Clearing the RBI Grade B exam is not a small feat, and for anyone who has gone through the rigorous stages of this exam, a solid current affairs strategy for RBI Grade B stands as one of the most crucial prerequisites that, if executed smartly, could single-handedly help you achieve this feat. However, the vastness of topics, constant updates, and the exam’s changing dynamics make this section intimidating and time-consuming.
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Retaining these facts and figures which often come as humongous chunks of information makes it even more difficult for any aspirant. However, with a smart current affairs strategy, a proactive approach towards RBI Grade B syllabus, and a determined mindset, one can easily win over his/her fear of current affairs and sail through the exam.
Preparing for General Awareness (GA)
While ESI, Banking, and Finance current affairs are relevant for both Phase 1 and 2, general awareness is primarily asked in Phase 1. Here’s how you can prepare for Phase 1 GA step by step as part of your current affairs strategy:
- Reverse Engineering: Analyzing Past Year Papers
Before you begin exploring more about this exam, you should first spend a week analyzing the previous year’s RBI Grade B Phase 1 GA papers from the last 3-4 years, specifically from 2021 to now. A lot of dynamics concerning this exam have changed since 2019 when the exam was fully objective. Analyzing these PYQ papers can help you identify recurring themes and topics, such as:
- Government schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
- Reports and indices published by international organizations like the World Bank, IMF, and UNDP.
- RBI policies and frameworks in the banking and financial sectors.
By reverse-engineering past papers, you can focus on the most important topics and direct your efforts toward understanding these areas thoroughly. It will also give you the confidence that you are covering the right material as part of your current affairs strategy.
- Selecting the right sources
This probably is the most important step when starting to prepare GA. If you have this step sorted out, everything else will smoothly fall into place. The cautionary advice we would like to give here is– DON’T pile on a myriad of study materials and merely skim through all of them, resulting in information overload. Instead, limit your sources to 1 or max 2 and read relevant news in depth. Here are two reliable sources that you should include as a part of your RBI grade B current affairs strategy:
- Newspapers: You can choose to read The Hindu or Live Mint every day, but selectively. Make a habit of reading at least one editorial on a daily basis which helps you form relevant opinions that you can use in descriptive writing.
- Monthly Magazines: You can subscribe to any monthly magazine published by any reputed organization. These compilations are more convenient since they save you the painful effort of going through every news article and picking up relevant information out of each of them.
Now that we know where to read our current affairs from, let’s discuss more on what kind of news we should prioritize reading. Here are some Phase 1 GA topics you should focus most on:
- National and International News: These news pieces are the most relevant for the RBI Grade B exam. Any important event in the country or around the world that might affect India should be prioritized at the top.
- Banking and Finance News: This certainly goes without mentioning that Banking and Finance news forms the backbone of the questions asked in the RBI Grade B Phase 1 GA section. Keep an eye out for news related to the economy, finance, MOUs, and mergers or banking, especially if any development is coming from RBI itself.
- Science, Tech, and Environment News: Any development in technology or any step taken towards environment preservation becomes relevant for the RBI Grade B exam. Concentrate well on these news pieces.
- Miscellaneous News: These are news from the domain of defense, sports, awards, days in the news, places in the news, or obituaries. Although questions from these miscellaneous topics form a tiny portion of the total questions asked in GA, you should give a good read to the major news in these domains and fetch some bonus marks.
- Make use of Micro-Notes
In the early stages of your preparation, you are highly likely to struggle with revising current affairs consistently. A proper note-taking system is the most prudent thing to adopt to save you time with each revision cycle.
Spend some time and extract the most relevant facts and figures from a certain news piece and note them down in a notebook or a note-making app such as Evernote, Google Docs, etc. Eventually, you will realize the value of creating micro-notes—small, concise notes summarising key facts and concepts. For example, after reading about a new government scheme, you can note down:
- The name of the scheme.
- It’s objective.
- Beneficiary Eligibility
- The Ministry involved.
- Key features or budget allocations.
These micro-notes can be incredibly helpful for multiple quick revisions. You can easily review them daily, especially during travel or short breaks, and by the time the exam approaches, you can recall most facts effortlessly.
- Regular MCQ Practice
Practicing multiple-choice questions (MCQs) daily is another crucial step for your current affairs strategy to be a success. You can use platforms like Edutap, which offers excellent GA quizzes and mocks, and they even create 5 highly relevant GA questions as a daily capsule that is sent to your mail daily.
These tests can help you reinforce what you have learned and sharpen your ability to recall facts quickly under pressure. They would also give you a clear idea of how questions are framed, which areas are tested more frequently, and what gaps you need to fill in your current affairs strategy.
Conclusion
Current Affairs for the RBI Grade B exam cannot be a mere mugging up of facts. It involves understanding the bigger picture, connecting the dots, and then effective revision. With proper resources, consistent effort, and disciplined revision, this segment can help you fetch maximum marks in both phases of the exam.
These personalized strategies, when executed smartly, will find a space in your routine, laying down a solid foundation for current affairs.
Once you are adequately prepared by following this current affairs strategy for RBI Grade B, you will be able to face the RBI Grade B exam with confidence and stand through even the most unpredictable questions that will come before you during the exam. Best of Luck!
