SEBI Grade A 2025: Exam Pattern Details

Himani Dhauni

2 months ago

Every country needs a regulator to keep the infrastructure of its capital markets strong and non-manipulative. In India, SEBI or Securities Exchange of India regulates the capital market. All decisions by the Securities and Exchange Board of India are collectively taken by its Board consisting of Chairman and eight other members. To protect the interest of entities that feel aggrieved by any of SEBI’s decision, SAT or Securities Appellate Tribunal has been constituted.

The SEBI Grade A notification for 2025 will have all the details pertaining to SEBI Grade A eligibility details, educational qualification, application fee etc. While all the information related to SEBI Grade A 2025 is conjecture, one thing you need to know is the exam pattern. Yes SEBI Grade A has surprised all the aspiring candidates who want to make their career in SEBI by its changed exam pattern for both Phases. Now you need to change your strategy and plan accordingly. This article mainly focuses on the changed SEBI Grade A exam pattern 2020 so that you have all the right and updated information at one place.

SEBI Grade A Exam Pattern Details

SEBI Grade A Officer (Assistant Manager) recruitment for 2025 will take place in three stages.

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

SEBI Grade A Phase I is an online screening exam with two papers. Paper 1 is common for all streams and covers General Awareness, English Language, Quantitative Aptitude, and Reasoning Ability, aimed at testing candidates’ fundamental knowledge and aptitude. Paper 2 focuses on stream-specific subjects such as Finance, Economics, Legal, or IT, depending on the candidate’s chosen discipline. Both papers are objective-type in nature.

Phase II also comprises two papers. Paper 1 is an English Descriptive test, designed to assess writing skills, while Paper 2 tests advanced knowledge in the candidate’s specific stream. Scores from Phase II play a significant role in determining the candidate’s merit. The final selection is based on the cumulative performance in Phase II and the Interview. A well-rounded preparation strategy, focusing on both general aptitude and specialized knowledge, is crucial for cracking the SEBI Grade A exam.

SEBI Grade A Phase 1

SEBI Grade A Phase 1 consists of two papers of objective type. Paper 1 is common for all the posts while Paper 2 is different for General Streams and Specialist Streams. There is a negative marking of 1/4th of marks assigned to the question in Paper 1 and Paper 2 of SEBI Grade A Phase 1. You need to obtain a minimum cut off of 30% in Paper 1 (no sectional cut-off) and minimum 40% in Paper 2 in SEBI Grade A Phase 1. You should be able to secure a separate cut-off in each paper as well as an overall aggregate cut-off of 40% in SEBI Grade A Phase 1 to be shortlisted for Phase 2. Marks obtained by you in SEBI Grade A Phase 1 will be qualifying in nature and will not be added in the final merit list. Except for the English Language section, all sections will be bilingual. Further details are given in the table below

Paper	Name of Stream/Subjects	Time Limit	Total Marks	Minimum Cut off
Paper 1	Common for all streams: Multiple choice questions on Quantitative Aptitude, General Awareness (including questions related to Financial Sector from easy, moderate to difficult level), Reasoning and English Language.	60 min	100	30%
Paper 2	General Stream: Multiple choice questions on Accountancy, Costing, Commerce, Finance Management, Economics and Companies Act	40 min	100	40%
	Research Stream: Multiple choice questions on Statistics, Economics, Econometrics, Commerce and Finance	40 min	100	40%
	Specialized Stream: Legal, IT, Official Language, Engineering Stream (Civil and Electrical): Multiple choice questions related to respective subject.	40 min	100	40%
Minimum Aggregate Cut Off				40%

SEBI Grade A Phase 2

You will be able to give Phase 2 of SEBI Grade A exam only if you clear SEBI Phase 1. SEBI Grade A Phase 2 will also be an online objective type exam. Phase 2 will also consist of two papers – Paper 1 is a descriptive test to judge your writing skills and awareness of the latest happenings around the world. Paper 2 of SEBI Grade A Phase 2 will have questions from respective fields. SEBI Grade A Phase 2 Paper 2 will have a negative marking of 1/4th of marks assigned to the question except for IT stream for which details will be provided in the official website in a short time. You need to score a minimum of 30% in Paper 1 and a minimum of 40% in Paper 2 of SEBI Grade A Phase 2. Besides this you need to secure a separate cut-off in each paper as well as an overall aggregate of minimum 40% marks in SEBI Grade A Phase 2 to qualify for next stage. All sections will be set bilingually in Hindi and English except the test of English. Further details in the table below-

Paper	Subjects / Stream	Time Limit	Total Marks	Minimum Cut off	Weightage of marks to be selected for Phase 3
Paper 1	Common for all streams: Descriptive English Test	60 min	100	30%	1/3rd
Paper 2	General Stream: Multiple choice questions on Finance, Economics Commerce, Accountancy, Management, Costing and Companies Act	40 min	100	40%	2/3rd
	Research Stream: Multiple choice questions on Finance, Commerce Economics, Econometrics and Statistics	40 min	100	40%	2/3rd
	Specialized Stream: Engineering Stream (Civil and Electrical), Legal and Official Language: Multiple choice questions on Specialized subject	40 min	100	40%	2/3rd
Minimum Aggregate Cut off				40%

NOTE – If you have applied in multiple streams under SEBI Grade A Paper 2 will be conducted in various shifts, the timings of which will be intimated in the admit card. Also, details with respect to Paper 2 of SEBI Grade A Phase 2 will be available on the SEBI website also.

SEBI Grade A Phase 3

For SEBI Grade A Phase 3 or Interview, the number of candidates called will be 3 times the number of vacancies. Shortlisted candidates list will be made available on SEBI website. You can opt for Hindi or English in SEBI Grade A Interview. Weightage of marks obtained in SEBI Grade A Phase 2 will be 85%, while marks obtained in interview will have a weightage of 15%. You can make use of ixamBee’s SEBI Grade A Interview Guidance Course while preparing for the interview.

ixamBee also provides the SEBI Grade A Online Course which has been modeled under the guidance of experts in the Banking sector. Also, you can attempt the SEBI Grade A mock tests designed according to the latest changes in SEBI Grade A exam pattern. If you have any query, feel free to comment below or email us. We are looking forward to your response and will be happy to clear all your doubts.

Summing Up

Since the 2024 SEBI Grade A exam is done, aspirants who did not make the cut in the previous exam cycle will certainly be excited to know that they can begin preparing for the 2025 exam cycle. While the recruitment process is not set to begin anytime soon, aspirants can begin their preparation by making use of ixamBee’s varied resources. A clear-cut understanding of the syllabus and exam pattern will be quite helpful for aspirants preparing for SEBI Grade A.

At ixamBee, we specialize in providing comprehensive online courses for government exams and online courses for government jobs. Our expertly designed courses for government jobs cater to a wide range of upcoming government exams. Whether you’re preparing for specific courses for government exams or seeking general guidance, ixamBee offers the resources like Beepedia previous year papers, SSC CGL, SSC CHSL, SSC MTS and other mock tests to succeed in exams like RBI Grade B, SEBI Grade A, NABARD Grade A, RRB NTPC, SSC MTS, NIACL Assistant, and more.