NDA is a national-level entrance examination held by UPSC for students interested in joining various defence forces. The examination is conducted for the recruitment of the Army, Air Forces, and Naval Academy.

Every year, a large number of young students dream of cracking the NDA examination, and they work hard to do so. However, most of them are perplexed as to what approach they should use to ace good marks in the NDA Mathematics part, which is quite crucial for your success in the exam.

On that note, let’s discuss a few simple yet effective strategies that will help you to ace the Mathematics segment of the NDA exam.  

Solve As Many Questions As Possible

Since math is a practical subject that cannot be mastered solely through reading or watching, students need to practise a large number of questions on the topic they are studying in order to grasp concepts and how apply them to solve problems.

For example, just learning the Equation of Parabola in the conic section will help you solve questions on it in the exam but practising different types of questions on the equation of parabola will make you familiar with how to tackle these questions in the exam with speed and accuracy.

Clear Concepts

Try to understand each topic from the fundamentals to the advanced level, without rushing to memorise formulas or failing to follow the processes outlined in the book. You should go over each definition and formula, establishing a link between them, before moving on to examples and practice.

Try to prove as many of the findings and theorems as possible. This will take some time, but if you invest your time well in understanding a topic and its concepts, you will be able to answer a large number of new questions.

Take Regular Mock Tests

Time management is crucial when taking the NDA Exam. And if you’re taking the NDA exam for the first time, there’s a good possibility you’ll spend a lot of time on a few questions, which will make you nervous and cause you to perform below your potential.

This can be readily dealt with if you’ve been in a similar scenario before, therefore take the Mock Tests. This will provide you with actual exam experience and allow you to practise tests on a timed basis. 

Don’t Waste Time Searching for the Perfect Book

Many students end up squandering a lot of time in the search for an “excellent book”. Start with the NCERT textbook for classes 11th and 12th to help you clear your basics. You can also go for great maths books like Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Exams by RS Aggarwal and should engage only with the type of questions asked in the NDA exam.

You should first prepare the syllabus topic-by-topic and then practise with any book you want, focusing on the types of questions from your respective examination.

Solve Previous Year’s Papers

This is one of the most crucial things a student should remember when preparing for a defence examination. Everyone is familiar with the topic names and syllabus, but understanding the difficulty level or type of questions and high-weightage topics is more crucial.

And the easiest way to achieve this is to solve the previous year’s papers. For example, as per the analysis of previous years’ NDA papers, a majority of geometry questions commonly asked in the NDA exam revolve around straight lines and circles, therefore you pay attention to them as compared to Ellipse, Parabola, Hyperbola and other sub-topics.

You can also use previous years’ question papers like mock tests by setting a timer for 150 minutes and solving a last year’s paper in that amount of time. During your examination, this method can provide miraculous outcomes.