SBI PO Main 2019 – Important Topics for Descriptive Essay and Letter Writing

SBI PO Mains is scheduled to be held on the 20th of July, on Sunday. The exam will be conducted in online mode. SBI will conduct Mains PO exam in two tests:

1: Objective Test (Online Mode): This test will consist of four sections with separate timing for each section:

S. No.

Sections

No. of Questions/ Maximum Marks

Duration

1

Reasoning and Computer Aptitude

45/ 60

60

60 minutes

2

Data Analysis and Interpretation

35/ 60

60

45 minutes

3

General/ Economy/ Banking Awareness

40/ 40

40

35 minutes

4

English Language

35/ 40

40

40 minutes

Total

155

200

3 hours

2. Descriptive Test (Online Mode): This test will consist of 2 questions of Letter and Essay writing:

Topics

Time Limit

Marks

Essay Writing

30 Minutes

50 Marks

Letter Writing

Descriptive Test will be conducted immediately after completion of the Objective Test. Marks obtained in SBI PO Mains 2019 Exam including both Objective Test and Descriptive Test scores will be added to the marks obtained in the third phase, i.e., Group Exercise & Interview Round for preparing the final merit list.

Topics for Essay:

  • Measures to be taken to avoid issues during monsoon season.
  • Effect of Fake News on Social Media & its Consequences.
  • 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in General Category.
  • World Environment Day: 'Beat Air Pollution’.
  • Paid news cancer in Media.
  • Union Budget 2019 - Pros and cons.
  • Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana.
  • Social media and its consequences.
  • Education Budget 2019 - What's new this time?
  • The positive and negative impacts of technology.
  • The shift from print to digital magazines and journals.
  • GST  and its long-term effects
  • Demonetization – Failure or Success
  • Benefits of Mutual Fund Investments.
  • Is India a safe place for women?
  • The Seventh Pay Commission.
  • Digital India
  • Benefits of Sustainable Development.
  • Role of Effective Credit Rating
  • Consolidation of Small Banks and their Implications on Work Force.
  • How pollution is affecting India domestically and internationally?
  • Is Artificial Intelligence a threat or opportunity to the society?
  • Recapitalization of Banks and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code: Remedy to all banking issues?
  • Effect of social media and its consequences on our population.
  • State of the Economy in 2018-19- India aiming towards $ 5 Trillion Economy.

Topics for Formal Letters

  • Write a letter to the editor's heightening water crisis and the importance of water.
  • Write a letter to your branch manager inquiring about the opening of the NRI account.
  • As a branch manager, write a letter to the Superintendent of Police for frequent patrolling at night to tackle with ATM theft.
  • Letter to the Editor about Air Pollution and giving some suggestions.
  • Write a letter to the Editor, the Hindu, expressing your deep concern on the impact of adult graded cinemas on young minds.
  • Write a letter to the newspaper editor on how to stop crime in the city.
  • A letter to Complaint Letter: Being a customer of a so and so bank, you have to write a complaint letter to the Bank Manager about the negligence/irresponsibility of the employees.
  • Letter to the Bank Manager to share a new idea on file management system in banks and how to implement it.
  • Complaint letter regarding trouble faced by common people due to demonetisation.
  • Letter to the Client of your bank who got a car loan from the bank 2 years ago and has sold the car now without redeeming the loan amount.
  • Complaint Letter to the Branch Manager for the rude behavior of one of the bank employee.
  • Letter to Regional Manager for changing the Bank Timings, as the current timings are inconvenient for customers.
  • Letter to expressing your views on Corruption in India.
  • Letter to Branch Manager to add your son’s name as a second nominee for your savings account.
  • Letter to Bank Manager for reissuing your ATM Card.
  • Letter to expressing your views on effect of latest technology and gadgets on today’s youth.
  • Letter to the Branch Manager for availing Overdraft Facility which you stopped long ago with the bank.

Topics for Informal Letter

  • Write a letter to your friend sharing experience of selection in the SBI PO Exam.
  • Letter to your sister informing her about your recent experience of traveling abroad.
  • Your friend/sibling congratulating him/her on their selection in SBI as a Probationary Officer.
  • An Informal Letter about telling your friend about the advantages of the PPF account and suggesting that he opens a PPF account.
  • Letter to your parents describing your new job and lifestyle in the new city.
  • Letter to your friend telling him the advantages of PPF Account and suggesting him to open a PPF Account.
  • Letter to your father asking him to guide you in making the career choice in Banking & Finance Sector.
  • Letter to your favourite novelist praising his/her book.
  • Letter to your brother advising him to take steps to improve his Health.
  • Letter to your sister to inform her about the benefits of Recurring Deposit Account in bank.
  • Letter to your mother her advising on her retirement plans.
  • Letter to your brother requesting him to send you some extra funds for payment of college fees.

Tips to write essay in PO exam :

Essay writing is all about your writing skills and how well you present your thoughts on a particular topic.

  1. Read newspaper daily especially business and editorial section for preparation of descriptive writing test, which makes you comfortable to their writing style which is really difficult to understand for new one and also improve your writing skills.
  2. Practice one article every day in your own words on any current topic from the newspaper.
  3. Try to cover the essay in 3 parts like introduction, body and conclusion about 3-4 paragraphs.
  4. Don’t mention like ‘introduction’, ‘conclusion’ because it is understandable.
  5. Use technical terms in the paragraph to score more. For example if topic related to FDI means use terms like GDP, GNP etc.
  6. Don’t repeat the points.
  7. Use recent current affairs points or statistical report related to topics if needed.
  8. Try to avoid more negative points unless cons were asked.
  9. Be precise about what you are conveying and don’t go away from the topic.
  10. Last paragraph must be summarized or concluded.

Notable Points to Write Descriptive Essay:

  • Choose your questions wisely.
  • Take 30 second to gather points before you start typing.
  • Mention the question number initially whether (a) or (b)
  • Scrolling and direction keys are disabled so be careful while typing.

Tips for Letter writing:

There are two types of letters asked in these exams are;

  1. Formal letter (written to bank manager, editor of newspaper etc.)
  2. Informal letter (written to friends, relatives etc.)

Things to keep in mind to write Descriptive Letter:

  1. Letter writing consists of two questions so read the questions properly, understand it well and choose your topic wisely. If you are confident with formal letter choose that else go for informal letter.
  2. Choose the writing format correctly; the format will differ for formal to informal letter. You will find the format of both letters at the end of the article.
  3. The presentation of your letter depends on your grammatical expression and the vocabulary that you are using. Be very sure of the meaning and spelling of words that you use. The language should be easily understandable.
  4. A letter must never be written in points. It’s an absolutely incorrect structure to follow.
  5. Stick to the limitation of words and be precise.
  6. The content of your letter should be written in polite manner and friendly tone. Avoid using ordering tone and words. Use pleasing words like “i request/ am requesting”
  7. Use comma after every line of address.
  8. Avoid using abbreviations like ‘bcuz’, ‘crt’ also avoid using acronyms like ‘ROFL’, ‘LOL’
  9. Since you have given your introduction in beginning don’t give self intro again in body of the letter. In the body of letter, talk about the reason for writing letter.
  10. Try to convey the purpose of the letter short in subject, it should not lengthy.
  11. Be very sure of the meaning and spelling of words that you use.
  12. Try to give additional details if required. For example, if you are writing letter to Bank Manager about your account enquiry add the account number, bank branch etc. Change the requirements according to the question.
  13. Don’t give your personal name like ‘Anil’ or ‘Samuvel’ give it as ‘AAA’ or ‘XYZ’. In case you are writing number in letter like pin code, account number or phone number, try to use single number to represent. Example: Phone number 1111111111 / 0000000000. Give fake details like this.
  14. You can use any format to mention date like 26 June 2019/ June 26, 2019/ 26-06-2019
  15. In formal letter use salutations like ‘Respected sir/madam’ or just simply ‘sir/madam’, for the informal letter use ‘Dear friend’, ‘My dearest sister’ don’t use these kind of salutation in formal letter.
  16. There is no need of subject in informal letter.
  17. Use “Mr.” for a male recipient. If you do not know how a female recipient prefers to be addressed, it is best to use “Ms.”
  18. Once you finish writing the letter, you have to end it with a complimentary closing. Some of the closings include Respectfully Yours Sincerely, with regards etc.

Format of the letter writing in SBI PO:

  1. Your (Fake) Address
  2. Today’s Date
  3. To address
  4. Subject
  5. Salutations
  6. Introductory Paragraph, Body (dealing with the subject of the letter), Concluding Paragraph
  7. Complimentary Closing
  8. Your (Fake) Name (and Designation where necessary)

You may also read my post on Reflective Writing by clicking on the following link: What is Reflective Writing? Purpose, Process, Assessment – Based on Gibbs Reflective Cycle

SBI Mains PO 2019 - Questions asked on 20th July 2019

Here is the list of  Topics asked in SBI PO Mains Descriptive Test which was scheduled on the 20th of July, on Sunday.

This section was of 50 marks with a time limit of 30 minutes.

Letter Writing (150 words):

a) Write a letter to the Branch Manager for the replacement of lost Cheque book.
b) Write a letter to your senior thanking him career advice.
c) Write a letter to the Branch Manager to increase the number of counters in the respective branch.

Essay Writing  (150 words):

a) Digital Literacy
b) E-commerce impact on traditional business
c) Precaution to be used while using online banking.

NOTE: The exam analysis is based on inputs from various candidates who have appeared for SBI PO main 2019 exam analysis.

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION (Moderate- Difficult):
The level of quantitative aptitude was moderate to Moderate-Difficult. There were 3 sets of DI. However, this section was relatively of a do-able level when compared with the English and Reasoning Section. Following are the DI types asked in SBI PO Main 2019.
  • Caselet DI (based on Probability, 5 question)
  • Line Graph (based on population density of 3 villages, 7 questions)
  • Tabular DI (based on Time & Work, 3 questions)
  • Funnel Chart Based DI (7 Questions)
  • Caselet DI (Based on marks of 4 students A,B, C, D in English subject, 3 Questions)
The questions were:
Topic No. of Questions Level
Quantity I: Quantity II: Quantity III 03 Moderate
Data Interpretation 25 Moderate-Difficult
Miscellaneous 07 Moderate-Difficult
Total 35 Moderate-Difficult

ENGLISH LANGUAGE (Moderate):

The English Language section consisted of 4-5 Paragraph type Reading comprehensions. The RCs were based on topics like Mutual Funds, Investment in real estate, Global Warming, Employee Retention, Chinese Economy etc.
Topic No. of Questions Level
Reading Comprehension 25 Easy-Moderate
Phrase Replacement (Related to Idioms/Phrases) 05 Moderate
Sentence Replacement 05 Moderate
Total 35 Moderate

REASONING AND COMPUTER APTITUDE (Moderate-Difficult):

The level of reasoning was Moderate-Difficult. There were NO questions of computer aptitude. Following were the questions of puzzles and seating arrangement:
  • Parallel Row Puzzle (10 people)
  • Square Based Puzzle (10 people, facing north & south)
  • Rectangular Based Puzzle (2 rectangles)
  • Line Based Puzzle (7 people, based on blood relation)
The questions were:
Topic No. of Questions Level
Sitting Arrangement and Puzzles
20
Moderate-Difficult
Coding Decoding (new pattern)
05 Moderate
Passage Inference
05
Easy-Moderate
Course of Action
02
Easy-Moderate
Machine Input Output
05
Moderate- Difficult
Decoding based Direction Sense
01
Easy-Moderate
Miscellaneous
07
Easy-Moderate
Total
45
Moderate-Difficult

GENERAL AWARENESS (Moderate):

This section had 40 questions and the level of the questions asked was moderate. Most of the questions in this section were covering the current affairs and news of last 4-5 months. As per the review given by students who appeared for this exam, here are some of the questions:

Q1. In union budget 2019-20, Railways has received a budgetary allocation of-?
Answer: Rs 65,837 crore

Q2. The Government of India, the Government of Kerala and the ____ signed a Loan Agreement of USD 250 million for the First Resilient Kerala Program to enhance the State's resilience against the impacts of natural disasters and climate change.
Answer: World Bank

Q3. How much fund allocation for public sector banks in budget 2019-20?
Answer: Rs 70,000 crores

Q4.  Which company has announced the launch of its new Wings application in India on Google Play Store?
Answer: BSNL

Q5. Which bank has partnered with M1Xchange Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) platform for MSME bill discounting?
Answer: Bank of Maharashtra

Q6. Abhijeet Gupta is releted to which sports?
Answer: Chess

Source: Bankers Adda, Olive Board.in &  Test Book.com

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