How to Improve the English Section for the Bank Exam?

An important section of the bank exams is the English subject. Aspirants who are strong in this section can expect a qualifying score in the bank exams such as RBI, SBI, IBPS RRB, etc.

Aspirants planning to strengthen this segment of the bank exam must focus on their reading abilities, comprehension, grammar and vocabulary. Candidates should be able to leave a mark on their examiner’s mind with their efficient reading, analytical and writing skills.

In this article, let’s understand how to work and improve on the English section for the bank exam.

Tips to improve the English section for bank exam

Work on your vocabulary skills

Try to make a habit of writing or reading newspapers, magazines and articles to boost your vocabulary skills. Every time you come across a new word – note it down and try to learn that word and use it differently in your communication and writing. This way, you can improve your vocabulary and easily remember new words every day. Make a list of their synonyms and antonyms, and this can add more words to your vocabulary.

Use the Mnemonics method to recall new terms. This is an extremely effective method for quickly recalling the meanings of frequently used new terms. Connect the words and their meanings to images and small idioms or one-liners.

Solve the Vocabulary sections from prior years’ examinations and guage yourself to see where you would rank based on your current level of preparation. It will also help you comprehend what word levels are being assessed. This is significant because, unlike grammar rules, which are restricted in scope, vocabulary is an indefinitely broad subject. The best you can and should do is prepare for the level of the exam.

Build your grammar knowledge

Understand Subject-verb agreement. This will help you with the basic grammar rules of using is/are at places. These look silly, but they can cost you marks in the English section for the bank exam.

Read different articles and books. Pay attention to the sentence structure, word order, spelling, and creative variations the authors use.

Learn the difference between confusing words. You will find a lot of English words that look, sound, and/or are spelt the same, even if they have very different meanings. These words cause a great deal of confusion and often result in common errors in the exam. Remembering these common errors will help you avoid frequently made mistakes. Try to boost your memory and look for the difference between these terms.

Discover the distinctions between perplexing terms. There are many words in English that appear, sound, and/or are spelt the same but have quite distinct meanings. These homographs (words spelt the same), homophones (words spoken the same), heteronyms (words spelt the same but pronounced differently), and homonyms (words spelt and pronounced the same) generate a lot of confusion and lead to common mistakes. Remembering these typical terms can help you avoid making mistakes while using them in the future.

Strengthen your reading comprehension skills

The most significant and high-weightage topic in the English Language Section is reading comprehension.

To answer reading comprehension questions, first, read the entire para and comprehend what the summary is. You will learn the theme of the passage and comprehend it effectively. You will spend less time attempting RC questions this way.

Reading comprehension may be solved in a short amount of time if you have good reading abilities. Reading frequently and with devotion leads to improved learning speed. Make it a daily habit to read English newspapers, magazines, and articles.

Improve your speed and accuracy in the spotting errors section

Good grammatical understanding is essential to do well in error spotting section. Learn all of the error detection rules for each topic, including articles, tenses, nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and so on. This is a high-scoring as well as a time-efficient section on the English language.

Most sentences include a subject-verb agreement mistake. Concentrate on this subject. Also, if you have an improved reading habit, you will be able to spot problems in subject-verb agreement.

The first step in answering questions about error spotting is to carefully read the entire statement. That itself will help you with the majority of errors next statement onwards.

Candidates can check the detailed bank exam syllabus in the linked article and start their preparation accordingly. 

Be quick with para jumbles

• Read the entire passage to determine the passage’s subject.
• Find the independent sentence; it will give you the lead (usually the first phrase).
• Determine the linking sentences ( looking carefully for the repetition of a noun with a pronoun)
• Identify the pair when searching for a cause, effect, or problem rather than its solution.
• If you routinely practise questions on this topic, you will be able to quickly determine the paragraph sequence.
• Time Management is a critical tool for dealing with the English section for the bank exam. You have only 15-20 minutes to answer 25-30 questions.

Apply the elimination rule to each English Section topic. In the elimination rule, look over each choice one by one and try to figure out which ones are not matching anything in the question or probable answer. Eliminate such possibilities one by one, and you will eventually arrive at the proper option.

You must improve your accuracy and speed by practising this portion with a timer on a daily basis. Every day until the exam, you should attempt to complete at least two topics tests and one mock test.

Aspirants must follow these tips and strategies to improve their scores in the English section of the bank exam.