Students are curious about this new announcement by the government that there will be a common entrance test for SSC, Railway, and IBPS. The Central Government has approved the setting up of the National Recruitment Agency (NRA) for conducting the Common Eligibility Test for SSC, Railway, and IBPS. The exam will be regulated for Group B and Group C posts. Due to COVID-19, it could not be conducted in 2020. It is being said that 2021 will be the first year when the NRA CET Exam will be conducted.

Until now, there is no official website or contact number for the agency. But there is quite some speculation about the exams. If you want to appear in the NRA CET Exam, you must start your exam preparation as it is supposed to be conducted in September 2021.

How Should You Start Preparing For NRA CET Exam September 2021?

There are questions as well as confusion among students about the syllabus as well as the exam pattern of the NRA CET Exam. It is expected that the exam pattern will be the same as the IBPS, SSC, and Railways entrance exams. If it is so, then the exam will comprise four sections- English Language, Quantitative Aptitude, General Awareness, and Reasoning Ability. The NRA CET Exam Preparation Tips for these subjects are given below

English Language

It seems like an easy section, but it is not. It comprises of 

• Vocabulary
• Grammar
• Verbal Ability
• Reading Comprehension

Tips to prepare for the English Language

• The level of questions in this section is not going to be easy.
• If you are weak in a section, focus on it first.
• Working on your grammar is very important.
• Read reference books for grammar and prepare notes. A lot of practice is required for the English language section.

Quantitative Aptitude

This section comprises simple mathematical questions which are easy to solve if you have concepts cleared. The topics include data interpretation, number series, Compound Interest, Simple Interest, Average, Time and Distance, Profit & Loss, etc. As it is said that the questions asked are simple, but it requires lots of practice to understand the questions, apply the trick and solve it in no time. The tips to prepare for the 

Quantitative Aptitude section are

• Running behind the tricks blindly is not a good approach. If you are able to solve questions with your own tricks easily, go for it.
• Clear your basic concepts first.
• Try as many questions as you can for it. There are lots of practice books available in the market. Refer to them.
• Learn to understand the language of the question. They can be confusing at times.
• Take mock tests in exam-like conditions to gauge your speed and accuracy in solving questions.

Reasoning Aptitude

These questions are easier to solve in the examination hall if you have practiced them enough. This section is confused as the simplest section in the NRA CET Exam, which is a myth if you have not practiced it. The section comprises questions from seating arrangements, data sufficiency, input-output, blood relation, verbal reasoning, puzzles, etc. The question contains the answer itself only if you read it carefully.

• Spend time on more and more practice for the reasoning section.
• Prepare from the different books of IBPS, SSC, and Railways.
• Solve mock test papers, previous year papers to understand the level of difficulty.
• Solve puzzle questions keeping the time factor in mind.

General Awareness

This section includes everything around you and what is going on in the world. It may consist of current affairs, General knowledge about your country and world, books and authors, currencies, awards, etc. You need to stay updated in terms of current affairs. Read general knowledge books and keep revising them so that you grasp the facts instead of just reading them.

NRA CET Exam Features

The features of the NRA CET exam are listed below.

• It is a common exam for entrance in SSC, Railways, and IBPS.
• If you pass the entrance, you will appear in the respective tier-II or tier-III exams conducted by the above-mentioned recruitment agencies.
• The entire process will take place online, including, application form, admit card, result, exam, etc.
• It will be conducted twice a year.
• It will be conducted at three levels - 10th, 12th, and Graduate.
• There is no official website for NRA CET until now. Once up, it will have a 24*7 helpline and mock tests available on it to facilitate students.
• NRA CET exam score will be valid for three years. If you have cleared the examination more than once, the best score will be taken into consideration for the recruitment process.

NRA CET Exam Pattern and Syllabus

There will be three different papers for the different levels of the exam. The NRA CET exam pattern is expected to be as follows-

The NRA is yet to announce the official exam pattern.

NRA CET Syllabus

It is expected that the NRA CET syllabus will be a combination of the SSC, Railway, and IBPS syllabus. It may consist of-

• Reasoning Ability- Puzzles, Seating Arrangements, Inequalities, Data Sufficiency, Order and Ranking, Blood Relations, Alphanumeric Series, Analogy, Clock & Calendar, Verbal Reasoning, Non-Verbal Reasoning, Coding-Decoding, Syllogism, Input-Output, etc
• English- Cloze Test, Reading Comprehension, Sentence Improvement, Para Jumbles, Para/ Sentence Completion, One-word Substitution, Phrases & Idioms, Active/ Passive, Spotting Errors, Sentence Correction, Fill in the Blanks, Spellings, Narrations, etc.
• Quantitative Aptitude- Number Series, Geometry, Simplification/ Approximation, Data Sufficiency, Quadratic Equation, Mensuration, Averages, Profit and Loss, Work, Ratio and Proportion, Time and Energy, etc.
• General Awareness- Current Affairs, GK, Currencies, Awards, Headquarters, Prime Minister Schemes, Important Days, Basic Computer Knowledge, General Science, etc.

These are the expected details about the NRA CET Exam. Once the official website is live and an official notification has been issued; we will update the information. Till then, you must keep your NRA CET Exam Preparation going based on the above-stated information.