Maharashtra SSC Multi-Skill Assistant Technician Pre-Voc/NSQF common mistakes
Maharashtra SSC Multi-Skill Assistant Technician Pre-Voc/NSQF · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Treats the 230 V supply value as the peak amplitude and writes v = 230 sin ωt, or works out peak as 230 V instead of 230 × √2 ≈ 325 V when asked for the maximum value of an AC waveform.
At school level the single number '230 V' is memorised as 'the voltage', and the RMS-versus-peak distinction is never drilled, so the candidate plugs the supply figure straight into the amplitude slot of the sine expression.
What to do instead
Before solving any AC item, write two boxes on the rough sheet: RMS and PEAK. Fill the given value into the correct box, then apply Vpeak = √2 × Vrms ≈ 1.414 × Vrms and Vrms = 0.707 × Vpeak only after that. Practise five conversions each way until the 1.414 and 0.707 factors are automatic.
Uses the single-phase formula P = V × I × cos φ to find the current of a three-phase induction motor, forgetting the √3 factor, and so returns a line current about 1.73 times too large.
Single-phase lighting circuits are more familiar from daily life, and the two formulas look almost identical, so the √3 multiplier is dropped under time pressure.
What to do instead
Build a one-line cue card: single-phase P = VI cos φ; three-phase P = √3 VL IL cos φ. Always check the load description for 'three-phase', '3-φ' or a motor rating, and circle it in the question before choosing the formula. Back-calculate: for a 3.7 kW, 415 V motor the line current is roughly 6–7 A, not 11 A.
Mixes millimetres and centimetres inside one calculation - for example squaring a diameter given in mm, then multiplying by a length given in cm, and writing the answer with no unit or a wrong unit like 'mm²'.
Workshop drawings and job cards often quote diameter in mm and length or cut-off in cm, and the candidate converts nothing because the numbers 'look small enough to handle'.
What to do instead
Adopt a fixed first step: rewrite every given quantity in millimetres (or SI base units) on the left of the page with its unit attached before any arithmetic. Carry units through each line (mm × mm = mm², mm² × mm = mm³) and do a sanity check on magnitude - a 20 mm bar 1 m long has a volume near 314,000 mm³, not 314.
Reads a vernier calliper by taking only the main-scale reading, or forgets to add or subtract the zero error that the closed-jaw check revealed, and records the value to two decimal places that the instrument cannot support.
The zero-error step feels like a formality, and once the main-scale mark is spotted the candidate jumps to the answer; least-count reasoning (0.02 mm for a standard vernier) is also shaky.
What to do instead
Follow an unvarying four-step routine on every reading: close the jaws and note zero error with its sign, read main scale at the zero of the vernier, find the coinciding vernier division, then compute reading = main + (division × 0.02 mm) − zero error. Write each of the four steps as a separate line so a missed step is visible.
Selects the view placement from memory instead of from the projection symbol, so a first-angle drawing is answered with the top view above the front view (third-angle habit) or the side view placed on the wrong side.
Textbooks and online clips mix both systems, and the truncated-cone symbol in the title block is treated as decoration rather than the instruction that decides the layout.
What to do instead
Train the symbol itself: in first angle the small circle (front view of the cone) sits to the left of the trapezium, and in third angle it sits to the right. Say the rule aloud as a check - first angle: object between observer and plane, so the view appears on the far side; third angle: plane between observer and object, so the view appears on the near side.
Produces dimensions that cannot be manufactured: dimension lines crossing extension lines, missing Ø and R symbols, arrowheads drawn outside reversed, or the same dimension repeated in two views of the same feature.
Attention goes into finishing the geometry of the view, and dimensioning is treated as the last, rushed step; the drafting conventions are memorised as pictures rather than as rules.
What to do instead
Keep a short checklist and run it after the view is complete: every dimension once only, Ø before diameter values, R before radii, dimension line never coinciding with an object or centre line, smallest dimensions nearest the outline. Practise redrawing one given drawing per day using only the checklist, not the textbook example.
On being handed a verbal instruction to shift a machine, tap a loose connection or replace a lamp near a live busbar, the candidate describes doing it immediately without recording it on the job card or informing the supervisor.
The role is defined by obedience and speed, so 'do what you are told at once' is chosen over 'record, confirm, then act', and the boundary between assistant-level work and licensed work is not clearly held.
What to do instead
Learn the standard sequence for any received instruction: acknowledge and repeat it back, enter it on the work slip with time and location, get the supervisor's confirmation for anything electrical or involving height, then execute with the correct PPE. If the task needs a licensed person, the correct answer is always to report and assist, never to attempt it alone.
Answers fire and electrical-emergency items with the extinguisher or action that 'sounds strongest' - water on a live electrical panel, or pulling an electrocuted colleague off the conductor by hand.
Fire classes and the rescuer's own safety are learnt as isolated facts and are not linked to a real scene, so panic logic takes over and 'water puts out fire' wins.
What to do instead
Anchor each answer to two questions: what is burning, and am I safe? Memorise the pairs - electrical and oil fires get CO2 or dry powder, never water; a person in contact with a live conductor is separated only by switching off the supply or using dry insulating material. Rehearse the switch-off-first sequence aloud for electric shock, and the PASS steps for a extinguisher.
Treats 'save' and 'save as', or 'copy' and 'cut', as interchangeable in practical IT items, and types spreadsheet formulas such as =SUM(A1:A5) without the leading equals sign, then reports that the software is faulty.
Everyday clicking never exposes the difference, and the leading '=' is invisible in printed examples, so the habit is to type the function name only.
What to do instead
Build a small table of paired commands with the one-line consequence of each (save overwrites the open file; save as creates a new file and changes the working file; copy leaves the original; cut removes it). For spreadsheets, remember the rule 'no equals sign, no calculation' and test every formula by pressing Enter and checking that the cell shows a result, not the typed text.
Answers a workplace-communication item with a bare 'yes' or 'ok sir' to a complaint or instruction, without repeating the message back, and writes a short official e-mail with no subject line, greeting or signature.
Short replies feel polite and efficient in spoken Marathi or Hindi, and the formal e-mail layout is treated as decoration rather than as the part that makes the message traceable.
What to do instead
Use a two-line habit: acknowledge, then paraphrase ('So the pump is to be stopped at 4 pm and the valve closed - correct?'). For written work memorise the five-part skeleton - subject, salutation, one-paragraph body with the specific facts, action requested with a deadline, name and designation - and apply it to every practice e-mail until it is automatic.