RBI Grade ‘B’ Phase – I Exam 2018 : Preparation Strategy

RBI is the apex bank of India and is one of the most reputed organizations to work for in the country. Last week, RBI released the notification for recruitment of Grade ‘B’ officers, which is the highest entry-level post in the officer cadre. While most of you may have started your preparation already, it’s time your preparation became more structured and systematic. This article is going to help you do just that.

An important point regarding the RBI Grade ‘B’ Prelims:

• Phase – I or prelims are the most difficult part of the selection process in terms of competition. One must score a minimum of 96.5 percentile i.e. be in the top 3.5% to qualify Phase I examination.

The following table shows previous years’ cutoffs for the phase – I examination. This will give you a better idea of how much to score in case you’re appearing for this exam for the first time.

If you have appeared for the exam previously, your first step should be going through your mark-sheet again, and identifying the sections where you performed badly.

In general, while preparing for the exam, you must decide on the following things:-

• Order of attempting various sections
• Time to be spent on each section
• Number of questions to be attempted

Understand that all the 3 things mentioned above are dynamic and would vary from person to person, or sometimes even paper to paper, based on the difficulty level. Attempting a substantial number of mock tests (both sectional & full-length) would help you decide on the above-mentioned things.

Understand, that the goal is to clear the individual sectional cutoffs first and then to maximize your overall score. Clearing sectional cutoffs requires a basic level of proficiency in each of the sections whereas, for maximizing the overall score, one can capitalize on their strengths. 

The following table shows the pattern of the RBI Grade ‘B’ phase – I exam:-

Section-wise Preparation Strategy

1. Quantitative Aptitude

The success mantra for this section is ‘practice’. That’s the only thing that will help you achieve the speed and accuracy levels required for acing this section. Prepare a topic wise quick problem-solving tips and tricks notebook and practice a lot of questions of each type. Make short notes of things which you think you might forget. Some important topics for this section are:-

• Data Interpretation
• Time and work
• Time and distance
• Age problems
• Percentage
• Ratios proportions
• Profit and Loss
• Partnership
• Boats and streams
• Probability
• Permutation and combinations

2. English Language

The success mantra for this section is undoubtedly, reading! If you are a regular reader of the newspaper, your knowledge of English will be sufficient for this section. Work on your vocabulary and learn new words daily to increase your confidence level and thus the chances of scoring high in this section. Important topics for this section are:-

• Reading Comprehension
• Cloze Test
• Spotting Error
• Fill in the blanks
• Parajumbles
• Sentence Improvement

3 simple steps to ace this section are:-

1. Understand grammar rules and bring them into daily use
2. Read a newspaper or any book (for speed reading and making reading long paragraphs comfortable)
3. Practice all type of questions

RBI Grade ‘B’: 15 Day Study/ Revision Plan | Click Here To Read

3. Reasoning

Again, to be comfortable with this section, one needs to practice various question types. Important topics for this are:-

• Statements and Conclusions
• Puzzle test
• Coding and decoding
• Input-output
• Classification
• Analogy
• Series test
• Seating arrangement
• Statements and Assumptions

4. General Awareness

This is a vast and a highly factual section. The factual nature of current affairs makes them very confusing, so make sure you revise them plenty of times. This will make sure that you score above average in this section. Everyone prepares well for quant, English & reasoning but this section, if you prepare well, can catapult you to that top 3.5 percentile of selected aspirants!

Based on the last few years’ papers, some important topics in this section are:-

• RBI (Read a lot about RBI)
• Cabinet ministers and their constituencies (Read constituencies of all popular MPs of opposition)
• Government welfare schemes (Mudra, Ujala etc)
• Banking terms
• Countries and their currencies
• Current affairs for last 6 months (Read events related to financial institutions carefully)
• States of India – CM, Governor and latest events related to the state
• Dams, National parks, Thermal power plants, Nuclear power plant

Remember, taking mock tests is a crucial part of any exam preparation as they give you an idea about your preparation level. Also, while attempting mocks you can gauge your strengths and weaknesses. 

An important factor that decides your marks in Phase I is your decision to leave a question. Many a time the question will be simple but will involve long calculations. It is better to skip such questions at first and come back to them later if time permits.

Apart from the subject knowledge, your time management skills play an equally important role in the exam. Taking mock tests will also provide you with a situation where you can practice making such important decisions, and thus be better prepared for the actual exam.

Comment and let us know if you have any queries.

All the best!