APTET Paper 1 cheat sheet

Piaget's stages: sensorimotor (0–2 years, object permanence), preoperational (2–7, egocentrism, irreversibility), concrete operational (7–11, conservation, seriation), formal operational (11+, abstract reasoning).

Vygotsky: learning is social; ZPD is the gap between independent and guided performance; scaffolding is temporary support; inner speech mediates thinking.

Kohlberg: pre-conventional (punishment avoidance, self-interest), conventional (social approval, law and order), post-conventional (social contract, universal principles).

Thorndike's laws: readiness, exercise, effect; Pavlov = classical conditioning (stimulus association); Skinner = operant conditioning (reinforcement and punishment).

Gardner's multiple intelligences: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic.

RTE Act 2009: free and compulsory education for ages 6–14; no detention or expulsion till elementary completion; PTR 30:1 primary and 35:1 upper primary; 25% EWS seats in private unaided schools at entry.

CCE: formative assessment is ongoing and used for feedback (assessment for learning); summative assessment is end-of-term and certifies achievement (assessment of learning); both scholastic and co-scholastic areas are covered.

Learning disabilities: dyslexia affects reading and decoding; dysgraphia affects writing; dyscalculia affects number skills; dyspraxia affects motor coordination; ADHD affects attention and impulse control.

Bruner: enactive (actions), iconic (images), symbolic (language and symbols) representations; spiral curriculum revisits concepts at increasing depth; discovery learning is encouraged.

Language acquisition (L1) is natural, subconscious and occurs through exposure; language learning (L2) is conscious and formal; both require meaningful input and practice.

LSRW order: listening → speaking → reading → writing; listening and reading are receptive skills; speaking and writing are productive skills.

Phonics approach teaches sound–letter correspondences for decoding; whole-language approach prioritises meaning, sight words and context; bilingual method uses L1 for explanation.

Telugu is a Dravidian language with agglutinative morphology, SOV word order and a script derived from Brahmi; suffixes carry case, number, tense and person.

Sandhi is morphophonemic junction change; Telugu types include akara, ikara, ukara and yadagama sandhi; sandhi changes spelling and pronunciation at word boundaries.

Samasa (compound) types include tatpurusha, dvandva, dvigu, bahuvrihi and karmadharaya; the compound functions as one word and the relationship between members determines the type.

Reading sub-skills: skimming for gist, scanning for specific detail, intensive reading for close analysis, extensive reading for fluency and pleasure.

Alankara (figures): upama = simile, rupaka = metaphor, atishayokti = hyperbole, arthantaranyasa = implied analogy; used to decorate and deepen meaning.

Assessment tools for Language I: dictation, cloze test, oral reading fluency, retelling and portfolio; remedial teaching targets specific error patterns rather than general repetition.

English has about 44 phonemes in Received Pronunciation: 24 consonants and 20 vowels (12 monophthongs, 8 diphthongs); a phoneme is the smallest contrastive sound unit.

Stress: content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives) are usually stressed; function words are weak; intonation rises for yes/no questions and falls for wh-questions and statements.

Articles: 'a/an' is indefinite (an before a vowel sound); 'the' is definite; zero article is used for general plurals and abstract nouns (e.g., 'Books are useful').

Passive voice: object → subject; verb → be + past participle; subject → optional by-phrase; only transitive verbs can be made passive.

Reported speech: backshift tense (present → past), change pronouns to match the reporter, change time and place words (now → then, here → there), remove quotation marks.

Degrees of comparison: positive, comparative (-er/more), superlative (-est/most); irregular forms include good–better–best, bad–worse–worst, far–farther–farthest.

Figures of speech: simile uses like/as; metaphor states one thing is another; personification gives human qualities; alliteration repeats initial consonants; onomatopoeia imitates sound.

Communicative Language Teaching: goal is communicative competence; uses information-gap tasks, role play and group work; fluency and meaning are prioritised over error-free form.

Reading skills: skimming (gist), scanning (specific information), inference (reading between lines), prediction (anticipating content); schema activation improves comprehension.

Indian place-value periods: ones, thousands, lakhs, crores; 1 lakh = 1,00,000; 1 crore = 1,00,00,000; each place is ten times the place on its right.

Divisibility: 2 last digit even; 3 digit sum divisible by 3; 4 last two digits divisible by 4; 5 last digit 0 or 5; 9 digit sum divisible by 9; 11 alternating sum divisible by 11.

LCM × HCF = product of the two numbers (for two positive integers); HCF ≤ each number ≤ LCM.

Percentage = (part/whole) × 100; to convert a fraction to percent multiply by 100; to convert percent to decimal divide by 100.

Average = sum of observations ÷ number of observations; unitary method finds the value of one unit first, then scales to the required quantity.

Perimeter and area: rectangle P = 2(l + b), A = l × b; square P = 4s, A = s²; triangle A = ½ × base × height; circle C = 2πr, A = πr².

Angle facts: straight angle = 180°, complete turn = 360°; triangle angles sum to 180°; quadrilateral angles sum to 360°; complementary = 90°, supplementary = 180°.

Measurement conversions: 1 km = 1000 m; 1 m = 100 cm; 1 kg = 1000 g; 1 L = 1000 mL; 1 hour = 60 minutes; 1 minute = 60 seconds.

Van Hiele levels: visualization, analysis, informal deduction, formal deduction, rigor; primary learners typically need concrete manipulatives and pictorial support before symbols.

Living things show growth, respiration, nutrition, excretion, response to stimuli and reproduction; non-living things do not.

Plant parts: root absorbs water and minerals; stem transports and supports; leaf makes food by photosynthesis; flower is for reproduction; fruit protects seeds.

Animal diet classes: herbivore (plants), carnivore (animals), omnivore (both); vertebrates include fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.

Balanced diet includes carbohydrates (energy), proteins (growth and repair), fats (energy reserve), vitamins and minerals (protection), fibre and water; deficiency diseases include scurvy (vitamin C), rickets (vitamin D) and anaemia (iron).

Air composition: about 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% argon, carbon dioxide and other gases; water exists as solid, liquid and gas and moves through the water cycle.

Pollution types: air, water, soil and noise; biodegradable waste decomposes naturally; non-biodegradable waste persists; the 3Rs are reduce, reuse, recycle.

Solar system: Sun and eight planets; planets revolve around the Sun (year) and rotate on their axes (day); the Moon is Earth's natural satellite.

Map reading: cardinal directions north, south, east, west; symbols represent features; scale shows the ratio between map distance and ground distance; a compass shows direction.

EVS pedagogy: integrates science and social science around the child's environment; uses observation, exploration, field visits, projects and CCE rather than rote recall.