NABARD Grade A Exam conducted by NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) for the recruitment of officers for the Assistant Manager Posts, is a direct entry into the premier organization and a great opportunity for the aspirants to secure a career with the apex development institution.
Here is this article we would throw light upon the preparation strategy for each of the sections of the prelim’s exam of NABARD Grade A, so that you can clear it in your very first attempt.
NABARD Grade A 2020 Exam Pattern
Let us have a look at the NABARD Grade A prelims pattern first so that we can design our plan accordingly. Have a look at the detailed syllabus of the Exam.
| Section | Marks | Time |
| Test of Reasoning | 20 | 120 minutes |
| English Language | 40 | |
| Computer Knowledge | 20 | |
| General Awareness | 20 | |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 20 | |
| Economic & Social Issues | 40 | |
| Agriculture & Rural Development | 40 | |
| Total | 200 |
NABARD Grade A Preparation Plan – What to Expect?
Let us have a look at the distribution of previous years’ paper to understand the types of questions asked.
- Test of Reasoning
This section comprised of the questions based on Puzzles, Arrangement & Patterns, Data Sufficiency, Inequalities & Syllogism.
- English language
As usual, the Reading comprehension and Cloze test formed more than half the total section of the English language. The rest of the 15 marks were evenly distributed between sentence correction, phrase replacement, Error Spotting, & Para jumbles with an overall moderate difficulty level.
- Quantitative Aptitude
The section difficulty overall was easy with more focus on questions being solved by tricks rather than direct method, but the methods were nor out of the blue. Pie chart, Caselet & Number Series were the highlights of the exam forming a total of 13 marks out of the 20 allotted to the section. Miscellaneous questions further included topics like time & work, mixtures, partnership, etc.
- General Awareness
No static GK was asked. Complete General Awareness regarding portfolios of Govt, New Appointments, Books, Oscar Awards, basically latest current affairs were asked.
- Agricultural & Rural Development
Questions were based on Topics like breeds of cattle, soil types, exports, crop produce from different states, Agriculture related schemes by government, etc. This section was of moderate difficulty level with not much focus on concept-based questions
- Economic & Social Issues
Questions were directly asked from the Government schemes like Gobar Dhan, Sankalp, PMKVY, Shram Yogi, Atal Bhuja Yojana. There were questions from the current Economics & Social Issues well.
NABARD Grade A Section-Wise Preparation Plan 2020
Let’s have a look at the section-wise preparation strategy for the prelims phase of the exam. We have already discussed what could be expected in this years’ examination keeping in mind the previous years’ pattern.
- English Language
- Reading comprehension & Cloze Test are no doubt, important topics in the English section and comprises maximum portion in this section. But this habit is not built overnight. A consistent effort and persistence are required to achieve a good reading speed and eventually summarizing what you have read. This is not a difficult task if one gets focussed on it.
- Summarize what you have read and try to figure out what questions could be expected form that very paragraph.
- Practice Fillers & Error Spotting questions on a regular basis.
- Watching Online Classes for practice and understating is great way these days. Expert Faculty teaching you the methods and tricks to solve the question will help you a great deal.
- Quantitative Aptitude
- This section requires rigorous approach. Questions in the exam are more of a tricky rather than being typical.
- Prepare a schedule for yourself that will focus on every topic that can be there in the exam. For your help here you find the complete syllabus for all the sections.
- Practice Data Interpretation daily to get a good grasp over different types of DI that could be asked during the exams.
- Practice all kinds of Charts (Pie, bar, Histogram) as it is majorly focussed by the NABARD authorities.
- Consistent practice is the only thing that will help you sail through the section.
- Practice quizzes and master quick calculation tricks. These will get you through.
- Reasoning Ability
- This section is more of a tricky and often time-consuming if the approach gets distorted in the way.
- One has to practice at least 10-15 questions daily to be able to attempt questions in the exam.
- Switch the topic on a daily basis so that you can prepare more types of questions from every topic.
- Practice Puzzles and Seating Arrangement types questions on a daily basis so that you are in a habit of solving them and can easily do that in the exam as well.
- Other question types are Syllogisms, Inequalities, Coding-Decoding, Logical Reasoning, Input-Output etc. Have a thorough practice of each one of these topics.
- You can always take help of the Free Online Classes for understating the approach to solve these questions.
- General Awareness
- You must be in the habit of getting a daily dose of GA.
- Reading the current affairs daily so that you are not under pressure of reading and learning it all at once a few days before the exam.
- Take a lot of daily quizzes on general and financial awareness from various websites. This helps you in the retention of the GA you read.
- It is advisable to cover GA of at least 6 months before the exam month.
- Refer Bolt – Our monthly GK PDF, for complete coverage of course.
- ARD & ESI
This section is completely different from other bank exams as it is specific to NABARD. This section could be the game-changer for the candidates appearing for the examination. We do avail the study material that is specially curated for this very section. Here is a glimpse of all the topics that are covered.
NABARD Grade A 2020 Preparation Tips & Resources
- Remember Phase 1is a crucial step. You need to clear the Phase 1 Exam to be able to sit for Phase 2. Therefore pay adequate attention to the sections of Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning Ability and English Language.
- Clear your basics of these topics using the videos classes available for free.
- After you are done with the basics, start taking Mock Tests. These will help you practice and solve in a time-bound atmosphere giving you clarity over your weak and strong topics of the syllabus.
- Once done with taking the tests, go for analysis of each and every question of the test. Solve the questions that you weren’t able to solve while taking the Mock test. Pay attention to where you lag and try to improve upon it.
- General and Current Affairs – Cover the current affairs of at least 6 months prior to the exam (Feb, Jan, Dec, Nov, Oct, Sep). Remember the current affairs for the month of February, January, December and November are of prime importance).
- Pay special attention to the Economics & Social Issues current affairs, Agriculture current affairs and Government Schemesof the above-mentioned months as these are important from the point of view of Economics & Social Issues & Agriculture & Rural Development sections of Phase 1 which carry 40 marks each.
Other Things that need to be covered are:
For ESI
- Government Schemes (Recent ones as well as other important ones)
- Latest Budget 2020
- Latest Economic Survey
- Socio-Economic Caste Survey
- Census of 2011
- Other important reports if released in January or February 2020.
For ARD
- Agriculture Government Schemes & Rural Development Schemes
- Cover the chapter of Agriculture from the latest Budget and Economic Survey
- State of Forest Report
- The latest Agriculture Census
- The Latest Livestock Census
- NABARD Model Bankable Project Reports from NABARD website
- NABARD Annual Report
- Kurukshetra Magazine (for current affairs)
- Annual Report of Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Rural Development & Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate change.
For ARD Static Portion, give special emphasis to these topics while reading.
- Basics of Agriculture
- Soil Science
- Irrigation Management
- Agriculture Engineering
- Horticulture
- Animal Husbandry & Poultry
- Fisheries
- Meteorology
- Forestry
- Basics of Agricultural Economics
- Agriculture Extension
- Rural Development (Mainly Govt. Schemes)
For ESI Static Portion, give special emphasis to these topics while reading.
- Measurement of Growth & National Income
- Human Development
- Role of Economic Planning
- Fiscal Policy
- Monetary Policy
- Balance of Payments
- Sustainable Development & Environment Issues
- Industrial and Labour Policy
- International Financial Institutions
- World Trade Organizations
- Urbanization
- Migration
Current Affairs are of prime importance here in this Exam both for Phase 1 and Phase 2.
This was all from us in this article of NABARD Grade A 2020 preparation plan. We have provided a detailed preparation plan and the topics to be covered here. We hope that you like the NABARD Grade A Study Plan and preparation resources given in here.
We have also prepared Agriculture & Rural Development Notes for your extensive preparation. Do refer them and make your preparations a lot easier and more effective.
Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
All the Best!
