Study Materials

Concepts, formulas and shortcuts for the skill-based sections of competitive exams — arithmetic, reasoning and English. Where the Knowledge Hub covers what you need to know, these pages cover what you need to be able to do.

Roughly half of a TS Police SI preliminary paper is arithmetic and reasoning, and around a third of the Constable paper is arithmetic, reasoning and English. These are the sections where practice moves your score the fastest, because the same question types repeat year after year. Every worked example on these pages is taken from an actual previous paper.

Arithmetic

Percentages

Fraction table, successive change & reversal shortcuts.

Profit & Loss

CP, MP, SP, discounts and false-weight problems.

Simple & Compound Interest

SI, CI, depreciation and non-yearly compounding.

Time & Work

LCM method, efficiency, wages, pipes & cisterns.

Ratio & Proportion

Dividing in parts, proportion, partnership & ages.

Averages

Weighted average, alligation and correction problems.

Time, Speed & Distance

Relative speed, trains, boats & streams, races.

Mensuration

Areas, volumes and solids that are recast or joined.

Number System

Divisibility, HCF & LCM, recurring decimals.

Surds & Indices

Laws of indices, rationalising and nested surds.

Calendars & Clocks

Odd days, leap years and the angle between hands.

Mixtures & Alligation

Alligation rule and repeated replacement.

Data Interpretation

Tables and charts — percentage change and averages.

Reasoning

Coding & Decoding

Shift, complement, substitution & numeric codes.

Series

Number, letter and alpha-numeric sequences.

Blood Relations

Family trees and photograph-type puzzles.

Direction Sense

Turns, net displacement and shortest distance.

Arrangement & Ranking

Rows, circles, floors and rank counting.

Statement & Arguments

Strong vs weak arguments, and cause & effect.

Assumptions & Conclusions

What a statement takes for granted, and what follows.

Data Sufficiency & Eligibility

Judging sufficiency and applying selection rules.

Assertion & Reason

The three-step method and the explanation test.

Analogy

Word, letter and number relationships.

Classification

Odd one out across words, letters and numbers.

Syllogism

Venn method, the four statement types, either-or.

Inequalities

Direction chains, the ≠ trap and coded symbols.

Non-Verbal Reasoning

Cubes & dice, mirror images, counting figures.

English

Subject-Verb Agreement

Pair of, either/neither, police, collective nouns.

Tenses

Signal words, habitual actions and conditionals.

Articles & Prepositions

A vs an by sound, fixed prepositions, passive voice.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Prefixes, antonym pairs and multi-sense words.

Reading Comprehension

Method, and a fully worked passage from 2022.

Sentence Correction

Spotting errors in agreement, tense and usage.

Active & Passive Voice

Tense table, imperatives, questions, two objects.

Narration

Direct to indirect speech in four steps.

English is tested in the Constable paper (25 questions) but not in the SI preliminary paper.

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