FCI Manager General Studies Preparation: FCI released the FCI Manager 2022 Recruitment Notification on the 24th of August, 2022. The online registration process for the same opened on the 27th of August and will close on the 26th of September, 2022.
FCI conducts its Manager recruitment in two phases. Phase I is a general test that covers English, Quantitative, Reasoning, and General Studies. Phase II is a post-specific exam with either one or two papers depending on the post.
FCI newly introduced the General Studies section for the FCI Manager 2022 exam. It will be a part of the Phase I exam, as well as Phase II Paper I and Paper III. While it is not as taxing or challenging as the other sections, this section has the potential of being a score maker for you if you prepare right. Hence, we’re sharing some important information and some useful tips to keep in mind which will help you ace this section.
FCI Manager General Studies Preparation: Syllabus
| Indian History | Indian Economy |
| Geography | General Science |
| Current Affairs |
These are the topics outlined by FCI for FCI Manager 2022 Phase I, General Studies section. The questions will be such that candidates will not require specialized study of any discipline. These questions will cover most general knowledge topics relating to India.
FCI Manager General Studies Preparation- Important Tips
General Studies is a section that is common in several government and banking exams. However, for the first time, it’s been introduced in the FCI Manager exams. The preparation needed for this section mostly depends on the awareness you keep of the latest events around you, locally and globally. It also needs knowledge from school-level science, history, and geography so it would be good to revise that. Here we’ll give some general tips on how to tackle this section and also some specific ones related to the topics being broadly covered.
General Tips
- Newspapers, magazines, and monthly digests are your best friends for this section. They cover GK, the latest findings and inventions in science, environmental and geographic events, and political affairs.
- Make sure to keep up-to-date with local news as well. It is important to be aware of the political and geographical changes in your own district and state.
- Read editorials. Not only are these useful for your English section, but a lot of the editorials will also give you the information in ways that will help you relate to the information. It will be a more interesting way to learn.
- It is a good idea to keep extremely important pieces of information and current affairs written down in a notebook. This can be done by writing the date/month of the information and any related details that are relevant.
Topic-wise Tips
Indian History
Indian History is vast and covers several eras. However, your best bet would be NCERT’s textbooks for 6th to 12th. These will comprehensively cover the most relevant topics more easily than subject-specific books.
Indian Economy
Cover all important aspects of the Economy- starting from the economy in the historical ages, the progress of Indian currency and trade, the factors that have influenced the economy, major changes in policies, international trade, etc.
Geography
Once again, NCERT books would be the best for Geography. Crop patterns, rainfall patterns, weather, features of land and sea, and important locations for energy production are all covered well in these books.
General Science
This is mostly Physics, Chemistry, and Biology from 6th to 8th standard. For Phase II, this would be PCB till the 10th standard. Make sure to cover important concepts of each subject. Write down the formulae and terms which are essential. For biology make sure to familiarise yourself with the diagrams of various systems of plants and animals.
Current Affairs
Current Affairs is an important part of General Studies. You will need to be well-read through newspapers, magazines, editorials, and monthly and fortnightly digests. Oliveboard consistently puts out Current Affairs questions and study material which would be a solid resource to refer to for practice and learning.
FCI Manager General Studies Preparation: Exam Pattern
Phase I
| Sr. No | Name of the Test | No. of Qs. | Max. Marks | Duration (minutes) | Medium of examination |
| 1 | English Language | 25 | 25 | 15 minutes | English |
| 2 | Reasoning Ability | 25 | 25 | 15 minutes | Bilingual (English and Hindi) |
| 3 | Numerical Aptitude | 25 | 25 | 15 minutes | Bilingual (English and Hindi) |
| 4 | General Studies | 25 | 25 | 15 minutes | Bilingual (English and Hindi) |
| Total | 100 | 100 | 60 Minutes |
From the exam pattern, it is seen that the General Studies Section is of 25 questions of 25 marks total. 15 minutes is the time allotted.
Phase II
Phase II has 4 papers. Depending on the post, the candidate may have to appear for one paper or two papers out of the four. A candidate can apply for three kinds of Managerial posts:
- General (Manager- General, Depot, Movement)
- Technical (Manager – Technical, Civil, Electrical & Mechanical)
- Hindi (Manager – Hindi)
You can read about the exam pattern across posts for Phase II here.
General Studies has a chunk of the weightage in Paper I and is also a topic for Paper III. It would be best that you remain consistent in your General Studies preparation after Phase I to not have any gaps in knowledge.
Paper I
| Sr. No | Name of the Test | No. of Qs. | Max. Marks | Duration (minutes) | Medium of examination |
| 1 | English Language | 25 | 25 | 20 minutes | English |
| 2 | Reasoning Ability | 25 | 25 | 20 minutes | Bilingual (English and Hindi) |
| 3 | Numerical Aptitude | 25 | 25 | 20 minutes | Bilingual (English and Hindi) |
| 4 | General Studies | 45 | 45 | 30 minutes | Bilingual (English and Hindi) |
| Total | 120 | 120 | 120 Minutes |
Unlike Phase I, General Studies takes 20 more questions here than the other sections. This means a well-rounded preparation of this section can catapult your score high. Make sure to prepare well so that you can score full in this section and boost the total score.
Paper III
| Sr. No | Name of the Test | No. of Qs. | Max. Marks | Duration (minutes) | Medium of examination |
| 1 | General Hindi | 20 | 20 | 20 minutes | Hindi |
| 2 | General English | 20 | 20 | 20 minutes | English |
| 3 | General Awareness | 20 | 20 | 20 minutes | Bilingual (English and Hindi) |
| 4 | General Intelligence | 20 | 20 | 20 minutes | Bilingual (English and Hindi) |
| 5 | Computer Awareness (with specific reference to MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and the Internet) | 20 | 20 | 20 minutes | Bilingual (English and Hindi) |
| 6 | Current Affairs | 20 | 20 | 20 minutes | Bilingual (English and Hindi) |
| Total | 120 | 120 | 120 Minutes |
Paper III has general awareness which may cover basic general knowledge and current affairs. The same preparation as Phase I is sufficient in this case.
FCI General Studies Preparation: Books to Refer
You don’t need too many books to keep your preparation for General Studies in the top form. These few books will help provide the all-around knowledge that is required for General Studies.
| Book Name | Author |
| General Studies with 14,000+ Objective Questions | Arihant Publications |
| General Knowledge | Lucent |
| Objective Question Bank from General Science | Arihant Publications |
| Manorma Yearbook (for Current Affairs) | Manorama |
| Textbooks for Science, History, and Geography | NCERT |
Conclusion
Even though the section is new to FCI Manager and we may not have a clear idea of the pattern of questions, this section will help you loads if you prepare smartly. You can supplement the time between preparing for other sections by reading up for this one. Every day dedicating half an hour in between different subjects can easily cover all the topics under this section. You can also refer to our YouTube channel for weekly videos on current affairs.
FCI Manager General Studies Preparation: Frequently Asked Questions
An FCI Manager will get a monthly salary in the range of 40,000-1,40,000. Read up on the FCI Manager 2022 post-wise pay scale here.
FCI Manager has a two-phase selection process. Phase I has English, Numerical Aptitude, Reasoning, and General Studies. Phase II is a post-specific test and has 4 papers out of which candidates will have to write either one or two papers depending on the post. Considering the difference in preparation the candidate should study the syllabus and exam pattern of each and plan their preparation over a fixed time. This way you will get enough time to prepare for the post-specific subjects.
No, FCI Manager doesn’t have a sectional cutoff. It only has a category-wise overall cutoff. The previous year’s cut-off for the general category was 75.
FCI has updated the exam pattern for FCI Manager 2022. Both Phase I and Phase II Paper I exams will now include a General Studies section in addition to the English, Numerical Aptitude, and Reasoning Sections. You can learn more about the change in exam pattern here.
I write content to help people prepare for banking exams because I have experience as an aspirant myself. My goal is to provide accurate and easy-to-understand information for candidates. I cover various topics such as exam patterns, syllabus, study techniques, and time management to support those preparing for the exams. As a former aspirant turned content writer, I want to make the information accessible and helpful for others so that they can do well in their banking and government exams and achieve their goals.
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