Hello everyone,

I am Aditi Haldar, a 22 year old Literature graduate. I completed my graduation in 2022 and thereon
started my preparation for the RBI Grade B exam and cleared it in my first attempt. Considering my
background, it is obvious that all the subjects were new to me. My entire preparation time was a
total of 10 months. I dreaded Quants for a long time and had last done Mathematics in class 10. I will
try to be 100% honest and very candid while answering this. But PLEASE TAKE EVERY ADVICE WITH A
PINCH OF SALT and do your due diligence before you blindly follow it. What might have worked for
me won't be working for you.

So now let me directly jump into and let you know the approach that worked for me:

Prelims:
QUANTS:

A huge part of preparation was devoted to prelims. I spent 2 months just doing basic mathematics
and reasoning.

SOURCES:

I started with RS Agarwal and after completing the book, I understood where I stand. Then I
followed Adda247 and Rakesh Yadav on Youtube to brush up my concepts further. For DI, I
additionally followed Sumit Sir on YouTube. Then I focused on completing the Ace Quants book
twice or thrice.

SOME TIPS AND FOCUS AREAS:

Gone are the days when they'll directly give number series for the questions. Understanding the
pattern is more important for this exam. So if they think of giving number series they might do so in
form of Quantity comparisons. You need to understand that your foundation needs to be strong
here. You don't need to be exceptionally brilliant at it. So this is how you can move forward.

1) BASIC ARITHMETIC - If your basics are clear you'll be able to attempt questions with ease. You
don't need to know CAT level Quants, just go back and focus on the Moderate section of Ace Quants
of Adda247 and give importance to chapters like ratio proportion, percentage, mixture etc. If you're
strong with this, then you will be able to solve DI with ease as well.

2) Quadratic Equations - you will get at least 2-3 questions from this part. So have a thorough
understanding of this chapter specially solving problems which involve the roots.

TYPE OF QUESTIONS:

1) Quadratic Equations - 2 or 3 questions from this section

2) Quantity comparisons - this is where they'll include your basic arithmetic questions, quadratic
equations, number series, probability questions

3) Data Sufficiency Questions - 3-4 questions minimum (again if your basics are right, you'll be able
to solve these questions)
4) Two DI (each of 5 questions. Usually one is a caselet and the other one is a normal DI.

5) Few arithmetic questions - (again the questions you can Target directly)

EXAM TIPS for Quants:

Aim for 7-8 right questions. You don't have to solve everything so don't worry about how difficult
the section is. This means you have to be SELECTIVE.

Take a minute and scroll through the questions and stop exactly where you know you can definitely
solve it in no time. This way once you've successfully done 5 of them ACCURATELY, CALMLY try to
attempt 3 more.

Don't get stuck while solving DI. DI can either be a maker or breaker for you. Attempt it when you
know for sure that this will get solved in 2-3 mins.

If you're unable to solve any question despite attempting it once, skip it and go to the next one. You
will always get your set of questions if you remain calm. This is what I had followed during the exam
too.

*Reasoning:*

Coming to Reasoning, this is again a section that people take for granted and also the section where
a lot of people aren't able to clear the sectional cut off. MOST OF MY PREPARATION OF REASONING
HAS BEEN THROUGH MOCK TESTS (I will mention it below).

SOURCES: For Reasoning I have just done the Ace Reasoning of Adda247 and Adda247 ‘The Cracker’
Bank Mains Exam Book. I had also practised thoroughly from Adda247's YouTube channel.

SOME TIPS AND FOCUS AREAS:

Again no direct questions are going to come. This section is going to be very lengthy and the same
approach is to be followed here. Being SELECTIVE is the key.

1) MACHINE INPUT OUTPUT – Practise this thoroughly you’ll get a 5 mark sure shot question
from this section and will require to attempt it to clear the cut off. So focus on this chapter.

2) SYLLOGISM – Focus should be more on Reverse Syllogism, ‘Some not’, and ‘Only’ type
questions. Again 3-5 marks will be allotted for this section.

3) LOGICAL REASONING – YOU HAVE TO PRATICE THIS. If you’re skipping the lengthy puzzles
and seating arrangement then you’ve to get better at doing logical reasoning questions.

4) OTHER BASICS – Order and Ranking, Blood relations, alphanumeric series etc. needs to be
done as well. But chances of these coming as direct questions is quite less. Blood relations
can come in the form of puzzles for this exam.

EXAM TIPS FOR REASONING:

The reasoning section will be dominated by puzzles and seating arrangement. Don’t get stuck here.
You have to attempt minimum questions but with accuracy – this is the strategy I had followed. I
attempted 15 questions trying to be as accurate as possible.

Solving the easier set of questions should be the way forward. Complete your syllogism and machine
input output sets and other similar easier ones first. With the remaining time in hand, attempt those
logical reasoning questions that you know will be 100% accurate. Then take on to the ones you’re
doubtful about.

If you at all want to do a puzzle/seating arrangement keep it for the last. I personally did not attempt
any of them as they were quite lengthy and it would take a lot time just to read through that entire
section.

*ENGLISH*

For English, I had no source. I completely relied on appearing for a lot of mock tests from multiple
platforms. A lot of people follow Nitu Singh’s book to better their grammar, but I have not relied on
any book or YouTube Channel.

FOCUS AREAS:

The stronger your grammar is the easier it gets in the English section. Go to the basics again. Tenses,
Voice, Narration and Agreement of Verb with the Subject – these are the four areas that need your
attention.

Reading Comprehension can be a bit tricky considering the choice of answers they provide. You need
to have a habit of reading. Even better if you can at least read editorials daily and summarise what
you understood and what kind of paragraph did you think it is – whether it is critical, satirical,
informational, then that can be a good first step.

EXAM TIPS:

The only exam tip I can give for English is that whatever you’ve practised while giving mocks just
apply that.

*GENERAL AWARENESS*

The most crucial and scary part for me was General Knowledge. We either tend to focus too much
on GA and then leave out QRE or vice versa. Like most aspirants I tried several sources for GA. I tried
reading the GA from affairscloud daily, then monthly – but could not revise the bulky document.
Thereafter I tried sticking to Anuj Jindal’s 3 PDFs of GA (RBI 247, PIB 247 and Spotlight) but could not
retain most of it. At last I just focused on doing GA from Edutap and did value addition from Brajesh
Mohan PIB PDFs once in a while.

So my major source of GA has been Edutap. I have blindly followed their CurrentTap, ReportsTap
and RBITap and the Govt. Schemes PDFs. It somehow felt easier to read and retain so I stuck with it
till Prelims.

If you can revise well, the there is nothing better than Affairscloud. But reading it once and revising it
several times are two different things so keep that in mind while choosing your source of GA.
You can also follow the daily PIB news being sent in the telegram group ‘WE LEARN HERE’ and most
of your news section will be covered. The PIB capsule compiled by Brajesh Mohan is also a great
source you can follow and the compilation is easier for revision too.

ONLY ADVICE FOR THIS SECTION – During the preparation don’t make the same mistake like I did of
changing multiple sources. Trying and testing worked for me but consider it only if you’re not able to
retain at all. Otherwise try to stick with only one single source and keep revising it.

NO SOURCE OF GA will cover all the questions that will come in the exam. Neither do you need to
attempt all. So reading one source multiple times will allow you to clear the cut off and get at least
some questions with ease.

GA OF HOW MANY MONTHS?

I had done GA thoroughly of 4 months. You can do GA of 6 months but the last 3 to 4 months are the
most crucial so focus solely on that.

WHAT TO FOCUS ON WHILE STUDYING GA?

All the first time happenings are important. Focus on Summits, MOUs, RBI in News, Banking News,
National and International news and Rankings too. All kinds of Reports are extremely crucial for this
exam. So the Budget, Economic Survey, RBI Annual Report, Report on Currency and Finance,
Financial Stability Report, MPC meeting (bimonthly) proceedings – all of these are crucial.
Government Schemes are also a crucial part of both Phase I and Phase II although this year the
weightage of Govt. Schemes in Phase I was quite less.

Lesser Important topics would be topics on sports, defence, space expedition, dates etc. Maximum
3-4 marks will come from all these combined.

NATURE OF QUESTIONS?

1) INDEPTH QUESTIONING - You will find several questions from topics I have mentioned
above. The catch here is that you will need to know it in a bit of depth. For example – if
ASEAN is in news then they can give you 5 options asking you to choose that country which
is not a part of ASEAN. Or in case of Ranking related questions they can ask you who was
ranked after India in the Global Climate Performance Index, or name who ranked 6th in some
other report. The idea is that we tend to read the first three rankings in any report. Please
don’t make that mistake and read a bit in depth.

2) FROM MAINS SYLLABUS – It is advisable to complete your Mains syllabus before Prelims not
only because you will not have the time to do so after prelims but also because you will see
one or two questions directly from the Mains syllabus. This year there was a question from
the Risk Management part of Finance. Focus on knowing basics of derivatives, risk
management, Basel norms, etc.

3) RBI WEBSITE – If you’re a candidate appearing for RBI, it is expected out of you to go
through the website once in a while. You will find some questions coming from the website
as well. For example a question on Money Kumar who is the mascot of RBI’s awareness
programs, came in the exam (If you watch KBC or see RBI’s advertisements on the
newspaper even then it would be known to you). Just have a basic idea of what is on the
website like what is the Retail Direct Scheme, what is the ombudsman scheme, mascots for
awareness programs etc.
EXAM TIPS:

During the exam, you will find some questions you are partly sure of. If you are confused between
two answers, take your chance and mark them. Don’t overdo by marking several questions where
you’re in doubt. Measure your steps well and answer some doubtful ones only after you have
marked the ones you know. I have followed the same approach.

MOCK TESTS:

Before you start your preparation, you can take a free mock test to see where you stand. I had taken
one free mock test from ixambee just to see where I stand. Thereon I have given the mock tests of
every platform. The best platforms for mock tests would be Practice Mock and Oliveboard. You
might be scoring lesser here but don’t get disheartened. I had given mocks from Adda, Oliveboard,
Anujjindal, Edutap, Practice mock and Ixambee. More mocks you give the better you know where
you’re lacking. I tried scoring around 35 to 40 in the QRE sections of all these mocks depending on
which platform I was giving the mock in. For current affairs note down the ones you could not
answer and try to retain them, this will be beneficial right before the Phase I exam.

Overall for phase I, try to focus more on ACCURACY rather than how many questions you attempt.
SELECTIVE QUESTIONS WITH ACCURACY will help you clear Phase I.

PHASE 2:

I had taken subscription of multiple sources for Phase II. I was an enrolled student for Anuj Jindal and
for Edutap. And I have done my FM portion completely from Edutap (did the PCA framework from
Anuj Jindal) while ESI I had covered from Anuj Jindal and did a bit of value addition from Edutap.

The reason I had taken the subscription of two sources is to keep it my journey more self-paced. And
I kept doing value addition from Dr.Amit Lal’s youtube channel, investopedia.com etc. If at any point
you have the opportunity to enrich your notes from any source, make use of it and then revise them
multiple times.

Finance and Management Section:

Although this is expected to be the most scoring section, it is slowly becoming more dynamic in
nature. You need to be thorough with 6 months RBI notifications and relevant news, RBI website,
and the expected static portion too. I followed Edutap for the notifications and PIB for relevant news
too. Management is a static section but I left out the extremely detailed portions that Edutap has
covered in chapters like Corporate Governance. Before the exams I made quick revision sheets of a
page to glance through as well.

MCQ section:

We had got questions related to notifications, government schemes, and static portions from both
finance and management in the 2023 exam. Hence preparing government schemes, the Economic
Survey, RBI Annual Report, FSR etc – all becomes important even in this paper.
Economics and Social Issues

This is the most unpredictable paper in the exam. You have to be very strong with your PIB news,
government schemes, different reports and indices, Budget etc. to do well in this exam.

As the MCQs are dominated by government schemes, it is crucial to remember that they will not be
directly asked. For example, they might create a scenario (say) where Ram is a family of 5 and wants
to avail to the PM JAY and give you the possible scenarios where he will be able to avail it and ask
you to choose the wrong option. Hence, the questions will be twisted and not directly ask you to
mention criteria of a government scheme but will be APPLICATION ORIENTED. There will be PIB
news passages too, so try to focus the most on them.

DESCRIPTIVE SECTION OF BOTH THE PAPERS:

I had been doing my Descriptive writing with Dr Amit Lal and he has been giving me personalised
feedbacks on every answers. I have written quite a few answers with him and can vouch that his
descriptive program is very useful when it comes to this exam. I had also written down several data
points and real world examples pertaining to each chapter so that I could enrich my answers.

EXAM SCENARIO FOR DESCRIPTIVE:

FM PAPER: You will definitely get one current topic in the descriptive section, in 2022 they had given
the LTRO question and in 2023 they had asked about ONDC. So the more you’re aware of the
current scenario the better.

ESI PAPER: This descriptive section was the most unexpected and had bombarded us with several
reports and government schemes. SO DON’T SKIP REPORTS OR SCHEMES AT ANY COST.

Finance and ESI are overlapping subjects, so you might expect to see Finance related questions in
the ESI paper and vice versa.

TIPS FOR DESCRIPTIVE SECTION:

- If you are able to remember the syllabus of Phase 2 it will be easier when you are studying
GA. You will be able to give more emphasis only on the sections relevant to the exam.

- Previous year papers will give you an idea of the trend of questioning. Apart from that you
will also be able to find those chapters from where questions have not been asked in the last
two years and prepare them more thoroughly for your year. The chances of them framing a
descriptive question from an untouched chapter would always be more.

- Try to complete Phase 2 syllabus and revise it at least once before the Prelims. And you can
revise it again once prelims is over.

- Devote time to practise typing if you’re not used to writing answers at a stretch. I practised
writing in Dr.Amit Lal’s platform to understand how to frame answers within a given time
span while hearing typing noises in the background.
ENGLISH PAPER:

As English is my own subject, I did not have to additionally think about it with a more focused
approach. But if you’re someone who still falters with proper sentence structuring and make
grammatical errors, then you need to additionally focus on this paper too. I had just written down a
couple of essays on normal GA topics and read them before the exam.

ESSAY:

I had attempted an essay in the exam which I had not pre-prepared and one that happened to be a
completely different choice than other candidates. This is because I have the habit of writing. So
some tips that I can give for this paper are as follows:

1. Start writing. More you write the better you get at it. Pick up random topics be it ones that
are available online, topics that are related to current affairs, etc.

2. Understand that the structure of essay will not be the same as that of answer writing and
you need to fine tune the structure and not use any bullet format.

3. Please focus on grammar and writing coherent sentences. Before you write an essay with
data points, practise writing paragraphs that are grammatically correct. You can use the
Grammarly app to keep a check on your errors.

RIGHT BEFORE THE EXAM, sit down and note several current affair related topics (like Artificial
Intelligence, Climate Change, Green Finance, etc). Try and write down essays on these broad
topics and if you have the time, write down some specific topic essays too (like use of AI in
education, or banking sector, or healthcare sector). When you prepare these essays, keep data
points and examples handy and that will help when you write in the actual exam.

As you will already be doing current affairs separately, you will be able to include several
examples and data points directly to your essay.

HELP FROM NEWSPAPER EDITORIALS – Every time you sit down to research for your essay, apart
from looking at just websites that have articles on that particular topic – look for opinionated
pieces and specially editorials that come in the Mint, Indian Express, BS etc. It will make your
essay stronger.

DON’T MUG UP SAMPLE ESSAYS WRITTEN BY OTHERS – Please practise by yourself and build the
habit so that in the exam if you don’t know a particular topic you will be able to think by
yourself. Even if you mug up sample essays written by others, producing it in the exam in that
exact manner and creating an impact will not be possible. So do this only when you are short on
time.

NO UPSC FORMAT REQUIRED – It is not a prerequisite for you to be covering several different
aspects while writing an essay where you are looking at the topic from a political, economic,
social angle and then writing. As there is already a word limit, if at all you cannot follow such a
format there is no need to worry.

USE OF GOVT SCHEMES – Try and add government schemes in the essay, especially in your
conclusions and ensure that you end the conclusions on a good note. Showcase what the
government is doing in that particular regard and it will surely enrich your essay.
 PRECIS

Initially I had practised writing 5-6 precis by reading the newspaper and summarising what I
remember from that particular article. Pick up some long editorial articles and summarise it by
yourself in only 1/3rd the number of words used in the passage and also give a title by yourself.
Also be cautious and try to avoid grammatical errors here as well.

COMPREHENSION

Here your understanding power has to be strong. The answers to their questions will be in the
passage but you will be required to produce it in your own words while also making it compact.
So if you’re practising summarising editorials in your own language for precis practice, it will help
you to build your producing power for comprehension too.

INTERVIEW:

For interview, I had gone through the RBI website thoroughly, my biodata, the RBI Act 1934, bits
from the BR Act, and current affairs too. I also gave mock interviews from all the available
platforms. I had used the Bing AI and ChatGPT in great detail during my preparation. Alongside,
practising with several fellow aspirants also helped me better my answers.

RBI WEBSITE

• RBI Working and Functions PDF – It might appear a bit lengthy, but you HAVE to go through
this to have a thorough understanding of RBI. You will be able to answer function related
questions in a better way because the questioning comes out directly from this.

• PREAMBLE of RBI – Memorise it by heart. This is the core of RBI’s essence so if you’re able to
quote this or when asked say it as it is, you will be at an advantage.

• Home Page – Know everything on the homepage, what are the icons, what is new there,
what is on the right or left side too. Know about all the 7 icons (Ombudsman, MANI, RBI
kehta hai, Retail Direct, UDGAM, Fintech and RBI Museum) in great detail.

• Notifications and Speeches – Prepare at least two of the speeches from the website. Know
the exact place the speech was given, by whom, on what occasion and the major highlights
too. Have a basic understanding of the major notifications that are coming out or important
notifications that came out previously in the last 2-3 months.

• Know about RBI publications – What are the annual publications and which one are half
yearly. Also know which publications are statutory. You need to go through the Annual
Report of RBI well (focus on the balance sheet of RBI too).

Some Crucial Topic understanding –

Some topics like Regulatory Sandbox, Green Finance, CBDC, Ombudsman Scheme, Basel Norms,
Monetary Policy, etc. needs to be covered additionally. These overlap with your Mains preparation
and questions are framed out of these topics too. Know about the awareness programs of RBI, NSFE,
and NSFI as well.

RBI ACT AND BR ACT –

You need to know some important sections from the RBI Act and BR Act. I would advise you to go
through the entire RBI Act as there are only 61 sections (with several being omitted) so that you
know answers to questions like whether RBI can be dissolved, whether RBI pays income tax etc. A
common question from the BR act is ‘what do you understand by the term bank?’ so you need to
know some important sections from the Act.

HR QUESTIONS-

HR questions are basically the ones that are based off your biodata. You do not need to fill your
biodata solely to impress the interviewers. Whatever you write on your biodata, choose them wisely
because after you submit it, you will need to prepare all of them thoroughly. For example if you try
to go out of the box and write a unique hobby you should be prepared for a unique question too.

• Basic Preparation of Why do you want to join RBI, why quit your previous job, contribution
of your graduation subject that will help in RBI, what did you learn from your previous
organisation that will come to use in RBI, which department do you want to join in and why?
– All such questions might be asked. So prepare them thoroughly. Stronger your answer is
on these questions, the better you will be able to convince the board about the strength of
your candidature.

• Prepare your job profile thoroughly. As I am a fresher candidate, I had to do no such thing.
(PLEASE FOLLOW ANY WORKING CANDIDATE’S STRATEGY FOR THIS PART – like that of
Kingshuk Maity).

• Hobby related – All basics about your hobbies, famous personalities associated with your
hobby (if any), and current affairs related to your hobby, etc.

• Prepare question and answers for all keywords that are emerging out of your biodata too.

MOCK INTERVIEWS: Give as many mocks as possible. Although the real interview will be very
different from all the mock interviews and the nature of questioning will differ too. But it was the
mock interviews that helped me realise that I speak a bit faster, I tend to interrupt while answering,
etc.

If you get a chance to prepare with your fellow aspirants, it will be even better. Doing regular Q&A
session with them will help you better your opinions too. I had done the same and some of the best
answers I had prepared were because of them.

ADVICE: No candidate’s strategy will ever be an exact fit for you. Just because a topper prefers a
particular source over other sources, does not mean it is of extremely superior quality. Cherry pick
things from people’s strategies and fine tune it to make a strategy of your own. Try to learn from
failure stories because those are the people who tell you exactly where you can make mistakes. All
the best to all of you :)