RBI Grade B-phase 1 is basically a speed test. You are given 200 questions from 4 different sections and you need to solve them in 2 hours. Mathematically, you are required to solve each question in 36 hours. Cut off is usually 40-50% overall in this paper. So, one of the most important RBI Grade B preparation tip is to make sure that you are attempting 75-80% of paper with good confidence so that you can make it through this stage.
RBI Grade B phase 1 cut off
How to attempt the paper
First attempt English Section, as this is the easiest section and least time-consuming. It helps psychologically and helps to bring down the anxiety. English section should take around 15 minutes. After completing English and GK in first 40 minutes, Move on to Quant part. Here attempt around 15 questions in 20 minutes. But hit rate must be 100%. Next 50 minutes must be devoted to reasoning section and attempt around 50 questions. In the last 10 minutes attempted a few more questions in the Quant section. In total attempts were 170+. One should attempt DI question early, final minutes should be devoted to single questions.
ENGLISH for RBI Grade B
English paper of RBI Grade B- phase 1 has 30 questions. This section is especially difficult to people who did not come from English medium school. But just to let them know, English section is one of the easiest part of RBI Grade B phase 1 paper. You should target 20 questions in 30 minutes.
Tips for preparing for English paper
1) Read a good newspaper like Hindu or Indian Express. Spend atleast 1.5 hours- 2 hours on reading newspaper content like editorial section and other important sections. Make sure that you have a timer with you when reading a long editorial content piece. It should be read in max 5 minutes. Highlights new terms you find, and look a dictionary for their meaning. This exercise will help you in reading comprehension section as well.
2) Toughest part in English is vocabulary building. As mentioned in above point, you can start noting down new words daily (whose meaning you don’t know). In 2-3 months’ time, you will have good list of words. You can also follow vocabulary books like Norman Lewis for building your vocab skills.
3) Grammar is the trickiest part of English syllabus. You should be aware of basic grammar things like tenses, verbs, nouns etc and when to apply them. You can find abundant material on learning grammar on internet. Most important things in this part is practice, more you practice, more your will improve on your grammar skills.
GENERAL AWARENESS for RBI Grade B
General awareness or GA is most scoring sections of RBI Grade B- phase 1. This section contains 80 questions (40% of overall paper). Questions come from current affairs and static part. This section is a major decider in clearing phase 1. Candidate should aim for 55-60 marks in 30 minutes for this section.
Tips for preparing for General awareness
1) It is important to note that general awareness section in RBI Grade B or Nabard Grade A/B is more of Bank PO level rather than Civil Services (Main) level. Questions asked are more of fact based questions, rather than analysis or conclusion based of UPSC level.
2) Key section in General awareness is current affairs. RBI Grade B phase 1 often constitutes 60-70% of GA from current affairs section. In such cases, your regular updation of news, from print media like Hindu, ET become more important. Focus on national , international, business and economics news in such newspaper. Click For detailed reading on how to read newspaper for competition exams like RBI Grade B or nabard.
LOGICAL REASONING for RBI Grade B
Logical reasoning or reasoning is second most scoring papers in RBI Grade B- Phase 1. There are total of 60 questions (30% of overall). Most of questions are simply mental ability test, there are very few sections like Puzzles where you need to use pen and paper to solve the given riddle. We recommend spending half hour on this paper, and try to solve atleast 40-45 questions from this section with confidence.
Tips for solving Logical Reasoning questions
1) Reasoning questions are one of the simplest in RBI Grade B paper. You just need to focus on questions which you are most comfortable with first. For example, sections like coding decoding are easiest. We recommend you to finish the easiest sections (which are low hanging fruits) first. Tougher sections like puzzles should be approached in last. These strong and weak sections will differ from candidate to candidate. Candidate should check syllabus and learn on their strength and weakness while preparing.
2) Use pen and paper when solving questions like puzzles. As this question involved lengthy question statement, you should solve questions line wise on pen paper while reading. Although this type of questions are time-consuming, if you can take 2 minutes to solve 4-5 puzzles questions in one go, you are going well.
3) There is no hard theory in any of these sections. Key to approach this reasoning syllabus is to practice as much as you can. Make sure your timer is one when doing practice.
4) Candidate can pick books like MK Pandey or CAT syllabus book for logical reasoning. Importing thing here is practice, so basically you should pick book or study material which have good quality practice questions rather than theory.
QUANTITATIVE APTITUDE for RBI Grade B
Quantitative aptitude or quant section is the one of trickiest section in RBI Grade B Phase 1 paper. Questions are tougher than usual Bank PO paper, and some time can be as tough as of CAT or management entrance exams level. Cut off for this exams goes usually low and most important trick is to intelligently solve few questions rather than attempting all the paper. Candidate should aim for at least 15 questions in half an hours, and then move to other sections of paper 1. Once you are confident that you have done enough questions in other exams, you can visit this section during the last minutes of exams.
Tips to solve quantitative aptitude questions
1) The important thing to remember here is that quant question doesn’t require lengthy derivations, so if you are getting stuck somewhere due to the complex equation, it is better to jump that question and move to another one, as you are doing something wrong in your basics.
2) You should be aware of the basics mathematics like square and cube of numbers till 20, square root, cube root and log of number like 1-10.
3) Strike off wrong options if possible, before starting real calculations. For example, in Time speed and distance, all the units should be the same. If you are finding an anomaly, then strike it off.
4) Narrow down your result, in case of lengthy calculation. For example, a square of 41 will be between 1600-1700. This will help you in narrow down choices, and remove wrong options. Similarly, you can apply this approximation technique in computing for fractions.
5) Carefully study data in DI questions, and know which mathematical principle you need to apply to fetch the correct result.
6) There are some chapters which have a lot of theory, like permutation and combination (as there are a lot of cases in defining selections and arrangement), similarly geometry functions or shapes. Candidates can skip these questions because chances of doing mistakes in these chapters are much higher.
7) Follow CAT level books for reading and practice. But again, the paper is not that tough as CAT level, and also there are a lot of chapters which are extra in CAT syllabus. Candidate should take note on this while preparing.
8) Just like other sections in RBI Grade B phase 1, practice is key in this section. Try to solve as many questions from all the chapters as possible. Make notes which concepts you finding challenges.
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