Dear Aspirants, SBI (State Bank of India) conducts the competitive exam every year to provide jobs in banking sector at various posts. It is of no doubts that SBI PO (Probationary Officer) exams offers great opportunity for candidates who want to work in SBI/government sector. This year too, Now, candidates must be well aware of the pattern of exam and recent changes introduced in it by SBI. The pattern is simple as it asks questions from quantitative aptitude, reasoning ability and general English for prelims. But the pattern for mains has some additional sections like computer aptitude and general awareness. Among all these topics general awareness is the widest section in which questions can be asked from anywhere.
So, it becomes quite important for the candidates to score well in this section as it can obviously increase your score. It plays an important role in getting selected for the post and requires minimum time in exam. Today, we will discuss which topics to prepare in SBI PO prelims exam from the General Awareness section.
Weightage of general awareness questions in bank exams is given below:
Sections | Number of Questions Asked |
Current Affairs | 10-12 |
Financial and Banking Awareness | 13-15 |
Static General Knowledge | 14-16 |
The total number of questions asked in this section is 40. Each question carries one mark making it a total of 40 marks. The total time allowed for this section is 35 minutes. As negative marking for each wrong answer, marks equal to one-fourth of the assigned marks to that question will be deducted. So please be carefully while answering the questions. There is no need to answer it when you are not sure.
General Awareness
Candidates should try to get as many marks as they could in General Awareness, so that they can get a clear edge over other candidates. For so, they need to prepare General Awareness in a very holistic manner. We have divided this in few parts and you can focus on them individually.
Current Affairs (CA)
This has the most weightage in the General awareness section. Almost 40-45% questions come from current affairs and it becomes quite a scoring part. To begin preparations for current affairs, you need to adopt one habit– READING! Try to read a lot, from multiple sources. Candidates should spend at least one hour every day on Current Affairs. They should make to the point notes and spend time on reading the same thing again and again. This is so because if you read the same thing, from different sources, in a different ways, that information gets embedded in your brain quite strongly. Current Affair should be prepared for the last 100 days from the day of the exam. For this, candidates can simply refer to newspaper. Newspaper provide the current information all around the globe. You can choose any newspaper, though The Hindu is one of the best to keep you updated.
Banking and Financial Awareness
There are many candidates who worry a lot about this part. But you need not as this segment is easy to prepare. The foremost thing to do is go through the FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) on the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) website/SBI website. Once you’re done with this, go through the book Banking Awareness by Arihant. In the SBI PO exam, you will find the majority of questions to be belonging to Financial Terms and Concepts, Bank Mergers, Financial Organizations, Schemes and Policies, People and Banks in News, Financial Markets, Monetary Policy, Indian Economy (Union Budget and Economic Survey), World Economy, Committees & Recommendations, Agreements & MoUs (Memorandum of Understanding), Summits and Pacts, Business Deals and Acquisitions. Therefore, whenever you come across a news item that falls under these domains, make sure that you read it properly.
Static GK
Well, in this part almost anything and everything can be asked. But still, one should prepare it as it is better not to leave a loophole in your preparations. Primarily, you should focus on Indian Static GK. It includes general information based on the topics like Dams and rivers, National Park and Wild Life Sanctuaries, Nuclear, Thermal and Hydro Power Plants, Chief Ministers and Governors, Capital and Currency of Countries, Head Quarters of major Organizations, books and authors, important dates and many more topics. Also, the capitals and currencies of the countries to which our Prime Minister or President recently visited or the countries whose heads visited India can also be asked so you should know them well. To prepare this section, you can club the countries based on common currency (or other similarities) to remember them. To revise quickly, make a "points to remember" chart for all the states of India. Do not forget history. Divide history into pre-Independence and post-Independence era. Remember the events by plotting them on a timeline in chronological order. For Indian Polity go through the important constitution articles, amendments, bills and laws. Other than this, make a list of the people who have won the awards in the field of sports, literature, arts.
So, you can see the syllabus for general awareness is definitely wide. Here you need to start practicing as soon as possible. A thorough knowledge of all the topics mentioned above is must. Other than newspapers you can download several good apps to your phone to practice well. Take as many quizzes and mock exams as possible to brush up your general knowledge. Furthermore, you can refer to the following books:
Name of Book | Author | Publication |
Banking Awareness | Editorial team | Arihant |
Banking Awareness for SBI/IBPS Bank Clerk/PO/SO/RRB & RBI exams | Disha Experts | Disha Publications |
Banking Awareness (Banking Aptitude Test) (BANK PO/OFFICERS EXAM) | RPH Editorial Board | Ramesh Publishing House |
Lucent GK | Binary Karn |
Going by these tips and strategies, one can surely score quite good marks in this section. Prepare all the sub sections with due importance based on weightage in exam and your level of understanding. So, don’t wait for more and practice hard so that no can stop you to nail the exam.
Download SBI PO preparation app, and get free study material, notes, quiz, mock test, and previous year memory based question papers of SBI PO exam.
Please also check our NCERT Solutions app which we have launched recently for Class 6 – Class 12.
All the best !!!
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