How to prepare for NICL-AO exam in a few days (Previous paper PDF included)

NICL has already conducted the first lot of its Administrative officer exam on 15 December. Two more slots are to be conducted on 22nd & 29th of December.

Looking at the previous papers & reviews from the candidates who have given the paper on 15th, it seems they are not going to change much of the pattern of questions asked. Following strategy could be implemented to give your best on coming dates-

English

They ask just basic English. This section is very easy & scoring. 

Antonyms & Synonyms (Around 8-10 ques.)	Go through some manual or website for this section. Easy one.
Analogy	Just basic understanding
Sentence Correction	Too easy
Fill in the blanks	Easy.
Overall	This section is not going to be tough. Just go through some practice questions.

I would suggest to go through the Verbal ability section of Indiabix.com for practice.

Reasoning

People said it was dead easy. If you have been preparing for Banking examinations, you would surely crack almost all the questions of this section.

There is a lot of time to solve the questions. So don't worry about time on this section.

Coding & Decoding	Easy one. Almost 5 questions
Classification & analogy	These were easy too.  4-5 questions
Seating arrangement	Too easy.
Other reasoning questions	Easy. You don’t need some expertise to solve these questions
Overall	People preparing for bank & other exams will find it very easy & those who are not doing so, they too. J

General Awareness

Here comes somehow tougher part. This section got a little tougher than the last time.

Many of the questions asked are from the previous SSC-CGL & UPSC papers. The nature of the questions asked could not be determined or analysed much. Questions asked on 15 Dec could be found Click here- Questions asked on 15 Dec 2013 NICL-AO

For this section I suggest-

Go through last 3 years’ SSC-CGL papers

UPSC papers of last & present year

Go through Some GK manual, Lucent’s General Knowledge preferably

Go through the current affairs of this year & previous year 2012 because they asked questions from last year too. Chances are they will ask more from the affairs of last year.

Numerical Ability

This section is also going to be moderate. Basic calculations, addition, subtraction, work and time & other simple numerical questions. For Generalist post, the will ask some basic computer knowledge questions.

I suggest you to go through some aptitude practice from R.S. Agarwal.

Descriptive paper

They are going to ask three sections in this paper. Here are the questions from last time:

• Comprehension: It was on 'Manual Scavengers'. Comprehensions are usually easy & answers could be easily found if you just give some time to read them. After that, elimination of wrong answers from the given options is the best strategy to solve the questions.

• Essay:

1. Privatization of Insurance companies
2. The changes mobile phones have brought to our life.
3. Political stability in India
4. Internet & ways of communication through it

By observing the given topics, 3 of them are such that anyone can write an essay on them I suggest you to choose the topic in you feel most comfortable, then take your time(5-10 minutes) to define the structure of the essay & then start writing. Any basic essay writing book can be referred for this or you could search 'How to write an effective essay' on Google.

• Precis Writing: Try to write the summary of the given Paragraph in not more than one-third of the words. Try to avoid using words of the paragraph & restructure the sentences to make it more effective & short. Some summary writing practice will surely help to score well in this section.

I am also giving you the NICL-AO examination paper held on 15 September 2013. It could be downloaded from:

Download NICL AO Paper held on 15 September 2013

Hope this strategy helps you to clear this exam.