Going by the recent trends of exams like SBI PO, BOB PO, the difficulty level of the English section has shown an increasing trend. IBPS PO Mains will also not be an exception. The purpose of this article is to help you gear up for the mains exam which will be held on Nov 18, 2018. With hardly two weeks left for this exam, it is imperative that you should be on your toes to upscale the level of your preparation.

Tips for the remaining time

There will be 30 questions for which you will get 20 minutes. Since there are sectional time limits in place, you have to use these 20 minutes for this very section. So you need to strategize beforehand. All the questions in this section essentially check your vocabulary, grammar and the ability to infer. IBPS PO Mains is all about mastering these three things along with a good balance of time and accuracy.

Let’s figure out first on the utilization of these 2 weeks so as to become fully prepared for this section.

• Solve an English sectional test on a daily basis until one day before the exam (i.e. Nov 17). In case you are taking a mock test (which itself has this section), you can stick to solving some random question of the English section for a consistent practice. When analyzing the sectional test, focus on the questions you did incorrectly and try to find out the root cause of the error.
  • Analyze the mock/sectional test without fail. Actually analyzing the test is as important as taking the mock test, if not more. Find out your errors, the sections where you took more time and where can you improve.
  • If you observe a new type of question in mock tests, don’t hesitate to give it a try. After all, mock tests are meant to help you try different strategies and pick the one which suits you the most.
  • While solving a mock test, try to have a balance on speed and accuracy. These two are inversely proportional in nature and you should do enough practice to have an optimum balance between the two to fetch the maximum marks.
• Read a good newspaper’s editorial section (for eg. The Indian Express) on a daily basis. Not only it will aid in increasing your reading speed, but it will also improve your word power.
• Revise your vocabulary on a daily basis if you have made notes/flashcards.

Please note that there shouldn’t be any miss in these activities and these should be attended to religiously.

Strategy in the examination hall

Once the paper is in front of you, solve the questions as per the below rounds so as to make the most of your time. These rounds have been classified as per the difficulty level of the questions.

Round 1: Prioritize Non-RC based questions like antonym/synonym and vocab based questions. You can also attempt vocab based RC questions.

Note: In synonym/antonym questions, try getting the sense of the word by reading the preceding/succeeding line.

Round 2: Attempt grammar based questions like Error detection, Sentence correction, Phrase correction etc. in this round

Round 3: Go for non-vocab RC based questions and para jumbles and para connectors.

Our suggestion would be to practice this strategy in mock tests so as to become comfortable with it in the main exam. Hope the tips in this article help you max out your score in the English section. All the best for your exam!