SBI PO English Preparation Strategy 2024, Check All Details

SBI PO English Preparation Strategy 2024: English is used by the Indian government for communication, along with Modern Standard Hindi, and other official languages. This shows the importance of English in India. It is used by almost all the government departments around India for documentation purposes. Therefore, this is the reason why it has become an essential part of every competitive Bank examination also, including SBI PO exam. The SBI PO exam has three phases: SBI PO Prelims, SBI PO Mains, and GD & Interview, and English is part prelims (30 Marks) and mains (40 marks) part of the exam. It is an important part of the exam. But, most of the candidates, especially some of those from Hindi medium backgrounds, are unable to make the most of this section as they are unable to deal with the sectional cut-off of the SBI PO English Paper. It can be a difficult section because the options given in the questions are almost similar and confuse the candidates while making the correct choice. Although, it is a tough nut to crack, but, with proper strategy and practice, you can maximize your score in it. SBI PO English Language section has Objective type questions sin both the Prelims and Mains exam, and there is also a descriptive paper for the Mains exam. In this article, we’ll guide you to score maximum marks in the English section of both the exams.

SBI PO English Preparation Strategy

English is one of the most important and rewarding sections of the SBIPO Prelims and Mains exam. A good score in both sections of the exam can boost your chances of increasing your overall score and ultimately clearing the exam. You need to keep a few things in mind to make a good English strategy to get in a position to solve all the English questions successfully. Given below are the best tips that can help you master this section:

1.     Read News & Stories Every Day

Read newspapers (like The Hindu or The Indian Express) or magazines (like The Week, India Today, or Outlook) every day without fail. Because the comprehensions that you’ll have to deal with in the exam will be a selection of excerpts from the daily newspapers or weekly or monthly magazines. This practice will also help you to enhance your comprehension powers. If you’ll read it aloud your fluency and overall communication skills will also increase. Therefore, read, and read again. Cultivate this habit in your daily schedule. And, when reading a newspaper, pay more attention to the Editorial section of the newspaper. This habit of investing time in the newspaper and magazine will also help you to answer general awareness answers.

2.     Learn New Words & Master the Basics of Grammar

Most candidates fail in the English section and can’t clear the sectional cut off, and so fail clear the SBI PO exam. The reason? Because they are weak in English Grammar, and they fail to answer questions like finding the incorrect word or fill in the blanks, Etc. A good grammar and vocabulary is needed to tackle such topics. And this weakness can be worked upon by regularly reading newspapers and storybooks or novels. Therefore, all you need is, to keep increasing your vocabulary arsenal to best tackle with questions based on it. The moment you come across new words, note them down with their meanings and sentence examples. Use these words in writing and in conversation to retain them for longer periods of time or forever. They will help you not just accelerate your exam preparation but also your career prospectives if you’ll master the language of business, that is English.

3.     Practice with a time limit in Mind

Apart from reading regularly, you should try to practice a lot. How? Attempt the latest SBI PO mock tests and previous year question papers for the SBI PO English Paper while keeping the actual exam time restriction in mind. It will help you understand the types of questions that will be asked in the English sections of the SBI PO Prelims and Mains exams. You can also take a free online quiz to test your English language preparation. When rehearsing a question at speed, try to be as accurate as possible. To make things easier, you can use a timer while practicing various topics from the English syllabus. This will improve your speed and accuracy.

4.     Attempt Latest Mock Tests & Learn from the Feedback

Take as many SBI PO Mock Tests as you can to practice all types of English questions that can appear in the exam. Mock Test practice will help you get used to answering English questions within a short time, like 20 minutes. Take these tests regularly and, make sure to use a timer for the English section. This so will help you get better at managing your time. In this section, you might find questions where you have to put sentences in the right order. These questions can, sometimes, be tough and waste a lot of your time. So, how should you master them? Practice! Practice them a lot to get better at them. SBI PO 2024 Mock Tests play a pivotal part in checking how well you understand and use English language. This way, you won’t feel confused or in a hurry during the actual SBI PO exam. Remember, keep practicing under timed conditions. And, we reassure you that, you will improve your speed and accuracy and confidence levels.

5.     Touch on Previous year’s Question Papers

Refer to the previous year’s question papers. You can easily find them online. Do a thorough research and know the types of English questions that frequently find their way into the SBI PO Prelims and Mains exam. After that, practice those questions and others related to those patterns to get a habit of confidently approaching such question in the given time. This is a proven technique for good results and most toppers have recommended it as a rewarding exercise. Hence, make the most of this exercise.

Important Exam-Time Tips

There are 2 important dos and don’ts for the exam that you should keep in mind when appearing for the SBI PO exam. They can minimize or maximize your score in English.

1. Start with the English Section: Begin your exam by answering the English section. Reading passages need concentration and time, so do them first.
2. Say No to Guessing: Only answer a question if you’re sure of the answer. If you’ve already passed the minimum score needed in English, don’t guess.

SBI PO English Language: Topic-wise Weightage

It has been observed by past history of SBI PO exams that the English part of the exam usually is frequented by questions from some specific topics. These topics are based on their weightage or what has been asked in previous SBI PO exams. In the table given below, are the topics with their numbers, that are scoring in the English section:

Topic Name	Number of Questions
Reading comprehension	10
Cloze test	6
Match the column	5
Fillers	6
Error Spotting/ Sentence correction/ Sentence Improvement	6
Phrase replacement	6
Sentence connector	4
Sentence completion	4
Sentence formation	4
Para jumble	6

Note: All three sections of the SBI PO exam have separate cut-offs. Candidates are required to clear that cut oof to qualify for the exam. As far as the English section is concerned, the average cut-off for paper-1 for the general category is around 8.75. And for the reserved category, it is around 5.75.

SBI PO Books for English Language

Good books not only aid you with the right information needed for your preparation but also supply you with the solutions that help build a good understanding of the subjects and topics that form the SBI PO English syllabus. On the contrary, bad books ruin your preparation, and progress and mar your chances of getting good results. Therefore, it is recommended to go for the right books recommended by the subject experts for both the Prelims and Mains preparation. Here is a list of some of the most recommended and result-oriented SBI PO exam books for English Language:

Book	Author/Publication
High School English Grammar and Composition	Wren & Martin
Word Power Made Easy	Norman Lewis
Objective General English	SP Bakshi (Arihant Publication)
Mirror of Common Errors	Dr Ashok Kumar Singh

Action Time

Start following all the tips that we discussed above and solve SBI PO previous year question papers and attempt the latest SBI PO 2024 Prelims and Mains mock tests. Start knowing your performance and understand the sorts of questions that are entertained in the English section of the SBI PO exam. You can also go through previous years’ analysis for SBI PO prelims and mains exams to understand more about the English section and what it entails or demands. Also, the candidates who feel comfortable with the Hindi language, should note that they can change the language of all the questions to Hindi except for the questions of the English section. So, get comfortable in quickly understanding the questions and answering them fast with confidence. Lastly, don’t forget that this section has become tougher and tougher and the competition level has been going up by the ever-increasing number of candidates coming in to compete.