How to prepare for TET – TET Exam strategy

TET Exam is the most sought-after exam in the country, especially for those who want to make a career in India’s education sector. A TET certificate is the minimum requirement to be eligible for a teacher post. The CTET (above 60% is valid for a lifetime) and State TET certificates are valid for seven years except for the CGTET (Chhattisgarh). The Chhattisgarh government recently announced that the CGTET certificate would be valid for a lifetime, and those whose certificates are expired will also be considered valid. 

After the Civil services and Banking sector, education is the most preferred choice by the candidates. Every year lakhs of candidates compete against each other to get a high percentage in the examination so that whenever there will be a vacancy in any school, they stand a chance of selection. 

Before the inception of the TET exam, the teachers were recruited based on their academic merit and percentage. The eligible candidates apply to the local education authorities to get selected, and they get their appointment directly from there. But due to distinct procedures of various state governments, the Central government introduced the CTET exam in August 2010 to ensure the fine selection with equal quality standards. Similarly, most state governments also introduced their respective TET exam in 2011, and after that, all the teachers are selected through a uniform process. 

TET is an offline exam consisting of 2 papers that are conducted on a single day. Duration for this exam is 2 hours and 30 minutes with no negative marking. To crack the examination, candidates require unique strategies and a defined path to ensure success. Therefore we are here to help you with unique tips and tricks. In this article, we are providing a systematic approach to excel in the TET examination. But before you proceed further with the preparation, let’s look at the pattern and eligibility. 

Exam pattern for TET exams

The TET exam has 2 papers conducted on the same day. Both paper 1 and paper 2 have 150 MCQ questions. The separate time limit for both papers is 2 hours 30 minutes. Candidates are awarded 1 mark for each correct, and there is no negative marking for any paper. 

The breakdown of both papers are given below

Paper 1

Paper II

The Ministry of Education (formerly known as MHRD) has set up some norms for the qualifying marks for the TET exam, which is given below:

Eligibility for TET exam

Strange but true, The eligibility criteria for TET paper 1 and paper 2 are different. Individual eligibility requirements for both pacers are mentioned below:

Paper 1

1. The candidates should be 12th qualified with a minimum of 50% marks and appeared in the 2-year diploma in elementary education or
2. The candidates should be higher secondary qualified with a minimum of 50% marks and have completed or appeared in the Bachelor of elementary education final year. 
3. Candidates who have completed graduation and passed or appear in the final year of a 2-year diploma in elementary education can apply. 

Paper 2

1. Candidates who have completed graduation and passed or appear in the final year of a 2-year diploma in elementary education or
2. Candidates must graduate with at least 50% marks and have passed or appearing in the first year of B.ed. 
3. Candidates who have cleared the higher secondary education with at least 50% marks and have completed or appearing in the final year of B.EI.Ed. or 
4. Candidates who have completed or are in the final year of a 4-year integrated program of B.A.B.ed., B.Sc.B.ed. Or any equivalent course. 
5. Candidates who have completed graduation with at least 50% and appearing in the first year of B.ed. can apply.  

Preparation strategy for TET exam

Syllabus and Pattern 

Start your preparation with a thorough analysis of the TET syllabus and pattern. Just like most competitive exams, the pattern and syllabus are defined for the TET as well. You don’t need to study everything under the sun but stick to the syllabus itself. Remember that it’s just an eligibility test for school teachers, so you don’t have to do a P.hD. on the topics and subjects. Try to be in a generalist state of mind. 

Strengthen the weak areas

Most of the time, it happens that the calculative part is considered to be a bit tough. It is where the majority of candidates suffer from excelling. But that doesn’t mean that everyone is weak in mathematics only; there may be other parts like language papers, child development, pedagogy, etc., where they struggle. So what you have to do is spend an extra hour on that weak area so that there would be no loophole in your preparation. 

Less is more

We saw several applicants reading one book after another for the same subject, which is an even bigger mistake. Please minimize your resources to NCERTs and one reference book, and believe me, it’s all you need to pass this examination with flying colors. Stay away from reading different books at the examination time; instead, you can re-read and revise your old resources to build expertise. 

Prepare, Practise, Revise 

This is the only formula that is worth sharing. Learn the basics first, then solve the specialized quizzes and puzzles for that particular topic. Make a habit of making short notes in your language, this will not only strengthen the topic, but you also get material to revise at the last moment. You can highlight the essential points to skim quickly. Now it’s time to revise what you have read till now. 

You can use mnemonics to memorize the concepts and topics. Shortcuts and tricks also come in handy when preparing for a competitive exam. 

Mocks are marked saving

Don’tDon’t mistake the mocks with your regular practice. Mocks are the actual performance enhancers. If you are diligent and honest while giving the mock, then they can significantly improve your performance. You can give sectionals as well as paper-wise mocks to analyze your topic-wise strength. Based on your mock performance, you can change or improvise your strategy to reap maximum benefits out of it. 

Suppose you are not confident about the preparation. In that case, you can also take professional help from coaching centers to save time and resources, and you can enroll yourself in online TET competitive classes. They offer both target and crash courses, and you can choose one as per your requirements.

Also Read: TET exam syllabus, notification, selection process