Bank recruitment exams are the most regularly held recruitments these days and descriptive tests are becoming very common these days in both insurance and bank exams. The descriptive paper contains questions on letter writing, précis writing, essay writing, reading comprehension etc. This paper, though of qualifying nature, can make or break the fate of the candidates in any exam. Letter writing is very common in these exams as in these jobs; you need to write official communiqué every day. So, you need to know how to approach this question not only for cracking the exam but also to carry out your job efficiently.
Letters: What are asked in this section?
Generally, there are two types of letters that are asked in this section – formal letters and informal letters. In case of formal letters, you asked to write letters to bank manager or insurance agents or head of an organization regarding any formal reason such as theft of your ATM card or insurance claim settlement etc. On the other hand, for informal letters, the topics are about writing to your parents or your friend or cousin regarding something related to family matters like celebrating one’s birthday or advising somebody to follow something in order to succeed in life etc.
How to write a ‘Perfect’ Letter?
Letter writing is something that everybody has some point of time or the other but an effective letter carries the sense of requirement by the letter writer to the addressee of the letter. You can simply follow certain things in order to write a letter that is good as well as satisfies the requirement of writing the letter.
- Understand the topic first: In case of writing a letter, you need to understand the topic given to you first since that is the primary thing expected from you. Unless you understand the logic behind writing the letter, you can never write a good letter.
- Maintain the format: There are various formats available for both formal and informal letters. In bank exams, letter writing questions are asked to check whether you know the widely accepted format of writing a letter.
- Do not write too much: Though this holds good for only formal letters, the same can be extended in case of informal letters as well. The purpose of writing a letter is to convey something important and cannot wait till the two parties meet each other. So, write as much as you want the other party to know immediately.
- Be Precise in your approach: While writing any letter, you should be precise in your writing since that is what is expected from you as the writer of the letter. You are not expected to write unnecessary details in the letter.
- Introduction, body and conclusion: This is basically the format in which a letter is written. In case of formal letter as well as in informal letter, you are expected to start with a small introduction followed by the reason for which it is written i.e. the letter of the body followed by the conclusion in which you are expected to write your opinion or expectations from the addressee .
- Be Careful about your language: This is very important in case of letters since the language of formal and informal letters is not the same. You are expected to know this and write accordingly.
- First go through few sample letters: In order to get a first hand idea of the right way to write letters, first go through a few sample letters so that you are well acquainted with the concept of writing a perfect letter.
- Practice as much as you can: This is the ultimate thing that will fetch you the important marks in this section. The reason is that practice will only make you perfect in anything. So, once you are well aware of the pattern and format of letters, practice as much as you can.
Letter writing is an important part of any descriptive test that is conducted in any bank and financial sector recruitment exams such as IRDA, RBI, NABARD etc. You must be well aware of this in order to secure that dream job of yours in one of these prestigious organizations. But as they say, nothing is impossible, that holds true for letter writing as well. First understand the reason of asking this question, go through the pattern and format, practise accordingly.
All the best!!
