Since I have passed RBI Grade B 2018 with AIR 67, I feel competent enough to answer this question.

First I would share my marks-

Prelims – 112.5

Mains – 218.5

Interview – 30

Total – 248.5

Before I give my strategy, I would like to tell that this is my personal strategy and I would not recommend to follow it blindly. Every person is
different with different background and personal strengths. Hence, first I will give my background-

I am a B.Tech (EXTC) student from VJTI College Mumbai and graduated in 2015. Since 2015, I have been preparing for UPSC Civil Services and
had given 2 mains till RBI. I was decent in Quant and Reasoning and good in English. However, I had zero knowledge about Finance and
Management. I failed to clear 2018 UPSC pre and hence decided to prepare for RBI. However, I started to prepare seriously only after the
notification was out.

STRATEGY-

Time Management is very important for Prelims. You have to solve 200 questions in 2 hrs. From videos of previous years successful students, I
learned this strategy and tried to implement in mock tests – 15-20 minutes for GA, 20-25 minutes for English, 30 minutes for Quant, 45
minutes for Reasoning and in the same order. I attempted all questions in English and 79 in GA. In quant I attempted 14 in my 30 minutes
and then switched to Reasoning where I could manage 26 questions. I think this is a safe and easy strategy. Many ppl take reasoning first and
then find themselves with little time for quant and fail to cleat the sectional cutoff. However, now there is sectional timing and hence it eases
out the job

PRELIMS-After the notification is out, there is around 45 days’ time for prelims. Hence, first thing I did was jotting down the syllabus on my
RBI diary. And then I analyzed it and identified the easy areas in Quant and Reasoning. My priority was to clear the cutoff and target easy
questions. In quant there are 30 questions, here I targeted number series and DI i.e. diagram interpretation. These two account for atleast 10-
15 questions. Thus atleast cutoff will be cleared. In reasoning, I targeted syllogisms, inequalities, directions, coded inequalities, data
sufficiency. However, I completely left puzzles which account for 30 marks. Solving puzzles can take time and a small mistake can cost you
valuable time and marks. I don’t recommend leaving puzzles but complete the easy questions first and then go to puzzles. I relied totally on
YouTube for quant and reasoning and studied all types of questions related to targeted sections. Here, Amar sir videos can be helpful.
However, don’t go for watching all the videos. Select a topic and then watch all conceptual videos related to it. Try to apply that in mocks.

For English, I didn’t prepare anything but tried to solve all the questions as fast as I could. Here I followed this strategy as I was able to get
25+ marks in mocks. Those having problems can watch targeted videos on YouTube by just searching the syllabus.

For GA, I will first list my sources. Gktoday monthly (one liner summary), Bankersadda capsule for RBI, Vision PT365 of Economy, Social Issues
and Govt Schemes, IAS baba summary of Budget, Vision summary of Economic survey, Oliveboard pdf and Wikipedia for all national parks
and imp sanctuaries, Sriram’s IAS Economy, One business newspaper (LiveMint is good). 4 months current affairs would suffice but focus
more on immediate 2 months before the exam. I kept the material limited due to paucity of time but revised it regularly. Plus I made my own
notes in my dedicated RBI notebook especially for budget, growth forecast predictions by various institutions, fund allocation by WB, IMF to
various states and scheme, committees and reports- their chairman and cause for appointment.

For mains I had around 25 days after pre due to Kerela floods. My 50% of the time went for FM. I watched Manish Kumar sir videos channel
(Best material that is out there) and read Edutap notes that are available in the market. I prepared my own notes and this proved very helpful
for last minute revision. Focus more on understanding concepts and the formulae will be done automatically. In exam there will be questions
which you have not studied. Here you must try to solve them by elimination and applying your existing knowledge. Try to attempt all
questions in ESI and FM.

For ESI, you just have to revise your GA that you have read for prelims. I just revised it couple of times and prepared the current affairs of the
new 25 days after pre. Please devote more time on govt schemes as lot of questions are based on them. However, in the paper, there were
very trivial questions about old govt schemes. It is at such questions we are required to apply ourselves and try to eliminate wrong options.

For Essays – Edutap comes out with 20-25 essay topics with fodder material. This will suffice. Only 1 out of 4 essay is to be written and just
atleast prepare the 10 hot topics. You will definitely get essay out of it. At my time demonetization and financial inclusion came, both of
which I had prepared. For any essay, make 4 para – Intro, Positives or opportunities, Negatives or challenges, and conclusion. This structure
will work for most of the essays. Try to incorporate data, facts, quotes or committee recommendation in your essay. Other than essay, there is
also precis and passage. However, it is important to stick to word limit. For e.g. for an essay of 300 words I completed in 298 words. Try to
remain as close to word limit as possible. Avoid typos and grammatical mistakes as they will directly reduce your marks.

I won’t discuss about interview as it is the easiest of the three stages and generally there is ample time to prepare. I will talk about it
separately.

It is important to remember to keep the approach simple. The exam is simple. However, we tend to make it complicate. Rely on limited
material, revise it religiously, make your own notes, understand the concepts and attempt maximum questions.

Best of luck to all the people preparing.