RBI Grade B Preparation, Exam Analysis & Cut Off

The RBI is India’s apex economic and banking organization mandated with the task of keeping the nation’s economy stable.

It does so by creating appropriate fiscal policies and banking regulations in order to manage price stability.

It also serves as the bank to the government of India and the only note-issuing agency to the government.

Impressive isn’t it?

Now, given the merit of the organization of RBI, I want you to think about the abilities of the people that make it possible.

Imagine how impressive they must be. The foremost of the RBI employees start off their careers as RBI Grade B officers.

They are the crème de la crème from amongst the academic and economic elites of our nation.

These officers are recruited yearly through the RBI Grade B recruitment process.

This recruitment process involves a challenging exam consisting of 2 phases and a final interview round.

Needless to say, these RBI Grade B exams are no walk in the park. Only the most dedicated, smart, and hardworking aspirants make it through.

Having said that, I will also emphasize the fact that if you follow a time-bound & disciplined study plan, analyze the papers of the past years and solve them, draw out an intensive strategy and cover the most important topics from the syllabus, then the exam will not take its toll on you, and you shall be able to clear it.

What do you think?

Do you have what it takes to clear the RBI Grade B exam?

Well, if you do, I think you should thoroughly go over this article.

In this article, I have written about how to prepare for RBI Grade B, the RBI Grade B exam analysis, and the RBI Grade B Cut Offs.

Basically, this article will be one of the most important things you will read in your quest to crack the RBI Grade B exam.

I do not say this out of a misplaced sense of self-aggrandizement or anything like that.

I say this because these are the exact things that I taught to my very first students when I first started mentoring for the RBI Grade B exams, and incidentally, all of them were able to clear the RBI Grade B exam that year.

I still remember how I had started teaching my very first students.

I had recently quit a cozy and high paying SBI desk job after realizing that my knack lay in public speaking, teaching, and mentoring. Consequently, I started off by teaching a handful of students on Facebook.

These students used to come over to my place on the outskirts of Delhi and there we used to analyze the exam papers of the past years and the cut-offs.

Accordingly, I used to make study plans for them, using which they all were eventually able to clear their RBI Grade B exam that year.

The times I and those students of mine spent at my place in Indirapuram under the pleasant gaze of the evening sun, analyzing the past year papers while sipping on those hot cups of coffee, is something I’ll never forget.

It’s been ages since those days, but even now I sometimes receive calls from those students updating me about how their respective jobs at RBI are holding up and also to talk about how the preparation plan and exam analysis had helped them achieve their RBI Grade B dreams.

Sounds dreamy, doesn’t it?

Well, it isn’t. I tell you, if you go through this article and stick to what’s written in it to the T, you will not taste failure in the RBI Grade B exam. I guarantee you that.

So, without further ado let’s get to the first topic.

RBI Grade B Preparation

You know when I was in school, I used to be an athlete.

I used to compete in 100 meters and cross-country events. I used to have a coach who used to train the athletics team that I was a part of.

Before every post-summer vacation tournament, he used to make us train for 3 hours every day after school under the scorching afternoon sun. That used to be our preparation.

After the prep, we used to sit down with our coach and analyze the teams that were going to compete with us by taking into consideration their past performances.

That’s how we used to gauge the degree to which we needed to stretch ourselves during our preparations.

Now I know what’s going on in your head. You are probably asking,

What has this story got to do with anything?

Well, in this article I have followed the same formula that my athletics coach used to make us follow. Preparations first, analysis second.

Therefore, in this segment, I have talked about how to prepare for the RBI Grade B exam first.

In the next segments I will talk about the topics related to exam analysis RBI Grade B, RBI Grade B cut off 2019, and RBI Grade B cut off 2018.

How to prepare for RBI Grade B Exam

Now, considering that you’ve gone through the RBI Grade B syllabus and are ready to sail through the waters of hard work and toil to reach the shores of the RBI as RBI Grade B Manager, we shall now begin.

So, to start things off, I have prepared a table for you that should help you judge yourself based on what to study, where to study from, and how much to do it.

This is done so you can best prepareyourself for the upcoming RBI Grade B exam date.

It’s been set keeping two important aspects in mind:

1. Your academic qualification
2. The number of hours you can invest in your preparations

Let’s go through some of the basic points so that you can interpret the table successfully:

1. According to your academic qualification, you can be placed in one out of two categories:

• Category 1: If you place in the first category, you are either “Above average in Phase 1 & new in Phase 2”
• Category 2: If you place in the second category, you are “new in both Phase 1 and Phase 2”.

2. The other classification that I have created, is based on the number of hours you can consistently put into your studies. The delineation of the total hours you commit per day to your studying the RBI Grade B Phase 1 syllabus, and the same for Phase 2, has been mentioned below. You can fall into one of the following three categories:

• Hours allocated: < 3 hours/day
• Hours allocated: 3 to 6 hours/day
• Hours allocated: > 6 hours/day

Kindly read through the following points, added to further your understanding:

1. The RBI Grade B Phase 1 syllabus includes:

• Topics such as Reasoning & Quantitative Aptitude, English, and General Awareness.

2. The RBI Grade Phase 2 syllabus includes:

• 3 Subjects namely, Economic & Social Issues, Finance & Management, and English Descriptive.

There might be portions of Phase 1 or Phase 2 that you might be good at, but in the table, you shall be assumed as one who requires improvement in some of the other factors.

This assumption has been kept in mind while allocating the time you shall spend studying for Phase1 and Phase 2 in your study plan.

Having comprehended the points above, let us move over to the table below:

RBI Grade B Exam Strategies

Study Sequence

1. Take RBI Grade B Mock tests and solve previous years papers of Phases 1 & 2 to identify your strengths and weaknesses. Scores < 50% shall be considered poor.
2. Categorize subjects falling under the strong and weak categories, after carefully evaluating which of them you are strong in and which of them you are weak in. Be honest.
3. Divide the preparation time into week-wise phases. Select 2 subjects at a time, one that you are strong in, and the other you are week in.
4. You can make use of ‘Spotlight’, ‘PIB247’, and ‘RBI 247’ to study current affairs.
5. Attempt a test every week to improve your essay writing skills.

RBI Grade B Study Guide

1. Take RBI Grade B Mock tests and solve RBI Grade B previous years papers of Phases 1 & 2 to identify your strengths and weaknesses. Scores < 50% shall be considered poor.
2. Categorize subjects according to the ones you are strong at and the ones you are weak at. Do this after an honest evaluation of yourself.
3. Divide the preparation time into weak-wise phases. Select 2 subjects at a time, one that you are weak at and the other that you are strong at. Say for example if you pick the subjects of quant and finance, you’ll find that quant ends in week 1 itself but Finance doesn’t. Therefore, for week 2 you can start with the next slot of finance and pick another subject that you are weak at.
4. Current Affairs are a difficult subject to prepare. So to prepare for current affairs better you can focus on ‘Spotlight’, which is our monthly magazine for phase 1, and ‘PIB247’ and ‘RBI247’ for Phase 2. All three of these magazines are updated daily and are specifically designed for RBI Grade B exam preparation.
5. You can prepare for English Descriptive essays of Phase 2 by taking 1 test every week. In case you choose to enroll for the course, your essays will be checked regularly and you will also be provided with constructive feedbacks that would help you improve your writing skills.

* It should be noted that the week-wise segmentation is based on the time it normally takes to finish certain topics.

Considering that every subject has a week 1, you need not cover all of them on that very week itself. Also, make sure to not attempt more than two subjects together at once.

With that, we come to the end of the segment of RBI Grade B preparations.

As I had mentioned at the starting of this segment with the help of the story about my athletic days, as soon as the preparation portion ends, you need to start assessing your opponent’s abilities by analyzing their past records.

The opponents, in this case, are the RBI Grade B exams and the previous records are the RBI Grade B exam analysis and RBI Grade B cut-offs.

Exam Analysis RBI Grade B

As I have already mentioned before, to ensure victory in any battle or sport, just the preparation from your side is not enough.

You also need to gauge the abilities of your opponents and also the playing/battlefield where the clash is to take place by analyzing the past years’ trends and records.

According to the subsequent findings you’ll get from the analysis you’ll become aware of how prepared you are and also know how much more effort you’d need to put in to ensure a sure-shot victory.

This is the formula you’d need to apply to ensure success in the upcoming RBI Grade B exam as well.

So, let’s begin with the RBI Grade B exam analysis of the year 2019.

2019 RBI Grade B Exam Analysis: Phase 1 (mostly moderate level questions)

In this section, I have given tables through which you can get an idea about the difficulty level of the questions asked in phase 1 of the 2019 RBI Grade B exam.

I have also provided for your benefit, the topics, and subjects that the questions belonged to.

Let us now go into the detailed section-wise analysis of the phase 1 paper.

General Awareness:

English Language

Quantitative Aptitude

Reasoning Ability

2019 RBI Grade B Exam Analysis: Phase 2

Let us quickly go through the constitution of the RBI Grade B phase 2 exam.

Phase 2 is divided into 3 papers, which are Paper 1 or ESI, Paper 2 or F&M, and Paper 3 or English Descriptive.

In this section, I have provided an analysis of all the 3 phase 2 papers so that you can get an idea about the type of questions that are asked in the phase 2 exam.

2019 RBI Grade B Exam Analysis of Phase 2: Paper 1 (ESI)

Here I have listed the topics from which questions were asked In the 2019 ESI or the Economics and Social Issues paper:

• Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana
• PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana
• Ayushman Bharat
• Initiatives are taken by the HRD ministry
• Robot Bank launched by which bank?
• FDI (Advance Question)
• SDG Index (Health)
• SDG- Global Green Fund
• UNCTAD or the UN conference on Trade and Development
• GDP estimation according to Economic Survey
• India’s GDP forecast according to IMF
• MSF/SLR – Definition
• Amount of sanctioned issued to Maharashtra Government by ADB
• Loan sanctioned to an Indian State by World Bank
• Question related to Union Budget (scheme allocation)
• Funds allocated in MNREGA
• Amount of Capital Infused by the Union Government in Public Sector Banks

2019 RBI Grade B Exam Analysis of Phase 2: Paper 2 (F&M)

Here I have listed the questions that were asked In the 2019 F&M or the Finance and Management paper:

Finance:

• FRBM Act
• Motivation
• Capital Market
• A Bond with multiple maturities
• Managerial Grid
• ERG Theory
• 360-degree app
• Risk Management
• Commercial Paper

Management:

• Corporate Governance
• Communication
• Leadership Style
• Motivation Theories
• Career Path, Development & Management

2019 RBI Grade B Exam Analysis of Phase 2: Paper 3 (English Descriptive)

Here I have listed the questions that were asked in the 2019 English Descriptive paper:

Reading Comprehension: IMF & It’s Functionality.
Precis: Capital & Current Account Convertibility
Essay Writing: For the essays, these were the topics that were asked.

• Higher Education
• Stress among youth
• NBFC Loan collection issues.
• Importance of a Vote in Democracy
• 5G scope in India

That brings us to the end of the 2019 RBI Grade B exam analysis.

Now that you know the type of questions that were asked and their difficulty levels in the 2019 exams, do not make the mistake of assuming that these are the only types that are asked in every exam.

To get a broader picture of the types of questions and their difficulty levels, it’s imperative that you go through the 2018 and 2017 RBI Grade B analyses also.

2018 RBI Grade B Exam Analysis: Phase 1 (mostly moderate-difficult level questions asked)

In this section, I am sharing with you the 2018 RBI Grade B exam analysis for the Phase 1 exam which was held on the 16th of August.

I have given tables through which you can get an idea about the difficulty level of the questions asked in the phase 1 exam.

Let us now go into the detailed section-wise analysis of the phase 1 paper

General Awareness:

English Language:

Quantitative Aptitude:

Reasoning Ability:

2018 RBI Grade B Exam Analysis: Phase 2

In this section, I will elaborate on the questions that were asked in the 3 papers that together constitute the RBI Grade B Phase 2 exam.

The three papers are ESI (Economic and Social Issues), English Descriptive, and F&M (Finance and Management).

To start off I have made a table which will tell you the number of questions asked in each paper and the max. marks allotted to each.

The table is given below.

2018 RBI Grade B Exam Analysis of Phase 2: Paper 1 (ESI)

The first paper of Phase 2 or ESI (Economic and Social Issues) paper had 65 questions in total, which were divided into two sections.

Section A included passages that were provided to establish the context of the questions, albeit the questions could not be directly answered from the passages. Section B questions were straightforward and factual in nature.

I have listed the questions that were asked in the 2018 ESI or the Economic and Social Issues paper:

• Schemes
• PCI Concepts
• IMF Report on article IV consultation
• TRIPS
• GDP and GNP Concepts
• Fiscal Deficit
• Types of Elasticity

2018 RBI Grade B Exam Analysis of Phase 2: Paper 2 (English Descriptive)

Only 3 questions were asked in this paper.

The first question was to write an essay of not more than 300 words. It carried maximum marks of 40.

The second question required candidates to write a precis. This question carried a maximum mark of 30, and the word limit for the precis was 170 words.

The third question was a reading comprehension question of 30 marks.

Essay Topics:

• Being Financially literate is needed for all Age Groups.
• Crowdfunding – The new phenomenon in Financing.
• Advantages of UPI.
• Measures for Promoting Microfinance in India.
• Positive and Negative effects of Demonetization.

2018 RBI Grade B Exam Analysis of Phase 2: Paper 3 (F&M)

The third paper of Phase 2 or the F&M (Finance & Management) paper like paper 1, had 65 questions in total, which were divided into two sections.

Finance Questions:

The questions of Finance were asked from of a mix of topics and also ones related to banking. I have written below the topics from which the questions were framed:

• Numerical on Financial ratio (PE)
• BASEL NORMS: Tier 1 and Tier 2 Capital, and Pillars.
• Abbreviations like OCR, PPP, ERG
• FRMB Act
• loan limits for diverse sectors like housing, education, etc .
• Monetary Policy
• IBC
• Details on Priority sector lending targets

Management Questions:

The questions of Management were based on the usual topics and were easy. I have written below the topics from which the questions were framed:

• Blake and Mouton
• Inventory management techniques
• Herzberg,
• Management organization
• Leadership
• Management control

This brings us to the end of the RBI Grade B analysis portion.

However, to ace the exam, you’d need one glance through one last thing, The RBI Grade B cut-offs of the previous years, which is exactly what I have written in the next and final segment of this article.

RBI Grade B Cut Offs

As I have mentioned before, glancing through previous years RBI Grade B cut offs will give you an idea about the marks you’d need to secure in the upcoming RBI grade B exam in order to clear it.

Assuming that you have read the previous segments of this blog article thoroughly, you are now well aware of how to prepare for RBI Grade B exams and also the kind of questions that are most likely to be asked.

The only thing that now remains to be known by you is the RBI Grade B cut offs for the previous years.

So, without further ado, let’s get to it.

RBI Grade B Cut Off of Previous Years

One extremely important thing that you need to keep in mind while studying for the RBI Grade B exam is that in order to clear the exam, you’d need to not only score above the overall RBI Grade B cut off marks, but the sectional cut off marks as well.

This means that the various sections of Phase 1 and Phase 2 papers carry their own separate cut off marks, implying that to qualify for the phase 2 paper you’d need to score above the sectional cut offs of each of the Phase 1 subjects.

However, in the phase 2 paper, you’d not only need to score above each of the sectional cut offs of the phase 2 subjects, but also do so with a pretty handsome margin.

That is the only way you’d be able to make it to the interview round.

Therefore, to score well above the sectional as well as overall cut off marks of both the phase 1 &2 papers, you need to be thorough with the number of questions you need to attempt and prepare accordingly.

In the sections below I have shared with you the RBI Grade B Cut Off 2019, and also for the years before that for both phases.

RBI Grade B Cut off 2019 ((DR)-General) – Phase 1 cut offs:

You can check the 2019 RBI Grade B Cut offs for Phase 1 below.

RBI Grade B Cut off 2019 ((DR)-General) – Phase 2 cut offs:

You can check the 2019 RBI Grade B Cut offs for Phase 2 below.

RBI Grade B Cut Off 2018

RBI Grade B Cut off 2018 ((DR)-General) – Phase 1 cut offs:

RBI Grade B Cut off 2018 ((DR)-General) – Phase 2 cut offs:

This brings us to the end of the final section of this article.

I hope, through the aforementioned tables showing the cut off marks of the various years, you’d be able to get a general picture about what the Cut offs might be in the upcoming RBI Grade B exam.

Conclusion:

To conclude, I want to say that this article is a very important one as far as RBI Grade B exams go. Everything that I have mentioned in this article would be of immense benefit to you provided you go through it with the utmost sincerity and earnestness.

Having said that, I just want you to know that I have absolute confidence in your ability to crack the RBI Grade B exam, and I wish you all the very best for the preparations that lie ahead.

Have a great day!