My story of clearing RBI Grade B 2023

Hello everyone! I am Anmol and I have cleared RBI Grade B 2023 examination in my third
attempt. This write up is an attempt to not only share my strategy and resources but to also
discuss the failures and setbacks, which I faced in this journey. Before we dive into the strategy
a quick disclaimer as we all our different in terms of our educational backgrounds, strengths,
weaknesses, way of handling the things what worked for me might not work that well for you.
So you need to be wise while picking up the things from topper’s strategies as per your
strengths and weaknesses.

Index

 Background and Journey - Page no . 2

 List of failures – Page no. 5
 Sources – Page no. 5
 Interview transcript – Page no. 9
 Score card of Phase 1 and Phase 2 – Page no. 12 & 13

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My Background and brief Journey

I have completed engineering in December 2020. However I had this urge to work in social
sector ever since I was in 4th or 5th standard. Thus to fulfill this dream of mine I started
preparing for UPSC from my 3rd year of engineering itself. However over the course of time I
realized UPSC as a job doesn’t suits to my personality, exam was coming closer and I wasn’t
well prepared. Meanwhile I also got to know about RBI Grade B, which had only 2 subjects as
compared to the vast syllabus of UPSC. All these factors pushed me to choose RBI over UPSC
and I never took even a single attempt of UPSC thereafter. My journey towards RBI started in
my final year itself. That was the time of COVID-19 where uncertainty was hovering from all the
corners. Neither final year exams were not taking place, nor there was any sign of RBI
notification. On the top of this all we were getting bad news everyday onus to COVID, which
made that phase really gloomy. However I tried best of my capabilities to utilize this time to
build my base for RBI grade B.

Finally in December 2020, my graduation exams were over I got my degree which made me
eligible for RBI grade B, and phase 1 was also scheduled on 6th March. During this period I did
everything which was in my control to clear the exam and I was hopeful that I would clear it. I
practice QRE, prepared FM & ESI well, however that was not enough. On 13th march results for
phase 1 were announced and my roll no. wasn’t there in that holy PDF. My world fell apart and
I could not take it. When the scorecards were out I was 3 marks away from phase 1 cut off. This
episode shattered my belief from hard work. For 1 month straight I could not study anything no
matter how hard I tried, because those failure always came in front of me whenever I tried to
give my 100%. You see the live example of Vroom’s theory I did not have this belief that my
hard work would bear fruits, so I could not put enough efforts. Time passed like this and
NABARD notification popped up meanwhile, I never had NABARD in my mind but my friends
pushed me to fill the form. I hardly prepared for 20 days, but the beauty of NABARD was I could
get myself back into that study mode where I was able to give my 100% once again. NABARD
pre happened again as soon as I came out of exam hall, I knew I won’t be clearing the prelims
and I cried my heart out that one more failure is waiting for my warm welcome. Yup I missed
another prelims again by 1.5 marks. But this time it didn’t take me months to get over the
failure. I was ready to walk again. I just had one mantra, I cannot stop until I achieve my dream,
I need to keep walking no matter how hard it gets.

Missing these exams by whisker, clearing SEBI prelims on the basis of RBI preparation, getting
decent marks in SEBI phase 2 English paper acted as my push factor that I am not too bad. You
see when there’s dark everywhere we need to motivate ourselves by identifying those silver
linings. You need to stand by your side, in the world where only positive results prove your
worth. So yeah keeping philosophy aside, now it was time to take practical decision. I decided
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to take IBPS PO exam as it looked doable due to high vacancies. Now there’s one thing about
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me whenever I took pressure for any exam, the nervousness and anxiety always spoiled my
performance and same thing happened in IBPS PO prelims. As I got struck in a puzzle, I thought
I lost the game, and could not perform well. I was expecting I will not clear IBPS PO prelims so I
shifted my focus to RBI, rather than preparing for IBPS PO mains. But to my surprise I cleared
prelims and just 12 days were left for mains, so I just took 2-3 mocks , watched few GA videos
and went for the exam in a really chill mode. I ended up clearing the mains but was out from
the final list by 0.45 but I did not feel bad as I wasn’t prepared. During this time I also failed SBI
PO pre by 0.25. Amid all these RBI was again knocking my door so again went with all the
energy to fulfill my dream. Again prepared phase 2 well, took a lot of mocks but failed prelims
once again! This time Quant was the culprit. I cleared overall cut off but missed quant sectional
by 0.5 .

This story might look like me and my “0.25s, 0.75s, etc. but it wasn’t over yet. Now I had this
confidence that I will clear RBI someday, I don’t know from this came. I stood firm to achieve
my dream, I did not feel shattered when I failed. Within 1 or 2 months I joined Atul Sharma sir’s
We Learn Here group for answer writing and was quite regular with it. But I also thought this
year it’s very important to take a back up option. So I decided I will appear only in QRE based
exams, without deviating for any exams which have different syllabus like NABARD. And now I
was juggling between RBI syllabus and PO exams. My anxiety even made me fill SBI JA exam
which I never considered in these 1.5 years.

How I juggled between RBI and other exams –

 I always devoted 4-5 hours to RBI to revise static portion of Finance and Management
multiple along with special focus on schemes and answer writing without a fail
otherwise I would be kicked out of WLH group.
 I ensured that I am attempting 1 mock test daily for PO prelims level exam, along with
5 prelims level puzzle and one mains level puzzle, even if no exam was there on the
way.
 I tried to practice PO mains level questions on alternate day or at least thrice a week.
 Newspaper became my best friend, reading businessline became a fun game. I hated
reading PIB but tried to do it as much as possible from WLH group. I hated the bulky
affairscloud study PDF, so to avoid last minute hustle and panic I read daily pdf of
affairscloud. My approach was to read it at least thrice in one go so that I am able to
recall 70% of its content and attempted quiz based on it on next day.
 I also ensured I visit RBI website thrice or four times a week. I read speeches, bulletins
as a leisure activity which strengthened my grip over concepts and made me feel as if I
have an edge in this exam.
 Whenever I had prelims of let’s say IBPS PO or SBI PO or RRB PO pre, I kept reading for
RBI at least for 2 hours, during the period between pre and mains of these exams I kept
RBI aside and focused only on mains.
So this was approach of balancing QRE based exam without neglecting my dream job.
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Quest of back up option post failure in 2nd attempt of RBI

As I already failed in RBI Grade B twice, now I was actively looking for back up options. I was
really weak in quant section, it always haunted me. With these fears I decided to appear in RRB
PO exam. Took a lot of mocks for both prelims and mains, but due to my weak quant I once
again faced failure by missing the pre exam by 0.25. But it was okay for me because I knew I
was weak in quant and this exam did not have my strong subject, i.e. English.

Next exam was IBPS PO, and the efforts that put in RRB definitely helped me in IBPS PO. IBPS
PO was apple of my eyes, because of the following reasons-

 High vacancies
 Last year I reached its interview stage
 SBI PO looked too tough, RRB PO did not have English in prelims

So again with a bag full of expectations I appeared in IBPS PO and scored 86/100 in prelims. It
boosted my confidence but I was under pressure too, because this was the only exam which
looked doable as back up. This time I had good preparation for mains, but again Quant came in
between me and my back up option. Once again I panicked in Quant, as soon as exam got over
I had tears in my eyes, I knew I will clear mains, but my scores won’t be good enough to get me
a seat. In this preparation journey I was a very fragile glass, but I was holding myself
throughout despite dozens of failure. But the mains day of IBPS PO was final nail in the coffin.
That day I broke down to the core, and that was the day when I considered looking was
alternate career options, because I failed in the easiest task. My parents consoled me
somehow. It is rightly said failures make you humble. There was a time when I was too egoistic
to fill PO exam forms, and here I was crying for the same job even before completing losing the
battle. Life knows very well how to bring you on your knees. I prepared hard for IBPS PO
interview, little did I know my chances are slim still I gave it all. On 1st April 2023, my fear came
true, I failed once again.

In between all this chaos I cleared SBI clerical exam. Just 2 days after IBPS PO final results I had
my SBI PO interview, the fighter in me was grieving and studying simultaneously. As I always
thought SBI PO is not my cup of tea, so I didn’t feel any pressure during its mains or interview.
To my surprise I not only cleared SBI PO but also secured all India rank 27 in it, which was a
great booster for me. So guys please do not get nervous, it kills your potential. Neither I
became too smart in SBI PO nor I was too dumb in IBPS PO but the mindset has a lot to do with
your performance, so hold your nerves, chill a bit when you are taking the exams, that creates
a lot of difference. Meanwhile I also ended up clearing SIDBI Grade A. So yeah finally my
hardwork was showing some results and it made me content par dil to RBI chahta tha.

Now the dark side began, amidst interviews, to and fro to get extension in these jobs, medical,
document verification, 20 days long sickness I lost complete touch with RBI from last 4-5
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months. I had practiced QRE last time in January 2023 and here RBI notification was on my
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head. I had my joining in SIDBI just 10 days before RBI prelims. I lost the hopes and I made my
mind that I would be appearing in RBI in 2024, as I was neither prepared for QRE nor GA, phase
2 was totally out of context. I told it to my family that I will be appearing next year, as without
preparation taking this attempt will be a waste. But then my parents, Atul sir and my friends
insisted me to at least appear in the exam. I just joined the job it was too difficult for me to
adjust office and studies simultaneously. I could not read GA, for mocks I just took mocks so
that I could sit for 2 hours in the exam, and didn’t analyse even a single mock tests. Just 1 day
before the exam I was on a visit and came home at 8:30 pm, got my admit card printed and
went to write exam next day without any thoughts. Tough GA and my previous QRE practice
somehow helped me and ironically when I prepared a lot for phase 1 I missed it, but this time I
cleared it. Now as I wasn’t expecting much I started properly for phase 2 preparation only after
result and I knew it’s not possible to clear phase 2 in just 10 days. So I thought I will be
preparing only descriptive this time to check if I am actually good at it. In 10 days I revised mine
and WLH descriptive answer compilations, 3 months PIB compilation of Brajesh Mohan sir, and
6 months RBI notification of Edutap compilation while supplementing them with original
notifications. Time was too less, so I did not try to read a lot, it was just a descriptive mock for
me. I did not read any reports, nor finance but somehow certainly the previous preparation
helped and I ended up clearing phase 2. Now I had 2 months for interview, I did my best but my
interview did not go as per my expectation. I was mentally prepared to appear in RBI Grade B
2024, but god was kind this time and I was able to make into the final list, that too for an
attempt where I was least prepared and wasn’t expecting the selection.

List of my very own failures –

 IBPS PO 2022 and 2023 final selection

 SBI PO Prelims 2021
 RRB PO Prelims 2023
 RBI assistance Prelims
 NABARD DA Prelims
 ESIC SSO Prelims
 ESIC UDC Mains
 NABARD Grade A Prelims
 RBI Grade B Prelims – 2021 & 2022
 NIACL Prelims 2021

Sources

Phase 1

I. Quant
 For clearing basics, I used R.S. Agrawal’s book. I completed all the chapters
from it and practiced the questions provided in it.
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 I supplemented it with adda247 topic wise quizzes.

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  I referred Harsh Agrawal sir’s videos for certain topics like Quadratic equations,
algebra and to understand some pattern questions.
 I used guidely daily IBPS/SBI PO mains PDFs for daily practice.
 I took a lot of mocks from practice mocks both sectional and full length to
prepare for the final battle.
 Besides this I used Maths app increase my calculation speed, looked for some
short tricks for topics like compound interest, square roots, cube roots, etc.
 In quant nothing beats good practice and understanding our own strengths and
weaknesses.
II. Logical Reasoning

 For basics I used guidely app where I used to practice 50-60 questions from 2- 3
topics on daily basis.
 I used adda 247 quizzes to gain speed in it.
 Supplemented it with Meritshine videos to get conceptual clarity on topics like
syllogism and critical reasoning.
 Then I used Ankush Lamba Sir’s puzzles book, Guidely daily pdfs and
affairscloud app for daily practice.
 Besides all this practice mock remained my go to platform for taking sectional
and full length mocks.
III. English
 As I was naturally good in English, I relied only on mock test and Newspaper
reading for this section.

Note - The sources which I have mentioned might look a lot, but I have used these sources
over a period of time as per the need of exam and my weaknesses which I felt need some extra
effort.

IV. GA
 My primary sources for this section were Affairscloud, Business line Newspaper
and PIB.
 I used to read daily study PDFs, in first read I would highlight the important
news, in second and third read I tried to memorise at least 70% of its content.
 I attempted the quiz based on previous day current affairs, followed by weekly
quizzes, weekly and bimonthly revisions.
 For this year’s exam I did not get enough time to study, so I just read 3 months
PIB compilation provided by Brajesh Mohan Sir. As the exam was mostly phase
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2 based, its toughness helped me in sailing through.

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  Occasionally I watched Parcham classes videos by Richa Ma’am. I found her
mnemonic techniques really cool. Though this channel did not cover the news
extensively but helped me in remembering the surface news.
 Tips for 2024 aspirants - Cover 6 months phase 2 current affairs (PIB,
Newspaper and RBI notifications) and read 3 months Affairscloud study
PDF/Guidely Thunderstorm.
 Tip 2 – This year’s GA paper might look overwhelming but do not run behind 10
resources, stick to 1 good source and read it 10 times. Even if the paper is too
tough same resources are available to everyone in the market, the purpose is
to fall under above average score and not to get a 100% score. Thus instead of
wasting your time in thinking which resource has to be followed, what if paper
comes like this, that focus on reading and re-reading what you are already
doing, trust me it will work out.

Phase 2

I. Finance
 I started my finance journey by reading Bharti V. Pathak but then it was too
bulky for me to cover and I wasn’t able to understand where do I need to stop.
 So for finance I relied mostly on edutap summary sheets.
 My major focus remained on conceptual clarity, thus I supplemented it with
investopedia, and youtube channels like Asset yogi to understand concepts like
derivatives and swaps.
 The focus should be getting conceptual clarity, no matter even if you read a
topic 10 times if you are not able to grasp the concepts it will be useless, so
even if it takes time try to get your concepts crystal clear.
 It is not recommended to refer multiple sources, however I subscribed
crackgrade b for my 2022 attempt, and supplemented it with edutap summary
sheets.
 For RBI notifications and current affairs – As I was a regular visitor of RBI
website I preferred covering all the notifications from RBI website itself. For
those notifications which comprised more than 5-10 pages, I just referred
initial 4-5 pages and relied on newspaper and affairscloud for covering
remaining content.
 Video sources – I watched RBI 247 videos on Anuj Jindal’s channel and Kritika
mam’s finance series to reinforce the dynamic section of finance. These videos
acted as my fillers during those times when I could not properly study but also
did not want waste time onus to guilt.
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 Management
 Edutap Summary sheets have remained my basic source for management. I
supplemented it with Crackgrade B content for topics like personality.
 Management studyguide.com is also a good website, I referred it many times.
 I watched Dr. Amit Lal’s videos during free time, so that even when I am tired I am
doing something related to RBI.
 Making short notes of management comes handy in revising different theories of
management.
 Management is a low hanging fruit of RBI Grade B, thus completing it on time and
revising definitely helps in scoring good in FM section.
 For Ethics section I solely relied on crackgrade B material.

II. Economic and Social Issues

 For static portion I completed all the important chapters of Ramesh Singh.
It helped me in building my base and getting conceptual clarity.
 For schemes initially I tried to prepare my own notes from websites,
vikaspedia, etc. But then my notes were getting outdated so I relied mostly
on crackgrade B schemes compilations for this particular section.
 For PIB I tried to follow links shared on We Learn Here group and
supplemented it with Brajesh Mohan sir’s PIB compilations. However as
the exam was approaching I did not have much time to cover everything, I
just read BM sir’s 3 months PIB compilation. Though my previous efforts
did help me in sailing through this section.
 For example, I was aware about Doha round of WTO because I read
Ramesh Singh, I could remember chairperson of WTO due to daily reading
of affairscloud. Even though I did not read about Mission Life properly,
daily newspaper reading helped me in attempting 2-3 questions from that
set.
 Reports section – Due to lack of time I did not read any report. It is
recommended cover at least 8 months of ESI related reports from
important organizations. Sources – Newspaper and current affairs resource
shall suffice for this part.

Descriptive section

 For descriptive section I solely relied on WLH group. I was a member of

private group and was pretty regular in answer writing. Daily answer
writing practice helped me in developing the acumen for attempting
descriptive questions. When the exam was close I revised WLH
compilations multiple times.
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Descriptive English
  For descriptive English section I used to practice essay and précis writing
mostly on weekends.
 You can also try to practice précis and essay on alternate week.
 Unlike the descriptive section of FM and ESI, English descriptive demands
focus on content, grammar and spellings.
 General rules for précis writing –
• Major focus should be on central idea of the passage.
• Do not include each and every data in the précis , include only highly
important data.
• Giving title to the précis is must.
• Strictly adhere to the word limit.
• Use simple and short sentences to avoid grammatical and punctuation
mistakes.
• Avoid using anything (vocab, phrases) directly from the main passage,
we have to write everything in our own words.
• Do not include anything which is not mentioned in the passage
(personal opinions, criticism, etc.)
• Use simple language and sentence; we don’t need to write in flowery
English.
Interview preparation
 Interview is the deal maker/breaker part of the RBI grade B examination.
Like most of the aspirants even I was extremely anxious about this stage.
Thus to make the process easy I did my preparation by covering following
sources –
 RBI Grade B Functions and Working PDF – You need to read this PDF
word by word and understand it properly. It is the bible for interview
preparation as it gives an overall idea about the functions of RBI. Do not
try to rely on the shortcuts for it. It might look bulky but it is interesting
and worth reading. Once the reading is done, multiple revisions are
recommended, I revised it for 5-6 times.
 If you are a working aspirant than everything related to your work profile
and organization becomes extremely important.
 Besides this covering RBI notifications for 6 months and important
speech of minimum 4-5 months is crucial.
 Follow any one the financial newspaper till the D-day.
 Anything that you mention in your biodata be it hobby, certain
achievement , certification you need to cover it thoroughly.
 Prepare properly about your city , parents’ profession, etc.
 There’s a lot of talk about pursuing courses for the interview round, it
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definitely adds starts to your profile. However you should opt for courses
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only if the above mentioned parts are properly prepared by you.

 Remember even if you mention a single word about yourself in the
biodata it is a message to the panel that you are well versed in it. So if
you write a lot of things in your biodata just to make it look fancy but if
you are not able to answer the questions based on it, it’s surely gonna
backfire.
 Maintaining confidence and remaining humble is one the key traits which
one needs to reflect in the interview.

My interview transcript –

Profile - SIDBI grade A officer

6 Panel members mam was sitting at leftmost corner, venue -Mumbai

I entered into room
Chairman sir - Anmol means priceless ?
Me - I just nodded , said yes sir and smiled
Chairman sir - phir kha se questions puche hum
Me - from my workprofile (I dk what happened to me at that moment I just said work profile ,
didn't say anything about rbi etc)
Chairman sir pointed towards sir sitting besides mam to ask me questions other members were
discussing something among themselves
M1 - Why micro enterprises are said to be risky
Me - MSME k challenges ko micro k taraf tilt kr k bta diya
M1 - difference between micro and macro prudential regulations
Me - explained
M1 - give example of each
Me - gave basel for macro for micro I talked about supervision
M1 - what is expected credit loss framework
Me - I wasn't very sure about it , so first I said I m not very sure and then answered
M1 - what do we do in current framework
Me - I talked about provisioning based on stressed and doubtful assets
M1 - what is the name of this framework
Me - I m not aware sir , will read about it
M1 - International group of central banks name a few
Me - Basel , OECD
M1 and mam - what is OCED , you mean OECD ?
ME - yes mam ,
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M1 - are you sure it is for central banks ?

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Me - sir it is not solely for central banks but there were certain discussions regarding central
banks ( I bleakly remember reading about naming of Shadow banks as NBFC in OECD meeting
that's why I said that)
M1 - tell me some more
Me - network for greening financial system , it has 42 members
M1 - are you sure it has 42 members ?
Me - sorry sir I m not completely sure about it , I will read more about it , I also talked about
G20 group of central banks ...
Now the baton passed to mam
Let's call her S1
S1 - What is the share of direct and indirect lending in its credit portfolio
Me - I said 6% and 94%
S1 - what are the sources of funds of SIDBI
Me - Fixed deposits , international credit lines through world bank , kfw , bonds
S1 - what are the different types of bonds which Sidbi issues ?
Me - sorry mam I m not aware ( I thought it must be some compulsorily convertible debenture ,
AT 1 kinda bond which I m not aware about )
S1 - fixed rate , floating interest rate
It was kinda face palm moment for me and it was visible on my face , a little smile came on my
face for being so silly
S1 : is the ASPIRE fund of SIDBI still running ?
Me - yes mam
S1 - are you sure?
Me - now here I read it in 2022 working report of SIDBI , but I wasn't sure if it was there as on
that so I said as per 2022 working report of SIDBI thsre were 3 fund of funds ...ASPIRE , UP state
govt and start up Fof
S1 - something happened regarding bank collapse in US , something related to bonds
Me - I explained about covid crisis , concentration of funds in niche sector , falling of bond
prices kinda told story
S1 - you are missing 1 thing
Deepak singhal sir - she mixed 2 things
S1 - you missed 1 thing , I was about to speak but she said leave it leave it
Now batton passed to the right most sir
M2 - RBI formed a committee for MSME are you aware about it?
Me - yes sir , UK sinha committee
M2 - what were the recommendations of this committee ?
Me - told 5 6 recommendations
M2 - which recommendations of the committee are implemented ?
Me - used common sense and told 4 recommendations which are implemented
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( the only question which I feel I answered properly)

M2 - what is MUDRA scheme?
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Me - talked about different classes of loans in it

M2 - what is the refinance agency of MUDRA

M2 - difference between MUDRa and SVANIDHI ?

ME - I talked about how mudra is there to foster entrepreneurship while svanidhi was launched
to meet temprorary liquidity crunches by street vendors

M2 - what is MSME pulse

Me - answered , though not properly

Then the batton passed to chairman sir and he said I will ask you only 1 question

Chairman sir - NBFCs have largest credit portofolio for MSMEs and not banks why is it so ?

Now this question was from MSME pulse report which is released by SIDBI and

Me - here I talked about how PSBs and other banks have stringent underwriting norms

Chairman sir - so you mean underwriting standards of NBFCs are poor ?

Me - no sir , I mean in case of PSBs and other banks collateral requirements are quite high as
compared to NBFCs , I didn't say much here bcuz I wasn"t sure if I was going in right direction
he too didn't push much then

Now comes Deepak singhal sir

Deepak sir - I will ask you only 1 question , you talked about cgtmse , so many schemes let's
keep them aside and tell me what else can be done to increase credit to MSMEs?

Me - I started talking about open credit enablement network

Deepak sir - no no tell me about things which are not currently there

Me - I talked about checking how long msmes have their contracts with raw material supplier,
customers, diversification of customer base etc.

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Parting words – First of all the journey of becoming RBI Grade B officer has indeed been a roller
coaster ride. I am grateful to everyone who has supported me at some or other point in this
journey, be it in the form of calming me down, motivating me, helping in framing strategy or
sticking with me in my lows. My parents have been my greatest strength of pillar, they didn’t
give up on me even when I did, had they been not supporting me I would have given up in the
midway. Besides this my mentor Shri Atul Sharma sir has helped me a lot in developing the
habit of descriptive writing and maintaining consistency. The WLH group members have been a
great support throughout, a big shout out to all of them ! To my dearest friends – Romil,
Sidhdhartha, Aishwarya, Akshat sir..you guys are the most amazing people, it’s rare when I say
this to you people but thank you for making this journey easy.

To future aspirants – When I started my preparation, after a few failures whenever I looked at
toppers I always thought one needs to be extremely sharp, extraordinary to clear this exam.
People who are making into the final list are very different from me. But it isn’t the case.
Anyone who puts efforts in the right direction can crack this exam, the only requirement is
constantly working on the mistakes, and not giving up until the magic actually happens.
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Secondly “Padha hua kbhi waste nhi jata”. I prepared really well for my last two attempts but
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could not prepare at all for this attempt, however all my previous efforts have helped me this
year. I did not read reports related to ESI descriptive questions but my accumulated knowledge
and answer writing became a savior and I could write decent answers even for the things which
I didn’t prepare.

At the end of the day, treat RBI just as an exam, give your 100% keep working for it, but your
mental and physical well being comes above everything else. Keeping mental composure is as
equal as studying for the exam, but once you learn the art of keeping cool the performance
automatically improves.

With this, I would like to extent my heartfelt best wishes to all the RBI aspirants. In case you
guys have any doubt you can either ping me on telegram or post your doubt on WLH group. I
might reply a bit later but will surely try to address your queries.

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