A journey to RBI Grade B (General) PY-2021

Name: Prithviraj Harish

Current Job: Assistant Manager, General Insurance Corporation of India, Mumbai

Education: Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical)
Year of graduation: 2014

Selected as a DR Grade B officer (General) Panel Year 2021

In this writeup, I shall not just share my strategy for RBI Grade B exam, but also pen down my
journey. I hope this strikes a chord with some of the readers. Some may find it lengthy. I
request your patience.

When it all began?

My journey of preparing for competitive exams began in July 2013, the time I decided to
become a civil servant. It was also a time of campus placements. After appearing in a couple
of recruitment drives at college, I decided to rather focus on preparation. In other words, I did
not take any campus placement offer. At that time, many questions and thoughts crossed my
mind. Whether it was the right thing to do or whether it I was swimming against the tide? All
this because most of my classmates or college batchmates had accepted placement offers, a
few others were already preparing for exams which would help them secure admissions to
higher studies, both in India and overseas.

Life never the same again:

Nonetheless, I stuck to my decision. The first thing I did was cultivating a habit of newspaper
reading. This has stayed with me till date. So, the final year at college was about exploring
the syllabus of Civil Services Examination (CSE), scouting for standard materials, basic
readings like NCERT books and so on. This continued until January 2015. I joined a popular
coaching institution to give a proper direction and shape to my preparation.
With this brief introduction, I list my attempts in CSE and the outcomes thereof:
1. 2015: This was my first attempt in CSE. Although I comfortably managed to clear the
preliminary test (PT), I fell short of the mains cut-off by a good 55 marks. I certainly
felt sad after the mains result. However, since it was my very first attempt, I took it as
a challenge.
2. 2016: Again, I comfortably cleared the PT, but failed to clear the mains. This time with
a smaller margin of about 20 marks (if my memory serves me well). I realized I had
made some progress, in the sense that the gap between my score and the cutoff for
 clearing the mains had substantially narrowed. However, as we all know, merely
scoring equivalent to or a little over the cutoff would do no good to any candidate. With
this in mind, my next aim was to score substantially higher than the mains cutoff so as
to be able to find my roll number in the final list.
3. 2017: This was a year when the PT paper underwent some changes. Questions
became more demanding. Besides, I was down with viral fever during and after the
prelims. Somehow, I managed to crack the PT. It was an encouraging moment for
me. I was geared up for giving my best in the mains, too. But somewhere in between
the PT result and mains exam, I was once again infected with viral fever. As soon as
I recovered from that, I was down with Malaria. However, I still managed to prepare.
I appeared in the mains with a lot of confidence. I felt my papers went well and I would
definitely receive an interview call. I remember the date, it was January 10, 2018. The
mains result was declared, and I felt utterly dejected, defeated. I had appeared in three
consecutive mains without success. I was completely shattered, to say the least. I
started thinking of alternatives. I looked for a few opportunities in the private sector,
and also in the coaching market as a faculty member. None were welcoming.

The major shift (2.0)

At this moment, it was my then girlfriend (now wife), who advised me to pursue Banking
Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) exams. I was initially skeptical, one because I had
lost all confidence of appearing in any competitive exam, and two, because I had limitations
in reasoning and basic maths sections of these exams. Nonetheless, I took her word of
assurance that with some additional effort, I would be able to make it. I started preparing for
these two topics. I joined a popular coaching institute in my hometown, just to learn the basics
and gain some confidence.

My experience over the years

With this background, I now turn to the list of BFSI exams I appeared in and the status thereof:
1. Canara Bank PO: This was in February 2018. I could not get past the written test.
2. NABARD Grade A 2018: Qualified in phase I, failed in phase II. I realized the error in
my assessment. Although I had studied ESI / ARD during my CSE preparation, the
demand of these exams was something very different. Phase II exposed me to the
type of questions asked in such exams, the kind of preparation required, the sources
to be read and so on.
3. RBI Grade B 2018: Once again, I qualified in phase I with a comfortable margin.
Although I had tweaked my preparation for phase II, I was not just there yet. I fell short
of the cutoff for qualifying phase II by a good 9.5 marks. Nonetheless, I took it as an
encouragement and continued with my preparation.
4. GIC Re, AM, 2018: Qualified in the final list and joined on October 4, 2018, where I am
currently posted.
5. SBI PO 2018: Qualified and did not join.
Reached somewhere. But, not arrived yet:

After joining GIC RE, I decided to exclusively focus on NABARD Grade A and RBI Grade B
exams. However, for reasons I do not remember now, I did not appear in NABARD Grade A
2019. Maybe I did not feel confident in the ARD section. Be it as it may. I continued my
preparation for RBI Grade B PY-2019. Exam was announced in September 2019, and the
prelims was held on November 9, 2019, one day before my wedding day, November 10, 2019.
As expected, the result of phase I had nothing to offer. However, it did not affect me since I
had the joy of marrying my long-time girlfriend.
Come January 2020, the notification of NABARD Grade A was announced on January 1, 2020
(if I remember the date accurately). I applied and thought it was an opportunity to hone my
skills for the forthcoming RBI Grade B recruitment.

6. NABARD Grade A 2020: I reached the interview, and in the final result saw my roll-
number in the waitlist. I did feel dejected. But I knew I had made mistakes in the
objective as well as descriptive paper, which I will turn to in the forthcoming pages.
At this juncture, I would like to make a special mention of the COVID-19 period. The nation-
wide lockdown was announced the same night NABARD Grade A phase II result was
announced. None had any clue about how it would impact the examination calendars. And it
did, in a really big way. Staying motivated, staying afloat during the period between March
2020 and September 2020 (when exams had once again commenced) was an extremely
difficult task. An added worry for me was my age. I was already 28 years old in 2020. Since
no one had any hindsight of how things would pan out, I was worried about the duration of the
lockdown, the impact it would have on examination schedules, whether additional attempts
would be provided in case exams were held during a particular year and so on.
Nevertheless, I took the additional time as an opportunity to prepare well. I meticulously made
notes from PIB, ministry websites and so on. All this while uncertainty was at its highest levels.
The notification for conduct of phase II of NABARD Grade A, 2020 was announced on August
26, 2020. The exam was scheduled on September 24, 2020. The exam threw a few surprises.
1. ESI / ARD: The paper was completely unconventional. Unconventional in the sense
very few questions were asked from current affairs (CAs) unlike the 2019 paper which
was more inclined towards Cas. Many of us were taken aback. We could hardly gauge
whether the paper was difficult individually for us or was it the same for every candidate
appearing in the exam.
What followed was a desperate attempt. I attempted questions worth 96 marks! The
outcome was quite expected. I lost far too many marks to negative marking, five marks
in the paragraph-based questions. My final score in the ESI / ARD paper was 68.5/100.
Had I not attempted those 10 questions which were pure guesses, my score would
have been 73.5/100. Be it as it may. It was a learning experience. The key takeaway
from that attempt was, “if you find the paper difficult despite your best effort (true
to your soul and conscience), then it is so for every other candidate appearing
in the exam. In such situations, one should refrain from making wild guesses,
more so in the paragraph-based questions which carry 2 marks each.”
2. English descriptive: Here again, there were a few surprises. First and foremost, the
interface. One, the software would not execute the ‘enter’ command if one had
executed the ‘space-bar command’ immediately before ‘enter’. It took a while for most
 of us to figure this out. Two, the interface would not allow the candidate to format the
content typed in a way as to create a ‘one-line gap’, especially in the letter writing part.
We lost a good 10-odd minutes in figuring this out. Nonetheless, I managed to
complete the paper and do one round of proofreading. With this I now turn to my
mistakes in this paper:

⮚ I crossed the word limit in precis writing. Word limit in the precis is an absolutely
non-negotiable demand of the examiner. I borrowed sentences directly from the
paragraph because I had little time to read the passage in its entirety. Again, this
was a blunder. Going forward, I made discrete paragraphs in my precis. One does
not make paragraphs in precis writing.
⮚ There were many errors in letter writing, too. The demand was much higher than
the usual 150 words, it was 250 words in that paper. This should serve as a word
of caution for future aspirants. I did manage to write 254-odd words. But I certainly
was not satisfied with the content.
All this brought my score in descriptive English down to just 63/100.

3. Interview: This was the best part of the process, wherein I scored the maximum
allotted marks, 25/25. But this was not enough to put my roll-number in the final
selected candidates’ list. I fell short by 1.25 marks and landed in the waitlist.
The reason I elaborated the whole attempt of NABARD Grade A, 2020 was to highlight the
mistakes therein. These served me well in my RBI Grade B 2021 attempt. The notification
for RBI Grade B PY-2021 followed soon. To the surprise of many of us, the syllabus and
scheme of exam saw some major revisions. One, RBI re-introduced the descriptive format,
albeit partially. Two, portions like ethics et. al. were added to the Finance and Management
(F&M) paper. Three, the word limit. It was a complete surprise, 600 words for the 15-markers
and 400 words for the 10-markers. However, this gave me hope. I always had the benefit of
hindsight, coming fresh from NABARD 2020 recruitment.
I now turn to my sources and strategy for preparation as regards the RBI Grade B examination:
1. Phase I: As we all know the format, I shall not reiterate the same. All I would say is
readers are best advised to focus on all parts of the preparation, with additional
attention to areas where one lags in his / her opinion. As I have said in one of the
foregoing paragraphs, my weakest areas were reasoning and basic maths. However,
since I was already comfortable with the basics, I chose to go ahead directly with full
length mock tests from two websites. This helped me hone skills such as speed,
accuracy, etc. For general awareness (GA), I relied exclusively on the ‘Question &
Answer PDF’ by AffairsCloud. I would not recommend this approach because the
questions asked in the actual exam required in-depth study of current affairs. Further,
I restricted my preparation to current affairs up to 3 months prior to the exam. Again,
I would not recommend this. Going forward, competition is only going to rise in these
exams, so one has to walk the extra mile and read current affairs in detail at least up
to 6 months prior to the date of actual examination.
2. Phase II: This comprises descriptive as well as objective sections. This has become
more competitive because of two sections. Each requires a unique approach in terms
of preparation and execution of the strategy. I would elaborate each in the forthcoming
writeup.
 ⮚ Objective: There is no major change here. The nature of questions remains same
as before. Therefore, preparation can be continued without much tweaking. One
must rely on original sources. I relied on PIB and ministry websites for current
affairs and government schemes, respectively. For reports, committee findings
and so on, one can rely on any one or two business newspapers. I recommend
Financial Express and Mint. Now, the question arises how exactly one can prepare
from these sources. The simplest way is to save PDFs of PIB releases. One must
spend at least 15-20 minutes in the morning or at the end of the day to glance
through the list of press releases of the day and choose the relevant ones for future
revision and reference.

Making notes from ministry websites is a one-time investment which can potentially
reap rich benefits in the exam. This year, many questions were asked directly from
such guidelines. Here, I would like to make a special mention of an initiative
launched by Shivam Agrawal on his Telegram channel,wherein he had prepared
questions based on these sources. It incentivized me to look for these topics on
the official websites.
Other than that, I also relied on the ministry-wise compendium of government
schemes by CrackgradeB online learning platform.

⮚ ESI and F&M descriptive part: For the descriptive section, a background of
appearing in CSE mains certainly gave me an edge. However, this was limited to
only the structuring part of my answers. Typing was a challenging due to the
demand of each question (600 words for the 15-markers and 400 words for the 10-
markers). I used to practice typing at least 5-10 questions on a daily basis. Here
again, I am indebted to Shivam’s channel (where he had posted practice
questions.

⮚ For the new topics, I did not have to study additionally, as it was covered in the GS-
IV paper of CSE(M). That knowledge certainly helped me. I used the static
material from CrackgradeB online learning platform to brush up basics of topics
like growth and development, poverty estimation, old welfare schemes with a
descriptive angle, inflation, and so on.
For management, standard books were my reference material. I revised basics
from my public administration textbooks, namely Mohit Bhattacharya;
Organisational Behaviour by Stephen Robbins; and Prasad & Prasad. I used
summary sheets from Edutap for sundry topics like Human Resource Management
and so on.
I would cite a few examples highlighting the importance of PIB in respect of descriptive section:

⮚ There was a question on corporate governance in the 15-marker section of F&M

paper. Here, I generously borrowed content from this PIB release to articulate my
answer. The link for the release is attached here:

https://pib.gov.in/Pressreleaseshare.aspx?PRID=1568750#:~:text=Ministry%20of
%20Corporate%20Affairs%20has,principles%20in%20letter%20and%20spirit.
This press release contains ample fodder to articulate an answer to that question.
 ⮚ Similarly, the ESI paper had a 15-marker on the recommendation of Fifteenth
Finance Commission (15th FC) as regards vertical and horizontal distribution.
Here, the way to enrich one’s content was by quoting Article 280 of the constitution,
giving the rationale for setting up of finance commission every 5 years and so on.
The reason I am emphasizing this is because the word-limit was 600 words, and in
my opinion, one has to attempt at lease 500-550 words in such questions. Again,
I borrowed content from PIB. I am attaching a link to the press release:

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1693868.

3. Interview: This is the final stage of the recruitment process. From PY-2021 onwards,
the importance of this phase has grown manifold. If one considers the marking pattern
of PY-2019, it would not be difficult to estimate how crucial this phase can turn out.
Personally, this phase was one where I could show the best side of my personality. I
had a work experience of nearly three years as on the date of the interview. At the
same time, I knew I was going to face the interview with a baggage of career gap od
over 4 years between 2014 to 2018. But I knew, I just had to be calm and confident
about my profile. As you would read in the subsequent paragraphs, interview went
really well for me.
Coming to the preparation part, we had more than three months to prepare for the
interview. A few seniors told me to start with the Functions and Working of RBI pdf.
Here, I would like to mention that I began reading this pdf soon after the mains exam
was over. This gave me ample time and opportunity to glance through the entire pdf
at least thrice before the actual interview. One must not lose focus of the approach.
The book / pdf is only to expose ourselves to the ring-side view of RBI’s functions.
Please do not approach the content with a view to memorise it for the interview.
It would be great if you could find a like-minded study partner. I was really fortunate to
have a long-time friend of mine, who is also an assistant in RBI. We used to discuss
major functions and working of RBI; important financial news; core concepts like
inflation; Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) resolutions and so on. Besides, I used to
make direct notes from analytical articles published in financial express and mint to be
better able to articulate my view before the interview board. This approach helped me
particularly in my very first question of the interview. As you would read further in my
interview transcript (attached later), the first question I faced in the interview was on
the observations and recommendations of the parliamentary committee as regards the
functioning of the insolvency and bankruptcy code. I had the good fortune of having
read both pro and against view of the functioning of the IBC.
Further I prepared for questions from my current work experience of reinsurance. I
prepared for topics such as FDI, privatization, insurance penetration, insurance
density, the prospect for insurance sector in India for the next 5 years and so on. But
very few questions were asked from this area. As you would read, my interview was
largely on banking and finance, and little about work experience and insurance
knowledge.
I am attaching two newspaper links just for reference to drive home a point as to how
important newspaper can be in one’s preparation:
 ⮚ financialexpress.com/economy/ibc-strayed-from-original-goals-panel/2303646/
⮚ https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/about-19000-insolvency-cases-closed-
liquidation-remains-minimal-ibbi-chief-sahoo/2304251/

Also, I appeared in two mock interviews. One by EduTap and the other by Iexambee. While
the EduTap interview was telephonic, the one by IexamBee was on google meet. Both
enriched my preparation in terms of articulation of my viewpoint, the areas that I needed to
focus on, etc.
At the same time, Shivam’s interview group provided a constant push throughout the interview
preparation. Individual friendly interactions provided the much-needed moral support that an
aspirant lacks in this daunting journey. It reassured me from time to time.

Parting words: (Emotions alert)

To be honest, this has been as much a journey of losing as it is of winning. Nobody is able to
come out of the process unscathed. You devote a lot of your prime towards this one dream. It
is a surreal feeling to have finally made it.
Now that I have made it, it is as much satisfying as it is relieving. If you are still struggling in
the process, remember that it’s a challenging journey. After a point, success and failure start
looking like a part of the same coin. Now that I have made it, I can say it with a bit more
certainty that this journey is beautiful. To be cherished for life. To look back every now and
then to smilingly say- “Been there. Done that.”
This has been a journey of becoming for me. And looking back, I love every bit of it.

So, if you have a realistic assessment of yourself and feel that you can very well be there,
sooner or later, you will surely find yourself there.

And finally:

…….I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-

I took the one less travelled by

And that has made all the difference”

Robert Frost
Building upon the moral support element, this is such an underrated aspect in the preparation.
We can surely look at it in a more humane manner. Rather than looking at it as a zero -sum
game. It’s not.
I feel happy that Shivam’s channel has taken a touching initiative that is just a beginning in
filling a large gap in this space. The hard support, in the form of materials and tests etc, though
extremely important, is just one part of the preparation. We also need more of the soft
support, the empathy part, in this ecosystem. I am sure this initiative has taken baby steps in
that direction that can become a proper movement in the coming times. And we need it.

PFA
1. Prelims marksheet. (Mains and interview marks yet to be announced).
2. Interview Transcript

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financial inclusion and development. Why?
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economic issues hence prepared for CSE.
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is a logical aspiration for me.
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inclusion? If yes, then why? - said yes, because RBI
being the apex institution in the financial sector has
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