5 Mistakes You Should Avoid When Preparing for SBI Clerk Exam in 2021
SBI exams are challenging to crack. Part of the reason is because of the high number of applicants applying for the post. In 2018, around 26 lakhs of people applied for nearly 10,000 SBI PO and Clerk posts. So to succeed, you need to be smart, diligent and avoid as many mistakes as possible.
This article lists five mistakes that applicants often make when preparing for the SBI clerk exam. It also explains the SBI Clerk exam pattern 2021 to update you on the changes made.
Not Giving Mock Tests
Mock tests are designed to mimic real-life exam scenarios. These will give you a glimpse of how the exam will feel like when you attend it. Therefore, it’s useful to brush up on your skills and get acquainted with the exam.
But not many applicants give an adequate number of mock tests. And as experts will tell you, this is a mistake. Especially the first-time applicants, they should give as many mock tests of SBI Clerk as possible.
Many online platforms allow you to take mock tests.
Not Following the Proper Syllabus
The syllabus is an integral part of exam preparation. For the SBI exam, there’s a syllabus as well. It’s there for both Prelims and Mains examination. The syllabus is vast, and you need to cover multiple topics.
You can divide the syllabus into three categories, namely:
- Reasoning
- Numerical ability
- English Comprehension
In each of the categories, there are sub-topics. For example, for reasoning, you’ve got topics like logical reasoning, data sufficiency, tabulation, coding-decoding, among others.
Similarly, for Numerical ability, you need to attend topics like simplification, profit & loss, sequence & series, data interpretation, among others.
For the SBI clerk Mains exam, you have computer awareness and financial/general awareness and the three categories mentioned above.
No Time Management in Place
For the SBI Clerk Mains exam, you’d have to attend 190 questions within 2 hours and 40 minutes. That’s less than a minute for each question. Similarly, for the Prelims, there are 100 questions to be covered within 60 minutes.
To succeed, you need to be extremely wise with your time. So, you’d have to create a time management plan, both for the preparation and examination.
Reading too Many Books
This might sound counter-intuitive. To crack the SBI clerk exam, your colleagues and friends might advise you to read as many books as possible. But at times, this can become counter-productive — especially when you’re reading multiple books to understand the same concept.
It’s better to stick with a single, top-rated book and read it to the end before moving on to another.
Not Understanding the Exam Pattern
Finally, another common mistake most applicants make is that they do not understand the exam pattern. It is important to know because a different number of questions comes from a particular category.
For example, in the Prelims exam, you’ve got 30 questions from the English language, but 35 from Numerical ability and reasoning. With this knowledge, you can stress more on the latter two categories, which increase your success rate.
Furthermore, the pattern keeps on changing. So you need to be aware of the SBI Clerk exam pattern 2021. By avoiding the mistakes mentioned above, you’ll have a better chance of landing a job at SBI.
