SSC MTS Session 1 Syllabus

Session 1 is the half of the SSC MTS paper with no penalty attached. Forty questions, forty-five minutes and nothing deducted for a wrong answer, which makes it the only part of any major SSC examination where leaving a question blank is a guaranteed loss.

It is compulsory. Not attempting Session 1 disqualifies you from the whole examination, however well Session 2 went.

SSC MTS Session 1 exam pattern

Subject	Questions	Marks
Numerical and Mathematical Ability	20	60
Reasoning Ability and Problem Solving	20	60
Total	40	120

Forty-five minutes for the session. Three marks per correct answer and no negative marking. Candidates eligible under the visual impairment and cerebral palsy provisions get 60 minutes.

The paper is set in English, Hindi and thirteen regional languages, chosen at the application stage.

Numerical and Mathematical Ability topics

Integers and whole numbers, LCM and HCF, decimals and fractions, relationships between numbers, fundamental arithmetic operations and BODMAS, percentage, ratio and proportion, work and time, direct and inverse proportion, averages, simple interest, profit and loss, discount, area and perimeter of basic geometric figures, distance and time, lines and angles, squares and square roots, plus the interpretation of simple graphs and data.

Everything stops at Class 10. No trigonometry, no coordinate geometry, no compound interest and no solid mensuration.

Reasoning Ability and Problem Solving topics

Alphanumeric series, coding and decoding, analogy, following directions, similarities and differences, jumbling, problem solving and analysis, non-verbal reasoning based on diagrams, age calculations, calendars and clocks.

How to play a session with no negative marking

Attempt all forty. There is no arithmetic under which leaving a question blank helps you, and a one in four guess on a three mark question has positive expected value with nothing on the downside.

That changes the order you work in. Solve what you know first, mark the rest, then spend the last three or four minutes filling every remaining answer. Candidates who run out of time with six blanks have given away marks they were entitled to guess at.

Forty questions in forty-five minutes is 67 seconds each, which is generous by SSC standards. The pressure in this session is not speed. It is remembering that the rules here are different from every other exam you have practised for.