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How to Crack SBI PO Exam in first Attempt?

The most popular job among candidates looking to work in the banking sector is the post of the Probationary Officer (PO). Every year, SBI (State Bank of India) conducts the recruitment exam for the post of Probationary Officer.  It receives a large number of applications. Hence the competition is very tough. Well, with hard work and giving 100% in the right direction will certainly make it easier for a candidate to crack SBI PO Exam in first attempt.

The Position of a PO

A Probationary Officer is the AM (Assistant Manager) on probation. He or she is part of the junior management which is also sometimes referred to as Scale 1 Officer.

Selection Process

The online exam is generally conducted in the month of April and May. There is a preliminary exam which is followed by a main exam. After that the shortlisted candidates are interviewed. So in total, there are three phases of examination. They are-

  • Preliminary Exam
  • Main Examination
  • Interview And Group Exercises

So, if you aspire to become a Probationary Officer with SBI, you need to go through these three phases of examinations and clear each of them. The selection process is tough, but if your preparation is effective and exam oriented, the chances of getting selected would increase. Nothing is more important than hard work and right approach when it comes to crack SBI PO Exam in the first attempt.

10 Tips to Crack SBI PO Exam in the First Attempt

Now, that we have discussed the exam pattern, let’s have a look at some main points you should know to crack the SBI PO Exam. There are some very important tips that you should remember and follow while preparing for the paper. So, here are 10 points you should know while preparing to crack SBI PO in the first attempt.

1) Develop Quick Thinking

The preliminary exam comprises of an online objective exam having which has three sections— English Language, Reasoning Ability and Quantitative Aptitude (Math). The exam duration is one hour and you would have to answer 100 questions. So you should be quick enough to answer 100 questions in one hour. For this you need quick thinking. Hence, one should work on the speed of analyzing the question quickly and answer them without wasting much time.

2) Work on English Skills with Good Speed

The English language section will comprise of questions based on a cloze test, sentence rearrangement, reading-comprehension, sentence improvement and sentence error spotting. While preparing for the exam one should focus on increasing the reading speed, improving the level of comprehension & vocabulary and its usage skills.

3) Improve Grammar and Vocabulary Skills

One should do a detailed study of commonly made grammatical errors. This will help to answer the error spotting questions and sentence improvement. Contextual vocabulary understanding is extremely important to tackle questions on antonyms, synonyms, cloze test and fill in the blanks. To improve English skills, one should read some part of the newspaper daily. This will definitely help to sharpen the English skills.

4) Be good at Shortcut and Time Saving Skills

The Quantitative Aptitude part has questions on arithmetic, data interpretation as well as simplification. Time management is very important for this. One should learn the techniques of shortcut and time saving.

5) Remember formulae and frequently used results

One should focus on cubes, cubes roots, squares, square roots, fractional values of percentages while handling data analysis and data interpretation questions. One should know the formulae on the finger tips.  Frequently used results will also help a lot in solving questions which are based on simplification.

6) Be a master of known topics

There are some important topics like simple interest and compound interest, profit and loss, time and distance, time and work, mixture & alligation and mensuration which one should be very good at. So, focus on being an expert at these topics.

7) Avoid lengthy and complex questions

The reasoning ability section is one of the toughest as well as time consuming section in the SBI PO Exam. Here, one should select the appropriate questions to answer. One should also know which questions to avoid like the lengthy and complex ones.

8) Attempt online mock tests

One should attempt as many online mock tests as possible. This would strengthen the answering ability and improve time saving skills. Attempting 100 questions in 60 minutes is not an easy task and requires strong time saving skills.

9) Avoid guesswork

.25 marks are deducted for each incorrect answer. So, to avoid negative marking one should not attempt the questions that they are not sure of. Also, guesswork should be avoided.

10) Prepare for impersonal skills and confidence development

When one clears the preliminary and main test, he or she should join some good institute which specializes in improving impersonal skills and confidence. This would matter a lot while appearing for the interview.

Cracking SBI PO may not be that easy, especially in the first attempt. However, there is no denying the fact that with committed efforts and right approach one can make it possible to crack the exam. Planning is very important and one should give their best shot.

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