RBI Exams Preparation Resources

Bank PO
2105

For all those who are prearing this time :)


The final result for Grade B has come and the notification for next exam may be around the corner.

I am no expert but would like to share my experience with all of you:

Objective exam:
1.The exam may be considered as slightly tougher than normal PO exams but is manageable if we handle the sectional time cut offs well.
2. A standard objective preparation book along with last few years objective paper should be tried.
3.I also tried attempting sections with an imaginary time limit at my home .
4.A preparation of 1 month should be enough provided the effort is a dedicated one.
5. Magazines like Pratiyogita Darpan should be followed for the last 4-6 months with special emphasis on economics.
6.Sectional cut offs need to be cleared .. so it's important to attempt each section with sincerity and score high on atleast two sections to clear the overall cutoff.

I'll also post soon about mains exam and interview and my experience .

If I can get through everyone can.I am probationer from SBI, a general candidate with normal profile. So sincere efforts and God's blessings can do wonder !! ATB
2106

Hi..can someone please provide me with the link where from I can get the details of this paper...like the exam date..last date to apply etc.

2107
@nia14 The notification is yet to come out.
2108
@Deepesh08 Hi, Congrats to you too. I was told that we may get the call letter by post,by this month end. Don't resign until you get the letter. Sure, we can form a FB or gmail group.
2109
@nia14 www.rbi.vze.com
2110
@Divina there is already a group on fb named .....rbi grade b phase 2 preparation......if u like u can join it..........i can add u if u want to........do u ?

2111

Congratulations to all who have made it to their dream job-RBI!!

2112
@Divina just started prep 4r grade b xams. I am 4r engg field(IT). Can u suggest any book 4m which i can study economics and finance related 2 xam? Thanks in advance
2113
just started prep 4r grade b xams. I am 4r engg field(IT). Can u suggest any book 4m which i can study economics and finance related 2 xam? Thanks in advance
2114

Thx Divina and Deepesh.. for your valuable inputs... Other selected candidates please share your preperation plan too.. it would be of great help for those of us wishing to be someday an officer in rbi


thanks
2115

Hi all i have a Doubt.. just got myself RBI Grade B Book from Upkar publication...


In the book Under General awareness... the topics vary from history, geography, science etc etc... i mean is it necessary to learn all these subjects for General awarness, the questions asked last year was from current affairs, banking and economics...

really confused
2116
@zolo No Zolo..you don't need to learn that stuff..at least there wasn't much of that in the exam I wrote.
2117

Dear All,


Here's my prep strategy and thoughts on the exam. I'm a general category candidate and managed to clear the Exam this year.

RBI grade B has 3 stages in the entire process:
1. Prelims: This phase is only for elimination and does not count towards the final selection.

• Pattern: The prelims would have 4 sections viz GK, LR, Quant, English. All the sections have a separate individual cut off and there is an overall cut off.
• All sections have a specific amount of time allotted to them. A candidate cannot open the next section till the bell for the same is rung

Strategy: If you analyze the previous year's papers, you will notice that GK and LR have the maximum number of questions and hence the max weight. Therefore these are the two sections that will pull your score up towards the overall cut off. Maths and English are sections where one has to ensure a minimum performance rather than a stupendous one because even if you score a 20/20 in maths your overall score won't shoot up by that much.
Of LR and GK, I think GK is the one that can be improved in a short span of time because it only needs some dedicated effort. LR doesn't give you that bankability.

Material: Start reading newspapers immediately. I would suggest Hindu and ET.and read them thoroughly (spend at least an hour on them)
For GK get hold of the latest Pratiyogita darpan and read it thrice. This is because you will not be able to recall stuff after one reading
For the other sections get hold of Upkar's previous years papers of RBI prelims and solve all the questions especially maths and LR. This will help you develop familiarity with the type of questions asked. This should be enough for prelims.


Mains (300 marks): This is the most important part of the exam. A good score here and you can take the interview out of the equation. RBI is notorious for giving as low as 0 and 1 in the interview (out of 50) so a good mains score is an insurance cover against a bad interview.
When you prepare for the mains your attitude should be to clear the overall cut off with your mains score itself. For eg the overall cut off last year for GEN was 199 out of 350. But some students have scored 200 plus in the mains itself making the interview redundant.

Preparation: I will skip the prep for English because I didn't do anything for this section.

The most important material for this phase according to me is newspapers. I would recommend the Hindu and the ET.

Paper 2 Eco and Social Issues: Start with NCERT Class 11 and 12 economics text books. This will ensure your basics are in place and any question that you answer in the mains must begin from here. For instance there was a question on inflation this year. You can start such answers by explaining what is inflation in brief and then moving on to the contemporary scenario.

Once you are done with NCERT pick up the syllabus book and start studying topic wise from Mishra and Puri. Also keep a soft copy of newspaper articles and statistics for each topic. Statistics I think are very important in this exam because they will help you substantiate your answers and make them look studied rather than generic.

Paper 3 Finance and Management: For finance I referred to LM Bhole-Financial Institutions and markets and followed the same strategy as above. Topic wise study supplemented with newspaper examples/statistics and articles. Nothing much for Management( since I'm an MBA) but you can refer to Stephen Robbins.

It's a long post but I wanted to make it as exhaustive as possible. Any other queries people can pm me.Good luck!

2118
@uday_koolguy excellent post sirjee.....!!! Good that you emphasized how imperative STATISTICS really are !! :P

A heartfelt thanks to all who have taken time from their busy schedule & posted their respective prep strategies.
& a special mention to INSPIRACION saar for his continued support on this forum.

Hope you all get postings in the city of your choice. :P
2119
@Inspiracion Thanks sir.. As and when u get time please answer my following queries as well :
1.How much time is devoted on class room training ? Are we shifted to all the three centres or just at one (Chennai)?
2.Do we get our centre just after the starting training or are called in between for further training?
3.How long is the probation period and is there any confirmation test?
4.What is the take home salary ?Plus the benefits as well?
5.What sort of profile is given to a starting Grade B officer and what is expected of him ?
6.The work load and the company culture at large :)
2120
@tan009 Hi. yes do send me the request.
2121
@dheerajpandita Hi. Kindly see the previous posts. No need to read any special books for prelims to handle general awareness. For mains please see Uday's, Deepesh's and my post.
2122
@zolo No need to learn all that. I have that book but didn't use it. 95% questions will be based on newspapers. Maybe u can read the economics section in that if you have time.
2123
@Divina thanks.....
2124
Nice to see so many puys coming forward to share their strategy €Ś. Since most of it has already been shared, I would focus on more specific details of the prep.

STEPS TO CRACK APTITUDE TEST OF PHASE 1:-

(1) Buy a book that contains model papers that are close match to old question papers(Since old question papers are not available as RBI takes them back after exam)
I would recommend this book:
(2) Attempt one model paper without any time limit in mind, to solve all the Qs. This will enable you to know what are all the POSSIBLE MODELS/TYPES of questions that you can expect in your final exam on the d-day.
(3) Take any standard aptitude book(eg:- RS Agarwal) and try to practice all the problems under those MODELS/TYPES. After practice you WILL know your comfort areas and those types in which you are not comfortable with.
(4) Grab the model Q Paper book and solve around 3 tests under exam conditions. Analyse after each test to find out your mistakes and if you have not attempted any easy Qs.
(5) Attempt next model tests with an attitude to solve easy questions first and you will find that your score has improved.
(6) Be cool and confident on the real exam day.

--- TIP: Any attitude test has easy, moderate and difficult problems. If you solve all the easy problems correctly and atleast some of the moderate Questions then you would clear the aptitude test FOR SURE.

But the real challenge is how to spot those easy Qs??

This is something that is exam specific. Luckily its easier for the RBI exam since the pattern over the years is not changing and we have access to set of model Q papers that almost match the standard of the real exam. 😁 (refer step 1)

Below is the list that I prepared for myself based on the level of difficulty (increasing order).

LETS TAKE THE CASE OF ENGLISH:

(1) CLOZE TEST (real lollypop Qs 😁 )(with in 2 mins you would be finishing around 8 Qs!! )
(2) FILL UP THE BLANKS (EASY- MODERATE)(Can be attempted in less time)
(3) READING COMPREHENSION (EASY TO MODERATE)
(4) GRAMMER QUESTIONS( TOUGH- because chances of mistakes are high)
(5) JUMBLED SENTENCES (TOUGHER- because, consumes lot of time to solve a single Q)

In the exam, generally we wont be able to read all the Questions. But the one who starts solving the English section in the order of : 5>4>3>2>1 is in real danger of not attempting (1) and (2) models and therefore would loose out by either failing to clear the sectional cutoff or landup in low scores. Infact one can clear sectional cutoff by just solving (1) and (3) types.

That's why we often hear cases of average people toping aptitude tests and also cases of gifted loosing out.

On the real exam day, as far as my memory goes, I have just attempted (1), (2) and (3) type of questions in that order.

FOR QUANT: ( Increasing order of Difficulty)
(1) Data Sufficiency
(2) Data Interpretation
(3) P &C;, Probability
(4) Other Quant Qs
(5) Calculation based Qs
(6) Number series

FOR LR: (Increasing order of difficulty)
(1) Data sufficiency
(2) Single Qs (ie not those Qs that have multiple sub Qs)
(3) Symbols and Notations
(4) Directions
(5) Arrangements
(6) > =
(7) Syllogism Reasoning
(8) Blood Relations
(9) Statement and assumptions, conclusions etc
(10) Ven Diagrams
(11) Number series
(12) INPUT- OUTPUT
(13) Several other Questions with multiple sub questions types
(14) Non verbal Reasoning

For LR, I request you to prepare your own priority list like above based on your practice experiences.

CONTINGENCY PLAN:
The above priority list is prepared based on model question papers(prepared based on old Q papers). But on a bad day RBI may decide to change its pattern and introduce toughest CLOZE TEST. Though such situation is very unlikely, Be flexible enough and move on to next model without wasting much time in the shock.

For example in LR section, in my real exam I solved questions only from (1) to (9) but in between I left (8) because I found it tough Q and therefore moved forward without spending much time on it.

This way anyone with a reasonable practice can crack any non-adaptive aptitude test.
I will draft an other post soon for the phase 2 preparation once the marks are out 😃 ...

ATB!!