The RBI Grade ‘B’ 2018 is one of the most prestigious exams in the country. It is conducted every year for recruitment of grade ‘B’ officers in the apex bank of the country. Stating the obvious, the RBI Grade ‘B’ is a highly competitive exam and it requires dedicated and sincere preparation to clear this exam.
To help you in your efforts towards acing the RBI Grade ‘B’ exam, here is a detailed preparation guide for the RBI Grade ‘B’ 2018. In this article, we will cover the following:
- RBI Grade ‘B’ Syllabus for Phase-I
- How To Prepare for RBI Grade ‘B’ Phase-I | Daily Study Plan [Scroll All The Way Down!]
- RBI Grade ‘B’ Syllabus for Phase-II
- How To Prepare for RBI Grade ‘B’ Phase-II| Daily Study Plan [Scroll All The Way Down!]
RBI Grade B dates of the exam for this year are as follows:
- RBI Grade ‘B’ Phase-I Date: 16 August 2018
- RBI Grade ‘B’ Phase-II Date: 7 September 2018
That leaves us with exactly 44 days for RBI Grade ‘B’ Phase-II preparation and exactly 66 days for RBI Grade ‘B’ Phase-II preparation from today. It is advisable to simultaneously prepare for the phase-I and phase-II exams, instead of waiting for the results of phase-I and then beginning with your phase-II preparation. Why?
- Because after the results of phase-I are declared and you have cleared the exam, there won’t be enough time left to prepare well for the phase-II exam
- The selection process is such that the phase-I exam is an aptitude test which can be prepared for and improved upon in a comparatively shorter duration. The phase-II exam, on the other hand, comprises of topics like Economic & Social Issues and Finance & Management. These topics require focus and attention.
Incorporating the above-mentioned points, we have created the complete daily study plan for RBI Grade ‘B’. This study plan will be divided into two parts:
- RBI Grade ‘B’ Study Plan [Part-I] | Focuses on RBI Grade ‘B’ Phase-I Preparation
- RBI Grade ‘B’ Study Plan [Part-II] | Focuses on RBI Grade ‘B’ Phase-II Preparation
RBI Grade B Preparation | Exam Pattern
The phase-I exam is an aptitude test. The exam pattern is as shown below.
RBI Grade B Preparation | Phase-I Syllabus | Section-wise Preparation Tips
General Awareness: This section has the highest weightage in the RBI Grade ‘B’ Phase-I Exam, accounting for 40% of the total marks. Given the nature of the topic, this can be one of the most scoring sections in the exam. And the only key to scoring high here is: daily preparation, reading newspapers and staying abreast with all the important current affairs especially those concerned with the world of Banking, Finance, and Economy. 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
General awareness 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!
Reasoning: To be comfortable with this section, one needs to practice various question types on a daily basis. Some important topics for the reasoning section are:-
- Critical Reasoning
- Statements and Conclusions
- Puzzle test
- Coding and decoding
- Input-output
- Classification
- Analogy
- Series test
- Seating arrangement
- Statements and Assumptions
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:-
- Understand grammar rules and bring them into daily use
- Read a newspaper or any book (for speed reading and making reading long paragraphs comfortable)
- Practice all type of questions
Quantitative Aptitude: 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
- Quadratic equations
- Profit and Loss
- Partnership
- Boats and streams
- Probability
- Permutation and Combinations
RBI Grade B Preparation | Phase-II Syllabus | Section-wise Preparation Tips
Economic and Social Issues: Going through the sample paper released by RBI will give you a good idea of the kind of questions asked in the examination. This will also help you understand how deep you need to go into the topics while preparing. The type of questions asked in the ESI section can be broadly classified as
- static: conceptual questions which test basic knowledge of different concepts of macroeconomics like national income, repo rate, bank rate, fiscal deficit, revenue deficit, budget, inflation, banking sector in India etc.
- dynamic: questions based on current affairs related to Economic & Social issues.
The topics to be prepared for ESI are listed below.
- Growth and Development
- Measurement of growth: National Income and per capita income
- Poverty Alleviation and Employment Generation in India
- Sustainable Development and Environmental issues
- Economic Reforms in India
- Industrial and Labour Policy
- Monetary and Fiscal Policy
- Privatization
- Role of Economic Planning
- Globalization
- Opening up of the Indian Economy
- Balance of Payments
- Export-Import Policy
- International Economic Institutions
- IMF and World Bank
- WTO
- Regional Economic Cooperation
- Social Structure in India
- Multiculturalism
- Demographic Trends
- Urbanization and Migration
- Gender Issues
- Social Justice: Positive Discrimination in favor of the underprivileged
- Social Movements
- Indian Political System
- Human Development
- Social Sectors in India, Health, and Education
Finance and Management: This is one of the toughest parts of the exam owing to the technical nature. Most people do not have a background in finance and management, so this is the paper you need to prepare for the most. The difficulty level of 2017 paper was very high. The topics to be prepared for F&M are listed below.
Financial System
- Regulators of Banks and Financial Institutions
- Reserve Bank of India- functions, and conduct of monetary policy
- Banking System in India
- Financial Institutions – SIDBI, EXIM, NABARD, NHB,
Financial Markets
- Primary and Secondary Markets (Forex, Money, Bond, Equity, etc.)
- Functions, instruments, recent developments
General Topics
- Risk Management in Banking Sector
- Basics of Derivatives: Forward, Futures, and Swap
- Changing Landscape of Banking Sector
- Recent Developments in the Financial Sector, Portfolio Investment, Public Sector Reforms, Disinvestments
- Financial Inclusion- use of technology
- Alternate source of finance, private and social cost-benefit
- Public-Private Partnership
- Corporate Governance in Banking Sector, the role of e-governance in addressing the issues of corruption and inefficiency in the government sector
- The Union Budget – Direct and Indirect taxes; Non-tax sources of Revenue, GST, Thirteenth Finance Commission and GST, Finance Commission, Fiscal Policy, Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRBM)
- Inflation: Definition, trends, estimates, consequences, and remedies (control): WPI, CPI – components, and trends
RBI Grade B Preparation | Daily Study Plan | For Phase-I & Phase-II
RBI Grade B Preparation | Phase-I Study Plan
| RBI Grade B Study Plan | Phase-I Preparation | |||
| Day | Topics | Day | Topics |
| Day 1 | RBI Grade B Phase-I: Mock Test 1 + Analysis | Day 21 | Weak Topic Concepts: Quant3 + English3 + Reasoning 3 |
| Understand Weaknesses & Strengths Using Oliveboard Expert Analysis | Weak Topic Practice: Quant3 + English3 + Reasoning 3 | ||
| Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | |||
| Day 2 | Data Interpretation Concepts + Practice | Day 22 | Weak Topic Concepts: Quant4 + English4 + Reasoning 4 |
| Statements & Conclusions Concepts + Practice | Weak Topic Practice: Quant4 + English4 + Reasoning 4 | ||
| Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | ||
| Day 3 | Time & Work Concepts + Practice | Day 23 | RBI Grade B: Mock Test 4 |
| Coding Decoding Concepts | RBI Grade B: Mock Test 4 Analysis | ||
| Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | ||
| Day 4 | Coding Decoding Practice | Day 24 | Quant Sectional Test |
| Time & Distance Concepts + Practice | English Sectional Test | ||
| Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | Reasoning Sectional Test | ||
| Day 5 | Input-Output Concepts + Practice | Day 25 | Based on the above tests: Identify Strengths and 4 Weaknesses In Each Quant English & Reasoning |
| Error-Spotting Concepts + Practice | |||
| Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | ||
| Day 6 | Parajumbles Concepts + Practice | Day 26 | Weak Topic Concepts: Quant1 + English1 + Reasoning 1 |
| Analogies Concepts + Practice | Weak Topic Practice: Quant1 + English1 + Reasoning 1 | ||
| Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | ||
| Day 7 | Percentages & Partnerships Concepts + Practice | Day 27 | Weak Topic Concepts: Quant2 + English2 + Reasoning 2 |
| Cloze Test Concepts + Practice | Weak Topic Practice: Quant2 + English2 + Reasoning 2 | ||
| Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | ||
| Day 8 | Ratios & Proportions Concepts + Practice | Day 28 | Weak Topic Concepts: Quant3 + English3 + Reasoning 3 |
| Critical Reasoning Concepts + Practice | Weak Topic Practice: Quant 3 + English 3 + Reasoning 3 | ||
| Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | ||
| Day 9 | Sentence Improvement Concepts + Practice | Day 29 | Weak Topic Concepts: Quant4 + English4 + Reasoning 4 |
| Series Concepts + Practice | Weak Topic Practice: Quant4 + English4 + Reasoning 4 | ||
| Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | ||
| Day 10 | Statements & Assumptions Concepts | Day 30 | Quant Sectional Test |
| Statements & Assumptions Practice | English Sectional Test | ||
| Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | Reasoning Sectional Test | ||
| Day 11 | Quadratic Equations Concepts + Practice | Day 31 | RBI Grade B Mock Test 5 + Analysis |
| RBI Grade B Phase-I: Mock Test 2 + Analysis | Revision | ||
| Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | ||
| Day 12 | Data Sufficiency Concepts + Practice | Day 32 | Revision |
| Syllogisms Concepts + Practice | |||
| Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | ||
| Day13 | Mensuration Concepts + Practice | Day 33 | Revision |
| Probability Concepts + Practice | |||
| Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | ||
| Day 14 | Profit and Loss Concepts + Practice | Day 34 | RBI Grade B Mock Test 6 + Analysis |
| Direction Sense Concepts + Practice | Revision | ||
| Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | ||
| Day 15 | Coded Inequalities Concepts + Practice | Day 35 | RBI Grade B Mock Test 7 + Analysis |
| Phrase Replacement Concepts + Practice | Revision | ||
| Sentence Correction Concepts + Practice | Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | ||
| Day 16 | Blood Relations Concepts + Practice | Day 36 | Revision |
| Simple & Compound Interest Concepts + Practice | |||
| Idioms Learning + Practice | |||
| Day 17 | Permutations& Combinations Concepts + Practice | Day 37 | Take A Break |
| Alphanumeric Series Concepts + Practice | |||
| Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | |||
| Day 18 | RBI Grade B: Mock Test 3 + Analysis | Day 38 | RBI Grade B Phase-I: Mock Test 8 + Analysis |
| Identify Strengths and 4 Weaknesses In Each Quant English & Reasoning | Revision | ||
| Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | ||
| Day 19 | Weak Topic Concepts: Quant1 + English1 + Reasoning 1 | Day 39 | RBI Grade B Phase-I: Mock Test 9 + Analysis |
| Weak Topic Practice: Quant1 + English1 + Reasoning 1 | Revision | ||
| Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | ||
| Day 20 | Weak Topic Concepts: Quant2 + English2 + Reasoning 2 | Day 40 | RBI Grade B Phase-I: Mock Test 10 + Analysis |
| Weak Topic Practice: Quant2 + English2 + Reasoning 2 | Revision | ||
| Daily Puzzles + RC Practice + Daily GK | |||
RBI Grade B Preparation | Phase-II Study Plan
For Phase-II preparation, you must understand that the syllabus is vast and requires specialized knowledge. Hence, it’s not something that you should start preparing for only after the phase-I results have been declared.
| RBI Grade B Study Plan | Phase-II Preparation | |||
| Day | Topics | Day | Topics |
| Day 1 | ESI – Growth and Development | Day 21 | F&M – Changing Landscape |
| Day 2 | ESI – Poverty Alleviation | Day 22 | F&M – Developments, Reforms & Disinvestments |
| Day 3 | ESI – Sustainable Development & Env Issues | Day 23 | F&M – Financial Inclusion & Alternative sources of lending |
| Day 4 | F&M- Regulators | Day 24 | F&M – Public Private Partnership & GST |
| Day 5 | F&M- RBI | Day 25 | F&M – Portfolio Investment, Private & Social Cost benefit |
| Day 6 | F&M- Banking System | Day 26 | ESI – Schemes and Social Issues – Oct 17, PIB – Oct 17 |
| Day 7 | F&M- Financial Institutions | Day 27 | ESI – Schemes and Social Issues – Nov 17, PIB – Nov 17 |
| Day 8 | F&M- Financial Markets | Day 28 | ESI – Schemes and Social Issues – Dec 17, PIB – Dec 17 |
| Day 9 | ESI- Economic Reforms in India | Day 29 | ESI – Schemes and Social Issues – Jan 18, PIB – Jan 18 |
| Day 10 | ESI- Industrial & Labour Policy | Day 30 | F&M – Corporate Governance |
| Day 11 | ESI – Monetary & Fiscal Policy | Day 31 | F&M – Inflation |
| Day 12 | ESI – Role of Economic Planning | Day 32 | F&M – Union Budget |
| Day 13 | F&M – Risk Management | Day 33 | ESI – Economic Survey Summary Volume 1 |
| Day 14 | F&M – Derivatives | Day 34 | ESI – Economic Survey Summary Volume 2 |
| Day 15 | F&M – Management | Day 35 | F&M – HRD |
| Day 16 | F&M – Leadership | Day 36 | F&M – Performance Appraisal |
| Day 17 | ESI – Balance of Payments | Day 37 | F&M – Motivation |
| Day 18 | ESI -International Economic Institutions | Day 38 | F&M – Communication |
| Day 19 | ESI – Indian Political System | Day 39 | F&M – Corporate Governance |
| Day 20 | ESI – Social structure in India | Day 40 | Revise |
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. Do remember, the mock tests mentioned in the study plan will serve their purpose only if you analyze them and devote sufficient time to that analysis, instead of simply taking a mock test.
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.
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.
Once you’ve done all that we’ve mentioned, rest assured that your preparation is complete. Just be confident, and go ace that exam.
All the best!
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