30 Days Study Plan for SBI PO (Prelims) 2017

“Success could be achieved if you have planned for each step towards your final goal”

Introduction

As you all know that SBI has called for the candidates for the post of probationary officer and tentative dates for SBI PO Exam are 29th & 30th April and 6th & 7th May 2017, aspirants have
around 3 months for preparation of the exam. Since all of you all would be preparing for the banking exams, you may come up with the new surprises with the changed pattern of SBI PO Exams which is going to be quite different from the way it used to be. Therefore, there is need to understand the examination pattern, the expected syllabus, to prepare a plan to crack the exam and study accordingly. We are herewith presenting a detailed day wise study plan based on the expected syllabus for upcoming SBI PO Prelims.

Overview of the Exam

SBI PO Prelims is an objective test of 100 marks and would be a qualifying exam for Phase-II (i.e. marks of this exam will not form part of final selection). This exam will be divided into 3 Sections and time duration of this exam will be one hour, candidates need to qualify in each of the three tests by securing passing marks. Number of candidates to be shortlisted for Phase-II would approximately be 20 times the numbers of vacancies. Since prelim exam is of qualifying nature, difficulty level of the exam would be high and basically to check the speed and accuracy of the candidate while solving the paper. Details of this exam are given below-

Section	Expected syllabus
English Language (30 marks)	Fill in the blanks: (0-5 Questions) Comprehension: (5-10 Questions) Cloze test: (5-10 Questions) Para Jumbles: (0-5 Questions) Error Spotting: (5-10 Questions) Sentence/paragraph completion: (0-5 Questions) Phrase Replacement/Sentence Correction: (0-5 Questions) Misc. (Antonym/synonym, phrases & Idioms, spellings etc.): (0-5 Questions)
Quantitative Aptitude (35 marks)	Simplification: (5-10 Questions) Number System: (0-1 Question) Average: (1-2 Question) Percentage: (1-2 Question) Ratio & Proportion: (1-2 Question) Simple Interest & Compound Interest- (1-2 Question) Number Series: (4-5 Questions) Profit & Loss: (1-2 Questions) Speed, Distance & Time: (1-2 Questions) Algebra: (0-5 Questions) Mensuration: (1-2 Questions) Data Interpretation: (0-5 Questions) Time & Work: (1-2 Questions) Permutation & Combination: (0-3 Questions) Mixture problems: (1-2 Questions) Probability: (0-1 Question) Data Sufficiency: (0-5 Questions) Misc. (Problems on age, boat & stream): (0-3 Questions)
Reasoning Ability (35 Marks)	Inequality: (5 Questions) Order and Ranking: (0-5 Questions) Direction sense: (2-5 Questions) Coding & Decoding/ Alphabet based problems (0-5 Questions) Blood Relations (2-3 Questions) Syllogism: (4-5 Questions) Sitting Arrangement & Puzzle (5-10 Questions) Machine Input (0-5 Questions) Misc. (Series etc.): (0-3 Questions)
Total No. of Questions/ Marks	100

Study Plan:

While you prepare for the exam, try to keep your vigorous efforts focused on qualifying the Prelims Exam as it is going to decide on your eligibility for Phase-II.
I have tried to divide the preparation plan day-wise and section-wise (i.e. each day you will have to cover a part of syllabus from each section) so that you don’t get bored of reading the same subject on continuous basis. Also, the same may not ensure your success in the examination, it is true that practice makes you perfect but perfection in one subject or a two doesn’t work in banking examination. You need to focus on all the subjects together, gain perfection, speed and accuracy through your continuous practice. Here is 30 days plan for your preparation of phase-I which means your initial preparation would get over by March (around 20th of March), after that you may improve your efficiency by giving speed test.

Day 1 to Day 3
English Language (Moderate Level)	You just need to groom your English basics you already aware of. In first three days you can revise the basics such as part of speech, articles, tenses etc. which will eventually help in your preparation further. You can take help of grammar notes available on our site for this.
Quantitative Aptitude (Tough & Calculative)	Learn tables upto 20, square roots upto 30, cube roots upto 20. You may enhance the limit as per your learning ability. Simplification and the short tricks.
Reasoning Ability (High Level & Time Consuming)	Coding & Decoding
Day 4 to Day 5
English Language	Reading Comprehension (for this you may start reading newspaper and articles online; articles may be related or unrelated to banking; you just need to make habit of reading online and speed of reading will automatically enhance) While you read the passage or any article, try to capture the key word/main content of each paragraph, this will help you to quickly answer the questions when you will be aware of the insight of each and every paragraph. Speed reading is the continuous exercise hereafter.
Quantitative Aptitude	Number System/ Percentage and Simple Interest
Reasoning Ability	Blood Relation
Day 6 to Day 7
English Language	Speed Reading + Vocabulary building. For this, try to learn the meaning of every new word you come across while reading any article /passage/news etc.
Quantitative Aptitude	Average and Compound Interest
Reasoning Ability	Order and Ranking
Day 8 to Day 9
English Language	Speed Reading +Para Jumbles
Quantitative Aptitude	Ratio & Proportion
Reasoning Ability	Direction Sense
Day 10 to Day 12
English Language	Speed Reading + Fill in the blanks
Quantitative Aptitude	Number Series, Profit & Loss
Reasoning Ability	Inequality
Day 13 to Day 15
English Language	Speed Reading + Cloze test
Quantitative Aptitude	Speed, Distance & Time , Algebra
Reasoning Ability	Alphabet based problems
Day 16 to Day 19
English Language	Speed Reading + Error Spotting
Quantitative Aptitude	Time & Work
Reasoning Ability	Sitting Arrangement & Puzzle
Day 20 to Day 23
English Language	Speed Reading + Sentence/paragraph completion
Quantitative Aptitude	Mixture problems, Probability, Misc. (Problems on age, boat & stream):
Reasoning Ability	Machine Input
Day 24 to Day 25
English Language	Speed Reading + Phrase Replacement/Sentence Correction
Quantitative Aptitude	Mensuration, Permutation & Combination
Reasoning Ability	Misc. (Series etc.)
Day 25 to Day 30
English Language	Speed Reading + Misc. (Antonym/synonym, phrases & Idioms, spellings etc.)
Quantitative Aptitude	Data Interpretation & Data Sufficiency (Just take an overview of this as in SBI prelims quantitative aptitude will be focused more than Data Interpretation & Data Sufficiency. Data Interpretation and Data Sufficiency may be given more relevance in phase-II as compare to phase-I)
Reasoning Ability	Syllogism

You may start giving speed tests for improving your speed and accuracy once you have completed the above mentioned syllabus for the prelims. Candidates may refer to the topic-wise study material available on the website for their preparation.
“ALL THE BEST”