PARS PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATION SUMMARY

Study Plan: SBI PO

General Awareness
1) General guidelines
a) Study the following topics with emphasis on understanding concepts. Avoid mugging of data and dates
b) With organizations, you should try to understand functions, jurisdictions, name of key current and past persons in
positions of responsibility, geographical location etc.
c) With economic terms and concepts, understand how they change, who changes them and how they are used in the
economy
d) With acts and legislations, understand when it was passed, what did it replace, what was the major change and
emphasis and how does it affect the economy and various sectors therein
e) These points below are given in decreasing order of importance. Meaning, you should focus on point 2 before you
focus on point 3
2) Current affairs: Read Partiyogita Darpan (can be read online for free by clicking here: http://bit.ly/14zuFr6). You can also
use any other current affairs magazine like CST, Chronicle or Wizard.
a) Focus on the 5-6 most recent issues of the magazine.
b) Focus on the following topics within the magazine:
i) Economy
ii) International Affairs
iii) Politics
3) Topics (click on any topic to open web links for reference and study)
a) Priority 1
i) Organizations: Banking structure of India; RBI; NABARD; Banking Ombudsman; SIDBI; EXIM Bank; Cooperative
Banks; CIBIL; Planning Commission; 5 year plans; Finance Commission; CRISIL; LIC; Bretton Woods, BASEL,
World Bank, IBRD, IMF
ii) Economic/ Financial terms & concepts: GDP; GNP; PPP; HDI; Inflation; WPI; CPI; IIP; SLR; CRR; Repo rate;
Reverse Repo; Bank rate; MSF; Liquidity adjustment facility; Priority sector lending; NPA; Capital Adequacy
Ratio; Credit Ratings; Derivatives; Options; Futures; Currency Swaps; VAT; GST
iii) Acts, Committees & legislations: Companies Bill 2013; Budget 2013; FEMA; Tarapore Committee; Narsimhan
Committees; FRBM
iv) Banking services: Assets, liabilities and working capital of a bank; KYC; Types of bank customers; Types of
Bank Accounts; Negotiable instruments; MICR; IFSC code; CTS System; Clean Notes policy; Fake notes; White
Label ATMs; NEFT; RTGS; Banking Correspondence agents; Kisan credit card
b) Priority 2
i) Organizations: SEBI; IRDA; NHB; IFCI; RIDF; RRBs; MFIs; ARCs; BIFR; NDC; BSE; NSE; SENSEX; NIFTY; Moody;
S&P; Fitch; GIC; SBI & SBI Associates; HDFC Bank; ICICI Bank; ADB, Islamic Banking, ADR, GDR, IDR, GATT,
WTO, WEF
ii) Economic/ Financial terms & concepts: Millennium Development Goals; Gold Loans, ULIP, Mutual Funds,
Open Market Operations; Money supply; Nidhi; Chit Fund
iii) Acts, committees & legislations: Bank Nationalization; Information Technology Act; Economic Survey 2013;
SARFAESI Act
iv) Banking services: CBS; ECS; SWIFT; BankNET, RBINET, INDONET; Digital Signatures; Bank guarantee; Letter of
Credit; Bancassurance
4) Books & Resources
a) The following books are useful for your study and are available free:
i) Available free: NIOS study material on Economics
th
ii) Available free: NCERT- class 11 book on Economics
th
iii) Available free: NCERT- Class 12 book on Microeconomics
th
iv) Available free: NCERT- Class 12 book on Macroeconomics
b) For Banking theory, you can refer to Money, Banking & Finance by BSC Publication
c) For Economics Theory, you can refer to Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh

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PARS PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATION SUMMARY

Computer Awareness
1) Books & Resources
a) Available free: NIOS study material on Computer Awareness
b) Last years exam papers: Any one of Kiran or Arihant. If you have any other paper set, you can use that as well. You
should target to practice atleast 30 Computer Awareness questions everyday from the papersets.
c) Any book from Kiran, Arihant or Upkar on Computer Awareness. If you have any other book, that will also do

Data Analysis & Interpretation

Marketing Awareness
1)

1) Topics
a) Marketing: Brief Overview
b) Concept, Nature and Scope of Marketing- UGC Notes
c) Market Segmentation: Importance of Market Segmentation
d) Personal Selling: Introduction, Value of Personal Selling
e) Bank Marketing
f) Distribution: Definition, Channels of Distribution
2) Books & Resources
a) Available free: NIOS study material on Marketing
b) Any book from Kiran, Arihant or Upkar on Marketing

Reasoning
1) If you prepare for Reasoning diligently, you can score heavily in the
exam
2) Last years exam papers
a) Any one of Kiran or Arihant. If you have any other paper set,
you can use that as well. You should target to solve atleast 50
Reasoning questions everyday from the paperset.
3) Instructions
a) The following are given in decreasing order of priority. This
means point 4b is more important to master than point 4c
and so on.
b) Solve 30-50 questions on each topic. However, if you already
are comfortable with a particular topic, you can move to the
next topic to make best use of your time.
c) Similarly if you are really afraid of any particular topic, you
can leave it. However, you must make sure that you do
atleast the first 5 topics properly and do not leave many
topics
4) Study the following topics from Analytical Reasoning by MK Pandey.
You can also choose some other book like RS Aggarwal etc.
a) Logic Reasoning (Topics: Syllogism; Statement- Arguments;
Statement- Assumptions; Statement- Courses of Action;
Statement- Conclusions; Deriving Conclusions from Passage)
b) Sitting arrangement
c) Puzzles
d) Blood Relations
e) Non Verbal Reasoning (Topics: Series; Analogy; Classification)
f) Input- Output
g) Coding- Decoding
h) Mathematical operations/ inequalities
i) Data Sufficiency

2)

3)

4)

5)

If you prepare for QA diligently, you can score

heavily in the examination
Last years exam papers
a) Any one of Kiran or Arihant. If you have
any other paper set, you can use that as
well. You should target to solve atleast 50
QA questions everyday from the paperset.
Instructions
a) The following are given in decreasing
order of priority. This means point 4b is
more important to master than point 4c
and so on.
b) Solve 30-50 questions on each topic.
However, if you already are comfortable
with a particular topic, you can move to
the next topic to make best use of your
time.
c) Similarly if you are really afraid of any
particular topic, you can leave it
completely. However, you must make sure
that you do atleast the first 5 topics
properly and do not leave many topics
Study the following topics from Quantum CAT by
Sarvesh Kumar. You can also choose some other
book like Tyra or RS Aggarwal etc.
a) Data Interpretation
b) Probability, Permutations & Combinations
c) Percentages
d) BODMAS
e) Geometry (Area-Volume- Perimeter)
f) Linear Equations
g) Number Theory (LCM, HCF, Remainders)
Speed mathematics
a) Trachtenbergs method for multiplication
by 5, 9 and 11. Please refer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trachtenberg
_system
b) Learn multiplication tables of 2 to 25 by
heart
c) Learn squares of numbers up to 31 and
cubes of numbers up to 15 by heart

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PARS PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATION SUMMARY

English Language (Objective)

1) Last years exam papers
a) Any one of Kiran or Arihant. If you have any other paper set, you can use that as well. You should target to solve atleast
50 English Language questions everyday from the paperset.
2) Instructions
b) The following are given in decreasing order of priority. This means point 3b is more important to master than point
3c and so on.
c) Practice 30-50 questions on each topic. However, if you already are comfortable with a particular topic, you can move
to the next topic to make best use of your time.
d) Similarly if you are really afraid of any particular topic, you can leave it completely. However, you must make sure that
you do atleast the first 5 topics properly and do not leave many topics
3) Study the following topics from papersets. You can also choose to use a book like S P Bakshi or A P Bharadwaj. You can also use
www.Pagalguy.com forums to prepare
a) Reading Comprehension: Target to practice 3 RC passages everyday
b) Fill in the blanks- paragraph with many blanks
c) Fill in the blanks- Sentence with blanks
d) Sentence Correction: Prepare from papersets
e) Parajumbles/ Sentence Arrangement- you can use Pagalguy (http://pagalguy.com/forums/verbal/parajumbles-cat2013-t-93071/) for practice
f) Antonyms/ Synonyms

English Language (Descriptive)

1) Most important tips
a) Your content will not matter if you have not written it neatly and legibly. Poor handwriting is not an excuse.
b) Focus on zero defect. There cannot be any grammatical or selling errors. If you cannot write without errors, how will you
work in a bank responsibly?
c) Focus on clarity of thought and not on flowery difficult language. This is a test of how you clearly and logically can you
articulate, not a test of your poetry skills
2) Time allotment
a) Here is a suggested time allocation
i) RC: 10 minutes
ii) Prcis: 10 minutes
iii) Essay: 15 minutes
iv) Paragraph writing: 10 minutes
v) Letter: 15 minutes
b) Here is a suggested order of attempting the questions: first attempt RC and then do Prcis. Thereafter, do the Essay
writing, Paragraph writing and do the letter writing at the end

3) Reading Comprehension: Practice the RCs given in the MockBank English Descriptive Practice Papers. With every mock test that
you enroll for, you also get a sample Descriptive paper
4) Essay, Paragraph and Letter writing
a) All the above three are largely similar in preparation and approach. We will call it the Essay Preparation Approach
b) Preparing for essays is very important because the same topics will be important for group discussions (GD) and interviews
(PI) stage of SBI PO

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PARS PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATION SUMMARY

c)

Good essays consist of good points related to the topic. For good points, you need to build a reading habit. You should read
atleast one newspaper everyday with special emphasis on the editorial articles. We give below a link to IGNOU booklet
which can give you a lot of information points around which to structure your essays. Also given below are a few books. If
you read these books (long term approach, also useful for future exams), you will end up picking a good number of useful
points. These books will also hopefully help you develop a reading habit.
i) IGNOU booklet
ii) Read some good books like Imagining India by Nandan Nilekani, India 2020: A vision for the New Millennium by Dr.
Kalam, India After Gandhi by Ramchandra Guha, The Discovery of India by Jawaharlal Nehru.
d) If you go through the MockBank English Descriptive Practice Papers, you will find a list of representative essay topics. For
each of the topic, brainstorm for ideas and evaluate if you can write 250 words. If you cannot, use the internet to read up
on that topic. Your aim should be to have enough points and arguments to fill 250 words for each of the topics given in the
MockBank English Descriptive Practice Papers
e) Some tips for essays
i) There is always a choice of topics. Pick the topic on which you have the most solid talking points
ii) Do not immediately start writing the essay. The first 5-6 minutes are for planning and the rest are for writing.
iii) Take 2-3 minutes to jot down the main points around which you want to construct your essay. Take the next 2minutes to construct a flow of the points so that it makes logical sense
iv) Try to have 3 clear parts of the essay
(1) Introduction- can contain current relevance, background and history
(2) Body- should contain your main argument related to the essay topic
(3) Conclusion: A short summary of your arguments and a suggested reform in law/ society/ outlook etc.
v) Some pitfalls to avoid
(1) No extreme or offensive views, try to be moderate in your views
(2) Avoid criticism without suggesting a solution
(3) Avoid political, religious and cultural biases. It is good to have strong views, but the SBI PO essay is not the right
place to advertise them
5) Prcis Writing
a) Practice the prcis examples given in the MockBank English Descriptive Practice Papers. Please see the following tips
b) A Prcis should contain no more than a third of the number of words in the original passage. Also, you have to provide a
suitable title
c) The first 3 minutes should be given to reading the passage, the next 3 minutes to jotting down the points and organizing
your thoughts, and the last 4-5 minutes to writing the prcis
d) Follow the following sequence:
i) Read the passage carefully marking the important thoughts and lines within the passage
ii) Think of a suitable title. It will typically be a word, phrase or a short sentence that will sum up the idea of the passage.
Typically this will be found at the start or end of the passage
iii) Divide the passage into 5-6 different blocks in sequence, each block representing one idea or message.
iv) Paraphrase each of the blocks into your own words into one or two sentences. Remember to use your own words- do
not pick sentences from the original passage. Do this on a rough page
v) Make sure that the sentences are well connected. If they are not, introduce linking sentences so as to form a logical
flow.
vi) Make sure the total length does not exceed a third of the original passage. If it does, paraphrase again to reduce the
length to less than a third of the original passage
vii) Now write the title and then your sentences neatly and legibly

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