Hi guys,
Firstly note down that there no short cuts for improving English. You can only improve English gradually i.e step by step, not in a week or month.
To improve your English first thing which u need to do is changing ur lifestyle and attitude towards the language. The first thing to improve English for people who are weak in it is to attempt easy and selective questions only and always attempt atleast 80% questions to clear the cut off just in case u get a lot of wrong attempts. People who have a good accuracy in English may even attempt just 25/50 questions. As cut offs in Eng is never above 25 in any exam.
Do intelligent guessing – Eliminate 2,3 options first and then u have the high probability of getting the answer correct.
So first which questions to attempt and what to leave.??
Always leave 10 questions of passage as they consume hell lot of time. Attempt only synonym and antonym part. Attempt around 40 questions and get around 25 correct u will definitely clear cut off.(but if u have time, attempt all questions as now a days English marks r also added like in SBI, BOB etc)
Section wise u can do following-:
1. Reading Comprehension , here u can easily get 5-6 correct at least even in worst case. If ur vocabulary is weak then do not attempt questions on most similar and most opposite till the time u r not sure of the answer.
2. Cloze test is the solid part in English . A test is a passage with missing words given as blanks. U must do most of them except the ones which u dont know .
3. In the middle of the paper u will find questions on sentence improvement and error detection in sentences. U must do them. I will post some rules in coming days.
4. Just solve English paper in 20 min so that u can give time and your mind to other sections. U can easily solve 40 questions in 20 min.
How to Prepare:
Vocabulary
1. English Newspaper : Read good news articles from the newspaper and trust me everyday you will find at least 10-15 new words . even if u don’t get time just read the editorial and mark the difficult words.
Now dont learn their meanings simply refer to their meaning from the dictionary .So that next time when u come across the same word u should be able to recall it and this way it will become permanent in ur mind .
2. Write a news diary (or personal diary in English): Another daily writing task that can work for people who would be bored by writing about their own routines in a diary is to write about the news that you read and listen to everyday. If you include your predictions for how you think the story will develop (e.g. “I think Hillary will become president”), this can give you a good reason to read old entries another time, at which time you can also correct and mistakes you have made and generally improve what you have written.
3) English Newspaper : Whenever u read the newspaper or any other english text read carefully looking at the usage of nouns , adjectives prepostions,verbs and most important subject verb agreement. U should be able to identify the parts of speech .Even if u dont know the grammar of a language if u will keep on reading it over a period of time u r bound to improve upon ur knowledge about distinguishing between correct and incorrect grammar usage since u had spent so much of time reading it.
4) Online Chat: the closest thing to speaking for people who don’t have the chance to speak English is online chat, as you have to think and respond quickly, and the language is short and informal just like speech.
5). Grammar : I would like to suggest u to only go through the basics of nouns, verbs, adjectives, tenses, articles, passage, punctuation, subject verb agreement, sentences and phrases. Please do not go into the depth of grammar as it will only confuse u..MORE AND MORE ..Most of the people who qualify in english r not really good in grammar but they r used to the language. So u need to change ur attitude by using english everywhere in place of ur native language at least till the time u dont get the command over english.
6. Get in touch with someone who is good in english, discuss ur weaknesses and start practicing spoken english with him/her. Write various types of letters Formal and Informal, Essays on arbitrary topics , precis on news articles. See if u will actually practice all this then success is bound to come …..But u need patience…Speak on a topic for 3 minutes everday all these have to practiced on a daily basis to get results in at least 3 months time.
7. I’ll share with u an anecdote on English :there were 2 friends who did not know English.They decided that they will learn English. Everyday they used to meet at the bus stop to go to college which was a journey of 1 hr. Both them took pledge that throughout their to-fro journey they will always speak in English. When they started the other people laughed and giggled at them since they used to speak in broken English. But both were strongly determined and continued. After about six months the same passengers realized that they were wrong as slowly and slowly their English started showing improvement.
So my dear friend the way u work hard for Reasoning or QA same way work hard for English and dont give up.
8. Go for objective English by Thorpe and Thorpe. Its a very good book for competitive English.
9. Always solve as many English sets as possible with time check and also ur score at home from practice sets. The more u solve them the more closer u get to ur success.
10. Lastly I would like to tell u friend its all a mind-game. When u loose u loose from ur mind and when u win u win from the mind only. So think positive and work-hard. If u can do well in Reasoning ,QA and GK then u can certainly do well in English also.
Believe in ur self and work hard in continuity…