SSC MTS English Language and Comprehension Tips 2023
Candidates who have applied must be looking for SSC MTS English Language and Comprehension Tips to ace their preparation level. Preparation is the key to success and to clear the SSC MTS exam, the candidates must be willing to follow the basics in the right manner. Some of them are given below.
- The first and most important is that the candidates should focus on their Grammar Preparation.
- There are certain concepts that are difficult to understand if a student doesn’t have a good command of Grammar.
- Learn 3 new vocabulary words every day. This will help candidates to improve their vocabulary.
- Once you learn a word, make sure you form sentences using it.
- Keep taking as many SSC MTS Mock Tests you can, as this will strengthen your preparation level and brief you about your strong and weak areas.
Useful Tips to Prepare for SSC MTS English Language and Comprehension Section
1. Segregate Important Topics from Less Important Ones
Important topics are those that carry more marks in the exam. Since in the SSC MTS exam, each question carries 1 mark, the topics having maximum questions are more important. If you don’t know which topic carries what weightage, then quickly take a look at this Detailed SSC MTS Syllabus with topic-wise mark distribution:
2. How to Revise
Now that you know which topics carry more weightage, make it a point to excel in all those topics before moving on to others.
A. Error Spotting & Fill in the Blanks
There will be almost 5 questions from each of these topics in the MTS exam, therefore you can expect questions worth 10 marks from both topics. While fill in the blanks in both grammar and vocabulary-based, Error Spotting usually tests your grammar. Here are the tips to tackle both these topics smartly:
– Error Spotting: Tips to Learn, Capsule, Basic Quiz, Moderate Quiz, Advanced Quiz
– Fill in the Banks: Basic Quiz, Advanced Quiz
Here are some general tips for Error Spotting and Fill in the Blanks:
| Error Spotting |
Fill in the Blanks |
– When a noun is a plural don’t use ‘s’ at the end of the verb.
E.g. Boys (=noun) go (=verb) to ground.– When a noun is singular, use ‘s’/’es’ at the end of the verb.
E.g. Boy (=noun) goes (=verb) to ground.– We use ‘is’ not ‘are’ with Public, team, committee, government, audience, orchestra, company, jury, etc.- ‘Less’ is used to denoting quantity while ‘fewer’ is used to denote number.
E.g. I have less money. I have few notes.– More such Error Spotting tips |
– Use ‘the’ before Unique/important
things like Monuments, Sun, Moon, etc.
– Use ‘an’ before words that start with a,e,i,o,u. Exceptions:
– Use ‘a’ before words that begin with all other letters.
– E.g. a book, an ant, the Taj Mahal,
a university (‘u’ in university sounds
like the word begins with y, as in ‘yoo-ni-versity’)
– Habitual actions, facts, forever actions are always in the simple present tense.
E.g. Teacher teaches students
and not Teacher taught students.
Sun rises in the east, not Sun rose in the east.– Use of For and Since |
B. Spellings and Synonyms & Antonyms
You can expect 12 questions from both of these topics. This means these two topics will account for a total of 12 marks. From now onwards, you have to read everything more carefully, learn tricks to remember difficult words, and practice questions on ‘Spellings’. At the same time, you can enhance your knowledge of synonyms (same meaning) and antonyms (opposite meaning) words. Here are some tips and practice exercises for both:
– Spellings: Basic Quiz, Moderate Quiz
– Synonyms & Antonyms: Tips, Commonly asked Synonyms/Antonyms, Basic Quiz
General tips: Get in the habit of noting down any new word that you come across and finding its meaning, synonyms, and antonyms.
C. One Word Substitution, Phrase Replacement/ Sentence Correction, Reading Comprehension
You can expect 5 Questions, of 15 marks from each of these topics. While RC can appear on any topic, the questions will be fact-based in the passage’s context. The RC can also contain vocabulary questions on commonly used words. So there are no avoiding learning new words! Basic, Moderate, and Advanced Quiz for RC.
In Phrase Replacement questions, you will get a statement, a part of which will be underlined. You will need to pick the correct option to replace the underlined part. The error in the underlined part can be grammatical or vocabulary-related. Here are a few quizzes that reflect the kind of questions you will get in the exam: Basic Quiz and Advanced Quiz for Phrase Replacement.
One word substitution means replacing a sentence with the correct word, which describes the sentence.
E.g. One who does not believe in god is ___.
Ans: Atheist.
If you improve your vocabulary a little, you will be easily able to answer these questions.
D. Phrase or Idiom Meanings are more Important than you think!
Phrase or Idiom meanings will be asked separately for 3 marks, but they also constitute a huge part of the paper. You can find phrases in many other vocabulary-based questions like Reading Comprehension, Phrase Replacement, Error spotting, and Fill in the blanks. Below are the most commonly asked Idioms/Phrases. Go through the lists and revise these lists regularly:
General SSC MTS English Language and Comprehension Tips
For better preparation, students must know the best strategy to use for the SSC MTS English Language and Comprehension Section. Some of them are given below:
- You can’t learn the English Language and Comprehension language in a day. It demands time. You need to read more and more to become an expert.
- The more you read, the more you improve your language. Read articles, magazines, newspapers, books to enhance your vocabulary.
- Focus on the basics of grammar. You can do it by studying from school-level grammar books. They help in strengthening the basics.
- Keep reading the editorial section of the Newspapers to improve your English.
- Cloze test is one of the most important parts of the English Language and Comprehension Section. Make sure you have a good grip on this topic.
- Learn new words. Read the Dictionary every day as this is of immense help.
SSC MTS Marks Distribution
There is a certain type of distribution among the questions of SSC MTS. The students can know all about the same as follows:
| Topic |
No of Questions Asked |
| Idiom and Phrases |
2 Qs Each |
| Sentence Improvement |
| One Word Substitution |
| Spelling Correction |
| Reading Comprehension |
5 Qs Each |
| Spotting error |
| Fill in the blanks |
| Antonyms |
1 Ques Each |
| Synonyms |
Best Books to Prepare for SSC MTS English Language and Comprehension Exam
Given below is the list of SSC MTS books you need to refer to for your exam preparation. Remember, these are just suggestions.
- Objective General English by SP Bakshi (Arihant)
- Word Power by Norman Lewis (Penguin)
- English for General Competitions: from Plinth to Paramount (Volume – 1) – Neetu Singh (KD Publications)
- High School Grammar & Composition by Wren and Martin (S.Chand Publishers)
- Quick Learning Objective General English by RS Aggarwal & Vikas Aggarwal
- English for General Competitions: (Volume – 2)-Neetu Singh (KD Publications)
- Objective English for Competitive Examinations by H M Prasad
We hope you found this article informative and helpful. Contact us in case of any doubts or queries. Aspirants can also download our Testbook App which is free for any government exam or any other competitive exam beforehand and be ready for the test.
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