- Quantitative Aptitude and Data Interpretation
- Simplification and approximation, number series, quadratic comparison, data sufficiency, and the arithmetic core — percentage, ratio and proportion, average, profit and loss, simple and compound interest, time and work, time speed and distance, mixture and alligation, partnership, boats and streams, pipes and cisterns, permutation and combination, probability, and mensuration. Data interpretation runs across tables, bar and line graphs, pie charts, caselets and missing-data sets, and dominates the mains section.
- Reasoning Ability
- Puzzles and seating arrangement in every variety — linear, circular, floor-based, box-based, scheduling and comparison — plus syllogism, inequality, blood relations, direction sense, order and ranking, coding-decoding, alphanumeric series, input-output, data sufficiency, and the critical reasoning group of statement and assumption, cause and effect, and course of action.
- English Language
- Reading comprehension including inference and tone questions, cloze test, para jumbles, sentence rearrangement, error spotting, sentence improvement, fill in the blanks, word usage and vocabulary in context, connectors, paragraph completion and word swap. The mains paper leans heavily on comprehension and inference rather than on isolated grammar.
- General, Economy and Banking Awareness (mains only)
- Banking terminology and the structure of the Indian banking system, the Reserve Bank and its functions and instruments, monetary policy, financial markets and regulators, government financial schemes, budget and economic survey highlights, international financial institutions, and current affairs of the preceding several months with an emphasis on banking and economic news.
- Computer Aptitude (mains only)
- Computer fundamentals and generations, hardware and software, operating systems, MS Office, networking and internet basics, database fundamentals, shortcut keys, abbreviations, and cyber security awareness. Combined with reasoning in a single mains section.
- Descriptive Paper
- One letter — formal, informal or business — and one essay, typically on a banking, economic or social topic. Tested for structure, clarity and correctness rather than for literary quality.
The practical reading of this syllabus is that banking awareness and data interpretation deserve preparation from the first month, not from after the prelims result. Banking awareness in particular is cumulative — it depends on having followed the news over months — and cannot be recovered in the two or three weeks between the prelims result and the main examination.
