Exam Pattern: Preliminary Exam
Name of Test
|
No of Questions
|
Marks
|
Duration
|
English Language
|
30
|
30
|
Composite Time
1 Hour
|
Quantitative Aptitude
|
35
|
35
| |
Reasoning Ability
|
35
|
35
| |
Total
|
100
|
100
|
Candidates have to qualify in each of the three by securing passing marks to be decided by the bank. The difficulty level of question is expected to be a lot easier in the preliminary examination than that off the main examination held earlier. The full marks would also be less from previous exams and a total of one hour would be given to the students to solve the questions asked. The prelims examination would consist of English Language, Quantitative Aptitude and Reasoning Ability subjects and the candidates need to pass all the subjects individually by scoring adequate cut off marks. Though the marks of the phase I examination would not be counted in the final selection, the candidates need to pass the examination in order to qualify for the Phase II (Mains) examination for the recruitment.
Tips and Strategies
Tips for Preparing English Language Subject: The prelim examination of SBI PO is expected to be a bit easier and thus the English language section of the examination is also expected to be that of elementary level. It is expected to have a short reading comprehension section with related fill in the blanks questions in them. As the paper contains the least marks (30 marks) among the other papers in the examination (35 marks), the number of questions are also expected to be less. There would be questions related to cloze tests, error detection and to test your vocabulary skills in the examination. For improving your reading and writing skills you need to read regularly, whatever interests you. There are countless magazines, journals, novels and other reading materials available which can give the necessary sentence formation ideas to the candidates.
Tips for Quantitative Aptitude: Time is the key for this paper. You would hardly get any time to waste in the paper and hence need to work out on the practice, that too with stopwatch in your side. There would be question related to number systems, number series, profit-loss, average and other basic mathematical operations. There would be questions related to time &work, speed, time and distance along with sums related to ration & proportion and data interpretation. All of this takes a certain amount of basic mathematical skills and ideas and a significant amount of practice.
Tips for Reasoning Ability: Reasoning is the trickiest part in any of the competitive examination and for this short-span examination of one hour; this would be a key paper of look after for. There would be questions related to coded blood relations, seating arrangements, mathematical inequalities and others which needs constant practice and developing own methods and tricks. The key is to keep practicing with all the relevant materials available for the candidates. The questions related to syllogism, data sufficiency and input/output are quite common in the paper and are needed to be given prominence and concentration while solving.
