Dear PaGaLGuY readers,

Many of you will appear for the Bank of Baroda Manipal School of Banking exam, which is scheduled for the 18th April 2015 (Saturday). In order to beat the competition, you need a good test-taking strategy to crack the exam. Remember, you would only get an interview call from the bank if you qualify in each of the sections and score well in the exam. To crack the exam, you must have a well-planned exam strategy and you must implement your strategy sincerely during the exam.

Pattern of the Exam:

The paper has 200 questions spread over four sections – General Awareness, English Language, Quantitative Aptitude and Reasoning Ability. Each section in the 200 mark exam consists of 50 questions. The exam duration is 2 hours.

Tips & Strategy to Crack the Exam:

1. Time Management – This is an online exam, and as we said earlier, you need to clear the cut-off for each section and need to score good marks in order to clear the overall cut off. This means that time management is very important for this exam and you should know which section to attempt first and how much time to spend on each section.

2. Devise a simple strategy – Attempt that section first that you find the easiest and then save time for the harder sections. Do not waste time on difficult questions; skip them. Also, do not try to attempt all the questions, instead try to maximize your scores in your strong areas.

3. Accuracy – To perform well in the examination, speed and accuracy are a must. Keep in mind that there is negative marking of 1/4 marks for each wrong answer. So just attempt those questions that you are sure about. Leave the question unanswered if you aren’t sure of the answer. Don’t do indulge in guess work.

4. Do not take undue stress:  Competitive exams are meant to evaluate the mental calibre of the candidates. Try to maintain a positive attitude and keep yourself motivated right through the exam. Stress can lead to mistakes and you will lose your confidence during the exam.

Here is a useful strategy to allocate time across sections during the exam –

Note: We are not suggesting that you follow the same strategy during exam time.

The pointers given below are only a sample and you should create your own strategy using this as a reference.

1. Starts the exam with an easy section like General Awareness.

2. In the English section – Try to attempt those questions which you find easy. You can start the English section with: Fill in the Blanks, Cloze Test, Spotting Error in Sentence and Para-jumbles.

For Reading comprehension: We recommend that you attempt the comprehension portion if you have time at the end because if you are not able to understand the passage, your time would have been wasted.

3. Quantitative Aptitude – To score good marks in this section, you have to be quick in performing mathematical calculations.

For Data Interpretation: Do not try to solve all the individual questions of each DI set. There are 3 to 4 questions in each data interpretation set which you can easily solve. Leave the question which seems to be tough or lengthy.

4. Reasoning section – Please do not start with Seating Arrangement/ Puzzle type of questions because once you get stuck on these questions, you will lose valuable time.

You can start the Reasoning section with – Syllogism, Miscellaneous questions, Inequality or Decision Making.

PaGaLGuY Team wishes you All the Best for your Exam. May you succeed in everything you do! ?