With the release of the SBI Clerk Prelims Admit Card, SBI Clerk 2020 Exam Dates are also out. The Exam is being conducted on 22nd & 29th of Feb and 1st & 8th of March 2020.
It is high time now that aspirants who are keen on securing a position in a clerical cadre in State Bank of India (SBI), India’s Multinational Public Sector Bank and a Fortune Global 500 company, need to pull up their socks and dedicate themselves completely to preparation. In this article, we will take you through some indispensable SBI Clerk Prelims Tips 2020, Revision and Attempt Strategy.
Let us go through the Exam Pattern first:
SBI Clerk Prelims Exam Pattern 2020
| Section | Number of Questions | Marks | Duration |
| English Language | 30 | 30 | 20 minutes |
| Numerical Ability | 35 | 35 | 20 minutes |
| Reasoning Ability | 35 | 35 | 20 minutes |
| Total | 100 | 100 | 60 minutes |
Note: *1/4th of mark assigned for a question will be deducted for each wrong answer.
Download the SBI Clerk Prelims Call Letter Here.
5 SBI Clerk Prelims Tips to Ace the Clerk Exam 2020
1. Quick Calculation Techniques at your Fingertips
Quick Calculation Techniques or Short Tricks as you would like to say, is crucial when it comes to the Clerical level exams.
With the ever-increasing cut-off games in the Prelims Phase, one needs to be able to solve maximum numerical ability questions in minimum time with accuracy.
And for this Quick Calculation Techniques would help a lot. Be through with it and practise it regularly.
- Be very thorough with the following things:
- Tables – 1-20
- Squares – 1-30
- Cubes – 1-20
- Revise the Divisibility Rules of Numbers.
2. Revise English Grammar Rules
Go through the basic grammar rules to solve questions on error detection/correction and other miscellaneous questions asked in the exam.
3. Revise the Basic Quants Formulae
Revise the basic formulae of the topics upon which miscellaneous arithmetic questions are asked. (Averages, Percentages, Profit & Loss, SI & CI, TSD, Time & Work) etc.
4. Practice 3-4 Sets of Each of the Puzzles, DI and RCs Type Questions Daily
- Now the Puzzles & Seating Arrangement question types need extensive practice for one to be able to solve the questions in stipulated time in the exam. Therefore practice 3-4 question sets daily to have a firm grip over the topic.
- Practice a few sets of Reading Comprehension type questions in these days. RCs are an indispensable part of the English Language section.
- Data Interpretation Questions will definitely be asked in the Numerical Ability Section. Practising 3-4 sets of DIs would help you a great deal in the exam.
5. Attempt Mock Test and Analyse them
- Attempting at the least 15-20 Mock Testsfor any exam is recommended for an aspirant. Keep a target to achieve 70+ marks in those tests. Seeing the amount of cut-throat competition, it has become necessary to be in the top 90-95 percentile band.
- After taking up the test, do analyse each question and understand the solution part so that you get the approach to solve those questions.
- If you find any of the sections namely Numerical Ability, Reasoning Ability or English Language weak and find yourself in a position to not be able to solve questions in any particular section, then you can take up Sectional Tests here and improve your performance.
SBI Clerk Prelims Tips for Revision
- Due to sectional timing of 20 minutes for each of the sections in the Prelims Exam, candidates are left with no choice and have to attempt whichever section is thrown at them first.
- Also, the sectional cut off has been removed so candidates need not fear about the clearing the sectional cut off. They just need to focus on increasing the number of attempts maintaining speed and accuracy.
- The best way to revise (also suggested by experts and successful candidates) is to revise Mock Teststhat you have already taken. This will give you a fine idea of your strong subjects, topics and areas as well as weak ones. This will help you strategize an attempted strategy for yourself for the SBI Clerk 2020 Prelims.
- Revising and understanding the solutions part of the Mock Testsalso gives an idea of how to approach a particular question type. Analysing and revising the solutions of Mock Tests have manifold benefit.
SBI Clerk 2020 Prelims Attempt Strategy
Numerical Ability
- As per your strengths and weaknesses, you can choose the topics that you need to attempt first in the Exam.
- As per our understanding Simplification & Approximations, Inequality Based, Easy Quantity Comparison Questions and Easier Data Interpretation questions should be attempted first.
- Arithmetic problems should be kept for the last as these are not direct questions and consume a lot of time in comprehending them thereby eating up a lot of your precious time.
- Always remember there will be easy, moderate, difficult (tricky) questions asked in the Exam. Your expertise will lie in choosing these questions and attempting them in minimum time.
- This will increase your confidence. Maintain your accuracy as it plays a vital role in Normalisation that is done for various shifts of the Prelims Exam.
Reasoning Ability
- The only attempt strategy for this section is to solve the standalone questions like Syllogisms, Blood Relations, Coding-Decoding etc first and then jump on to the Seating Arrangement & Puzzles questions and Logical Reasoning questions later.
- How much ever you are good in solving puzzles & Arrangements questions, if these are solved in the beginning, these end up consuming a lot of your time as these can be tricky.
- Remember you only have 20 minutes in your kitty to solve the reasoning section and this section will help you increase your overall marks in the prelims paper.
- i Learn to pick & choose questions and also skip questions as the need of the hour demands.
English Language
- This section can be very easy for some and difficult and tricky for others. Your ability to comprehend the questions in the Exam will get you through.
- Attempting the questions with accuracy in this section is very important because you may end up losing marks in negative marking if not attempted properly.
- It is always advisable to take up Fillers (Single & Double), Synonyms & Antonyms from the Reading Comprehension, Cloze Test etc type of questions first while attempting this section.
- Para-Jumble, Phrase Replacement & Error Detection type of questions can be tricky and time-consuming and therefore should be taken in the end.
This is all from us in this article. We hope that you like the tips provided above. We hope for your success in the SBI Clerk 2020 Exam and go on join the State Bank of India.
All the very best!!