SBI PO 2017 Study Plan

SBI PO 2017 Preliminary exam - 74 days Study Plan

SBI PO 2017 notification came out quite unexpectedly a few days ago.The Online registration for SBI PO started from 7th February and will close on 6th March 2017. The Preliminary exam for SBI PO 2017 will start from 29th April 2017. This gives you clear 74 days to prepare. And believe me when I say this, it is more than enough to prepare for your exam, provided you study with proper determination and stay honest to yourself as far as your preparations are concerned.

SBI PO 2017 Preliminary Exam Pattern -

There is no particular change in the exam pattern of SBI PO Prelims exam. Still make sure that you clearly remember the exam pattern.

S. No	Name of Subject	No. of Questions	Maximum Marks	Duration
1.	English Language	30	30	Composite time of 1 hour
2.	Reasoning Ability	35	35
3.	Quantitative Aptitude	35	35

Unlike Mains exam where you need to focus majorly on Data Interpretation, all the topics of Quantitative Aptitude will be covered in Prelims, so you’ll have to follow a different strategy for both.
For all those who still haven’t started their preparations, please understand, it’s high time. Make these 74 days count and let this be a year of success for you.

Since this is the initial phase of the preparation, here are a few tips -

If we have a look at the Prelims phase of many bank exams last year, there were no major changes in them. The only thing that changed was their length and difficulty level. To be precise, you need to work hard and attempt more.
This brings us to the most important tip. Prelims exam is all about Speed. This is basically your speed test and you need to push yourselves to attempt at least 65-70 questions in the Prelims exam. And how do you achieve that? Answer is pretty simple.. Practice..!
Another major thing that you need to take care of is Accuracy. There’s no point attempting 60 questions if you do half of them wrong. Attempting questions with accuracy is essential because you cannot afford to put at stake your correctly attempted questions.
Preliminary Exam is just Qualifying in nature. In simple terms, you need to clear the sectional and overall cutoff. You do not need to score too much. Make through the cutoff of both level and then start preparing for Mains properly.
This gives you an advantage. We’ll answer why. First, have a look at the sectional cutoff of last year - English Language (8.75), Reasoning Ability (7.00), Quantitative Aptitude (7.25) and Overall (47.50). We understand your strong and weak areas differ, some of you might be excellent at english while many may be intimidated by it. But certainly you can work hard enough to score at least 12 to 15 correct questions out of 30 for the prelims. This will help you clear your sectional cutoff. But is that enough? Certainly No. this is where your strong section comes into picture. In simple terms, attempt questions sufficient to clear your sectional cutoff correctly in your weaker areas and cover up for the gap with areas that you are strong at i.e. there is no point wasting 15-20 minutes on English and doing only 10-12 right when you score 15-20 plus marks in reasoning in that time.
This brings us to another major tip for SBI PO Prelims exam - Question Selection. Let us elaborate with the help of an example. If you are weak at English,your target should be to score at least 12-15 questions correctly. Now in order to achieve that, you need to attempt questions that won’t be too time consuming and at the same time comparatively easy to attempt. For instance, if you take up too much time in reading a passage, there is no point attempting RC. It would be better to go for cloze test, spotting errors and fillers which will fetch you marks. You need to think on similar lines for Reasoning ability and Quantitative Aptitude section as well. Select the questions that you attempt carefully.

Now, a major question that was put forward by many students,

How do I start my preparation for SBI PO Prelims Exam?

Well, leave your study plan to us, your goal should be to focus on your studies. But before you start preparing, here is a small assignment for you. Here is the link of the free mock test that we provided for SBI PO Prelims -

Now let’s come to our Study Plan.

SBI PO Prelims 2017 - Study Plan

We Will segment this plan into 3 pieces - Month 1, Month 2 and remaining 15 days. We will also start providing a weekly blue-print for SBI PO Prelims exam. Meanwhile go through this study plan.

Month 1

This phase should be all about clearing the basics of the topics. There is no use jumping to high level questions if you’re not clear about the basic approach. So, make sure that you sort that out first.
This is also crucial to work on your accuracy. If you have all the concepts clear, you’ll be able to attempt the questions correctly.
If you have a thorough understanding of the basics of all the topics already, take this exercise to work on your speed.
Let us now have a look at the topics that should be focussed on for different sections in this month -

English Language	Reasoning Ability	Quantitative Aptitude
Cloze Test Spotting Errors Sentence Improvement Reading Comprehension	Inequality Syllogism Linear/ Circular Arrangements Puzzles (especially floor or box based)	Number Series Simplification/ Approximation Data Interpretation Miscellaneous (Percentages, Profit and Loss, Time and Work)

Make sure that you cover the above topics based on old as well as new pattern.
If you look properly, the above topics will cover almost 60% of the prelims syllabus.
Attempting the quizzes on a regular basis becomes more crucial now if you wish to improve your speed. Make sure that you do not miss out any quiz that has been posted in the day, especially Quant, Reasoning and English Quizzes. For those of you, who cannot find our quizzes on the home screen, go to the Study tab at the bottom of your app. Under Material section, you’ll find Daily Quizzes option. Make sure that you attempt the quizzes regularly. If you do, trust us, you’ll observe difference in your scores in some time.

Month 2

This month should revolve around thorough practice of topics of Month 1.
You’ll also need to cover the remaining topics in this month. These are -

English Language	Reasoning Ability	Quantitative Aptitude
Fill in the Blanks Para Jumbles Revision of topics of Month 1	Blood relations Direction sense Alphanumeric Series Order and Ranking Revision of topics of Month 1	Quadratic Equation Miscellaneous (Remaining Topics) Revision of topics of Month 1

Make sure that also attempt full length tests on a regular basis. This is essential to work on your speed and time management.
This is high time that you work on your speed more aggressively and try to improve the number of questions that you are attempting.

Remaining 15 days

This is the time when your complete focus should be on mock tests.
Attempting at least 2-3 full length tests everyday is a must.
Do analyse your performance after every test. This exercise will help you with your question selection in the Prelims Exam.
Your aim should be improving your marks and attempts with each test, irrespective of the difficulty level of test.

I would like to share my experience in brief here. This is especially for all our working professionals who aspire to clear this exam. I did it, and I believe all of you can do it as well. I was serving my notice period at SBM when the notification for SBI PO 2016 was released. I applied for it but couldn't make proper time for my preparations. So, I started utilising whatever time I had in the office as well. Whenever I was free in office, I used to go through Grade up quizzes which were for a maximum of 10 minutes each. This practice helped me stay in touch with studies throughout the day. During my lunch break, I used to go through articles online and look up the meaning of words that I found difficult and try to form sentences from them. I made sure that I utilised my time while travelling back as well. This usually varied between English and Quant section. I used to take up number series and try to understand the pattern by making calculations mentally. This was very difficult in the beginning because I usually ended up leaving the topic when I couldn’t calculate. But I made sure that I continued this practice. Eventually, it became easy. I also made sure that I devote 1-2 hours regularly after office and cover the gap on the weekends. What kept me going all those days was a belief in myself that I have to clear this exam and I will.
What I wanted to point out from my experience here is that once you set your heart and mind at something, you can accomplish anything you want. Yes, it will be difficult, Yes you may feel dejected at times and wish to give up. But remember, how you deal with that situation will eventually define you. No matter what, Don’t Give Up. Keep yourself focussed on your goal and you will definitely achieve it.

Chethana Bank Institute