How long can it take for an average student to clear the government exams? How Much Time is Required to Prepare for a Government Exam? Do You Wish To Pass Government Exams? Read Why a Minimum Of 1 Year Is Required
In their first attempt, Yasmin from Ahmedabad and Rohan from Lucknow passed the RBI Grade B exam. While Rohan talks about his two years of intense study and sheer hard work, Yasmin claims that she passed the exam after only three months of preparation. We think it is feasible to pass any government exam in 3–4 months after reading Yasmin’s side of the story. But wait a second. Prior to her RBI attempt, Yasmin had been preparing for UPSC for the previous two years. Also, her engineering background gave her a strong grasp of Math and Reasoning.
Now, you have to decide whether you’re Yasmin or Rohan. You could also be another Mr/Ms. X, who excels in every field, needs no preparation and can ace any exam with ease. If you are Mr/Ms. X, we bow down to you. You might not need to keep reading this blog. However, this article will be helpful for the majority of us who value hard effort and want to lay a solid foundation for the next government examinations. So please read it.
How Much Time is Required to Prepare for a Government Exam?
So, what is it that you need to clear a government exam? Yes, you must have already realized it now, it is a well-planned study for at least a year. Of course, you need to have perseverance, dedication, steadfastness, etc. too, but that is a topic for another day. Let’s first focus on the ‘how to study and lay a foundation’ part.
Nature of Government Exams
Most exams today are conducted in 3 phases: Prelims, Mains & Interviews. The preliminary stage is where the toughest competition lies. It is almost like eliminating a large chunk of candidates in one go.
Mains is where you deliver what you’ve studied all this while, the score of which is considered for merit in the final selection.
And Interview is where you could be asked anything ranging from your graduation subject to your personality, and hobbies.
Do you think you can do ALL this in 3-4 months? Absolutely not! (Unless you are Mr./Ms. X)
As mentioned earlier, the Prelims happen to be the most important stage of these exams. You clear it, and you go through to the next stage, otherwise, you stay there for years despite being fully prepared for Mains.
So let us see why it is important to study for at least a year before you give your first attempt at any government exam.
Prelims
In general, the preliminary exams have 5 topics: Quantitative Aptitude (Math), Reasoning, English, General Awareness (mostly static) and Current Affairs.
1. QUANT:
There are about 10 important topics which you need to prepare thoroughly. The topics like Percentage, Profit & Loss, and Average form the basis of the topic Data Interpretation, from which many questions are asked in different exams.
Apart from this, you also have to have a good hold over basic numeracy (can’t afford to calculate 5 + 5 on fingers or use paper to calculate the square of 15- fir to ho Gayi selection). The squares and cubes need to be on the tip of your tongue.
And simply, all this needs time to prepare.
2. REASONING:
It is a blend of both easy and very difficult topics. The topics like Blood Relations, Direction, and Coding-Decoding can be done in a brief period. However, it takes ages to understand what exactly Machine Input Output, Syllogism is.
Without practice, you can only solve a single Puzzle in the entire exam duration (fir toh ho gayi selection).
Again, this also needs time to prepare.
3. ENGLISH:
It wouldn’t be a huge problem for some people. However, for students whose English is on the weaker side, one year is sufficient to strengthen their foundation, if a well-planned strategy is followed.
4. General Awareness:
For banking exams, you need to have a basic understanding of static components in this domain. You need to know how banks work, the types of banks, and what is the role of RBI in it. What is CRR, SLR, etc?
For certain exams, specific domain knowledge is necessary. For example, for SEBI- more knowledge of the Capital Market, for IRDAI- Insurance sector knowledge, etc.
Unless you’re very strong in these topics, you need a good amount of time to understand them.
5. Current Affairs:
The most cumbersome component. Here, you need to be well-versed in what is happening around the world. So, reading the newspaper daily is a must in the beginning, after that you may refer to monthly magazines.
For you to understand any contemporary topic, a basic understanding of concepts is necessary. For eg. You’ll not understand Farm Laws if you do not know what MSP is.
This comes with time and thus you need to read daily current affairs, supplementing it with monthly magazines at the end of each month for a year.
But, if you just start reading all the year-long magazines in the last month of the exam…. then toh fir ho gayi selection.
Mains & Interview
Mains becomes relatively easier if you’ve already prepared for it from the beginning.
Most of the Mains exams today have at least one descriptive section. Even the non-officer exam of NABARD DA has a descriptive section in phase 2. So, don’t be surprised if it is introduced in other exams as well.
For subjective writing 2 things are important- content & practice. You cannot just pick a pen and start writing answers on the day of the exam and expect to clear it. Time & effort are needed to consolidate the content and practice.
You need not worry much about the interview from the beginning. Just focus on basic things of study, maybe work on your hobbies & interest in your free time.
Notification Kab Ayega?
Despite reading the whole blog till now, the first question of many would be “Sir, Notification kab ayega?” The question is valid if you’ve already started preparing for the exam. But, if you haven’t then toh fir ho gayi selection.
Remember, the period after notification of any exam is only meant for revision & practicing Mock Tests. You cannot expect to clear the exam if you start preparing for it from scratch after the notification (unless you’re Mr/Ms. X).
Key Takeaway
- At least 1-year of preparation is necessary
- Prelims is the most important stage
- Don’t wait for the notification to start studying
- Start revision after notification.
So, start small if you want to make it big. Make little improvements every day, you’ll soon feel your confidence rising and be able to pass those challenging government exams in a matter of a year.
All the best!
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Also Read
Do We Need to Refer to NCERT Books for RBI Grade B Preparation?
How to Crack RBI Grade B Exam as a Working Professional in the First Attempt?