The biggest & most expected SBI PO recruitment exams 2017 are to start soon.It is estimated that approximately 10-15 lakh candidates may have registered for 2313 PO jobs.With such huge competition, it is necessary for you to go with a plan.So here we explain about the important topics to cover & safe number of questions to attempt that will help you to qualify for mains.
The SBI PO prelims is an online test to be held on April 29 and 30, May 6 and 7 across four different slots per day.
The time mentioned in your call letter is the reporting time, by which you should be inside the hall.The invigilators will be strict & anyone entering late after 30 minutes will not be allowed to appear for the exam.
The test would then be conducted after 30mins or 1 hour once the ID verification is over.So make sure to carry all the necessary documents/ proofs without fail.(See SBI PO documents to carry)
How Many Questions?
The SBI PO exam pattern is well known that the preliminary test shall have 100 questions under 3 sections:
Each question carries 1 mark & for every 4 wrong answers, 1 mark will be reduced as
negative marking.
Important Topics:
Based on previous experiences, here are some of the important topics to prepare in each section.Many questions were asked in SBI PO prelims from these areas.
Reasoning:Syllogisms, Puzzles, Seating Arrangement, Coding-Decoding, Inequalities, Direction Sense, Blood Relations etc.,.
Experts says that atleast 4-7 problems could be asked from Syllogisms, Puzzles & Seating arrangements alone.
Quantitative Aptitude:Data Interpretation,Simplification,Series, Profit/ Loss, Distance, Speed & Time, Simple & Compound interest,Quadratic Equations, Permutation, Combination & Probability.
Focus on practicing more DI, distance & time problems and number series related problems.Knowing the shortcuts & formula to answer mathematical questions can help in solving problems faster.
English Language:Para Jumbles, Reading comprehension,Cloze Test, Error spotting & Fill in the blanks.There will not be any big surprises here as the level of questions is similar to other normal banking exams.
While preparing, pay attention on reading comprehension, error spotting & cloze test as these are easy chapters to score marks.
Also read: Important topics based on previous year papers
How to Allot Time in SBI PO Prelims:
You have just 60 mins to answer 100 questions which means you cannot spend more than 36 seconds on each question.
Start the exam from a section that you are most confident as you cannot afford to lose time by choosing to solve difficult problems.
An ideal time plan for the SBI PO prelims is:
- English – 10 minutes
- Reasoning – 20 mins
- QA – 20 mins
Keep the last 5 minutes to check your responses or perform any last minute solving of questions that was marked for review.
Whichever section you start,don’t spend more than 20 mins on it.
SBI PO Prelims Safe Attempts to Qualify
Many of you are enquiring about the expected cutoffs of SBI PO prelims, but its hard to predict them before the exams are conducted.
For SBI PO 2016 exams, the sectional cutoffs were only in single digits & did not cross 10.Click here to see last year SBI PO prelims cutoffs
If the same trend follows, here are the safe number of questions to answer for qualifying in the preliminary exam:
- English language: 22+
- Reasoning ability: 25+
- Quantitative aptitude: 27+
Since the SBI PO exams are conducted over 4 different days, the question papers will be different.But still, the questions could be from these topics only.
Therefore concentrate on practicing the concepts in these chapters, so you are able to answer them quickly.
The SBI PO prelims results will be announced on May 17, 2017.