Computer Knowledge: Microsoft Access and Its Components for IBPS, SBI and Other Competitive Exams

Microsoft Access

A database is a collection of logically related and similar data. Database stores similar kind of data for a specific purpose that is organised in such a manner that may information can be derived from it, when needed. Microsoft access is an application which allows the creating of databases. Microsoft access is a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS). Access is a tool for managing the database. It allows you to design and create complete databases with quick and easy data entry, maintain them and search for information.

Start MS-Access:

To start the MS-Access software, we need to

Click Start → All Programs → Microsoft Office → Microsoft Office Access 

Components of MS-Access:

MS-Access stores data in its own format based on the Access Jet Database Engine. Access supports some object-Oriented techniques.

Templates: It is a complete tracking application with predefined tables, forms, reports, queries, macros and relationships.

MS-Access includes a collection of database templates, which are described as

• Assets: It is used to create an assets database to keep track of assets, including assets details and owners.

• Contact: It is used to create a contact database to manage information about people.

• Events: It is used to create an events database for tracking upcoming meeting, dealing etc.,

• Faculty: It is used to create a faculty database to keep track of information  about contacts and education history.

• Marketing Projects: It is used to create a marketing projects database to track time-sensitive deliverable and vemlor status for project.

• Students: It is used to create students database to keep information about your students including contacts, about their guardians.

Queries in MS-Access:

Query Type	Description
Select Query	Retrieves data from one or more tables and displays the record set in a datasheet. This is the most common type of query.
Parameter	Prompts the user to enter values that define the query, such as a specified region for sales results or a specified price range for houses.
Cross-tab Query	Arranges a record set to make it more easily visible, using both row headings and column headings.
Action Query	Creates a new table or changes an existing table.
SQL Query	An advanced query that is created by using an SQL statement.

Elements of MS-Access:

In MS-Access, database holds five major elements for every database operation.

( i ) Field Name: It is a label provided for a field that specifies the type of information contained in particular field.

( ii ) Field Type/ Data Type: It specifies the type of data stored in the field such as textual data and numerical data or combination of both. The default size of data type is 50 in MS-Access.

( iii ) Field Length: Field refers length or width to the maximum number of characters that a field can contain.

( iv ) Primary Key: A filed which is used to uniquely identify the records in a table. The primary key cannot contain null value.

( v ) Validation Rule: It is a condition that must be met before the data is accepted into the database.

MS-Access View:

You can create a table by two most popular ways

Database View: It shows the data in the database and also allows you to enter and edit the data but not allow to change the database.

Design View: It allows you to create or change the table and also set the keys.

Filtering Data: It enable to display only those records in a table that meet a specified filter criterion.

Relation Ship: It is a n association between access tables or quarries that use related fields. It is a link between tables and enables us to accessed data from both tables simultaneously. 

Relationship can be divided in three categories;

• One-to-One
• One-two-Many
• Many-to-Many

Attributes: Attributes can be defined as the characteristics of an entity to identify it uniquely. Such as student's attributes are his Roll-No, Section, Name etc.,

General Studies: Important Geography Topic Atmosphere and Layers of Atmosphere for UPSC, SSC CGL, Postal Exams

Atmosphere

Atmosphere is thick gaseous envelope surrounding the Earth from all sides and attached to Earth through the force of gravitation. Atmosphere acts as filter because it absorbs the various unwanted radiation, source to various gases. It supports life forms in biosphere. The atmosphere is composed of gases, vapours and particulates. Gases such as Helium, Ozone and Hydrogen etc are present in traces. Ozone gas absorbs the ultraviolet radiations and save the biosphere from its adverse impact.


Layers of Atmosphere

1) Troposphere:

It extend up to 16 km from the Earth's surface. Thickness varies from 8 km at the pole to 16 km at the equator. At every  165 m, there is a drop of 1° (or 6.4°C per km). This is called Normal Lapse Rate of Temperature. Tropopause separates troposphere from stratosphere. This,layer accounts for practically the entire water vapour, all dust particles and most of the Carbon dioxide contained in the atmos-phere. Due to this all weather phenomena such as condensation, precipitation and storms, etc occur in the troposphere only.


2) Stratosphere :

The stratosphere extends up to about 50 km, where stratosphere separates it from the mesosphere. In this layer, the in hight. This phenomenon is known as temperature inversion. The temperature rises in this layer from about -60° C at the tropopause to 0°C at stratopause. The part of the stratosphere, in which there is a concentration of ozone is often called ozonosphere. It absorbs ultraviolet radiation, which is harmful for us. Stratosphere is free from dust particles and also from atmospheric turbulences. Hence, this this layer is considered ideal for flying of jet aircraft's.

3) Mesosphere:

Mesosphere extends above the stratopause up to a height of about 80 km. In this layer, the temperature decreases with height like in the troposphere and it falls from about 0°C at its base to about -100°C at 80 k height. It is considered the coldest layer of the atmosphere. The upper limit of the mesosphere is marked by the mesopause, a transitional layer separating it from the ionosphere.

4) Ionosphere :

Ionosphere is located above the mesosphere and extends up to about 600 km. This layer is also called as Ionosphere because it contains electrically charged ions that reflect the radio waves back to the Earth thus making radio communication possible. Absorption of solar radiation by ionised particles cause an increase in temperature with increasing height in the ionosphere. Due to large concentration of ionised particles in this layer the ionosphere. acts as a protective layers against meteorites, that are burnt in this layer.

5) Thermosphere:

The zone between the 85 km and 400 km above the surface is often called Thermosphere. In this layer, the temperature increases with increasing altitude. The upper limit of the thermosphere, the Thermopause is generally taken at an altitude of about 600 km. The day temperature at 600 km altitude exceed 1400°C while night temperature remains about 225°C. The upper part of the thermosphere contains only the lighter gases like helium and hydrogen.

6) Exosphere and Megnetosphere :

The outermost part of the atmosphere of the Earth is called Exosphere. This zone of the atmosphere extends up to a height of about 900 km. The upper limit of the exosphere is uncertain as this layer acts as a transitional layer between the Earth's atmosphere and the space. The outer part of the exosphere is called Megnetosphere.

Marketing Knowledge: You Must Know the MRTP Act for Competitive Exam Preparation

Details of MRTP Act

Now-a-days there is a tendency in the businessmen to exploit customer by giving the misleading advertisements. Sometimes impossible things are guaranteed, also the advertised things to the monopoly. To protect the consumer from this type of exploitation, central government has prepared Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, it is abbreviated as MRTP. Consumers need to complain to MRTP Commission about such matter so that necessary action can be taken.

What can be the Complaints ?

• In case of loss due to the use of improper / restricted techniques.
• Defect in the goods purchased.
• Problems in the hired or used services.
• Price charged than the indicated price.
• In case of violation of law and a good is being sold to public which can cause their life.

Who can File a Complaint ?

• Consumer itself.
• Volunteer consumer organisation which is registered under committee register act 1860 or company act 1951 or registered under law, applied currently. 
• Central or State Government can take this matter in its cognition.

Where to File a Complaint ?

Where to file a complaint depends on the cost of service or amount demanded as compensation:

• If the amount is less than 20 Lac, then complain can be filed in district forum.
• If the amount is more than 20 Lac and less than 1 crore, then complain can be filed in State Commission.
• If the amount is more than 1 crore, then commission can be filed in national commission.

How to fill Complaint ?

• Consumer can file a complaint on plain paper.
• Details of the consumer and opposite party.
• Facts related to the complain, like when and where.
• Documents supporting the complaint.
• Signature of authorised agent.
• There is no need of lawyer for these types of complaints, a nominal court fee is charged for it.

Computer Knowledge: System Management Program and Its Utilities for IBPS, SBI and Other Competitive Exams

System Management Program and Its Utilities

System Management Program

It includes an integrated system of programs, which manges the operations of the processor, controls input/output, manages storage resources and provides various support services. Some common examples of system management programs are operating system, device driver and system utilities.

Operating System

It contains of programs, which controls, coordinates and supervises the activities of the various components of a computer system. Its function is to provide link between the computer hardware and the user. It performs all internal management functions (disk access, memory management, task scheduling and user interfacing) and ensures systematic functioning of computer system. It provides an environment to run the programs.

Ex:- MS-DOS, Windows XP/7/8/2000/98

The operating system performs the following functions:

• It recognises input from keyboard, sends output to the display screen.
• It makes sure that programs running at the same time do not interface with each other.
• It is also responsible for security, ensuring that unauthorized users do not access the system.

Device Drivers

A software, which is written with the objective of making a device functional when it is connected to the computer is called device driver. It is a system software that acts like an interface between the device and the user. Every device, whether it is a printer, monitor, mouse or keyboard has driver program associated with it for its proper functioning.

• Device drivers are a set of instructions that introduced our PC to a hardware device.
• Device drivers are not independent programs, they assists and are assisted by the operating system for the proper functioning.

System Utilities

These programs performs tasks related to the maintenance of the computer system. These are the package which are loaded into computer during time of installation of operating system. They are used to support, enhance, expand and secure existing programs and data in the computer system.

System utility mainly consists of the following functions:

( i ) Disk Compression: It increases the amount of information that can be stored on a hard disk by compressing all information stored on a hard disk. This utility works automatically and the user does not need to be aware of its existence.

( ii ) Disk Fragmentation: It detects computer files whose contents are broken across several locations on the hard disk and moves the fragments to one hard disk and moves the fragments to one location to increase efficiency. It can be used to rearrange files and unused space on your hard disk.

( iii ) Back Utilities: It can make a copy of all information stored on a disk and restore either the entire disk or selected files.

( iv ) Disk Cleaners: It is used to find files that have not been used for a long time. This utility also serves to increase the speed of a slow computer.

( v ) Anti-Virus: It is the utility which is used to scan computer for viruses and prevent the computer system files from being corrupt.

Marketing Knowledge: Importance of Marketing Management and Marketing Concepts for Competitive Exams

Marketing Management Concepts and Importance of Marketing Management

Marketing Management Concepts:

There are four main stages of the marketing concepts which are as follows

1) Consumer Oriented Concept:

Orientation to consumer needs is the main target for the success of marketing activities. More customers know what they need. This is the main reason that while deciding the production targets in industrial business, consumer's desires present itself as a paramount.

2) Marketing Oriented Concept:

Marketing orientation has three main alternatives such as sales orientation, product orientation and production orientation which can be adopted by a company. With marketing orientation, a business revolves its strategic decisions around the wants and needs of the target market, including potential customers.

3) Consumer Satisfaction Concept:

According to this concept, the position of consumer is the foremost position in all the business activities. Business can achieve the long-term prosperity by satisfying its customers which induce the customers to repurchase.

Businessmen should keep the following points in mind

• Consumer is always correct.
• Consumer is the king of the market.
• Consumer's position is at the top.
• Consumer is a boss.

4) Consumer Welfare Concept:

It seems to be the best marketing concept. It focus on consumer needs and wants, profit and also the social welfare. This helps in improving the Branding of the company.

Importance of Marketing Management

In Indian economy, the significance of the marketing management could be described in the following ways:

( i ) Importance for Consumers: Consumer can select the product in an effective manner if he is properly aware about the concept of marketing.

( ii ) Increase in Living Standards: Organisation provides new products to the society which helps to increase their living standards through marketing. For this, different ways of better living can be discussed on the basis of advertisements and sales promotion.

( iii ) Economic Growth: Through marketing management, economic growth can be achieved because when there is less marketing and usage of the product by the consumer, there will be idle stock of manufactured goods and raw-material accumulated with the manufacturers.

( iv ) Producing Maximum Results with Minimum Efforts: In our country, the resources are very limited. With this limited resources we work hard to achieve maximum results. It only possible only when we know the significance of marketing.

Mathematics: Tips for Solving Coding and Decoding Problems in Competitive Exams

Tips for Solving Coding and Decoding Problems

Coding-decoding is the simplest from of verbal intelligence reasoning. In this type of questions, a set of letters or numbers are given in code which have to be deciphered or decoded. In other words, here letters or alphabet do not stand for themselves but for some other letter ie, they have an artificial or code value. These artificial or code values are given according to some set principle or pattern. By applying the same principle, one can decode the coded identify.

     Although, the majority of questions of this type are based on English alphabet, but still it can be divided into two types.

1. Letter Coding: In this category, certain letters of alphabet stand for certain other letters of alphabet.

Ex:- HOUSE → IPVTF

In this case, each letter is replaced by its following letter in the alphabet, ie, H by I, O by P and so on.

2. Number Coding: In this category, letters are changed by the number of letters in their corresponding alphabetic position. There are several methods of number coding.

( i ) Position number of letters remain the same.

•      Ex:- LIGHT → 1297820

( ii ) Position number of letters are added.

•   Ex:- MAN → 28

( iii ) Position numbers of letters are added but at the same time a certain number is subtracted, added, multiplied or divided.

• Ex:- MAN → 7

Here, (13+1+14) ÷ 4 = 28 ÷ 4 = 7

Memorization of following facts could be useful to answer this type of questions.

( a ) Position number of letters in the alphabet.

A   B   C   D   E     F   G   H   I    J    K    L   M   

1   2    3    4    5    6   7   8    9   10  11  12  13

N      O    P    Q    R    S    T     U    V     W    X    Y    Z

14   15   16   17  18   19   20   21  22   23   24   25   26

( b ) Position numbers of each letters in the alphabet in reverse order.

A     B     C    D     E     F   G     H    I     J    K    L    M   

26   25   24   23   22   21  20   19  18   17  16   15  14

N      O    P    Q    R    S    T     U    V     W     X    Y    Z

13   12   11   10    9   8     7     6      5      4    3    2    1

( c ) Opposite letters of each letter in the alphabet.

A ↔ Z, B ↔ Y, C ↔ X, D ↔ W, E ↔ V, F ↔ U, G ↔ T, H ↔ S, I ↔ R, J ↔ Q, K ↔ P, L ↔ O, M ↔ N, N ↔ M.

Sample Problems 

1) In a certain code language "NAME" is written as "OBNF". How will "SHIP" be written in that code ?

Solution:

NAME → OBNF

 Here N + 1 = O, A + 1 = B, M + 1 = N, e + 1 = F

In the same way, S + 1= T, H + 1 = I, I + 1 = J, P + 1 = Q

There fore Answer is TIJQ

2) In a certain code language "LOSE" is written as "MQVI. How will "GAIN" be written in that code ?

Solution: 

LOSE → MQVI

Here L + 1 = M, O + 2 = Q, S + 3 = V, E + 4 = I

In the same way, G + 1 = H, A + 2 = C, I + 3 = L, N + 4 = R

There fore Answer is HCLR

Computer Knowledge: Microsoft Excel and Its Components for Banking and Other Competitive Exams

Microsoft Excel and Its Components

Microsoft Excel

An electronic spreadsheet is used for analysing, sharing and managing information for accounting purpose performing mathematical calculations, budgeting, building, etc. A spreadsheet is a matrix of rows and columns similar to an accounting ledger. The spreadsheet program also  provides tools for creating graphs, inserting pictures and chart, analysing the data etc.

Basics of Spreadsheet

MS-Excel allows creation of spreadsheets. The basic terms of spreadsheet are:

A spreadsheet is a software tool that lets one enter, calculate, manipulate and analyse set of numbers. The intersection of each row and column is called cell. A cell is an individual container for data. It may hold Microsoft-Excel (MS-Excel), Coral Quattro Pro, Snowball, Lotus-1-2-3, Apple Numbers are some of the spreadsheet software.

To Start MS-Excel

MS-Excel is a full menu-driven software and the commands are available as icons in various tabs and groups. To start MS-Excel software, we need to Click

Start → All Programs → Microsoft Office → Microsoft Office Excel

Important Point to Remember in Microsoft Excel

• Number (Constants)
• Formulas (Mathematical equation)
• Text ( Labels)
  
• An array of cells is called a sheet or worksheet. A worksheet holds information presented in tabular row and column format with text that labels the data. 
• A workbook is a document that contains one or more worksheet.
• A row is given a number that identifies it, starts from 1,2,3,4,5............
• A column is given a letter that identifies it, starts from A......Z, AA............AZ, BA, BB...........BZ.
• A cell pointer is a cell-boundary that specifies which cell is active at that moment.
• A formula is an equation that calculates the value to be displayed. A formula must begin with equal to (=) sign.
• A cell address is used to specified the interesting of row and column of the letter and number on worksheet.

Components of Microsoft Excel

The Office Logo Button: It is at the top left corner contains many commands for the document such as New, Open, Save, Save as, Print and Close.

The Ribbon: It consists of panel of commands which are organised into a set of tabs.

Tabs: It contains the commands such as Home, Insert, Page Layout, Formulas, Data, Review, View etc as well as any additional command that you may need.

Status Bar: It displays information about the currently active worksheet. It includes page number, view shortcuts, zoom slider, etc.,

Formula Bar: It is located beneath the Ribbon. It is used to enter and edit worksheet data. It includes

• Name box: It displays the all reference or column and row location of the active cell.
• Functions: These are predefined formulas that perform calculations by using specific values, called arguments.

Clipboard: A clipboard group contains the cut, copy and paste commands.

Alignment: It is used to change alignment of the text in the cells- vertical, horizontal alignment, indentation, wrap the text, shrink it to fit within the cell and merge multiple cells.

Tables: It is used to define a range of cell as a table for easy filtering and storing and create a pivote table or chart to arrange and summarise the data.

Function Library: It contains a library of functions (Ex:- mathematical, logical, trigonometric etc), such as AND, IF, LOOKUP, AVG, DATE etc.

Formula Addressing: The formula can have relative addressing, absolute addressing and mixed addressing.

• Relative Addressing: It repeat the same formula for many difficult cells, use the copy and paste command.
• Absolute Address: to keep a certain position that is not relative to the new cell location use absolute positioning. 
• Mixed Address: It is used to keep some part relative and some absolute.

The Macros: It is used to define a sequence of actions to perform on a document or multiple documents that can be executed again and again.

English: Practical Techniques for Solving Reading Comprehension Passages in Competitive Exams

Practical Techniques to Improve Your Reading Speed:

First let us try to answer one question. Why does the reading speed differ for person to person ? Let us take a statement.

" If you ask me to pin point one important quality that led me to success I will choose Patience."

A person whose reading habits are not honed, reads the above sentence, one word at a time, i.e., his span of vision allows him to read only one word for each eye movement he makes. This span of vision can be improved with conscious effort and can cover/ read three to five or more words at once i.e., in one eye movement. So, the span of vision is one main reason for the difference in reading speeds. Naturally, you should be interested in increasing you span of vision. Let's take the same statement considered above.

Try to focus your sight on the set of words and make an attempt to read one complete set of words at one time with out having to move your eye from left to right. Initially you might find it difficult to work on this technique. Regular practice will make you comfortable. Hold a pen or pencil in your hand when you are reading so that it helps you concentrate better on the passage. This habit also helps you to underline important points in the passage while you are reading.

Another simple technique which will develop your ability to absorb written words is reading a page by inverting it. You will not be able to understand anything that is written but this exercise helps you mind to pick up words faster than it is used to, as it develops acquaintance with words from different angle. You will experience it when you start reading the page in the ordinary reading position after such an exercise.

When you are learning some good reading habits you should unlearn certain bad reading habits also. Over a long period of time you might have acquired the habit of reading and re-reading the same set of words in the passage thinking that it helps you understand the passage better. This approach eats up yours precious time in the exams. Unless you make a conscious attempt to unlearn it you will not be able to perform at your best. You should also keep in mind the fact that the examiner is not going to ask you each and every details in the passage which implies that you need not have to read it " THOROUGHLY" to answer the questions in this section. So, even if you do not understand a part of the passage, you should continue reading the passage but not stop there or go back to read the sentence again.

While you should certainly adopt ways that improve your speed and reduce the "blocks" for improving your speed, regularly reading practice still remains to be the most important factor in improving your performance in reading comprehension.

More Tips for Solving Reading Comprehension Passage

Sample Comprehension Passages for Practice 

• Practice Comprehension Passage 3
• Practice Comprehension Passage 2
• Practice Comprehension Passage 1

Marketing Knowledge: Importance of Marketing and Characteristics of Marketing for Competitive Exams

Importance of Marketing

( i ) Importance of Marketing to the Consumers:

• Provides different information about the product and services. 
• Helps to know the different benefits and techniques of products.
• Provides satisfaction by providing different products to meet their demand and tastes when they need.
• Facilitates customers to select the best one according to their demand and capability.

(  ii ) Importance of Marketing to the Firms:

• Easily distribute the products.
• Suggest to manage the transportation and wire-housing systems which help the firm to delivery the product.
• Provides valuable information to make effective plan for future and right decision.
• Suggest to reduce unnecessary costs and utilise the revenue in proper way.
• Accumulates the opinion and ideas of different customers and supplies to the management.

( iii ) Importance of Marketing to the Society:

• An important source for the creation of employment opportunities.
• Helps in developing the living standard.
• Helps to utilise the different resources such as natural, financial, physical and human resources.

Characteristics of Marketing Environment:

Marketing environment refers to the factors and forces that affects a firm's ability to build and maintain successful relationship with customers. Some of the factors are controllable, while some others are uncontrollable. It is the responsibility of the marketing manager to change the company's policies along with the changing environment.

 

• Marketing environment plays a vital role while taking decision related to marketing.
• Its limit is decided on the basis of geographical factors.
• There are some non-controllable variable included in marketing environment which effect the potentiality of a company and provide new direction to the market.
• New opportunities and risks always rise in the marketing environment which reinforces marketing experiments and research.
• Consumers are divided in homogeneous sections for marketing of a product on the basis of marketing environment.

Mathematics: Tips for Solving Calender and Clock Problems for Competitive Exams

Tips for Solving Calender and Clock Problems

To solve the problems based on Calendar, we should keep these informations in mind.

• ( i ) Normally an year contains 365 days i.e., 52 weeks and a day. 
• ( ii ) But a leap year contains 366 days i.e., 52 weeks and two days because February of a leap year contains 29 days.
• ( iii ) If an year is exactly divided by 4, it is a leap year. 
• ( iv ) In an year, January, March, May, July, August, October and December contains 31 days. 
• ( v ) While, April, June, September and November contains 30 days.
• ( vi ) February contains 28 days but in a leap year, it contains 29 days.
• ( vii ) A calender year starts with January and ends with December.
• ( viii ) A financial year starts with 1st April and ends with 31st March.
• ( ix ) Generally, Sunday is the first day of a week.
• ( x ) After 7 days i.e., after a week a day repeats itself. Example, if 11th July is Thursday, then 18th July will also be Thursday.

To Solve the Problems Based on Time(Clock) , we Should keep these information in mind.

• ( i ) In each hour, only once both hands of a clock (minute and hour hand) face same direction and also only one time they face opposite directions. When both hands are opposite to each other the gap is of 30 min between them.

• ( ii ) In a minute, the hour hand moves by 0.5° and the minute hand moves by 6°.

• ( iii ) In each hour, the minute hand covers more distance of 55 min in comparison to the hour hand.

• ( iv ) In 12 hour, both hands of a clock (minute and hour hand) face same direction in 11 times and 24 hours they face same direction in 24 times.

• ( v ) In 12 hour, both hands of a clock (minute and hour hand) face opposite direction in 11 times and 24 hour they face same direction in 24 times.

• ( vi ) In each hour, 2 times both hands (minute and hour hand) makes right angle when both hands make right angle the gap is of 15 minute between them.

• ( vii )In 12 hour, both hands of a clock (minute and hour hand) means right angle in 22 times and 24 hours they make right angle in 44 times.

Sample Problems:

1) If 3rd January 2010 was Thursday, what day will be 3rd February 2010 ?

Solution:
As, we know a day repeats itself after a week. Hence, after 3rd January 2010, again on 10th, 17th, 24th and 31st January, it will be Thursday.

• 1st February will be Friday.
• 2nd February will be a Saturday.
• 3rd February will be Sunday.

Ans:- Sunday

2) In 40 min, what angle will the hour hand move at ?

Solution: In a min, hour hand moves at 0.5°. In 40 min, hour hand moves at 0.5 x 40 = 20°

Ans:- 20°

3) If 4th July 2010 was Sunday, what day will be 5th July 2011 ?

Solution: 
As, we know an year contains 52 weeks and a day repeats itself 7 days.
4th July 2010 was Sunday.
4th July 2010 - 4th July 2011 is a period of 365 days.

i.e., 52 weeks and a day.

3rd July 2011 will also be Sunday.

5th July 2011 will be Tuesday.

English: Tips for Solving Reading Comprehension Passages in Competitive Exams

Tips for Solving Reading Comprehension Passages

Practical Techniques to Improve your Reading Comprehension

After reading the passage once, write down the time you have taken to complete the passage at the top of the page. (keep a separate page for each passage you read). Now count the number of words in the passage. Number of words divided by the number of minutes taken to read the passage given you your speed of reading in "Words per Minute". After this calculation, enter the same in a table. A formate of this table is given below. Maintaining a record of your reading speeds will give you a clear picture of how you are progressing in your reading practice over a period of time.

Table to Enter Reading speeds (in words per minute)
 

Topic (Enter your speed in WPM under the type of topic you have read)
SL.No	Date	Economic	Political	Social Science	Pure Science	Others
1	1-12-2014	5	3	8	6	8
2	2-12-2014	3	2	8	2	2
3	3-12-2014	2	1	3	1	1

     Make a conscious attempt to read a wide range of topics to develop your reading speed. You will note that your speeds will be higher in areas/topics with which you are familiar. Keep a copy of this table at the back of your exercise note book and observe the gradual improvement.

Make an entry of at least two passages in this table daily. A sample entry of speeds of three passages read on two days is shown in the table. After you read each passage and enter your speed in the table above, you should write down a few points about the passage just read. We already mentioned that you should use a separate page for each passage you read. You have already written down the number of words the passage has on this page. Your speed in WPM that you entered in the table should also be entered on this page because it pertains to this passage.

Now, write the following details on that page:

• Title of the passage
• Main idea of the passage in one sentence
• Important points from the passage (as a summary of the passage)
• Words given in the passage whose meanings you do not know.

These Important points can range from 10 to 20 depending on the length of the passage. After the important points are written down, check back with the passage and see whether all important points have been covered.

Check below Links for: 

Reading Comprehension Passages for Practice

• Reading Comprehension Practice Paper Set 1
• Reading Comprehension Practice Paper Set 2
• Reading Comprehension Practice Paper Set 3

Computer Knowledge: Microsoft Word and Its Components for Bank and Other Competitive Exams

Microsoft Word and Its Components

Introduction to Microsoft Word:

MS-Word is a word processing application and is one of the most important and widely used application found on computer. Word processing software is mainly used for the creation of text based documents. It provides tools for composing, editing, formatting and printing of documents smaller than 45k. The document can be a poster, report, letter, brochure, web page, newsletters, etc.,

Ex:- Wordstar, Easy Word, Note Pad for Windows.

Start MS-Word:

To start MS-Word software: We need to Click Start→ All Program → Microsoft Office → Microsoft Office Word.

Components of Microsoft Word:

Title Bar: It is shows the name of the application and name of the file. It consists of three buttons that is

• Minimise (reduces the window but word still active)
• Restore (bring word window to the maximum original size)
• Close button (bring us out of word)

Standard Tool Bar: It displays the symbol for the common operation like open, print, save etc.

Formatting Tool Bar: It displays the options which can be used to format our document like font type, size of the font, bold/underline, italicised, bullets, alingment of the text etc.

Ribbon: It is a set of tools and commands across the top of the screen. It consists of a panel of commands which are organised into a set of tabs.

Tabs: On the ribbon, it contains the buttons needed to edit characters, text and layout.

• Home Tab: It consists of :

                                     Clipboard: (cut, copy, paste)

                                     Font: (size, colour, bold, italic/underline)

                                     Paragraph: (bullets/numbering, indent)

                                     Style, Editing: (find and replace)

Insert Tab: IT consists of Pages (cover page, bland page, page break), illustrations (picture, clip art, shapes, small art, chart), links (hyper link), head and footer, page number, text (text box, data and time, object).

• Page Layout Tab: It consists of themes, page set-up, page background, paragraph.
• Review Tab: It consists of spelling and grammar, thesaurus, translate, compare and protect document.
• View Tab: IT consists of print layout, full screen layout, macros, split etc.

Ruler: It appears on the top of the document window. It allows to format the horizontal or vertical alignment of text in a document.

There are two types of rulers

• Horizontal Ruler: It indicates the width of the document and is used to set left and right margin.
• Vertical Ruler: It indicates the height of the document and is used to set top and bottom margins.

Status Bar: It displays the information such as page number, current page, current template, column number and line number etc.

Work Area: It is the rectangular area of the document window, you use to type the text. It is also called as workspace.

Cursor: It is also called insertion pointer. It denotes the place where text, graphics or any other item would be placed when you type, overwrite or insert them.

Computer Knowledge: Computer Codes and Data Representation in Computers for Bank and Other Competitive Exams

Data Representation in Computers & Computer Codes

As we know that computer understand the binary language (o's and 1's) for the data representation. All kinds of data, i.e., alphabets, numbers, symbols, sound data or video are represented in terms of 0's and 1's. There are two basic types of data, which are stored and proceed by computers, namely characters and numbers. The characters include letters and special symbols while numbers include digits from 0 to 9.

Number System: A number system defines a set of values that is used to represent quantity. Digital computers internally use the binary number system to represent data and perform arithmetic calculations.

Types of Number System:

The number systems generally used by a computer are as follows

1. Binary Number System: The binary system is very efficient for computers, but not for humans. It contains two unique digits 0's and 1's. It is also known as Base 2 system. The binary numbers 0 and 1 called a bit. The computer always calculates input in binary form. Ex:- 1010101

2. Decimal Number System: It consists of ten digits from 0 to 9. These digits can be used to represent any numeric value. It is also known as Base 10 system or positional number system.

3. Octal Number System: It consists of 8 digits from 0 to 7. It is also known as Base 8 system. Each position of the octal number represents a successive power of eight.

4. Hexadecimal Number System: It provides us with a shorthand method of working with binary numbers. There are 16 unique digits available in this system. These are 0 to 9 and A to F, where A denotes 10, B denotes 11.............F denotes 15. It is also known as Base 16 system or simply Hex. So, each position of the hexadecimal number represents a successive power of 16.

Computer Codes

In computer, any characters like alphabet, digit or any special character is represented by collection of 1 and 0 in a unique coded pattern. In computers, the code is made up of fixed size groups of binary positions.

1. Binary Coded Decimal (BCD):

Binary coded decimal is a number system where four bits are used to represent each decimal digits. BCD is a method of using binary digits to represent the decimal digits (0-9). In Binary Coded Decimal system, there is no limit on size of a number. This system was developed by IBM corporation.

2. American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII):

ASCII characters are represented by seven bits. There are standard character codes used to store data so that it may be used by other software programs. The standards ASCII codes defines 128 character codes (from 0 to 127). Basically, ASCII codes are of two types-ASCII-7 and ASCII-8.

ASCII-7, is a 7-bit standards ASCII code. It allows 2⁷ = 128 unique symbols.

ASCII-8, is a extended version of ASCII-7, it is an 8-bit code, allows 2⁸ = 256 unique symbols or characters.

3. Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code (EBCDIC):

In EBCDIC, characters are represented by eight bits. These codes store information which is readable by other computers. It allows 2⁸ = 256 combinations of bits.