SBI PO Descriptive Test 2017 – Previous Cutoffs,Topics & Books to Prepare

What is Descriptive Test?

An officer in a bank should write letters, prepare reports/ presentations to his/ her collegues or higher officials in english language.They may also need to contact people in other departments within the bank to send notes, opinions or discussions.

For all these activites,one must posses the ability to write in english.This is the reason for descriptive paper to be part of SBI PO written exam so that they can check the writing capabilites of future bankers.

Note: Candidates who fail to secure pass marks in descriptive paper are disqualified from the entire PO recruiment process & cannot appear for personal interviews.How?

Descriptive Exam Pattern

The descriptive test question paper will only have 2 questions related to:

• Letter Writing
• Essay Writing

Questions will be given only in english and answers should be typed using the keyboard.Some other important points are:

1. 30 minutes is the duration to complete this descriptive section
2. Total marks: 50

Descriptive Test Cutoffs: There are seperate cutoff scores for descriptive test too which will be decided by the bank after the tests are over.But we have collected the previous year descriptive test cutoffs that are given below

As you can see, the qualifying marks have remained the same for past 2 years.So, the cutoffs for SBI PO Mains (Descriptive Test) 2017 could also be in the same range, which is:

• General: 20
• OBC/ SC / ST: 17.5 or 18

Since we had already explained about last year`s SBI PO prelims cutoffs & SBI PO main exam cutoffs – most of you will know that cutoffs are important to qualify for next stages.

Books to Prepare:

For learning about writing descriptive type answers, essays & sample letters – consider buying this most popular book from Arihant publications.

* Descriptive English Guide – Rs.157 – Click here to buy online

It has over 800 pages with detailed explanations as per the syllabus of descriptive test.

Since this book is available as an old edition only, you would find certain irrelavant topics as well such as precis & report writing.You may glance through them also to improve your english writing skills.

Previous Year Questions:

The following questions were asked in descriptive paper of previous SBI PO exams.

Letter writing:

• Write a letter to the manager of a firm to increase credit amount of loan taken.
• Letter to the bank manager apologizing for the delay in EMI payment.
• Letter to your brother indicating him on why you want to choose career in banking.
• As a manager, write a letter to your collegues to conduct a meeting on PR strategy.
• Write a letter to your younger sibiling explaining the importance of saving money
• Letter to the bank manager for extension of joining date

Essays: (250 – 350 words)

• Does providing educational loans help in empowering employment to youth?
• How useful is aadhar card?
• Impact of unearthing of black money on indian economy
• Importance of education in vernacular languages
• Pros & cons of winning lotteries
• Do brokers deserve the cut that they make on deals?
• Security of women in workspace, an increasing cause of concern
• Entrance exams – a necessary evil
• Pros & cons of Inflation

We hope now you would have understood about the SBI PO mains descriptive tests.Also remember that few changes are made in main exam such as time limit for each section.