SBI PO Exam 2014 Question Paper Analysis

SBI PO Exam 2014 Question Paper Analysis

THIS  ANALYSIS OF SBI PO 2014 QUESTION PATTERN  IS CREATED BY DAS SIR WHO PREPARES STUDENTS FOR ALL SORTS OF GOVERNMENT JOB EXAMS LIKE SSC CGL/IBPS PO/SBI PO/MAT/CLAT/CDS/HOTEL MANAGEMENT NCHMCT JEE/ONGC GT/SAIL MT/CIL MT/POSTAL ASSISTANT /ALL PSU ETC.

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Objective type:

Total Marks		200
Total Number of Questions		200
Total Number of sections		4
Questions per section		50
Options		5
Marks per section		1
Negative Marking		0.25
Logical Reasoning	Directions & Arrangements (Circular Arrangement Directions & Arrangements (Complex Arrangement) Data Sufficiency Syllogisms Sequential Output Tracing Codes Relationship Puzzles Visual Reasoning Critical Reasoning		5 Questions (Moderate To Difficult)  5 Questions (Difficult) 3 Questions (Easy To Moderate) 5 Questions (Easy) 5 Questions (Easy To Moderate) 5 Questions (Easy To Moderate) 5 Questions (Moderate To Difficult) 5 Questions (Moderate To Difficult) 5 Questions (Easy To Moderate) 7 Questions (Easy To Moderate)
Data Interpretation	Pie Charts Bar Graphs Radar Graph Line Graph Tables & Case lets Probability Percentages		2 Sets Of 5 Questions Each(Easy To Moderate) 2 Sets Of 5 Questions Each(Easy To Moderate) 5 Questions(Moderate) 5 Questions (Easy To Moderate) 3 Sets Of 5 Questions Each(Easy To Moderate) 2 Questions Easy 3 Questions Easy
Verbal Reasoning	Reading Comprehension Mark the Error Jumbled Sentences Fill in the blanks Vocabulary Cloze Passages		20 Questions 2 RC’s Each With 6+4 Questions (Moderate To Difficult) 5 Questions (Easy To Moderate) 5 Questions (Easy) 5 Questions (Moderate To Difficult) 5 Questions (Moderate To Difficult) 10 Questions Difficult
General Awareness/ Computers/ Marketing	General Awareness: sports literature economy finance banking terms & service Computers: CPU Desktop Windows Internet Networks input/output devices		50 questions 50 marks

Descriptive type:

Letter writing	Write a letter to your sibling explaining the importance of saving money. Write a letter to the bank manager for extension of joining date. As a manager, write a letter to the employees to conduct a meeting to discuss PR strategy	10 marks
Essay writing	Security of women in the workplace, a cause of increasing concern entrance exams – a necessary evil pros and cons of inflation	10 marks
Paragraph writing	Importance of education in vernacular languages pros and cons of winning lotteries Do brokers deserve the cut they make on deals?	10 marks
Reading Comprehension	Passage on wire transfer followed by 5 Questions.	10 marks
Precise writing	Passage based on corporate social responsibility.	10 marks

Some essay topics for SBI - PO 2014 exam
1.COTTAGE INDUSTRIES
2.FDI IN RETAIL
3.FEATURE OF ECONOMIC RECESSION
4.Corruption In India
5.Legalising Prostitution in India
6.RISE OF THE AMERICAN DOLLAR
7.LATEST TECHNOLOGIES IN BANKING
8.Role of media in a democracy
9.MOBILE BANKING
10.BANK ARE MANUFACTURE OF MONEY
11.WOMEN SECURITY
12.Jan Lokpal Bill
13.Bribery in Business
14.Budget 2013-14
15.Economic Growth Of India
16.IPL Controversy - mixing politics with sports
17.Notable Points Of General Election 2014

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Analysis SBI PO 2014 of the Descriptive Paper

This section is likely to five questions to be completed within an hours time.

Letter Writing (one of three choices)
write a letter to your sibling explaining the importance of saving money.
write a letter to the bank manager for extension of joining date.
As a manager, write a letter to the employees to conduct a meeting to discuss PR strategy
Essay Writing (one of three choices)
Security of women in the workplace, a cause of increasing concern
entrance exams – a necessary evil
pros and cons of inflation
Paragraph writing (one of three choices)
Importance of education in vernacular languages
pros and cons of winning lotteries
Do brokers deserve the cut they make on deals?
Reading Comprehension

SBI PO 2013 QUESTION PAPER BREAKUP FOR REFERENCE

The written examination was for 250 marks consisting of Objective and Descriptive tests. The snap shot of the paper pattern is given below :

SNO	Test Area	No of Questions
1	Reasoning	50	Objective Test – Total Questions: 200. Duration: 120 Minutes
2	Data Analysis & Interpretation	50
3	General Awareness/Marketing/Computers	50
4	English Language	50
5	Descriptive Writing	5	Duration: 1 hour. Marks:50

The section wise analysis of the paper is presented below.

Data Analysis and Interpretation

There were 45 questions on DI – Nine sets with 5 questions in each set. The questions given were based on bar graph, line graph, pie chart and radar chart. Other than these 45 questions, there were three questions on data provided in a small caselet and there were two questions on probability. A set based on radar graph was a surprise element in this exam.This particular question type has never appeared in the SBI PO exam till now. Although this radar graph was unsettling, answering the questions was easy after familiarising oneself with the details of the graph.

S.No	Type of Representation	Description of the set	Easy	Moderate	Difficult
1	Pie Chart + Table	Distribution of teachers in four schools- Male and Female teachers	0	3	2
2	Pie Chart	Distribution of money among six students	1	3	1
3	Line Graph	Marks scored by three students in six subjects	1	3	1
4	Radar Graph	Expenditure incurred by two persons in six months	3	1	1
5	Table(5rows,10columns)	Average Max and Average Min temperatures of five cities in five months	3	2	0
6	Table(5rows,12columns)	Prices of three items in four restaurants over five years	3	2	0
7	Table(10rows,5columns)	Arrivals, Departures, Distance travelled by a train	2	2	1
8	Bar Graph(Vertical bars)	Number of teachers sent on three different duties to five cities	4	1	0
9	Bar Graph(Horizontal Bars)	Electricity bills paid by three persons in four different months	4	1	0
10	Caselet	Number of boys and girls passing an exam	0	3	0

As can be seen from the break up of questions given above, most of the questions on DI were easy to moderate. Very few were difficult. Over all, DI questions were time concuming. Students may have had to spend more time on this and they may have run short of time for other sections.

The two questions on probability were of moderate difficulty level. Unlike the previous year's test paper for SBI PO selections, the level of difficulty of questions this year has come down. A score of 35 plus can be considered as a good score.

English Language

Reading Comprehension(20 questions):

There were two passages with 10 questions each. The first was on “Changes in the World Economy” and the second was on the “Human Brain”. Both had approximately 600 words each. There were 12 questions and they were a blend of direct and inferential questions. There was a question that asked the ' author's objective'. The remaining eight were vocabulary based, 4 on synonyms and 4 on antonyms. Surprisingly, the questions were very difficult like never before. The first passage was more difficult than the second. The questions required one to go back to the areas in the passage which highlighted or supported the idea that was questioned. The options were too close to choose easily.

Verbal Ability(30 questions):

The break up of the 30 Verbal Ability questions is as follows:

Error identification — 5 questions;
Fill-in-the-Blanks questions(two blanks )--5 questions;
Paragraph Formation question(six sentences) --5 questions;
Vocabulary(synonym-antonym pair questions) --5 questions and
CLOZE test(ten blanks)—10 questions.

The grammar questions were easy. Most of them covered common errors. The fill-in-the-blank questions were difficult as they required a correct understanding of logic in the sentences. The words given as choices were difficult too. The paragraph formation question was very difficult. Finding the link of one idea in another statement was challenging. The Vocabulary(synonym-antonym pair) questions were a mix of both easy and difficult questions. The cloze test was of moderate difficulty level. The topic, Globalisation, a familiar one, was the saving grace.

Overall, this section scored high on difficulty level. An attempt of about 25 questions and a score of above 15 is what an average student can possibly score.

Reasoning

The topics covered under Reasoning as also the pattern of questions were on lines similar to the ones which have appeared in previous SBI PO examinations. The pattern of questions from topics Conclusions and Blood relations was slightly different and the questions were difficult as a result. The questions on Critical Reasoning were easy and hence it is likely that students will score well in this area. The set based questions on Analytical puzzles too were simple as the information provided in the sets was less and it took little time in analyzing it. The questions on coding-decoding and Input-Output were similar to those that have been asked in previous SBI PO examinations. In the Data Sufficiency area, unlike the regular SBI PO pattern where there are usually three statements in such questions, only two were given this time around. The questions on Non-Verbal Reasoning are generally tough in SBI PO exams, but fortunately in this exam, they were easy, giving students an opportunity to score better.

The topic wise break up of questions is given below:

Topic	Easy	Moderate	Difficult
Symbols and Notations (Conclusions)	1	2	2
Analytical Puzzle ( Distribution)	2	3
Coding & Decoding	3	2
Analytical Puzzle (Circular + Distribution)	2	3
Blood Relations based Symbols & Notations	3	2
Input and Output	5
Deductions	3	2
Data sufficiency		1	2
Critical Reasoning	2	3	2
Non Verbal Reasoning (Series)	1	2	2
	22	20	8

Over all, the Reasoning section was easy and not lengthy at all. It is highly unlikely that students would have left any question unanswered. An average student can easily get a score of 25 – 30 marks and a bright student can score up to 38 – 40 marks.

General Awareness / Marketing / Computers

This section had 25 questions on GA, 13 on Computers and 12 on Marketing Aptitude.

Out of 25 Questions on GA, 6 were from Banking, one on Insurance, 10 are from Indian economy, including quite a few on Indian Budget. Hence the questions from Banking and Indian Economy dominated the paper. The remaining questions were on current affairs, mainly related to the events of Feb and March 2013. There were couple of questions from sports, persons in news and Awards.

As regards to GA, the difficulty level of the questions can be termed as easy to moderate.

The 12 questions on Marketing Aptitude were very basic in nature and fairly simple.Except for one or two questions, all the others were direct. Questions based on standard definitions of Cross Selling, Market penetration, Captive Marketing, To close a call, were direct and simple.The students can score well in questions on Marketing Aptitude.

As regards to questions on Computers, 7 out of 13 questions were easy. The break up of the 13 Computer questions is as flollows:

Memory – 2 questions ( One question was based on definition of File and another was on computer memory. Both the questions were easy)
Basic Computer Architechture – 6 questions ( Here, the questions were a blend of easy and difficult questions. Questions on Largest Computer, Speaker attached to Computer.. were very easy. Questions on Super Computer and Mouse which emits light and detects signals... were difficult ones as these questions are not asked very frequently in bank exams)
Operating Systems - 2 questions ( Question on Guidelines for using software ... was an easy one where as the question on OS usedin hand held devices ... was an uncommon one)
Computer Networks – 2 questions
MS – Office – 1question ( The question was on MS help tool and was quite easy)

The students can score well in questions on Computers.

Descriptive Writing

The Descriptive Writing in the SBI PO was on expected lines. Questions on Essay Writing(12 marks), Letter Writing(10 marks), Paragraph Writing(8 marks), Precis Writing(10 marks) and the Reading Comprehension passage(10 marks) were all there. A generous choice of three was given in each Essay, Letter and Paragraph Writing. That must have made it easier for students. Even the topics were not too complicated. In Letter Writing, one formal and two informal letter prompts were given. The letter to sibling in the informal was the easiest of all, which most students must have chosen to write, while the job acceptance letter in informal may have been avoided by most. The topics for essays were also on expected lines: Women entrepreneurs, Global Warming and Role of Banks, all of which have been covered by us. The ones given for Paragraph Writing were about Investments, Saving Energy and Small Scale Industry. The Comprehension Passage and Precis too were easy and less time consuming.