
1 |
Moderate |
Medieval History |
3 |
Easy |
Modern History |
3 |
Easy-Moderate |
Geography |
||
Indian |
1 |
Moderate |
World |
3 |
Easy-Moderate |
Polity |
4 |
Easy-Moderate |
Economy |
||
Static |
4 |
Moderate-Difficult |
Contemporary |
2 |
Easy-Moderate |
Science |
||
Physics |
5 |
Moderate-Difficult |
Chemistry |
3 |
Easy |
Biology |
4 |
Easy-Moderate |
Computers |
2 |
Moderate |
Traditional GK |
4 |
Easy-Moderate |
Ecology/Environment |
5 |
Easy-Moderate |
Miscellaneous |
||
Books and Authors |
1 |
Moderate |
Important Days |
1 |
Moderate |
Current Affairs |
2 |
Easy-Moderate |
Awards |
2 |
Easy |
Disclaimer:All information on cut-offs, analysis, answer key and scores are based on independent analysis and evaluation made by Career Launcher. We do not take responsibility for any decision that might be taken, based on this information.
All the best!
Team CL
