In these organizations come regulators, which are established by government of the country. The job of these regulators is to ensure compliance and ensure that interests of all stakeholders which may include government, investing individuals and investors are fully protected. These regulators, mostly work independently and make significant contribution in creating a fair, transparent and just business environment, contributing to economic development of country.

 

In our country Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is the Central Bank and regulator for the entire

banking business. It was established on April 1, 1935 and is headquartered at Mumbai. It

has 27 regional offices , mostly at state capitals and 4 sub-offices. It has various departments at its head office. Notable among them are Department of Banking operations and supervision, external investments and operations, statistics and information management, monetary policy, payment and settlement systems etc.

 

RBI works in close coordination with Ministry of Finance, Government of India, Securities

and Exchange Board of India, National Payment Corporation of India etc.

 

To manage its operations RBI needs people in various cadres. Entry level positions include

Grade A officers who are taken in general and specialised disciplines and Assistants who

work in clerical positions. RBI makes periodical recruitment to the above positions. Recently RBI has announced its requirements for various positions including Assistants and Assistant Manager (Rajbhasha).

 

Graduates in any discipline with required percentage and prescribed age group are eligible

to apply for the position of assistants. Those fulfilling eligibility norms would be allowed

to appear in the selection process which consists of three stages as explained below.

 

Preliminary examination: Preliminary examination will consist of English language,

Numerical ability, Reasoning ability with 30, 35 and 35 questions with as many marks in three sections. So the total marks for Preliminary examination are 100 and the paper has to be solved in 60 minutes wherein 20 minutes are allotted to each section.

 

Main examination: The main examination would have five sections viz. Test of Reasoning, English language, Numerical ability, General awareness and Computer knowledge. Reasoning, English and Numerical ability would have time of 30 minutes each whereas general awareness and computer knowledge have been allotted a time of 25 and 20 minutes respectively. Each section will have 40 questions of 1 mark each with total marks of

200. Total time would be 135 minutes. Only selected candidates based on their merit in the preliminary examination will be eligible to appear in the main examination.

 

Language proficiency test: Candidates shortlisted on the basis of their score in the main examination will be required to take a language proficiency test .The language will relate to the state for which the candidate has applied. You may refer to the following chart to know

the languages prescribed for different states.

Language proficiency test is qualifying in nature. Now there are no personal interviews for recruitment to the clerical position in government banks including RBI. 

 

Understanding course coverage to prepare: Since the test is divided in three parts, you've to prepare for each, one after the other provided you succeed in different processes. It's very simple to understand that without qualifying in the preliminary examination, one

can't move to the main examination and as such the first aim should be to stand good in the merit list of the preliminary examination. Also you'll find that three subjects are common in both preliminary and main examination. It means that you don't have to prepare afresh for the main examination .You have to revise and add to the earlier preparation .Broadly different sections will carry questions from the topics indicated below. 

 

Reasoning section may have number series, family relationships, odd man out, row arrangement, symbols, understanding statements and conclusions based on these etc.

 

Quantitative aptitude section usually covers questions on averages, probability, percentage, number system, time and work, train and boat speed calculation, simple and compound interest, time and distance etc.

 

English language test will comprise of reading comprehension synonyms, antonyms, finding mistakes in sentence, word meanings, arrangement of broken sentences, active/passive voice, sentence completion, understanding of phrases etc.

 

General awareness as we all know covers current news from India and the world, history /geography of India/world etc. Also covered here would be-the role of RBI, RBI's laws and acts, Indian economy and financial system, basic banking concepts.

 

Test of computer knowledge will include questions related to evolution of computers, computer languages, hardware and software segments in a computer system, networking, cyber security, electronic banking .

 

The time allotted to each selection has to be followed and interchange from one section to the other is not permitted. The test carries negative marking. For every wrong answer a candidate would loose 0.25 marks.
 

RBI also wants to fill the vacancies of Assistant Manager (Rajbhasha) through its recruitment process. To become eligible for this position a candidate should

have a minimum of second class master's degree in Hindi/Hindi translation with English as core/elective/ major subject at the bachelor's degree level; or a second class master's degree in English with Hindi as core/elective/major subject at the bachelor's degree

level; or a second class master's degree in Sanskrit or Economics or Commerce with English and Hindi as core/elective/major subject at the bachelor's degree level

or master's degree in both English and Hindi/Hindi translation, of which at least one must be second class.

 

The recruitment process consists of written examination and interview. The written examination will have paper I of objective type questions divided in four parts of reasoning, English language, general awareness with reference to banking, commerce, economics and related subjects and test of professional knowledge including official language. The last section would be of 45 marks with a time of 40 minutes. All the other three sections would be of 35 marks and as many questions to be answered in 30.30 and 20 minutes respectively. So you'd be getting relatively lesser time to answer general awareness section. Paper I would be conducted online. This will be followed by paper II which has to be attempted offline. It will be a descriptive paper with questions only on official language. Paper II would be judged of only those candidates whose merit is as per the decided cut off in paper I. Though to arrive at the score for further process marks obtained both in paper I

and paper II would be added. Your objective should be to maximise your score in every section in both the papers. Selection list would be made by adding interview marks to the score as described before.

 

To do well in the segment of official language, a comprehensive preparation strategy is needed. In the question paper you may expect the following:

Questions on constitutional provisions with regard to language and official language policy /act/rules/Annual Implementation Programme for use of Hindi in official work.

 

Website of Department of Official Language, Ministry of Home Affairs (rajbhasha.nic.in)can be the most useful resource for the last part described above. Referring to RBI terminology will also help .As a preparation before the test you should do some translate work and get it

reviewed by a competent person to know the areas of improvement. Self-evaluation would also help.

 

For both examinations ,the following resources may be used:

 

Test guides: Test guides covering all sections of banks written examination are available in the market. You may pick one of these. Separate books for reasoning, numerical ability, computer knowledge etc. may also be found. Choose one which explains answer in details.

Test/Practice booklets: These booklets contain exercises which you may practice and compare your answers /check your performance.

 

Competitive magazines: There are few national level competition magazines which carry question from earlier examinations and sample question papers. In addition you'll find matters related to general knowledge and current affairs .It would be a good idea to subscribe one such magazine.

 

Book on General Knowledge: There is hardly any employment test without a module for general knowledge or studies. A good book for this should be your permanent companion. Along with this referring to an yearbook will provide you valuable inputs to be used in any competitive examination.

 

Websites: You should take a look at the website of the organization where you want to work. For example by visiting the website of Reserve Bank of India (rbi.org.in), you'll come to know about monetary policy, Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR), Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR)

and things like that. There are various other sites which can provide you sample questions for competitive examination, practice tests and tips to prepare. Instead of visiting these sites every time, it would be better to take notes. You may use web resources for preparation

of general studies also. You may attempt free mock tests available at different sites.

General tips for success: In any competitive examination like the above, there are much more candidates than the vacancies. The ratio should not deter you. The real competition is not as intense as it appears to be. There are some non-serious candidates, who apply but are not sure ,if they're interested in the job. Another category of candidates comprises of those who have applied but have not made any significant preparation and are just taking a chance, if they can succeed. In remaining candidates are those who have thoroughly prepared as per their understanding ,and committed to put their best performance. Obviously the chances of success for this set of candidates would be higher.

 

When you're aware of the test pattern, the next step would to make strategic preparation. In examinations like these speed plays a crucial role. This author has come across many candidates from past competitive examinations, who possibly could've correctly answered

most of the questions but couldn't move beyond 20th or 25th questions, where there were 35 questions were to be attempted. Let this not happen with you. You have to carefully read every question but with speed. Every second matters here. To answer, your first approach

should be selection i.e. finding the right answer from the given options. If in some cases you're not able to do it, you need to go by elimination, i.e. leaving the wrong answers to move on the right one. You may save time even in jumping from one question to the other.

Mindfulness will be of immense help here.

 

In the objective section each part requires minimum score to qualify. So deficiency in one section is not necessarily going to be compensated in other.

 

Also you need to be clear which part of the question may be related to the answer, particularly where the questions are lengthy.

 

Since almost each one of us has studied mathematics up to HSC level this part shouldn't pose much problem. This doesn't mean you should take it casually. Knowing formulae, BODMAS steps etc. would help. In solving reasoning questions you should go by systems thinking, find the links and answer within the framework of the question without making unrequired assumptions.

 

Important: National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD-website nabard.org.in) is also coming up with vacancies for Assistant Manager(Rural Development and Banking Services) and Assistant Manager (Rajbhasha Service), preparation for which can also be made on the above lines by the eligible candidates.

 

18/01/2020