Analysis and reviews of NABARD Grade ‘A’ prelims exam (2018) for the recruitment to Assistant Manager Post in the Rural Development Banking Service (RDBS) is available here. The online exam (1st shift) was held today and a team from Jagranjosh.com has collected feedback and reviews from various examination centres (first shift) where NABARD conducted exams today.
The reporting time for the first shift of NABARD 2018 exam was 9:00 AM. Gates of the examination centres were opened few minutes before the reporting time. After entry, verification process was started. After verification process (which took almost 30 to 45 minutes) the students were asked to log in and the online exam began.
Examination pattern of the NABARD Grade A Exam 2018 (Prelims or Phase I):
Total 120 multiple choice questions were asked in the paper. Each MCQ had five options and candidates had to select 1 correct option out of five. These 120 questions were divided into 7 sections as given below
| Name of Test | No. of Questions | Maximum Marks |
| Reasoning | 20 | 20 |
| English Language | 40 | 40 |
| Computer Knowledge | 20 | 20 |
| General Awareness | 20 | 20 |
| Economic & Social Issues with focus on rural India | 40 | 40 |
| Agriculture & Rural Development with focus on rural India | 40 | 40 |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 20 | 20 |
| Total | 200 | 200 |
The online test carried total 200 marks and the time duration to finish the complete exam was 120 minutes.
As per the instructions, candidates will get 1 mark for each correct response, zero marks for no response. However for each incorrect response 1/4th of the marks assigned to that question will be deducted as penalty.
NABARD Assistant Manager Grade ‘A’ Exam: Previous Year Question Paper
Difficult level of the NABARD exam 2018:
Many students who took the prelims exam told us that most of the questions in the paper were easy except a few tricky ones. Many faced difficulty in answering questions related to agriculture & rural development with focus on rural India. Complete section wise detail is given below:
Reasoning:
| Topic | Number of Questions | Difficulty Level |
| Inequalities | 4 | Easy |
| Syllogism | 4 | Easy |
| Alphabets Rearrangement | 1 | Easy |
| Puzzle and Seating Arrangement | 11 | Easy to Moderate |
3 sets of puzzles were asked in the exam. These puzzles were based on
• Parallel Seating Arrangement
• Various floors in a building
• Age of different people
Overall difficulty level of this section: Moderate
Quantitative aptitude:
| Topic | Number of questions | Difficulty Level |
| Quadratic Equation | 4 | Easy to moderate |
| Boat and Stream | 1 | Easy |
| Time and Work | 1 | Moderate |
| Ratio and Proportion | 1 | Moderate |
| Number Series | 4 | Easy to Moderate |
| Data Sufficiency | 4 | Moderate |
| Data Interpretation | 5 | Easy to Moderate |
Overall difficulty level of this section: Moderate
English Language:
| Topic | Number of questions | Difficulty Level |
| Reading Comprehension | 10 | Easy to Moderate |
| Cloze Test | 10 | Easy to Moderate |
| Parajumbles | 5 | Moderate |
| Sentence Improvement | 5 | Moderate |
| Sentence Correction | 5 | Moderate |
| Error Detection | 5 | Moderate |
The comprehension was based on Artificial Intelligence.
Overall difficulty level of this section: Easy
Computer Knowledge:
Simple memory based questions were from basic knowledge of computer, software, operating systems. Full form of SMTP and GPRS was asked.
Overall difficulty level of this section:Easy
General Awareness:
Simple memory-based questions related to sports, government schemes, economics survey, current affairs etc.
Some examples:
• First man to win 20 Grand slams
•First freight train from China to the UK
Overall difficulty level of this section: Easy
Economic & Social Issues with focus on rural India:
Average level questions related to trade, women issues, international trade, GDP etc.
Some examples:
• The percentage of women who work has declined over time
• What is the word ‘I’ mean in the word TRIFED?
• Which of the following is form of trade barrier in international trade?
Overall difficulty level of this section: Easy
Agriculture & Rural Development with focus on rural India:
Questions related to variety of crops, soils, weather, Rainfall and Schemes for Rural Development like MNREGA, PMGSY etc.
Some example:
• Which can crop can withstand high quantity of salt in the soil?
• Which crops need more water?
Overall difficulty level of this section: Moderate
Expected NABARD Grade A prelims 2018 cutoff:
Considering the easy nature of the online exam and huge number of applications, we are expecting that this year’s NABARD Grade A prelims cutoff will be higher as compared to last year’s cutoff.
Here, we have provided the last year’s cutoff for reference
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