How To Prepare for NABARD Grade A Mains Exam

January 13, 2024

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NABARD, or the National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development, holds a pivotal role in ensuring the seamless operation of the Rural Banking system in India. Coveted by many, working at NABARD is a dream for numerous aspirants. The anticipation builds as individuals eagerly await the release of the exam notification from NABARD. The prospect of contributing to rural and agricultural development, coupled with the organization’s significant impact on the financial landscape, makes pursuing a career at NABARD a highly desirable goal for those passionate about making a positive difference in India’s rural landscape.

With the conclusion of the NABARD Grade A 2023 recruitment cycle, the NABARD Grade A Exam 2024 notification is around the corner. Only Indian candidates are eligible to apply for this exam. The NABARD Grade A exam is for the post of Assistant Manager in the Rural Development Banking Service (RDBS) or Rajbhasha Service in NABARD.

How to Prepare for NABARD Grade A Mains Exam

Students are already halfway through their preparation. As competitive exam aspirants, students often start their preparation with their primary focus on Prelims and wait to qualify to continue their preparation for Mains. But that is where most of them get it wrong. When you start preparing, make sure you prepare with the objective of cracking the NABARD Grade A Exam 2024.

If you are willing to apply for this exam, it’s time to tighten your seat belts as you ride through your preparation for NABARD Grade A Exam 2024. In this blog, we will tell you some best strategies to prepare for the NABARD Grade A Main exam 2024. These strategies will prepare you for one step ahead. So stop biting your nails out of nervousness and continue reading this blog.

Before you begin your journey, you should know what NABARD is all about and its importance.

What is NABARD and Why is it Important?

NABARD was established with the aim of accelerating financial development in rural areas and encouraging sustainable agriculture. You can understand this by taking the example of RBI. As you know, RBI is the banker of banks. Banks take credit from RBI, and RBI provides them loans at a specific interest rate, i.e., the repo rate. Similarly, NABARD performs the same function but for rural and agricultural banks. Hence, it is also known as the apex development bank of India.

Also Read: Full Form of NABARD with All Details

Before we proceed further, it’s very important that you are aware of the sections that will be asked in the NABARD exam. Any minor neglect or carelessness can lead to a major blunder or postpone your success journey. So, let’s check out the details below.

Preparation Guide for NABARD Grade A Mains Exam

As you are already aware of the fact that the NABARD Grade A recruitment is released for Assistant Manager in Grade ‘A’ is for various streams – Rural Development Banking Service (RDBS), Legal, Finance, Agriculture, Information Technology and Rajbhasha Service. Thus, the preparation strategy will differ accordingly. The NABARD Grade A Phase 2 consists of two papers – Paper 1 and Paper 2 for both RDBS and Legal, Finance, Agriculture, Information Technology and Rajbhasha streams. The difference will be that Paper 2 – for RDBS is of Economic and Social Issues and Agriculture & Rural Development, while for Legal, Finance, Agriculture, Information Technology and Rajbhasha, it will consist of questions from the respective stream.

Now that you are aware of the exam pattern of NABARD Grade A Mains, let’s delve into section wise preparation.

Have a quick look at the NABARD Grade A exam pattern in the table below:

Paper	Paper name	Paper type	Number of Questions	Marks	Duration	Comments
Paper 1	General English	Online Descriptive	3	100	90 mins	Includes questions about Essays, Letter Writing & Comprehensive English
Paper 2	Economic & Social issues	Objective	30	50	30 mins
		Descriptive	6 questions will be asked, of which candidates will be required to attempt 4 questions [2 of 15 marks each (with difficulty level) and 2 of 10 marks each]	50	90 minutes	Descriptive answers to be typed using keyboard either in English or Hindi (Remington and Inscript keyboards)
Total				200	3.5hours

Paper 1 – Descriptive English (for both streams)

Paper 1 will be General English and descriptive in nature. There will be 3 questions with a total of 100 marks with a time limit of 90 minutes. The purpose is to assess individual writing skills and understanding of the topic. Some points to be kept in mind are:

While attempting an essay, make a gist of the points that you will include in writing so that you do not feel wordless and can be quick.
An essay has three parts- Introduction, Body, and Conclusion. Do not miss any part.
For effective writing, keep yourself updated on the latest happenings around the world, economic trends, agriculture scenarios, and other news by cultivating a habit of reading newspapers daily.
For Precis – prepare a rough structure by trying to understand the main theme of the paragraph or comprehension.
Identify the structure of the information provided in the paragraph and the sequence of events given.
Try to compress the information without losing the essence of the passage.
Also, do not copy the language of the comprehension.
Adhere to the word limit strictly.

Paper 2 – Economic and Social Issues and Agriculture & Rural Development (For RDBS Stream)

Paper 2 of NABARD Grade A Mains for RDBS stream consists of Economic & Social Issues and Agriculture & Rural Development as a section. NABARD Grade A Phase 2 Paper 2 will be a mix of objective + descriptive format. The overall timing will be 2 hours for 100 marks. There will be 30 objective questions along with 6 descriptive questions (one needs to answer any 4). Some tips to ace this section are:

Do not hoard yourself with too many books. Keep your preparation material minimum.
Keep a close knack on economic and social welfare schemes, committees set up by the government, India’s ranks on various indexes, Economic Survey and Economic currents, etc. They will help with objective questions. You can also refer to ixamBee BeePedia, which is a short compilation of current updates on various topics.
Pick a topic from the syllabus and read about it.
Understand the concept thoroughly and not just the overview.
Each topic should be given sufficient time to prepare.
Get aware of important topics/concepts by going through the NABARD Grade A Phase 2 previous year question papers and do a selective reading of that prior to the exam.
Thoroughly go through the reports issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Climate Change and PIB releases.
Make notes of all the important topics or updates so that you can have a quick glance at them just before the NABARD Grade A Mains exam.
The syllabus of NABARD Grade A Phase 2 – Paper 2 i.e. Economic and Social Issues and Agriculture & Rural Development can be intimidating because of its vastness. Reading various books for concept clarity can end up in confusion, so to have structured study material. For this do check ixamBee’s NABARD Grade A Mains Online Course.

Paper 2 – Stream Based (Rajbhasha, Legal, Finance, Agriculture, Information Technology)

Paper 2 of NABARD Grade A Mains for the Legal, Finance, Agriculture, Information Technology, and Rajbhasha stream consists of stream-specific questions. NABARD Grade A Phase 2 Paper 2 will be a mix of objective + descriptive format. There will be 30 objective questions along with 6 descriptive questions (one needs to answer any 4). Some tips to ace this section are:

As you have already read your stream in your college, it is assumed that you have a good hold over your domain.
Your college notes will be handy for concept clarity and understanding.
Avoid going into too much depth, just focus on concepts.
Do not deter from the NABARD Grade A syllabus. Go for selective reading as the syllabus is wide.
Lastly, it’s the subject that you are already familiar with, so you are the best judge of what to study and how to study.
In case you need guidance, ixamBee’s NABARD Grade A Rajbhasha Course, NABARD Grade A Finance Course, NABARD Grade A Legal Course, NABARD Grade A IT Course and NABARD Grade A Agriculture Courses are at your disposal. Structured under the guidance of experts, this course will surely lead your path to success.

How to Prepare for NABARD Grade A Exam 2024?

It needs a good sleep to dream, a thought to prepare, and months of consistent dedication to reach there. A dedicated preparation strategy is key to succeeding and cracking the NABARD Grade A exam 2024. Therefore, it is important to know some tips, tricks, and strategies to prepare efficiently. The toughness level of this exam is quite more than other clerical bank exams. Moreover, you can beat it with a strategized preparation.

Here are some winning strategies that will help you to get through the NABARD Grade A exam 2024:

Split your Efforts Smartly:

The lengthy syllabus makes it dicey for candidates to split time for each section. Panicking is a big no as the NABARD Grade A 2024 notification release is around the corner. You must need a midway to get there. How about spilling some magic of your time management skills? The best way to ease your stress is to allocate your time in sections as per your portions of difficulty. Start by prioritizing topics you find yourself weak in. But the secret sauce is, never try to avoid leaving those topics you feel you are good at simultaneously.

Challenge your Speed More Often:

Once you think you are prepared enough to ace your exam. Try challenging yourself with the speed test in specific intervals of time. Yes, most of the candidates find it frustrating when they know about the topic but are not able to do it in a limited time. So, as you are going to face this in your exam, it’s better if you practice it and conquer the time game.

Practice Mock Tests

Always remember mock tests make you understand the structure of your question paper. Therefore, the more you practice through mock tests, the more you will pace up with the NABARD Grade exam pattern. The NABARD Grade A free mock tests are the best way to evaluate your preparation.

Take a Glance at the Previous Year’s Question Papers

Sometimes it’s good to look at the footprints to know how the way is going to be. We aren’t asking you to rely on the questions or exam structure of the previous year’s NABARD Grade A exam. But you can definitely check on them to know what your question paper is going to look like. There are many sources where you can find NABARD Grade A previous year exam questions.

Pick the best study material

Only the right key will help you open the right door. Hence, choosing the right study material will help you to encounter high-quality questions. Candidates often look for free study material and quizzes to perform and analyze their preparation level.

Conclusion

Hope you learned something from this detailed strategy. These are just some ways to guide your path. You can modify them as per the exam need and your capacity. ixamBee is always working to help aspirants achieve their goals with a positive frame of mind and the right guidance. Stay safe and start now to let the castle of your dreams roar high.

To help you prepare 50% faster for competitive exams, ixamBee provides free Mock Test Series and all the Current Affairs in English and Current Affairs in Hindi in the BeePedia capsules for GA Preparation. You can also get the latest updates for Bank PO, Bank Clerk, SSC, RBI Grade B, NABARD and Other Government Jobs.