The Reserve Bank of India is the country’s central bank, which is vested with the powers to issue currency, which it also supplies. The RBI is also the Indian Banking System regulator and is responsible for managing the country’s payment systems.

No wonder that there is always a mad rush to get into the bank as an assistant, after which you can aspire to get promotions based on merit. Candidates desiring to take the assistant exam need to first go through RBI Assistant previous papers  to get a fair idea of what it takes to attempt and get through this tough exam.

The syllabus for the RBI assistant exam and the pattern are two critical aspects that candidates need to take into account while preparing. It is crucial to understand the exam pattern well before attempting to crack it. The best way to prepare is to check the type of questions that are likely to be asked in the exam.

A Glance at the RBI Assistant Previous Year Papers:-

You can learn a lot by browsing the previous papers, as you will understand that the exam pattern has two phases to it, followed by the language proficiency test.

The two phases comprise:

  • Preliminary Exam
  • Main Exam

Preliminary Exam Pattern:-

The English language section carries 30 questions and the time allowed to answer these questions is 60 minutes. Each question has one mark. However, while there is one mark for every correct answer, incorrect answers attract a penalty. A penalty of 0.25 marks for every wrong answer can pull you down your total tally if you have too many wrong answers. It is needless to mention that unanswered questions get zero marks.

When you download the RBI Assistant previous papers, you get valuable information. The English language exam comprises reading comprehension, sentence correction, synonyms & antonyms, one-word substitution, sentence completion, active & passive voice, sentence rearrangement, word meanings, and the cloze test.

The prelims also include numerical ability that carries 35 questions with one mark each and  reasoning ability  with 35 questions with one mark each.

Mains Exam Pattern:-

The main exam has the English language test that carries 40 questions with one mark for each question, and the time allowed is 30 minutes. The quantitative aptitude test, reasoning ability test, and the computer knowledge test also have 40 questions each, with one mark for each question.

Simultaneously, the first two sections allow 30 minutes each; the computer knowledge test allows only 20 minutes to answer all questions. The general awareness section also has 40 questions with one mark for each question and 25 minutes to answer all questions.

Salient Points of RBI Assistant Exam Pattern:-

  • Negative marking for this exam (0.25 marks for each wrong answer)
  • Un-attempted questions do not attract any penalty.
  • The exam pattern need not be the same for consecutive years. The RBI has the right to change the pattern based on current requirements.
  • The pattern for each year is notified officially by the RBI every year.

Summing it Up:-

There is a lot of information that a prospective candidate can gather from RBI assistant previous papers. Armed with this information, cracking the exam should be easy. The trick lies in preparing well and