National Defence Academy (NDA) conducts the highly prestigious and competitive examination NDA through a national level entrance exam twice a year. Those who clear the NDA examination get the opportunity to join the Indian Armed forces. The process of selection involves Written Examination, SSB Interview, and Medical Test.
Clearly, the NDA Exam is highly competitive, and only a few come off with flying colors. The main aim of writing this article is to present the strategies and insight of the toppers that have helped them to clear this highly competitive exam.
Toppers’ NDA Exam Strategies Which You Should Not Avoid
There could be numerous reasons why most of the aspirants fail in the NDA Examination. But, here are a few which can help you sail through the Examination. If you also desire to get more than 400 marks in your upcoming NDA exam, follow the things mentioned below.
- Choosing the Right Study Material: The market is full of thousands of UPSC NDA Books- All of which claim to be the best. But, reading those large stocks of books isn’t practically possible. Remember, you don’t want to do a Ph.D. in an NDA Exam- you just have to pass it. So, instead of going after many UPSC NDA Books, just follow 1-2, but study them thoroughly. The more books you follow, the lesser are your chances of selection.
- Set Realistic Goals: Being practical is one such strait that every armed officer entails. If you are going to be a future officer, you also need to be practical. The inability to fulfill our goals demotivates us. So, Never set unrealistic goals that only look good on paper. Know your potential and limits and plan accordingly. Stick to your short-term goals, and move forward with a pragmatic approach.
- Use mnemonics to Study General Awareness: If you listen to many topper’s interviews, most of them study General Awareness by using mnemonics. Many studies have affirmed that Mnemonics increases recalling and learning power. You can start building acronyms, rhymes, or visual mnemonics to remember the topics. These mnemonics would surely help you a lot in the Gk section.
- Prepare To-Do-List Daily: If you really want to have more efficiency during your preparation, start making daily tasks. Right in the morning, create a plan of how and what you will study. Be determined to complete the allotted task and analyze how much you have accomplished in the night. Don’t put unrealistic daily goals here too.
- Work On Basics: If you see the UPSC NDA Answer Key of the previous year’s papers, you would understand that most of the questions asked are highly conceptual. The candidates who mug up things can’t score well in this exam. So, instead of mugging up things in Maths, Science, and English- Work on your Basics, and your performance will surely improve.
- Solve Previous Year’s Questions Paper: You should know most of the previous year’s questions get repeated in the NDA Exam. If you will go through the UPSC NDA Answer Key of the past years, you would encounter that the same types of questions are repeated most of the time. So, never ever commit the mistake of not solving the previous year’s question papers. Be determined and dedicated to going through the last 4-5 years’ question paper.
- Bonus Tip: Though here we focused a lot on- how you should plan your studies for the written examination; Remember to prepare for SSB Interview in advance as well. Most of the candidates get eliminated in SSB Interviews, so spare some time daily to prepare for SSB Interviews, also.
The competition is highly tough, your little mistakes can have great repercussions. So, choose your study material wisely; follow the tips and tactics of the toppers mentioned in the article to achieve more than 400 marks in the NDA examination.