IB ACIO Beginner Guide 🔥 Complete Preparation Strategy, Books & Resources

Hello everyone, this is Pallavi and welcome back to my channel. Today's video is for candidates who are preparing for IBACIO examination. Those who are new to IBCIO examination and are thinking to prepare for the exam but don't know where to start. So in this video I will discuss the strategy for a new beginner and a repeater can also follow the whole strategy. And before starting this strategy let us understand what is IBCIO. So IB stands for Intelligence Bureau and ACIO stands for Assistant Central Intelligence Officer which is a level seven central government job and which comes under Ministry of Home Affairs. Ok? And as we all know that it is a Central Government Job with a unique work environment and good career growth opportunities. Ok ? And again before starting the video many candidates have this doubt that we are from arts background. So how will we study Maths in this because Maths comes in Tier 1, so how will it happen? How can it not happen? So the simple answer to this is that many candidates even from arts background qualify this exam. I mean, there were some people with me who were 21-22 years old. He also qualified the examination by doing BA from that Arts background. So that is not a very difficult task for you also those who are from arts stream. It will happen that if the maths student is taking 4 months then it may take you 6 months. So don't reject yourself before starting the preparation. You can also do it comfortably. So let us understand the examination first and how it works. First of all, there is Tier 1 in which there are 100 questions and it is of 100 marks and the negative marking is 1/4 which is 25. Ok? It has four sections. First One Is Current Affairs & Static GK. Second is related to English language. The third one is Quant and the fourth one is Reasoning. And this is a qualifying type of a what do you say? This is of qualifying nature. And objective questions come in it. So, whoever qualifies the cut off out of 100 will then be able to appear for Tier 2. Ok? So whatever happens in tie to is descriptive in nature. And the important thing is many candidates what they do after preparing after their tier one is over they think that current affairs has no role now. So we will not read current affairs now. So this is a biggest mistake. Even in Tier 2, the syllabus has changed since the last vacancy. So what remains in Tie Two as well? Firstly, there is essay writing which is of 20 marks. Ok? You will get three or four options, you can write on any one of them as per your convenience. The second section is English Comprehension, which carries 10 marks and two long answers have to be written which carry 20 marks. That means there are topics of 10-10 marks related to socio-political, economic and current events, for which you have to write 150 words each. So current affairs also play a big role in this. So you have to study current affairs for both Tier 1, Tier 2 and of course for the interview. So you should focus more on current affairs. Ok? And now the third stage is interview which is of 100 marks and I must say that one has qualified. After that 10 times students get to give tier two and then five times get to give interview. So I think interview plays a very important role in the interview because Tier 2 is of 50 marks. Maximum people's weight comes up to 30, 25, 35. There is not much gap being created among those who will be selected for the interview. Ok ? So you can create a huge gap in the interview and also get selected. Ok? So the first thing that is important for the preparation of this exam, according to me, is previous year questions. So the first thing you have to do, even before searching for any book or strategy or whatever you do, is read the previous year book to know what type of questions come? What is the level of maths? Because the level of Maths in the vacancies of 20th and 23rd was very high. Ok? So if you look at the previous year questions, you will know what the difficulty level is. Ok? What is the actual difficulty level? What are the important topics? What is the question pattern like? What is the pattern of reasoning? What kind of questions are asked in the static GS ? And what the examination expects from you? So, if you read the previous year questions from your previous year book, you will be able to know all these things. Ok? And if a book has to be recommended for this, then the PYQ book of Kiran Publication is available. You can buy that. With that you can easily analyze yourself completely as to what kind of questions are there and what are they. After that the next stage is whether we want to prepare ourselves or not. Ok? And I did not rush to solve the questions immediately, I started opening the book and looked at my questions, then I felt that friend, I am not able to do this. I am not able to do this. This will not happen to me because you are starting the preparation. So it will take time when you start getting questions. So in the beginning, do not feel disappointed that you are not able to answer the questions. Because you just have to analyze from the previous year book what is the type of question. Ok? And the examination has to be understood well. Now the most important part is its current affairs which I told you is equally important for all three – Tier 1, Tier 2 and Interview. So you should start your current affairs preparation from day one. When you are thinking of preparation, then start reading current affairs from that very moment. Ok? So do not think that I will cover current affairs letter. Then he will never come. Then current affairs are not covered two days before the examination. You have to focus on current affairs from day one itself. What you can do for that is choose a newspaper. If you read either The Hindu or The Indian Express every day, you will also read the editorials in them. Your vocabulary will also improve in that. So it will help a lot. This will also help you a lot in descriptive writing in Ti-2. And along with that, what you can do is that a monthly current affairs magazine comes, you can read the monthly current affairs PDF of Adda 247. So if both things happen then that is more than enough. You don't have to add too much clutter to your mind. Only the sources should be very few. It would be better if they do repetitive revision. And if you do not want to buy it, then you can watch Study Study IQ videos and Drishti IS videos for free on YouTube. Ok? And remember do not follow 10 different sources. Follow a source. Follow the same for six months or one year as per your convenience. Now your next step is English. Because English, Tier One, Tier Two and Interview are also important for all three. And the biggest thing is that English is quite high, meaning we can score good marks in it. Ok? So this is the most storing scoring part of tie one. And English is useful in teaching as well as in interviews also. So, what is English to do? Make English a daily habit. Like when you read a newspaper, you will find some word in its editorial. So you have to write one word every day in your note and search for its meaning. So if you write one word every day, then your vocabulary will improve a lot in the time you spend preparing. So you have to do this thing. Spend 30 minutes every day in improving your vocabulary, which you can easily improve by reading editorials and newspapers, writing down any word you don't understand and looking up its meaning. Ok? And if we talk about books, then there is a book by Neetu Singh, Tin to Paramount and another one is Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis. Ok? You can follow any of these two books. And if you want to watch it on YouTube channel then English by Neetu Singh or English by Rani Mam. I had watched a lot of Rani Ma'am's videos. So they can easily understand what the vocabulary is. He also told me a lot of tricks like synonyms, antonyms, everything. So you can follow both these channels if you want to study for free. The most important thing in this is vocabulary, grammar and reading comprehension and you have to focus on reading habits for English. Ok? Which will be important for all three. For all three stages. And remember this thing that English improves gradually. It is not that I will start studying today. Tomorrow our English will be completely up to date. This will not happen. It improves gradually. Ok? So consistency is varied. Now next let us come to reasoning. So what is reasoning for ? This is the easiest section that we can improve with practice. Ok ? So start with topics like coding, decoding, blood relation, direction, syllogism and series which is number series or alphabetic alphabetical series. So you can start like this and the seating arrangement questions are quite easy, that is, you will start with the reasoning part. So, students from non-maths background will also be able to do it comfortably gradually. If we look at the books for that, then there is RS Agarwal's reasoning book and MK Pandey's analytical reasoning book. Out of these two, you can follow any other YouTube channel if you want to study for free then Reasoning by Ankush Lamba and Swapnil Ma'am is one of them in SSC Lab, you can follow him and you can also follow Adda 2 47 Reasoning, which means you should watch the video once, watch each one of them one by one so that you can understand because everyone's method of teaching is different and their method of grasping is also different, meaning everyone's grasp may be understood better by some sir, you may understand better by some ma'am, so test yourself first as to whose you understand, then you can follow them. Ok? Now comes to Quant. So what is there in Quant that many candidates fear Maths, how will they do Quant ? How can I not do it? So the simple thing is not to panic. Quant or Maths can only be improved through practice. Taking suspense will not improve. Ok? So first of all you start from the basics. Like percentage, ratio and proportion, average, profit and loss, time and work. After that you can go to advanced topics. Like compound interest, whatever you find more difficult, keep it for later. Keep the things that you understand easily for starting. Then you will feel like studying more and in future you will not feel like giving up. He should not come and will not come. If you start with the topic of basic maths. So if we look at books, we have a book from Arihant Publication, Fast Track Objective Arithmetic by Rajesh Verma. Ok ? And the second one is Quantitative Aptitude by RS Agarwal. I will mention all these books in the description so that you do not have any confusion. And if you want to study for free from YouTube channel then you can study from Gagan Pratap Maths and Abhinay Maths. Ok ? And do not focus on shortcuts initially. In the beginning, you should understand the method well as to how the steps have been done. Initially, if we go for shortcuts then it is not good for the long term and we could not solve the question even in the middle. Today it will seem that it is happening well but if it is not for the long term or after 6 months when the exam is held then it may not be there, then initially you should understand the method well, after that you can go for the shortcut. Ok? Focus on understanding concepts first. And your speed will develop naturally when you practice. So there is no need to worry about that. Now let us come to static GK and where to study it. So if you study current affairs alone, it will not help. When will you understand current affairs ? When your basics of static are strong, your foundation of static will be strong. So you will understand current affairs better and you will be able to relate to them better. Ok ? So what are the important areas in this ? There is history, there is geography, there is politics, there is economy and there is science. Ok? And if we look at the books, then for a beginner, the Lucent General Knowledge book will be the best book for you. Everything basic is provided very well in it. Ok? And if you want to study from YouTube channel then you can study from Study IQ and you can study from Drishti IS. When you see the question paper, you will know to what depth and to what extent the questions are asked. So you have to read according to that. Ok? And do not try to become an expert. They do not need an expert in any subject. Ok? That you should have general knowledge. So you have to prepare according to your exam orientation. And as many UPSC aspirants commented on other videos that if we are UPSC aspirants and want to prepare for IPSC, then how much extra study will we have to do. So your current affairs will be prepared and static will be prepared, it will be prepared. Otherwise you will have to read everything. So that's it for our tier one. Ok? Now let's look at the strategy for tie two. What do we have to do for that ? You will have to read the editorials. I don't know how many times I am repeating that in this video. And understand important issues especially related to women and artificial intelligence, internal security, international relations. You have to read these related topics carefully. Ok? And develop the habit of writing. Because it happens a lot with children that they are not able to complete the paper because their speed is not good. Speed ​​is lost for a long time. This happens when you are preparing. So you have to develop that one habit that you are writing, practicing writing so that you do not miss at least one paper in the exam and you can also do this that you write one essay every week. I can write at least one like this in a week. It will also help you in practicing a bit and also which topic you have to prepare which I told you above. Ok? And if you follow all these things like current affairs and basic things, then you will have developed a lot of knowledge base for the interview also. So you will get a lot of help in the interview. So now many candidates think that for how many hours should we study to qualify our paper, 8 hours, 10 hours, 12 hours, then what could be the answer to this, according to me the answer would be that instead of studying for 12 hours for one week and then totally quitting it, stopping it, it is better to study for 3 hours and that too consistently for 6 months to a year, if you study for 3-3 hours every day, it is much better than studying for 12 hours for just one week. Ok? So consistency will always help you in the future. So you have to maintain consistency for this exam. Ok? Now many people also think that how many months are enough for us to prepare it completely. So that also depends on the individual. For example, if someone is from Arts then it may take a little more time. If someone is from Maths then it may take less time for him. So it is just that if your fundamentals are a little weak then it will naturally take you more time. And if your fundamentals are strong then you will be able to prepare in less time. Ok? So do not compare your preparation with someone else 's preparation. Because everyone's stream is different. Everyone's background is different. Some people take more time to understand, some people take less time to understand. So there should be no comparison. And then one advice from my side that don't fall into the Telegram trap. What Happens With Us? That when we are preparing, we get things from five to ten places or we get the PDF. Did you get these notes or this compilation of current affairs? I found this course. So Sara Le what do we do ? Let's keep it, yes we have saved the notes. We have our compilation ready. We just keep it ready and think that our preparation is going on. So we should not get trapped in such a strap. You follow one source after another. Follow it carefully. And you should not collect things from five places and keep them aside and not read or write anything from them. Ok ? So source collection is not preparation. Revision is preparation. Ok? So avoid collecting notes and PDFs. Now let us see how the mock will be. Ok? So start mock test early. It is not that we completed the entire syllabus in 6 months and then started giving mocks. Instead of this what we can do is complete a topic. Suppose we completed the time and work of Quant. So let us give it a test. Short tests are available on many websites. So that is a test book, like there are many topic wise tests on it and there are also subject wise tests. So you can look there as well. Ok? So I completed one topic and gave its test in all the sections including English, Quant, Reasoning, Current Affairs and GS. I completed the topics and started giving the test. This is how it has to be done. Ok? So how will mocks help you? It will improve your accuracy and speed. If you get to know your weak areas, you will be able to work on them better and time management because tier one paper is of 1 hour and there are 100 questions, so if you go without giving the mock, then you will not be able to attempt 100 questions and you have to complete one topic and give the mock, okay, so if you are starting today, then what you can do is that if you are a beginner, then in the first month you should understand what is the pattern of the exam, analyze PYQs which is the most important part of preparation and you can start reading current affairs from the first day and you have to develop the English reading habit and then in the second, third and fourth month you should focus on reasoning, focus on quant and improve your static GK, after that you have to start giving mocks from month five onwards, revise all the mocks that come thoroughly and do writing practice of tier two Is. Ok? Now the strategy does not have to be complicated. Simply follow whatever you feel is right among the normal things that I have told you. Ok? And then the biggest mistake that you should avoid in this preparation is ignoring current affairs. It is important for all three stages. Current affairs should not be ignored. English should not be ignored. That too is important for all three. Ok? And not analyzing PYQs this is the biggest mistake. I don't have to do that. I am repeating it again and again so that you can analyze the PYQs properly. And following too many sources will only make things worse. Nothing good is going to happen. One source is to follow oneself. That is what you have to follow throughout the preparation. Ok? And watching strategy videos all day without actually studying is also not required. And waiting for the perfect plan that will never be made. So you have to start Day One from tomorrow itself. Ok ? And if you finish this video if you are still there in this video and still confused about what to do and what not to do. So you do three things from tomorrow. First thing Buy a PYQ Book. Ok? Second is Start Reading One Newspaper. The Hindu or Indian Express, whichever you understand. And the third one is pick one subject which you find easy. If you find reasoning easy then start with it from tomorrow itself. Ok ? Do Not Wait for Perfect Motivation. He will not be available. Every day we will feel like going ahead and ahead which will not give us any results. Ok? And remember every selected candidate was once a beginner. So you are not new. Everyone started like this. So you start, be consistent and trust the process. And this is all for the video. Thank you for watching and let me know in the comments section what is your biggest fear in this preparation right now. And I will see you in the next video. Thank you.