Strategy for RBI- Phase I

No t e b o o k: RBI Grade B Preparation

Cre at e d : 28-09-2017 16:32 Up d at e d : 12-10-2017 08:03
A u t h o r: MAHENDRA SINGH

Without giving any bol-bacchan, coming straight forward to the each

section in phase 1, priority areas and sources to be followed.

Phase 1 (total 200 questions, 200 marks, 120 minutes)

Few general tips

Phase 1 is qualifying in nature.
First of all - syllabus should be kept in mind while following any
source.
There is sectional cut-off and overall cut-off but no sectional
timings.
Smart approach is required to make sure that sectional and
overall cut-off is cleared without wasting time on difficult
questions.
Time management & rigorous practice is must.
Question you select in the examination for quant and reasoning
section will certainly decide your selection. so make sure you
don't end up selecting wrong questions, as there will be
questions, you need to respectfully leave. so jaikant shikre ka ego
hurt hota hai to hone do, aage badho !
Don't blindly follow the outdated books (refer for concepts only)
rather practice new type of questions which are being asked in
the banking exams.
Questions can be practiced from websites like Banker's Adda and
Affairscloud.
Preparation for phase 1 depends on your weak and strong areas,
so do the SWOT analysis before you jump into the preparation
mode. i.e if you are weak in quant, then make sure you devote
enough time to get it correct to qualify this section.
 Get the maximum in strong areas and qualify in the weak areas,
simple ! (I need to get maximum in English and GA as reasoning
and quant ka bhagwan hi malik hai ! )
Mock tests are extremely important to show you the status of
preparation. Olive board and Practice mock are famous one, join
any one.
In the reasoning and Quant section- IBPS has a habit of changing
the pattern of questions every year, thus use Internet extensively
in your preparation.
Accuracy is highly important in this exam thus no-need to attempt
150-160 questions ! Even if you attempt 120-130 questions with
high accuracy, you can clear the overall cut-off easily.
For reasoning and quant sections- Never get caught in the
mindset to attempt questions in the order ! Make sure you scan
all the questions and select the right questions. Develop the art of
scanning, skipping and choosing.

General Awareness
GA section will help you to clear overall cut-off so you must have
command over it.
Score of 55-60 is achievable if you put in required hard work
smartly.
70-80 % of this section will be from CA and rest from static part.
This section can be attempted within 10-15 mins max.
What type of questions in GA section?
80 Questions (each carrying 1 mark)
This is where you need to maximize your score to get ahead
of others. so master it.
Current affairs and Economy related questions (dominate)
are asked generally.
Banking basics and terminologies based questions
 committees formed by the RBI and their recommendations.
Schemes
Budget and Eco-survey
Ratings by credit rating agencies
Economic terms and abbreviations
What should be read?
Current affairs of last 6 months. ( maximum questions will
be form last 3-4 months CA)
GK capsules of Banker's Adda and Affairs Cloud are
extremely important. (monthly capsule or combined
capsule released just before exam)
Daily quiz section of GK today, Banker's adda and
affairs cloud.
Banker's adda- monthly Hindu Summary is Bible for
Phase 1 GA.
Monthly compilations of GK today. (only those portions
which are relevant for the exam- 80 % of it is not
useful !)
Vision IAS monthly CA (especially economy and society
section- will help in phase 2 also -economic and social
issues)
Test papers of IASBaba, Vision or Insights on economy
should be attempted.
Economy section of CA should be prepared very smartly.
To get hold of the latest type of questions make sure you
attempt- GA section of exams conducted by RBI, SBI PO
mains, IBPS PO, RBI assistant etc.
Economy section of standard magazine can be read like PD
or Chronicle.
Multiple revision is the key here, so make sure you revise
more than 3-4 times to get hold of it.
NCERTS of 11th, 12 and Mrunal's videos on economy
 (extremely useful)+ Sriram's notes on economy OR Ramesh
Singh should be done.

English
30 Qs
Relatively this is my stronger area, so I should try to get
maximum marks (minimum time) in this section.
Moderate to difficult questions, can give you 15-20 marks easily.
Type of questions
Reading Comprehensions
Fill in the blanks with correct pair of words, fill appropriate
words in the passage
sentence correction/ grammatical errors in the sentence
sentence rearrangement/ Jumbled paragraphs
Synonyms and Antonyms
Maximize score?
attempt previous year questions of banking exams
focus on grammar, sentence corrections and reading
comprehensions.
RC will help you to sail through the sectional cut-off.
To improve RC- economy related editorials, columns,
op-eds should be read daily from newspapers like The
Hindu, Indian Express.
For grammar- read Wren & Martin and SP Bakshi.

Reasoning
60 Qs.
I will have to devote around 30-35 mins to this section.
Type of questions
Blood relations
Sitting arrangement (circular, row, building floor)
 Syllogism
Statement and conclusion (which conclusion is true
type)
Coding-decoding
Inequality
statement and conclusion type (mathematical equation)
Input-output machine
Data Sufficiency
Number Series
Assumptions and inferences / statement and conclusion
(from given statements)
statement and course of action
Name-place-color-thing mapping
Direction test
pick the odd one out
Puzzles, Brain teasers
Sources?
Youtube, Affairs cloud and Banker's Adda.
traditional books for concepts- RS Agarwal- Verbal reasoning
& M K Pandey's Analytical reasoning
Previous year questions of banking exams like IBPS PO, SBI
and RBI etc.

Quantitative Aptitude
30 Qs
Difficulty level- High, One of the most difficult section of Phase 1
exam. So many bright candidates will be perished in this section
alone.
This is my weak area so I will have to devote around 30-35 mins
to pull it off.
12-15 questions with accuracy can sail you through.
Priority areas
Data Interpretation (DI)- (%, ratios, fractions, venn diagram
data)
Permutations and combinations, Probability
Linear equations, Quadratic equations
Operations on Brackets
Averages
Ratios
Mixture and Alligations
Profit and loss, CI, SI
AP and GP, HP
TSDW, pipes, trains, boat, race.
VBODMAS
Geometry- area, volume, surface area.
Series completion, Number Series
Venn Diagram
How to prepare?
My strategy would be to glance through the concepts in
traditional books (You can even google each topic and
learn, Kab tak Kitab padhoge yaar !); watch youtube
channels like study smart and learn shortcut tricks.
Practice questions from Banker's adda and Affairs Cloud.
Go through the previous year papers of banking exams.