Ninety days is enough to clear Tier 1 for some people and nowhere near enough for others. Which group you fall into depends on your starting point, not on how disciplined you are. So before the timetable, let me be plain about who this plan is for.
It works if you are a graduate with a decent school-level base in Maths, can read English at a normal pace, and can give 5 to 6 hours a day (or 3 to 4 hours if you are working, with the plan stretched a bit). It also works as a final-stretch plan if you have been preparing loosely for a year and want to tighten up.
It does not work if you have not touched Maths since class 10 and you get through 3 or 4 hours a week. In that case, read the 3, 6, 12 month strategy. It will save you the disappointment of a plan that was never going to fit.
This plan aims at Tier 1 first, with Tier 2 groundwork built in from the second month. The pattern it assumes is the current one: Tier 1 with four sections of 25 questions, 100 questions, 200 marks, 0.50 negative marking, and, for the 2026 cycle, 15 minutes per section as reported. Tier 2 Paper I has 150 scored questions and 450 marks, with 1 mark negative. Details are in the pattern and normalization post.
How the 90 days are split
| Phase | Days | Aim |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Base building | 1 to 30 | Cover the core topics once, at moderate speed |
| 2. Speed and depth | 31 to 60 | Second pass, timed practice, Tier 2 level Maths and English |
| 3. Mocks and repair | 61 to 90 | Full mocks, analysis, repairing weak topics |
The proportions matter. A lot of 90-day plans have thirty days for "finishing the syllabus", thirty for "revision" and thirty for "mocks". In practice the syllabus is never finished in thirty days, so the plan below starts mocks earlier (day 8, and a proper cadence from day 30), and lets the topic work continue alongside.
Daily hours and how to split them
For a full-time aspirant at 6 hours a day, here is the split in Phase 1:
| Subject | Hours | What |
|---|---|---|
| Quantitative Aptitude | 2 | One or two chapters, with practice |
| Reasoning | 1 | One topic, with practice |
| English | 1.5 | Grammar rule plus vocabulary plus one reading passage |
| General Awareness | 1 | Reading, notes, revision |
| Revision and error log | 0.5 | Yesterday's mistakes |
For a working person with 3 hours, cut this to Quant 1 hour, Reasoning 30 minutes, English 45 minutes, GA 30 minutes, revision 15 minutes. Use weekends for the missing hours: 6 to 8 hours on Saturday and Sunday can recover a lot. The topic order stays the same. You just take longer, so consider stretching phases 1 and 2 by two weeks each.
Phase 1: Days 1 to 30, base building
The first week
Day 1 to 2: Take one Tier 1 mock under exam conditions, cold. Free full-length mocks work for this. Record your section-wise scores, attempts and accuracy. This is your baseline. Do not be discouraged by the score. Most people at this stage score somewhere modest, and it does not predict what happens in 90 days.
Day 3 to 7: Start the topic work.
- Quant: number system basics, fractions and decimals, simplification, percentage, ratio and proportion. Learn the fractions-to-percentage table (1/2 to 1/16). It is worth an hour of memorisation and it pays back in every arithmetic chapter.
- Reasoning: series (number, letter), analogy, classification.
- English: parts of speech, subject-verb agreement, tenses. Begin the vocabulary routine: 10 new words a day, using them in your own sentences, with a revision of the last 3 days each evening.
- GA: ancient and medieval history overview. Read a single reliable summary, not five books.
Weeks 2 to 4
Here is the topic sequence I would follow. Adjust if you already know a chapter.
| Week | Quant | Reasoning | English | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Average, profit and loss, discount | Coding-decoding, blood relations | Articles, prepositions | Modern history: 1857 to independence |
| 3 | Time and work, pipes, time-speed-distance | Direction sense, ranking, syllogism | Error spotting practice, conjunctions | Polity: Constitution, Fundamental Rights, Parliament |
| 4 | Simple and compound interest, mixture, partnership | Venn diagrams, statement-conclusion, mathematical operations | Synonyms, antonyms, one-word substitution | Geography of India: rivers, soils, climate |
Each subject-day follows the same rhythm: learn the method for 30 to 40 minutes, then practise 20 to 30 questions on the topic, then note every mistake in an error log. The error log is a plain notebook: the question type, why you got it wrong (concept, calculation, misread, time), and the fix. Skip it and you will make the same mistake in the mock.
Days 8, 15, 22, 29: a full Tier 1 mock each Sunday (or your rest day), with a full 2 to 3 hours of analysis on the same day or the next. You are not trying to score well. You are testing what the week's work does to your accuracy. Your percentile after each mock is a rough way to check direction.
Day 30: a checkpoint. Compare mock 4 to mock 1. Which sections moved? Rank your three weakest topics per section. If English or Quant has not moved at all, spend the next two days there before starting Phase 2, not after.
Phase 2: Days 31 to 60, speed and depth
Phase 2 changes the type of work. In the first month you learned the methods. In the second month, you speed them up and start the Tier 2 level.
The daily shape
| Time | What |
|---|---|
| 2 hours | Quant: new chapter in the first half, timed sets in the second |
| 1 hour | Reasoning: timed sets of 25 in 15 minutes, non-verbal introduced |
| 1.5 hours | English: grammar plus reading comprehension plus cloze |
| 1 hour | GA: new topic plus current affairs |
| 0.5 hour | Revision plus error log |
Topic list for days 31 to 60
- Quant: algebra identities, linear equations, mensuration (2D then 3D), geometry (triangles, circles, congruence and similarity), trigonometry basics and identities, data interpretation (bar, pie, line), heights and distances.
- Reasoning: seating arrangement (simple), figure series, embedded figures, mirror and water images, paper folding, counting figures, matrix and missing number puzzles.
- English: reading comprehension (one passage a day), cloze test (three a week), para jumbles, active-passive, direct-indirect, idioms and phrases.
- GA: economy basics, science (physics, chemistry, biology from class 6 to 10 books, in outline), art and culture, static GK. Start a current affairs routine: 30 minutes daily on one source, a weekly revision on Sunday.
Practice targets
By day 45, aim to do timed Tier 1 section sets: 25 questions in 15 minutes for Reasoning, English and Quant, and 25 in about 8 to 10 minutes for GA. Start with your best section to build confidence, then your worst.
By day 60, you should finish the syllabus in outline. Not perfectly. If you have a chapter left that you never touched, do a quick pass of it now so that you are at least aware of its main question types.
Mocks in Phase 2
Two full mocks a week: one on the weekend and one midweek. Add one Tier 2 style practice: a set of 30 Maths questions in 30 minutes, or a 45-question English set in 40 minutes, once a week. Tier 2 has a 1-mark penalty per wrong answer on 3-mark questions, so practise deciding when to skip.
Analysis stays non-negotiable. For each mock, spend at least as long analysing as you spent taking it. Sort every wrong answer into one of four buckets: did not know the concept, knew but made a calculation error, misread the question, ran out of time. Each bucket has a different fix, and mixing them up is how people study for a month with no improvement.
Day 60: another checkpoint. Compare your last four mocks with the first four. In the mocks you should see your attempts rising with accuracy holding steady. If accuracy has dropped as attempts rose, that is fine for now, but note it, and fix it in Phase 3.
Phase 3: Days 61 to 90, mocks and repair
The daily shape
By now your day has less new learning and more testing and repair.
| Time | What |
|---|---|
| 3 hours | A full mock (2 hours with a Tier 1 mock plus a Tier 2 style section set) or targeted sectional work |
| 2 hours | Analysis of that mock and repair of the weak topics it exposed |
| 1 hour | GA and current affairs revision |
| Remaining | Rotation through weak chapters |
Mock frequency: one full Tier 1 mock every alternate day for weeks 9 and 10, then every day during the last week if your stamina allows. That is roughly 15 to 20 mocks over the 30 days. If you cannot manage that many, fewer mocks with proper analysis beat more mocks without. The how many mocks before the exam post is the place to check the numbers for your own situation.
Week 9 (days 61 to 67)
- Mock every alternate day, section-wise timing on 15 minutes per section.
- Focus on the two weakest chapters per subject, working through 40 to 50 questions each.
- English: reading comprehension for speed. Aim to read a 400-word passage in about 3 minutes and answer 5 questions in another 3 minutes.
- Start a one-page formula sheet for Quant and a one-page rules sheet for English grammar.
Week 10 (days 68 to 74)
- Continue with mocks.
- Take one Tier 2 style Maths set (30 questions, 30 minutes) and one 45-question English set. Note how many you skip and whether skipping was the right call.
- GA: revise all your notes in two passes. Current affairs for the last 6 months, in a capsule.
- Typing practice: if the notice makes a Data Entry Speed Test part of your posts, begin now, 20 to 30 minutes daily. A key-depression target of 2,000 in 15 minutes was reported, so check the notice for the exact requirement.
- Computer Knowledge: 30 minutes a day for a week. It is a qualifying module and only needs basics. See the computer awareness post.
Week 11 (days 75 to 81)
- Daily mock or sectional test.
- Look at your error log. The mistakes that have appeared three or more times are your priority. Re-do those questions from scratch.
- Test a few "what if" strategies in mocks: attempt order within a section, the point at which you leave a question, and how many you leave in Quant. One mock a week with a different strategy tells you what works for you.
Week 12 (days 82 to 90)
- No new topics. Lightly revise formula sheet, grammar rules and GA notes.
- Two or three full mocks only, at the same time of day as your exam slot, if you know it.
- Sleep well in the final three days. Do not take a mock on the day before the exam.
If your exam is Tier 1 with sectional timing, spend some of these last days practising the exact rhythm: a section, a hard stop, the next section. Your body has to get used to switching without a break.
A sample week in Phase 2
For a full-time aspirant. The exact days can shift.
| Day | Morning (3 hours) | Afternoon (2 hours) | Evening (1 hour) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | Quant: new chapter plus 30 questions | English: grammar plus vocabulary | GA: new topic |
| Tue | Reasoning: timed 25-question sets | Quant: timed sets | Current affairs |
| Wed | Tier 1 mock | Analysis | Error log |
| Thu | Quant: geometry or mensuration | English: reading comprehension plus cloze | GA revision |
| Fri | Reasoning: non-verbal | Tier 2 Maths set (30 in 30) | Current affairs |
| Sat | Tier 1 mock | Analysis (2 hours) | Weak topic repair |
| Sun | Weak topic repair; one hour off | Weekly revision of formulas and notes | Plan next week |
Give yourself one half day off a week. People who do not tend to break down around week 7 or 8, and the plan falls apart with them.
How to know it is working
Look at three numbers across your mocks: total marks, accuracy per section, and attempts per section. They should move like this:
- Weeks 1 to 4: attempts stay low, accuracy climbs.
- Weeks 5 to 8: attempts climb, accuracy holds or dips a little.
- Weeks 9 to 12: both settle at a level you can repeat.
One trap: a single great mock. Everybody has one. Treat the average of the last five mocks as your real level. If that average is comfortably above the cut-off of the last few years, you are on track. I am not quoting a cut-off number here because I have not verified any, and it differs by category and year. Look at the official Tier 1 result and cut-off notice for CGL 2025, which was published in December 2025, and use it to set a mock target with some margin. The cut-off analysis post explains how to read those numbers.
Subject-wise notes for the 90 days
Quant
Do not attempt to master geometry in week 1. Start with arithmetic, and only add geometry once your accuracy in arithmetic is above 80%. Keep an eye on calculation speed. Learn squares up to 30, cubes up to 15, and the fractions table. These small memory items take about a week to build and save 10 to 15 seconds per calculation.
Reasoning
Reasoning is the most reliable score-improver in a short window. In my experience it is the section that moves fastest in a short window, though I have no data to put a number on it. The reason is that question types repeat heavily. Practise one type a day until you can spot the trick in 10 seconds.
English
English improves slowly, so start on day 1 and never stop. If you are weak here, do not try to fix vocabulary and grammar simultaneously in month 1. Do grammar first, because the rules give answers directly. Vocabulary is a slow-build routine that runs in parallel.
General Awareness
GA is the section where a working professional can catch up fastest, because it rewards short daily sessions. In phase 1, read one static GK source once. In phase 2, add current affairs. In phase 3, revise both. Do not start new books after day 60.
Mistakes people make in the 90-day window
- Starting mocks too late. By the time you take your first mock on day 60, you have no time to fix what it shows.
- Taking mocks without analysis. A mock without analysis is a two-hour speed test. It has its use, but it will not raise your score.
- Changing books every week. Pick one resource per topic. Stick to it.
- Ignoring Tier 2. If you clear Tier 1, Tier 2 in the 2025 cycle came about a month after the result (18 and 19 January 2026, after a December 2025 result, as reported). Your Tier 2 practice has to start before you get the Tier 1 result. In this plan, that is week 10 and beyond, and you should carry on with it.
- Skipping rest. Six hours of focused study with a day off beats ten hours of tired study with none.
- Over-relying on tricks. Shortcut methods help only if you understand the basic method. Learn both.
After the 90 days
There are two outcomes. Either you clear Tier 1 and go into Tier 2, which needs a different type of preparation (longer Maths, 45-question English sets, typing and computer knowledge), or you do not, and you look at your scorecard to see what to fix before the next notification. Both are normal. Many successful candidates cleared on a second or third attempt. The second attempt post has a plan for that case, and after clearing Tier 1 has one for the other.
For a practical next step today: take one Tier 1 mock, cold, and write down your baseline by section. That is your day 1. The free mini-mocks and sectional tests on /practice are good for a first look if you want to see your standing without the full two hours.
FAQ
Can I clear SSC CGL in 90 days from scratch? It is possible for people with a good academic base and steady daily hours, but not typical. If you are starting from zero, plan for six months or more.
How many hours a day should I study? Five to six for a full-time aspirant, three to four for someone working, with weekends for extra hours. Consistency matters more than the number.
How many mocks should I take in 90 days? Roughly 30 to 40 full mocks in total if you follow this plan, most of them in the last 45 days. What counts is the analysis, not the count.
Should I join a coaching institute? It is optional. It gives a schedule and peer pressure, which some people need. If you can follow a plan by yourself, you can do without.
What if I fall behind by a week? Cut revision, not mocks. Merge two chapters into one week if needed. Do not compress the last two weeks.
Is this plan enough for Tier 2? It builds a base and includes Tier 2 style practice. Tier 2 needs more time on Maths and English than the base plan gives, so if Tier 1 is cleared you will need a dedicated Tier 2 push, which depends on how much time you have between the result and the exam.
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