English Language is a crucial section
for almost all bank exams. Even if you are not good at the English Language
Section, a proper strategy can help you get through the sectional cutoff in
this section. SBI PO Prelims exam will
start from 29th April 2017, which now leaves just 2 weeks to prepare for this
exam. Huge number of students often stress over English Language Preparation,
be it any bank exam. Today, we are sharing an article on the English Language
Preparation Strategy, to help you all prepare for this section in a better
way.
First and
foremost, it is imperative that you have a clear understanding of the SBI PO exam pattern.
SBI PO Prelims exam would consist of 100 questions with a total duration of 1
hour (60 minutes). It would comprise of the following -
- English Language - 30 Questions
- Reasoning Ability - 35 Questions
- Quantitative Aptitude - 35 Questions
All the
questions would carry 1 mark. There is also a penalty of 0.25 marks for every
incorrect answer. So it's crucial that you attempt questions with utmost
accuracy, since you cannot afford to lose marks for the questions that you have
answered correctly.
Preparation Strategy for English Language Section
Let us first
have a look at the questions that were asked in the English Language section in
SBI PO Prelims Exam last year -
- Reading Comprehension - 10 Questions
- Cloze test - 5 Questions
- Parajumbles - 5 Questions
- Spotting Errors - 5 questions
- Fill in theblanks - 5 Questions
Overall
level of this section was Moderate to Difficult.
Apart from
the above mentioned topics, you may also come across questions from -
- Sentence Improvement
- New pattern based Spotting Errors, Parajumbles, Fillers.
- Vocabulary based questions
- Sentence Connectors
- Odd one out based questions
Although the
last 3 topics were asked in the Mains phase of exams, but it is better to have
the basic approach of all the topics clear.
Now, first
let us see how you should attempt the questions of English Language Section in
the exam.
Sectional
time division will not be provided in the prelims exam.
Ideally,
you should devote 15 minutes to this section.
Undermentioned topics consume
less time in exam, so it's better to attempt them first-
- Cloze Test
- Spotting Errors
- Fillers
- Vocabulary based questions of RC (if asked)
If you still
have time left, you can move on to the remaining topics like RC, Parajumbles
etc.
Two crucial
factors that you need to take care of while preparing English Section are -
If you manage
to have a good hold over these parameters, attempting questions of the English
Language Section becomes comparatively easy.
Vocabulary -
- This parameter is important for any bank exam, since you come across numerous words in the questions and if you do not understand what they actually mean, you cannot expect to attempt them correctly.
- Make sure that you read at least 2-3 articles from different newspapers regularly. You can use The Hindu, Economic Times etc. for this. Try to look up the meaning of the new words that you come across in the article.
You can also
consult ‘Word Power made easy’ by Norman Lewis to improve your
vocabulary section.
Grammar -
Having a
clear understanding of the grammar rules is a must for the exam.
- This will help you in numerous questions, especially Spotting errors.
- You can go through Objective General English by S.P. Bakshi and Grammar book by Wren and Martin for this purpose.
Some
important grammar tips to help you all in the upcoming exam -
S.N.
|
RULES
|
1.
|
The verb in
the sentence must be in accordance with the subject of the same sentence. A
singular subject takes up singular verb, similarly a plural subject takes up
a plural verb.
|
2.
|
In case 2
or more subjects are connected with the help of ‘and’, then usually a plural
verb is used with them.
|
3.
|
When 2
singular subjects are connected with the help of ‘either / or’ or
‘neither / nor’, then they usually take a singular verb. If either of the one
subjects in the sentence is plural, then the verb will also be plural.
|
4.
|
In case the
subject is followed by certain words like, ‘besides’, ‘not’, ‘as well
as’,’along with’ etc, then the singular verb of the sentence will
follow singular subject.
|
5.
|
In case of
sentences that start with ‘Each’, ‘Everyone’ and ‘Anyone’ , the subject will
have a singular verb.
|
6.
|
‘I’ and
‘Me’ are used differently- Both of them are 1st person singular
pronouns. The difference is I is a Subject Pronoun while me is an Object
Pronoun.
|
7.
|
Do not
forget to look up for error of repetition, also know as redundancy.
|
8.
|
Modifier
related errors - Ensure that the participle in the sentence is not without
the subject.
|
9.
|
Difference
in the use of few and less - Few is used for countable nouns whereas Less is
used for uncountable noun.
|
Try to keep
following things in mind while solving questions of this section -
- While solving Reading Comprehension questions, try to first have a look at 1-2 questions and then proceed with the passage. This approach will help you mark out the answers easily.
- While attempting Cloze test, if you feel stuck on any blank, leave it out and move on to the next one. Once you are done with it, try to go through the previous blank. This might help since all the sentences of the passage are logically connected with each other.
- While solving Parajumbles, first have a quick glance at the given sentences to understand the gist of the passage. And then look for the independent sentence, which usually is the first sentence of the passage.
- Attempting Spotting Errors or Sentence Improvement based questions is comparatively easy if you have a clear understanding of all the grammar rules and the sentence structure.