Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Officers' Grade A & Grade B Exam

Selection for this class I post is made on all- India basis by Reserve Bank of India services Board. The Board functions on the lines of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and conducts various examinations for recruitment of officers' grade.

Eligibility Criteria

Age: 21 and 26 years on the year of the examination. Candidates possessing M.Phil. / Ph.D. qualification, upper age limit will be 31 and 33 years respectively. Candidates having experience as an officer in Commercial Bank / Financial Institution in Public Sector, upper age limit should not exceed 33 years.

Upper Age limit relaxations for others are mentioned below:

• SC / ST - 5 years
• OBC - 3 years
• Ex-employee of Banking institutions - 5 years
• Ex-servicemen - 5 years
• Emergency Commissioned Officers/Short Service Commissioned Officers - 5 years
• Candidates, earlier domiciled in Kashmir Division of the State of Jammu and Kashmir between 1st January, 1980 and 31st December, 1989 - 5 years
• PH (Gen.)     - 10 years
• PH (OBC) - 13 years
• PH (SC/ST) - 15 years

Educational Qualifications

A First Class Bachelor's Degree with a minimum of 60% marks or an equivalent grade OR ii) A Second Class Master's Degree with a minimum of 55% marks or an equivalent grade OR iii) A Doctorate Degree with 50% marks in Master's Degree or equivalent grade OR iv) Chartered / Cost Accountant / Company Secretary (ACS) with a Bachelor's Degree OR v) A Post Graduate Diploma in Management from IIM only.

SC / ST / PH candidates having second class with a minimum of 50% marks or equivalent grade in Bachelor's Degree examination OR having a Post-graduate Degree or equivalent recognized qualification, are eligible to apply.

Nationality

Indians, subject of Nepal or Bhutan, Tibetan refugees (who came over to India to settle permanently and to whom eligibility certificates have been issued by the Government of India.)

Exam Pattern

The subjects of the Written Examination (WE), time allowed and maximum marks will be as under:

Grade 'A' Officers

Phase I
Objective Type Test
Subjects: General Awareness, English Language, Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning.
Duration: 3 hours
Marks: 200

Question Paper Pattern

Test of General Awareness: To find out the candidate's awareness of people and events, past and present, from different walks of life.
Test of English Language: To assess proficiency in the English Language through questions on grammar, vocabulary, sentence completion, synonyms, antonyms, comprehension passages etc.
Test of Quantitative Aptitude: To measure how fast and accurate a candidate can handle computation, reasoning and interpretation of tables, graphs etc.
Test of Reasoning: To determine the thinking and reasoning aptitudes of the candidates through questions of various kinds. Problems may be of three types, namely Series, Analogies and Classification.

Phase II
Descriptive Test
Subject: English (Essay, Precise Writing/ Comprehension, Business/Office Correspondence)
Duration: 2.5 hours
Marks: 100

Subject: Economic and Social Problems
Duration: 2.5 hours
Marks: 100

Grade 'B' Officers' Papers

Phase I
Objective Type Test

Subject: General Awareness, English Language, Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning
Duration: 3 hours
Marks: 200

Phase II
Subject: English [Essay, Precise Writing/Comprehension, Business/Office Correspondence)
Duration: 3 hours
Marks: 100

Phase III
Subjects: Economic and Social Problems
Duration: 3 hours
Marks: 100

Note:

• Paper I (except the test of English Language) and Paper III will be set bilingually in Hindi and English.
• Candidates have the option to answer Paper III either in Hindi or in English.
• Phase II will be conducted in respect of those candidates who are successful in objective paper.
• A candidate has to qualify in each of the objective- type test and descriptive papers separately.
• The aggregate marks of the examination will comprise the marks of Paper II and III of WE. The candidates, who score sufficiently high in order of merit based on these aggregate marks will be called for interview.
• Final selection will be based on candidate's performance in WE and interview taken together.

Interview

Candidates will be short-listed for interview based on the aggregate marks obtained only in Papers I, II and III. Candidates may answer the Interview in either Hindi or English.

Final selection will be based on the performance of the candidate in Descriptive type test of the written examination and Interview.

Note: Candidates belonging to General Category, who had already appeared four times for Written Exam for post in the past, are not eligible to apply. No such restriction to candidates belonging to SC/ST/OBC/PH.

Pre Examination Training

RBI proposes to arrange training program  of short duration for SC/ST candidates only appearing for WE at select centers. Candidates who apply for the post and desire to attend the program may apply to the office of the RBI separately at the center of examination chosen by them, for registration of their names. No fees are payable but candidates are expected to arrange for their own boarding/lodging/traveling expenses.

Examination Centers: Ahmedabad, Agartala, Aizawl, Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Imphal, Itanagar, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Kochi, Kohima, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Panaji, Patna, Port Blair, Pune, Shillong, Thiruvananthapuram

How to prepare?

Every year, a multitude of candidates appear for the banking service examinations and naturally, there is an intense competition for the jobs that are a handful in number. Therefore, a thorough preparation is required in order to get through.
To be successful, regular practice in all the five tests viz. Test of Reasoning, Quantitative Aptitude, General Awareness, Descriptive Test and English Language, is essential. Various competition magazines adequately cover all the sections. To supplement their efforts, candidates may refer to standard books on General Knowledge.

The basics can be done by using tenth standard books and then start doing section tests, from Reasoning, Maths, English, etc. Try to get a good score in each section. After that, do some full-length tests that contain all the sections, within the stipulated time.

For the descriptive paper, refer to the model paragraphs and descriptive questions published in the Competition Magazines. The candidate must have a good expression and the sentences must be grammatically correct. Efforts must be made to improve your handwriting as well, as this could be a major shortcoming in the written paper. Apart from this, the candidate must be aware of current issues and recent incidents of importance.

There are a number of books and correspondence courses available for bank preparatory examinations. There is, however, no substitute for self-study and self-preparation. Regular studies, systematic preparations, self-confidence and regular practice, is all that is required to pass this exam.

After the written examination, the short-listed candidates are called for an interview. General questions are asked to check the candidate's General Awareness and relevant issues related to Economics. The interview is also conducted to gauge the candidate’s personality and aptitude. Therefore, Candidates should prepare for the interview simultaneously and take care to develop their personality and confidence.

Contact Details

RBI Services Board

Hongkong Bank Building, 6th Floor,

M.G.Road, Hutatma Chowk,

Post Bag No. 10009

Mumbai – 400023

Website: www.rbi.org.in