How to prepare for SBI Clerk Exam 2018 ?

Going to Appear in SBI Clerk Exam 2018 ? Know the Preparation Tips and Strategy for SBI Clerk 2018

This is a common question I have come across while meeting the students preparing for the recruitment of the recent banking examinations. Students are often not clear what strategy is to be adopted for the said examinations.  When students ask me, I simply say – Job profiles of the PO and that of a clerk are totally different, their prescribed qualifications are different and above all the pattern of questions and the syllabus are totally different then why not there should be a vital difference between the approaches to be followed for the said examinations?

The very first time I came across this question was in December 2017 when one of the students who used to visit me for a bit of guidance told me that he has been selected in 3 banking clerical examinations consecutively but has been unable to qualify in the written part of that of a PO recruitment process. Currently he is a probationary officer with Bank of India, at Shahdol district in MP.

Hence today on the special request of students and due to the courtesy of www.sbirecruitment2016.com , I am coming with a few points to elaborate the difference in strategies to maintain while preparing for Upcoming SBI Clerical Exam 2018

Here is the preparation strategy for SBI Clerk Exams 2018

How to prepare for General Awareness for SBI Clerk Exams

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Don’t panic for this section. It is simply the general awareness and not the general knowledge. If you are having a habit of reading the news papers on a regular basis. 

For example: No one is going to ask you about who made the Lal Quila, but yes, if in recent past, if Lal Quila was in news for any reason, then you are supposed to know that.

That itself is sufficient. Problem starts if a candidate has not studied the newspapers or has not watched the major news items in past 6 months. Then please arrange the past 6-7 months copies of any standard GK magazine and try to recall which news items were on a hit. Don’t try to read each and everything, be very selective. Study what was a big news, If you are not sure, take help of your elders or friends.

Apart from that a bit of banking and financial industry related terms are now a part of the examinations for which follow a standard literature. A write up on the relevant financial terms to be studied would be available at this blog .

How to prepare for Mathematics and Quantitative Aptitude ?

This section would take around 20-25 days to complete the basics and then practice, practice and practice.

Start with number systems, decimals, square roots, simplifications, average, percentage, ratio and proportion, profit and loss, partnership, problems on age, time and work, time and distance, trains, boats and streams. Preparing on these topics is more than sufficient to qualify the clerical examination, if a candidate has really put his or her efforts.

Pay a special attention to the sections of ratio, average and percentage.

How to prepare for Reasoning for Clerk Exams?

Allocate 25-30 days for this portion.

There is no set pattern of reasoning. But If a candidate prepares starting from the circular arrangements, puzzles, alphabetic arrangements, coding and decoding, direction tests, then it becomes a bit easier for the candidate to find the question paper easier than others.

Here I would like to clearly mention one point that please do NOT rely on the local books or that kind of literature for your preparation.

In actual, I have seen the so called “model papers” for SBI or IBPS examinations and the same publisher has published the books for Railway recruitment, SSC examinations etc. with same questions.

How is this justifiable? No two individuals on this earth are the same; Same is the case with the examinations. To get a touch on the actual kind of questions which have been asked, please go through the previous year’s papers available with a few publishers or on the net. Or follow the standard magazines like PD.

How to prepare for Marketing & Computer for Bank Clerk Exams?

This section does NOT take more than 2 days of preparation.

Although the bank recruits the clerical staff for the normal day to day job of retail banking still the questions being asked in these sections are not of general level. Again I would like to mention that more than 80% of the published books in this field are also having a lot of errors. Questions which are being asked on marketing.

General banking and finance related terms, especially like crosselling, relationship management; alternate channels, ULIPs, fees based incomes, money market basics etc are to be focused upon.

If one is not from the computer background then one needs to study about basic history of computer, MS Office with shortcut commands, Internet history and so on.

How to prepare for English for Bank Clerk Exams?

This is the portion, which is most critical Because the facts and figures have proved that there are states in our country where people find it really hard to cross the national benchmark in the English section. Well, if the English has not been your cup of tea, then there is no option except to start from a scratch. But in case a candidate was a bit ok with English portion in his or her academics then things gets easier. Focus on cloze tests, error spotting, synonyms, antonyms and then on unseen passage.

If a candidate has always had problems with the English section then it can’t be certificated within a day or two, but, yes, with a constant practice starting from the very first chapter which provides a deep insight on the use of has/had been, should have been, would have been, could have been, etc one can expect to score at least the cutoff marks (which are normally 20-25% only) in this section.

I hope it clarifies at least some of the doubts of the aspirants of the bank clerical examination; Next post would include the strategy for preparation for a PO examination and then their comparative difference. Stay tuned, more to follow tomorrow at www.sbirecruitment2016.com

If you have any questions that you want to ask from the author you are free to do so be posting your queries in the comment box given below.We will try to reach each of you at the earliest

About the Author: This article is written by Mr A Mishra, He owns Bank-GD-PI where he writes articles related to Bank GD and Personal Interview Preparation.