SSC MTS Session 2 Syllabus

Session 2 carries 150 of the 270 marks in SSC MTS and it deducts a full mark for every wrong answer. That combination makes it the half of the paper where the exam is actually decided.

It is also the half most candidates prepare last. General Awareness and English get the leftover hours while maths and reasoning get the plan, which is the wrong way round for this exam.

SSC MTS Session 2 exam pattern

Subject	Questions	Marks
General Awareness	25	75
English Language and Comprehension	25	75
Total	50	150

Forty-five minutes for the session. Three marks per correct answer and one mark deducted per wrong answer. Candidates eligible under the visual impairment and cerebral palsy provisions get 60 minutes.

Session 2 is compulsory. Not attempting it disqualifies you from the examination regardless of your Session 1 score.

General Awareness topics

Awareness of the environment and its application to society. Current events and matters of everyday observation and experience in their scientific aspect. India and its neighbouring countries, particularly art, culture, geography, economics, general polity, the Indian Constitution and scientific research.

The Commission sets these questions for a candidate who has not made a special study of any discipline, so breadth beats depth here.

English Language and Comprehension topics

Basic comprehension and writing ability. Spot the error, fill in the blanks, synonyms and antonyms, spelling, idioms and phrases, one word substitution, sentence improvement and a comprehension passage.

What one mark per error actually costs

Three wrong answers cancel one correct answer, on a paper where the whole session is worth 150 marks.

Work through a realistic case. A candidate attempting all 50 with 60 per cent accuracy scores 30 correct at 3 marks and 20 wrong at minus one, giving 70. A candidate attempting 35 with 85 per cent accuracy scores 30 correct and 5 wrong, giving 85. Same number of right answers, fifteen marks apart.

So the two sessions need opposite strategies on the same day. Session 1 rewards attempting everything. Session 2 punishes it. Practise them separately and go into the second one with the change consciously in mind, because the habit you have just spent forty-five minutes building is the wrong one.

Where to spend preparation time

General Awareness cannot be improved in the exam hall and cannot be crammed in the final month. Daily reading from the start of your preparation is the only version of this that works.

English at this level is a short syllabus. Basic grammar, common vocabulary, idioms and one comprehension passage. A few focused weeks covers it, and it is 75 marks.