How to Prepare for SBI PO Exam 2014

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Friends, here are some useful tips to help your preparation of SBI PO 2014. 

SBI PO 2014 Preparation Plan

The time for Objective Section is very crucial for you. The exam will be online. They have allotted 120 minutes for 200 questions. That means on average you will get only 36 seconds per question. Obviously its not enough to answer Reasoning and Data Interpretation problems. So, you should MANAGE time among the given 4 sections. For a clear understanding read our previous post on Time management techniques for SBI PO Exam here. And one more important point you should keep in mind is merely having the basic idea of the concept wont help you during the exam. Even a 7th grade student too can solve the paper if you give enough time to him. What matters is the TIME taken to solve the given problems. So don't stop your preparation at anytime. Get good grip on basics and later you should practice thoroughly till the date of the exam. Try to learn new shortcut techniques and think on how to implement them for the given problem to reduce the time.

Data Interpretation

Learn basics of Data Interpretation in 2 to 3 days. Mainly focus on Simplification, Averages, Ratios and Proportion. Data Interpretation mainly depends on these areas only. They will ask questions on Pie Charts, Bar Graphs, Line Graphs, Tables etc. Questions mainly will be based on basic maths concepts Multiplication, Division, Subtraction and Addition. So learn shortcuts of these topics and practice well. You should tell the answer of simple calculations by just having a quick glance on the given number. Read our calculation speed improvement techniques here to improve your calculation speed. Learn Squares, Cubes up to 30 and Square roots up to 20 (of course, we too agree that you have that TALENT to calculate them in seconds. But why to waste that time in the exam? So its better to learn by-heart the basics so that you can avoid wastage of time. Once you get good grip on basics then start practicing problems on Data Interpretation. Make it a habit to solve 2 DI questions per day at least.

 

Reasoning  

They have mentioned it as High Level reasoning in the notification. That means they will ask the same concepts which you usually find in remaining bank exams. But the Difficulty Level of the questions will be High. They will ask questions to test your Analytical and Problem solving skills. Usually they will ask questions from the areas like Seating Arrangement, Puzzles, Blood Relations, Data Sufficiency, Input Output, Directions, Coding - Decoding, Syllogism, Statements and Assumptions, Non Verbal Reasoning etc. You will get 5 to 7 questions from Syllogism. You should learn about conversions of the given statements and their results. This is the only area for which you should learn some basic rules apart from applying your common scene. We are stressing these many times because many of our friends are losing marks in this specific area. The main problem is people often misinterpret statements and tend to choose wrong options but unfortunately they think that they are correct. We are planning to update detailed posts on Syllogism shortcuts. You can get them soon. For remaining topics you should understand the basic concept and should practice minimum 100 questions per topic. And remember, don't forget to CROSS CHECK before marking your answers as sometimes you may tend to choose wrong option in Reasoning Section. And some times you easily can get the answer by just examining the given options. So don't waste time unnecessarily.

Note : DI and Reasoning sections are crucial in your selection as SBI Bank PO. So the more you practice, the more chances you will have for the selection.

 

English 

The questions will be based on Grammar, Comprehension, Vocabulary. For Grammar, most of the questions will be from Subject + Verb Agreement ( structure of sentences), Tenses, Prepositions, Articles. For sentence correction 70% of questions will be from these topics only. You can get 7 out of 10 if you are perfect in the above mentioned areas. Concentrate on the relationship between Subject and Verb, Singular Subjects for Singular helping Verbs, Plural helping verbs for plural subjects. Later concentrate on Tenses and Prepositions. And then odd words, pronouns. Solving previous papers will help you improving your skills. 

Comprehension is very important area in English section. Better to solve it after completing remaining areas. You only can answer the questions if and only if you get the clear understanding on the given comprehension. They wont give you simple stories in this area. So its advisable to read news papers and to learn 10 to 20 new English words daily. You should continue this till the date of the exam. Practice improving your reading speed (read our speed reading techniques here). Make some questions yourself on the new article / editorial you read. It will help you in getting a clear idea on how the questions will be formed.

Many of us think that Vocabulary is just Synonyms and Antonyms. But for Competitive Exams you should include phrasal words, one word substitutions, idioms too. The are using phrasal words in comprehensions. So you should concentrate more on Phrasal words. Understanding the meaning of the given words is not enough, you should know where and how to use that word.

 

General Awareness 

Concentrate on last 6 months' current affairs for General Awareness section. Focus on Budget 2014, Railway Budget 2014, Economic Survey, 12th Five year plan, Oscar Awards, Summits, G 20, G 8, SAARC  (now a days they are frequently asking questions from these areas). Concentrate on India's relationships with other countries, Basics and current occurring events of Banking, RBI Monetary policy, Bank Rates, People in news, Places in news, Elections of various countries (last 6 months) results and winners etc...

Marketing Aptitude 

Focus on Basics of Marketing, various company products their tag lines, new deals etc...

Computer Knowledge 

Focus on Basics of Commuters, Generations, MS Office (word and excel), Computer functionality etc

Descriptive Test :

We have already uploaded detailed shortnotes on Descriptive test topics. Have a look

• Precis Writing
• Essay Writing
• Letter Writing

 

Important Points you should keep in mind

• Section wise cutoffs  will be there. So you SHOULD equally FOCUS on all sections.
• You should get good grip on English Grammar and Vocabulary
• Descriptive test will be there. So you should focus on essay writing too
• You should improve your calculation speed
• You can get answers for some questions by just checking the given answer options (elimination method).
• You should get good grip on Maths up to 10th Standard.
• For GA they mainly will focus on Current Affairs. So you should know all important events occurred from January 2014 to first week of June 2014.
• Read news paper daily (The Hindu is better)
• Try to solve GA/Marketing/Computers and English sections as fast you can as possible so that you can get more time for DI and Reasoning sections. 
• Negative Marking will be there. So DON'T GO FOR BLIND GUESSING. After all we are not such a luckiest people....
• Try to solve as many practice you can solve as possible.
• 200questions in 120 minutes. So you hardly can spend 36 seconds per question. So if you feel you are wasting more time on any specific question, just leave that and switch to next question. Don't be egoistic.  After all that question will lessen your chances of selection. 

That's all for now friends. Hope it helps you in your preparation. Read study materials of SBI PO Exam here. Feel free to use the comments box below if you have doubts. All the best and Happy Preparation :)