SBI PO Exam: Important Tips to Ace the Exam
SBI PO exam is one of the most coveted exams in our country. Many aspirants appear every year for the SBI PO exam intending to bag reputed jobs across the nation. The SBI PO exam has a reputation for being one of the toughest exams to crack. However, with determination and correct strategies, you can easily clear it in the first attempt itself.
As you must be aware that the SBI PO exam is conducted at three levels. At every stage, you will be provided with an SBI PO admit card which can be downloaded online. Each stage is the qualifying stage leading to the next level of the exam.
The preparation stage for the exam begins much earlier than this. Let us see what you can do at the preparation stage to ensure that you pass the exam in the first attempt itself.
- Understand the exam:
The first thing you need to do is get acquainted with every aspect of the exam. By this, we mean that you must understand the pattern of each section of both the preliminary as well as the main exam. You must also acquaint yourself with the topics of each section along with the difficulty level of the exams. To get a comprehensive understanding of this, go through the previous years’ question papers.
One thing that we would like to stress here is that when you prepare for the preliminary exam, make sure that you are preparing wholly for the main exams as well. The reason for this is that once you clear the pre-exam, you will not get too long of a preparatory period for the main exam. Also, preparing this way will help you excel in the prelims as well.
- Focus on speed and accuracy:
The SBI PO exam is all about testing your speed and accuracy. The preliminary exam contains three sections of 20 minutes each. The preliminary exam will have 100 questions in total. So you will have one hour to solve 100 questions. For the main exam, you will have 3 hours to complete a question paper of 155 questions. To solve the question paper effectively in time you will have to work on enhancing your speed and accuracy every day.
- Mock papers:
Talking about increasing your speed and accuracy; this can come only with enough practice. You need to solve mock papers and memory-based papers daily to ensure that you get the required practice. You must have heard this many times that you must practice using a lot of mock tests. But the real question is what is the correct way of practicing from mock tests? You need to attempt a mock test seriously like you would attempt the actual exam. Choose a time slot in which you will give your actual exam and practice the mock test in that time slot daily. Give your mock test in all seriousness without any distractions. Time yourself. You should not attempt mock tests casually, say while being on the phone or eating, etc. Treat the mock test like the real exam and then attempt it.
- Self-assess:
Now that you have been practicing seriously and timing yourself, it’s time to self-assess. See if each day your score is improving and your timing is decreasing. Note down all your observations of the mock test. Firstly note down the answers that you have given. These can be correct answers, wrong answers, or answers that you have left out. The answers that you have given correctly, check to see the solution provided is the solution provided similar to yours? Or is there a faster way to solve the question? Did you understand the question right or you just guessed it right? For the incorrect answers, go back and see why you got it wrong and what you need to do to strengthen those concepts. Lastly, go over the questions that you left out. Did you leave them out because you ran over time or was it because you did not know the answer? In both cases make work to rectify the problem.
- Work on your shortcomings:
Whatever you assess through analyzing your mock papers, work to improve those areas. There is no point in working hard if you do not correct your weaknesses. If you score less regularly in one particular section or one particular type of question in the mock tests, allot more time to those topics. Work on them twice as hard. If you find that your English Language has issues, strengthen your grammar concepts, read as much as you can. In short, do whatever it takes to conquer your shortcomings before the exam.
- Be consistent:
If you are not consistent with your studies, practice tests, and revision, you will not be able to crack the SBI PO Exam. The exam calls for consistent determination on your part. Set a daily 7-8 hour study schedule and stick to it. Make sure that your study plan covers all the essential aspects of exam preparation including important topics, reading, mock tests, and revision.
- Revision:
Your study plan should be such that you get enough time before the exam to revise the whole syllabus twice. This is extremely essential to not only boost your self-confidence but also to go over any last-minute important details.
- Interview:
Hopefully with these tips, you will be able to pass the preliminary as well as the main exam. But you still need to crack the interview to finally land a reputed job. For this, look up videos of mock interviews and take tips. Remember, interviews are all about your confidence level, work ethics, and most importantly who you are as a person i.e. your character. Talk to the interviewer about your life story, passion, and the things that make you, you. Be your real and authentic self in the interview.
You do not need to buy expensive books to pass the SBI PO exam. Instead of buying books, refer to the latest online videos that can help you stay on top of the current exam requirements. The internet will benefit you more with your exam rather than sticking to costly books. With the correct strategy, there is no doubt that you can excel in the SBI PO exam.
