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RBI DEPR Recruitment Exam 2022

Last Minute Tips

With 05 days to go for the Phase-I of the RBI-DEPR recruitment exam, we are writing this
to communicate a few things that we consider important. I hope you find at least some
of these points useful:
1. Level of Difficulty of the Paper: There is a belief that organisations decide the level of
difficulty of a paper, based on the previous year’s cut-off. For instance, if the
organisation feels that previous year’s cut-off was too high, it is likely that next year’s
paper would be difficult.
The Phase-I cut-off for the DEPR-2021 examination was around 47 marks (for
candidates belonging to general category). If RBI believes that this is a good level to
maintain, we can expect the upcoming paper to have a similar level of difficulty. If they
want to increase the cut-off a bit, they can instruct IBPS to make the paper a little
easier. They may even introduce a few questions from Indian Economy (current
affairs).

Why am I telling you this now? I want to convey 2 points: (i) When you are
undertaking the last round of revision in the remaining 05 days, you should read all
topics; since you would NOT like to be caught in a situation wherein an easy question
came from a topic you had skipped.
(ii) It’s possible that one of the sections may be more difficult than others. Don’t get
nervous; it’s okay. If its difficult, its difficult for everyone: cut-off would be lower.
Doing well in an examination is not about answering all 62 questions correctly. There
will always be some questions which you would not be able to solve. You should focus
on doing your best (given your present knowledge) and avoiding silly mistakes. (Please
note, most candidates tend to make at least a few silly mistakes. If you can avoid such
mistakes, you’ve already gained some edge over your competitors).

2. Examination will be a mixture of easy, moderate and difficult questions: This is true
for almost all examinations. In the upcoming last round of revision, keep this in mind.
Aim to be able to answer (correctly) all easy & moderate questions; plus a few difficult
questions. And it’ll be game on!

3. Questions from Indian Economy/Current Affairs: Recent trend is given below:

• 2021: No questions from Indian Economy

• 2019: Around 4-6 questions on current affairs/Indian Economy
• 2018 (I am not 100% sure about it): No questions from Indian Economy

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No one can predict (with certainty) whether Indian economy will be asked in 2022 paper or
not. Ideally, you should prepare it, since these are easy marks. If you know the answer, you
will be able to mark it within 20 seconds.
For preparation, maybe you can pick-up a reliable monthly current affairs module (plus, latest
edition of Economic Survey and Union Budget) of any institute that provides material for
banking exam. Read only important news related to Indian economy and ignore the
remaining.
However, please don’t compromise Micro, Macro, Statistics and Econometrics by spending
too much time on Indian Economy.
4. Those 2 hours matter a lot: Whether you are well-prepared or moderately prepared,
don’t take these 2 hours lightly. You need to have your best level of presence of mind
during these 2 hours. Do what it takes to achieve it (nutritious diet, good sleep,
breathing exercises / meditation / pranayama, etc). A few select components are
mentioned below:
a) Form your attempt strategy in advance but keep it open to modification during
examination: Decide beforehand, which sections to attempt first, whether to
begin the paper with one-mark question or 3/4 mark questions, etc.
Be mentally prepared to modify your strategy, if required. For instance, in case,
one of the sections turns out to be more difficult that others.

b) Time Management: Usually, well-prepared candidates find the time limit to be

sufficient for this examination. You would have formed your own attempt strategy
by now (but keep it open to change, if circumstances so warrant during the
examination), I suggest two points: Attempt the test in 2-3 rounds and aim to
complete the paper within around 1 hour 40 minutes.

To elaborate, in the first round, attempt only those questions which you can solve
without devoting too much ‘thinking time’. Try to do maximum questions in the
first round itself and the questions which need ‘thinking time’, ‘Mark for Review’
and come back to them in the next round. In the next round, go to ONLY those
questions which you have ‘Marked for Review; or ‘left unanswered’ (purple and
red), and maybe you can skip re-visiting those questions which you have answered
with confidence in the first round.

c) What if you feel a question is wrong: In last year’s paper, there was an easy IS-LM
numerical whose answer didn’t match any of the options. Many candidates
wasted 15-20 minutes (maybe even more) on that question. Consequently, their
time-management went for a toss!

Last year, the examination contained multiple erroneous questions. Whether, we

like it or not, errors can happen. This happens in other prestigious examinations
also. Since there were many errors in last year’s paper, it’s likely that RBI/IBPS will

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be more careful this time; but what if, during the examination, you feel that there
an error in the question? This can happen due to one of 2 reasons: (i) You have
misinterpreted the question or done some miscalculation (ii) The question/options
is actually wrong. In either case, don’t waste too much time on it.
Leave the question for the next round. Try to solve it with a fresh mind in the next
round and try to see if you were making a mistake.

Don’t be in a hurry to conclude that the question is wrong but don’t waste too
much time on it, either.

d) Should you guess/ ‘Guessing’ how many questions is okay: Interesting topic! But
only you can answer it for yourself, since it depends on your preference towards
risk.
If I take some liberty in offering my suggestion, I would say (i) Blind guess isn’t a good
strategy (ii) Zero guesses is not a good strategy either.
Its unlikely that someone can clear an exam only on the basis of blind guesses.
However, you can utilise guess work to your advantage under some situations. For
instance, guess work can be helpful when, say, you are confused between 2 options.
If we consider the two of them to be equally likely, you have a 0.5 probability of
guessing right. Maybe its worth the risk here.
It may also depend on number of (negative) marks allotted to that question. For
instance, consider 1-mark questions (negative marking: 0.33). In my opinion, blind
guess is a strict ‘No’ here also. For other types of guesses (called ‘logical/educated
guess’): if one of your guesses turns out to be correct and 03 of them turn out to be
wrong, you are still better-off guessing these 4 questions !
Some people also like to guess 1-2 questions based on strong intuition. That’s your
decision !
Overall, its acceptable to make some educated guesses? ‘How many exactly?’: Only
you can answer it.

e) Sleep Cycle: This year, we have an early morning exam. You have to reach the
examination centre latest by 9.00 AM. Over the next week, please keep your sleep
cycle adjusted to this routine.

f) Read Instructions provided with the Admit Card/Call Letter: Read instructions
very carefully now only. Understand the requirement, so that you can plan over
the next week. For instance,

• You have to carry ID proof (original + 01 photocopy) + passport size

photo(s)

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• Only transparent pens and water bottles are allowed inside examination
hall
• You should show ‘You are safe’ status in ‘Aarogya Setu’ App
• Although ‘self-declaration’ form is applicable only for those candidates
who do not have a smartphone, but I have seen some examination centres
insist even candidates with ‘Arogya Setu’ to submit the self-declaration
form. So, its better that you carry it.
You can also keep medicines for headache, fever, etc. in your kit.

5. Stress, beyond a point, isn’t worth it: You might agree with me that this examination
is one of the easier challenges of life. ‘Aur bhi gam hain zamane me…’. Trust yourself
/ nature/ God. Stay calm and try to do your best.

6. Enter the examination hall without any expectations: In the official notification, RBI
mentions that ‘syllabus taught at master’s level course at Central Universities’ across
the country to be the syllabus for the DEPR exam.

• There will be 3 sections, containing 62 questions contributing to 100 marks.

• There will be negative marking:
o 0.33 marks for 1-mark questions
o 0.5 marks for 2-mark questions
o 1 marks for 3-mark questions
o 2 marks for 4 mark questions

Beyond this, leave all other type of expectations outside the examination hall (what
type of questions, etc.)
Tell yourself only one thing: ‘I am prepared with the syllabus. I can answer any type
of question’.

ALL THE BEST !

Note: There are 2-3 type of questions that we couldn’t include in Mock Tests. Will share
links related to them shortly on the channel.