Want to score full marks in the English section of both SBI PO Prelims and Mains exam? The SBI PO 2025 exam is just a few months away, and the English section can be a key to succession it. Now that SBI has introduced a few changes in both the Preliminary and Mains exams, it’s imperative to effective preparation. This guide offers practical tips to help you excel, from refining your grammar to boosting your reading comprehension skills. Read on to learn how you can score full marks in English for SBI PO 2025 and make the most of the free resources for exam preparation.
Changes in English Language Section SBI PO 2025 Exam Pattern
The State Bank of India (SBI) has introduced significant changes to the Probationary Officer (PO) exam pattern for the 2024-25 cycle. It has affected both the Preliminary and Main examinations. Check out the table below which focuses on the weightage of the English sections in both Phase I (Prelims) and Phase II (Mains) of the SBI Clerk Exam Pattern 2024:
Phase | Section | No. of Questions | Total Marks | Duration |
Phase I (Prelims) | English Language | 30 | 30 | 20 minutes |
Phase II (Mains) | General English | 40 | 40 | 35 minutes |
- SBI PO 2025 Preliminary Exam Changes in the English Language Section: The number of questions has increased from 30 to 40, and the time allocation is 20 minutes.
- SBI PO 2025 Main Exam Changes in the English Language Section: The number of questions has increased to 40, but the maximum marks have been reduced to 20. The exam will last 40 minutes.
- Descriptive Test: This section now focuses on communication skills. Candidates will be given tasks like writing emails, reports, situation analysis, and précis writing. This test will have a total of 50 marks and a total time limit of 30 minutes.
SBI PO 2025 Free Preparation Resources For Ultimate Success
It is essential to start your preparation in the right manner and with the right resources. Given below are the links to some of the most effective free resources that will help you find the right path to success. These resources will not only help you start your preparation but also accelerate it by providing you with perfect feedback. Sign up quickly and start your preparation right away:
Free Preparation Resources Links | Paid Resources Links |
SBI PO Quant Free Topic Tests | Mock Test 1 |
SBI PO English Free Topic Tests | Mock Test 2 |
SBI PO Reasoning Free Topic Tests | Mock Test 3 |
SBI PO Free Full Lenght Mock Test | Mock Test 4 |
SBI PO Previous Year Papers | Mock Test 5 |
Scoring Full Marks in English for SBI PO 2025 Exam
It is possible to score full marks in the English section of Prelims and Mains exam, as there are no calculations needed to answer the questions, as in Quantitative Aptitude or Reasoning. You just have to master all the rules of grammar and its basic concepts and then practice as many questions as possible. Below are some practical tips that you can follow along with SBI PO Mock Test practice to achieve outstanding results:
1. Analyse previous years’ questions papers
You must properly analyze the syllabus of the given Bank Exam. Make notes, and note down the weightage of various subjects, so that you can decide the topics to give more attention to while studying. By doing so you will get an idea about the exam pattern and your mind will be ready to understand what it needs to do in less time.
2. Polish the rules of grammar via SBI PO Mains Mock Tests
Polish up the rules of grammar like:
- Subject-verb agreement
- Active and passive voice
- Reported Speech (Direct and indirect speech)
- Spellings
- Tenses
- Articles
- Singulars and plural
- Phrases and idioms
- Noun and pronoun
- Preposition
- Conjunction
- Conditionals
- Question tags
- Adjectives and determiners
Practice a number of examples to learn the application of all the grammatical rules. This can also be done by reading the newspaper and magazines daily. Practice as many questions as you can on each topic mentioned above.
3. Work on your Comprehension skills
Reading Comprehension is the most important topic in the English Language section. You need to read newspaper articles and editorials regularly to accelerate your reading speed, reading your daily habit. After reading, try to write the best and shortest summary and check the number of words you have used in it. Try to write it in as minimum words as possible. This will help you in finding the answers easily from the given passage.
4. Cover important topics first
You need to cover all the important topics first. All those topics pop up in the Mains exams again and again. Know the type of questions and important topics that are expected to be featured in the English Section. Therefore, it is crucial to know the topics and prepare them well before the Exam rings your doorbell.
5 Topic-wise tips for better preparation
Here are 5 effective topic-wise tips that will help you master the most important topics. These topics are repeated again and again and your success in solving questions on them will decide your fate.
1. Reading Comprehension
RC questions are not just very crucial but scoring, both in prelims and mains. Candidates have to face around 10-15 questions based on RC. To get command over it, you need to ace your reading speed. The aspirant should be ready to comprehend a comprehension coming from various fields like literature, politics, history, economics, science, and other essential subjects. The best way to ace your preparation for RC is by reading the newspaper, and articles, and practicing reading Comprehension asked in previous years’ Exams. To understand a text, you must have sufficient knowledge of Vocabulary. The questions in the RCs as seen by last year’s questions are inference-based. That is to say, these questions are not direct, but you’ll have to infer from the given passage. There will be one or more conclusions given in the question to choose one.
2. Cloze Test
The purpose of the cloze test is to judge the grammatical know-how and vocabulary power you’re your common sense. In it, you’ll receive a passage with ten or twelve blank spaces. You will be required to fill in the blanks out of the given choices. You must go through the whole passage before starting to answer the questions. However, sometimes, you’ll find one or two blanks that will seem difficult to answer or seem to have more than one correct answer.
3. Spotting the Errors/Sentence Improvement
You can expect 5 questions on this topic. In spotting the Error, a sentence is usually given, which is divided into four or five parts marked ‘a’ to ‘e.’ ‘e’ refers to no Error. You will be required to find out the part having an Error. The Error may be related to the use of the article, Tense of verb, noun, pronoun, adjective, adverb, conjunction, subject-verb-agreement, etc. You can also find, an error that of un-English expression or superfluous use of the same word. There is no shortcut to answering Error related questions. You should have good command over Grammar rules and their usage. So, you need to practice questions from the previous year’s question papers, to successfully counter such questions.
The above-mentioned three topics are the most important topics from the point of view of the weightage they carry. If you look at the previous papers of the SBI PO Mains 2022-23 Exam, a number of the questions were being asked from these topics. You may face differences in the language of the question or difficulty level, but the topics remain the same.
4. Para Jumbles
You can simply fail to form the correct sequence if you haven’t practiced this topic well. You can face a question on Para Jumbles, where you will be required to arrange and rearrange the statements in incorrect order. You can solve Para-jumbles with 5 tricks. You can do this by Identifying the opening sentence, Identifying the closing sentence, Identifying the mandatory pairs (generally groupings that occur in defined order), or Identifying transition words. The most commonly used transition words are, ‘also, again, as well as, besides, likewise, and in addition, etc. Practice via the best SBI PO Mock Tests to get a command over it.
5. Other important topics
You can expect questions on sentence correction, Fill in the blanks, Sentence Connector, and questions Odd one out. You need to prepare all these topics very well. Give as many SBI PO Mock Tests as you can, to test your English skills and make further improvements in speed and accuracy.
Analyze Your Strengths & Weaknesses via the Best SBI PO Mains Mock Tests
As the exams are very near, you need to grab the best SBI PO Mock tests and boost your preparation. Take at least 1 to 2 SBI PO Mock Tests every day if you want to complete the entire English language syllabus in 30 days. Mocks are the best tools for revision and testing your overall skills, including time management. After attempting every Mock Test, analyze it properly, work on your weaknesses, and practice more. Then, compare the results and analysis of this Mock Test with the other one you are going to take after it. Therefore, the more time you invest in attempting Mock Tests, the more the chances of getting an edge over other aspirants and clearing the upcoming SBI PO 2024 exam in style.
FAQs
Master rules of grammar, practice reading comprehension, and take regular SBI PO 2025 mock tests to improve speed and accuracy and your overall performance.
The number of questions has increased to 40. In addition, the total marks for Prelims and Mains have been adjusted.
SBI PO 2025 Mock tests help know your strengths, find weaknesses. Plus, they help in improving time management skills for better performance.
Focus on Reading Comprehension, Cloze Test, Error Spotting, and Para Jumbles for better scoring.
You can get free topic tests, full-length SBI PO 2025 mock tests, and previous year papers in this blog above.
- Sign Up on Practicemock for Updated Current Affairs, Free Topic Tests and Free Mini Mocks
- Sign Up Here to Download Free Study Material
Free Mock Tests for the Upcoming Exams