Hello friends My experience, takeaways, learnings from my long journey of RBI Grade B exam I am sharing with you.
RBI Grade B exam has 3 phases phase 1, phase 2 and interview. Now before I discuss all three phases.in detail, some important points I would like to mention.
Before 2015, the phase 2 exam.was descriptive and there was high amount of subjectivity involved. In 2015 RBI changed the pattern and now phase 2 has 3 papers- Economic and social issues(MCQs based), Finance and Management( MCQs based) and English (Descriptive online).
I thought it's good move and will reduce the subjectivity and the luck factor in selection which it certainly did but the way 2015 phase 2 papers were set, it appeared to me that still a lot to be done to improve the quality of the questions. Last year there were some very easy questions asked in 1 and 2 marks that it hardly mattered that whether you have prepared for 10 days or one year. Worse there were 6 questions of 5 marks each in each paper which were either factual or vague. Those 30+30 = 60 marks almost decided the merit. But with all its shortcomings, I believe it was a move in right direction by RBI.
Now coming to 2016, RBI/IBPS learnt from 2015 and tried to raise the quality of the questions in ESI and FM and succeed to a good extent. Although there were still some weird factual questions in ESI and some extremely tough questions in FM and there was still.some scope for improvement. Another good thing in 2016 was that number of questions were increased and no 5 marks questions. Both ESI and FM have total 65 questions (30 one marker and 35 two marker). Obviously there was less scope for tukkebazi .
So looking at the improvisation made by RBI , in 2017 we may see a better quality of papers with usual surprises. This exam has been highly unpredictable so one can't take any chances. For example level of management question was sharply raised in 2016.. You simply can not go by precedences. Covering the complete syllabus with special focus on current affairs is required.
With such a dynamic exam, you can not rely on a pre determined strategy. You have to set your personalized strategy keeping in mind the following factors:--
1. Your background
2. Available time.
3. Your current leve of preparationl, strengths and weaknesses.
Phase1:-
As you all know the pattern, GA is the most scoring part and can be easily handled by the memorising all the current affairs for last 6 to 8 months which you will anyways do for phase
2.
QA and LR :-practice, practice and more practice. You can join any test series for this. I found daily quizzes of Bankersada very useful.
Overall you may find my phase 1 tips general and this is because I didn't prepare much for phase 1. Luckily I was clearing this phase continuously.
Phase 2:-
This is the most important phase. 300 out of 350 marks are here. Whatever you are reading here you will have to revise agaib and again as most of the question are factual. I made some mistakes in Esi which could have been easily avoided by regular revision.
90% of the questions were directly or indirectly based on current affairs. This year to make paper lengthy, RBI introduced passage based question in 2 marks category. Every passage contain 2,3 or 4 questions. Total 35 questions of 2 marks each were based on passages. Remaining 30 question were of 1 marks each and were relatively easy. Since the questions were factual, it is important to continuously revise all trivial current affairs. At the same time it is equally important to have your concepts clear in order to make better use of elimination method.
I am sharing the list of the books/material I used for preparation but I hink referring limited material with continuous revision can produce better results Infact you can refer any source but the important thing is to cover all the important topics. There is absolutely no need to join any coaching or test series. Here is the list:--
1. NCERT on indian economy, macroeconomic and indian society
2. Selective study of Ramesh Singh / Mishra Puri as per syllabus.
3. Daily current affairs on gktoday and BA
4. Forumias must read newspaper article strictly as per RBI syllabus. In addition to one regular newspaper.
5. Economic survey full document and it's summary published by gktoday/vision IAS.
6. Vision IAS Prelims 365 PDFs on indian economy, social issues and government schemes.
7. Gktoday PDF on government scheme.
8. Mrunal youtube lectures on indian economy, specially on economic survey.
Like ESI, FM level of questions was also raised in 2016. We were expecting numericals on balance sheet, ratio analysis and bond valuation but in addition to. these topics, numericals on BEP and working capital were also asked. So you can not skip numericals infact it can be scoring if prepared well. Even I made some silly mistakes in couple of numericals despite knowing the method. It's important to recheck your answers in numericals if time permits. Like ESI here also 2 marks questions were passage based although most of the question could have been attempted without reading passage..
Similarly questions on management were also moderate to tough. The key here is to prepare the topics mentioned in syllabus thoroughly to ensure not to miss any easy question. Even with tough questions, if you are well prepared you can take calculated rusks. Ultimately it's a competitive exam. You have to be among top 10%.
Most of the finance part is already covered in ESI syllabus. In addition to that I referred following material/books.:--
Finance-
1. Prasanna Chandra( selectively, chapters on balance sheet, ratio analysis, time value of money, bond valuation, working capital finance, derivatives etc
2. Investopedia
3. Internet and youtube for some specific topics such as risk management in banks, PPP , Basel norms etc
4. FAQs and speeches on RBI websites.
5. RBI annual report( (selective reading)
Management--
1. Principals and practices of management by L M Prasad ( selective reading) as per syllabus)
2. NCERT business studies Class 12. 3. Wikipedia
In my previous attempts, I hardly prepared for english but after seeing the range of marks last year, I realized that English can be a game changer. Although I didn't practice any essay or précis but read and understand the basic Dos and Donts of essay and precio writing from internet. In exam, I made sure no spellings or grammar mistakes and whatever I am writing is as per word limit. I think, If you can take care of these basic things, you can score above average marks in English. Still there is high level of subjectivity in English.
Interview:- I have never scored awesome marks in any of the interview in my life. In my preview attempts, I scored in the range of 20-30. Even this time I have scored mere 23/50 so I am not the right person to comment here.
Role of coaching':-
Phase 1:- One can join any test series to practice.
Phase 2:- .There is absolutely no need to join any coaching for phase 2. Everything is available in books or online. Everyone has different background, strengths and weaknesses. Coaching centre can never be a one stop solution for all. These days many coaching are coming with free material, lectures to attract naive aspirants but before investing your time and money, look at the quality of their material. This exam is so unpredictable and dynamic that nobody knows what will be the level of questions next year. You have to cover whole syllabus based on your current level of preparation.
For interview, oou can join any mock interview for getting some idea and to used to of actual interview.
Luck factor:-Like any other exam, RBI has subjectivity and wherever subjectivity is involved, luck plays it's part. However over the years, significance of luck has come down. From the completely subjective 350 marks, now we have subjectivity of 150 marks but still luck is a factor. and you have to admit it..But we have to remember that luck will come into picture only when you are prepared well. You will find people clearing this exam with preparation of 15 20 days. They might be right that they didn't prepare much exclusively for RBI but they were either UPSC aspirants or have banking and finance background at professional or academic level That means they have already had their share of hard work
.
Yes life is unfair sometimes but not always with the same person. When you really want to achieve something with full desperation and dedication, the whole universe conspires to make it happen.
इससे फर्क नहीं पड़ता कि आप कितनी बार असफल हुए, फर्क इससे पढता है कि आपको खुद पर और अपनी क्षमता पर कितना भरोसा है। अगर आपको लगता है कि जो आप पाना चाहते है, आप उसके काबिल है तो प्रयास अवश्य करिये। हर दिन एक नया सूरज निकलता है उम्मीद की एक नयी किरण के साथ। अगर संभव हो तो मैदान छोड़ने से पहले अपनी किस्मत को एक मौका और दीजिये:-।
All the best