SBI PO is a dream job for many aspirants in India due to the high salary and other benefits it offers. With the increasing number of aspirants, the SBI PO job is extremely popular and competitive. This exam is conducted every year. This article provides you with the preparation guide to make your study plan effective and achieve your goal as SBI PO in less time with thorough preparation.
- Have a thorough knowledge of the syllabus & exam pattern: It is important to have complete knowledge of the syllabus and exam pattern as it will help you to prepare an effective study plan. The exam is conducted in three phases- Prelims (3 sections), Mains (4 sections), and Personal Interview.
SBI PO Prelims Syllabus
It has 100 objective type questions each carrying 1 mark and is conducted for 1 hour with each section having 20 minutes time to complete. Attempt carefully as there will be a deduction of 0.25 marks for every incorrect answer.
- English Language (30 questions): Focus on reading comprehension, vocabulary, spotting spelling errors, para jumbles, idioms & phrases, improvement of sentences, and word replacement.
- Quantitative Aptitude (35 questions): It includes a profit & loss, ratio & proportion, number system, speed, time & distance, percentage, simple interest & compound interest, simplification, mensuration, quadratic equations, probability, and permutation & combination.
- Reasoning Ability (35 questions): It includes puzzles, blood relations, syllogism, seating arrangement, logical reasoning, alpha-numeric series, and coding-decoding.
SBI PO Mains Syllabus
It has both objective and descriptive types of questions. The objective test has 4 Sections containing 155 questions for a total of 200 marks and is conducted for 3 hours. Deduction of 0.25 marks for every incorrect answer.
- Computer Aptitude & Reasoning Ability (60 minutes) (45 questions): This section will test your logical reasoning and computer knowledge. Focus on coding and decoding, puzzles, number series, binary, decimal, etc. Study computer basics like MS office, shortcut keys, history of the computer, Windows operating system, etc.
- Financial, general and Economic Awareness (45 minutes) (40 questions): This section will test your knowledge on general, business and financial awareness as well as current affairs. Stay updated about all the recent events and current affairs of the last 6 months. Focus more on this part as it is a scoring section.
- Data Analysis & Interpretation (35 minutes) (35 questions): Focus on analyzing graphs and charts, probability-based problems, etc.
- English Language (40 minutes) (35 questions): English Syllabus is the same as the prelims.
The Descriptive Test (30 minutes): This is an English language test and has two questions (Letter Writing and Essay) for 50 marks.
- Build a study plan: Make an effective study plan in such a way that you spend equal time for all the sections. Spend 1-2 hours for each section. All sections must be given equal importance. Spend 30 minutes on current affairs. Divide the topics into strong and weak. Complete all the strong ones first and later weak topics. Make long term and short term plans to make your preparation effective.
- Read: Develop the habit of reading English newspapers, magazines, and journals to improve your grammar, vocabulary, and comprehension skills.
- SBI PO books: The standard of the SBI PO exam will be at the graduation level. There are many books that are available on the market. Make sure you choose the right study material that covers all the topics as per the latest syllabus and exam pattern to avoid time waste.
- Go through Grammar Books: High school grammar books will be sufficient. Learn the rules and practice framing the sentences accurately as English is a very important section in the SBI PO exam.
- Follow the latest news and events: Read newspapers daily and watch the news on TV. Make note of all the headlines every day. Stay updated about all the current affairs and news. Focus on financial and banking matters. This is important both for the mains and interview. You should be well aware of all the recent happenings.
- Prepare notes: Just continuous reading is not very effective. It is highly recommended to make short notes of what you read as it will help you to recall easily during your revision without going through the entire chapter and improves your memory power.
- Practice: It is very important to practice all the important topics along with solved examples and questions. Practising will help you to enhance your speed, skills and accuracy. Your performance will improve the more you practice. Practice various sample papers to know your preparation level.
- Refer to previous year papers: Solve at least the past 10 previous year papers. It will help you to know the most important topics first. Look into the topics that are repeating. You can analyse the difficulty level of the paper.
- Take mock tests to improve: Attempting mock tests is highly recommended as it will help you to know how the exam is going to be and how much time you are taking for each section. This will enhance your time management skills. You will know your strengths and where you are lacking. You should later work on those topics you are weak in. It is recommended to take mock tests from oliveboard.in to improve your conceptual and problem-solving skills. You can analyse your performance after every mock test.
- Revise: Revising the entire syllabus at least once is extremely important. Learn shortcut methods to save time during exams. Revise all the important topics twice. You can also revise from video tutorials.
- Stay healthy and consistent: It is advised to work consistently to improve your knowledge, skills and confidence. Make sure you have good sleep and food. Keep your mind and body healthy to stay energized and to achieve your goals.
Hope this article on the SBI PO Preparation guide will help your preparation easier and make you score well in the exam to achieve your dream job as SBI PO. Start your preparation immediately as the competition is high. All the best!!
