Financial Awareness | Detailed Syllabus for Upcoming Exams

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Financial Awareness: Financial awareness is one of the most important sections for the banking and industries related to finance. For every candidate aspiring to be a part of the financial institutions of the country, the financial awareness section plays a very important role. Financial awareness deals with the functioning and terminologies of the banking and financial industry.

Financial awareness is a major topic in competitive examinations related to banking and the financial sector. A large number of questions are asked from this portion under either the general awareness section or the section is named as the financial awareness only. It is merely difficult or rather impossible to crack the examinations without attempting these questions successfully. The major role comes into play during the mains and personal interview round of these competitive examinations.

The financial awareness questions are incorporated in the various competitive examinations like the recruitment examinations for the post of Grade A officers in SEBI, specialist officers, probationary officers, and junior associates/ clerical cadre. These recruitment examinations are conducted by organizations like SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India), IBPS (Institute of Banking Personnel Selection), RBI (Reserve Bank of India), SBI (State Bank of India), RRB (Regional Rural Banks), etc. This section is also important for the private sector banking recruitment examinations like South Indian Bank, LVB (Lakshmi Vilas Bank), etc.

In this article, we will give you an idea about the importance of financial awareness, syllabus for the examination, financial awareness quizzes, preparation tips by experts, reference books, etc. With the detailed structure, we have also attached the links to get the study material based on the latest exam pattern. These study materials for financial awareness are specially curated by the subject matter experts of team Guidely. Candidates are advised to take a look at the article carefully before starting their preparation for the upcoming competitive examinations.

Exams / Organizations

Given below is a list of organizations along with the examinations conducted by them which include the questions from financial awareness. Take a look:

IBPS: Institute of Banking Personnel Selection

Every year IBPS releases notification for the recruitment of candidates for the post of probationary officers, clerk/ junior associate, and specialist officers.

SEBI: Securities and Exchange Board of India

SEBI is considered the apex of the financial institutions of the country. One of the most popular and highly competitive examinations conducted by SEBI is for recruitment at the post of Grade A officers.

SBI: State bank of India

SBI releases the same recruitment notifications as the IBPS releases i.e. probationary officers, clerk/ junior associate, and specialist officers.

RRB: Regional Rural Banks

The recruitment examinations are also conducted by the IBPS, so the examinations and post under them remain the same. But the pattern for the examination does change.

Bank Exam Pattern

For what you are devoting your time is definitely one of the most crucial questions. So before starting the preparation candidates keep in mind to understand the examination thoroughly. It will help you to divide your time accordingly and help you build a strategy for clearing the exam. The competitive examinations for the banking sector mostly follow a similar pattern for the preliminary and mains test. Though it may vary for particular posts under the recruitment notifications of the different organizations.

Here we are focusing on the examination pattern for the post of probationary officers, clerks / junior associates, specialist officers, and grade A officers.

The candidates are selected for the post of probationary officers through a three-step process:

Preliminary test
Mains test
Group discussion and personal interview

In this exam patterns, you can check the weightage of financial awareness parts.

Bank Exam Pattern: Preliminary test

S. No.	Subject	Total Number of Question	Duration
1.	English Language	30	20 Minutes
2.	Reasoning Ability	35	20 Minutes
3.	Numerical Aptitude	35	20 Minutes
	Total	100	60 Minutes

NOTE: A total of 100 questions are given in the preliminary phase of the examination. Each question carries one mark. And for every incorrect answer, 0.25 marks are deducted.

Bank Exam Pattern: Mains

S. No.	Subject	Question	Maximum Marks	Duration
1.	English Language	35	40	40 Minutes
2.	Reasoning ability and computer aptitude	45	60	60 Minutes
3.	Data Analysis and Interpretation	35	60	45 Minutes
4.	General Economy and Financial Awareness	40	40	35 Minutes
	Total	155	200	180 Minutes
5.	English Language (Letter Writing and Essay)	2	25	30 Minutes

Group discussion and personal interview

This is the last and final stage of the selection procedure for the post of the probationary officers. The total marks assigned to this phase is 50 marks. The distribution of the total marks between the group discussion round and personal interview round is given below in the tabular format:

S. No.	Name of the Round	Maximum Marks
1.	Group Exercise	20
2.	Personal Interview	30
	Total	50

The candidates are selected for the clerical cadre through a two-step process:

Preliminary test
Mains test

The pattern for both the phases are given below in a tabular format

Clerical cadre: Preliminary Phase

S. No.	Subject	Total Number of Question	Duration
1.	English Language	30	20 Minutes
2.	Reasoning Ability	35	20 Minutes
3.	Numerical Aptitude	35	20 Minutes
	Total	100	60 Minutes

NOTE: A total of 100 questions are given in the preliminary phase of the examination. Each question carries one mark. And for every incorrect answer, 0.25 marks are deducted.

Clerical Cadre: Mains Phase

S. No.	Subject	Questions	Maximum Marks	Duration
1.	English Language	35	40	40 Minutes
2.	Reasoning ability and computer aptitude	45	60	60 Minutes
3.	Data Analysis and Interpretation	35	60	45 Minutes
4.	General Economy and Financial Awareness	40	40	35 Minutes
	Total	155	200	180 Minutes
5.	English Language (Letter Writing and Essay)	2	25	30 Minutes

NOTE: There is no group discussion and personal interview round for the selection of individuals as clerks or junior associates. Therefore, the final selection for this post depends on the marks secured in the mains stage of the examinations.

Specialist Officers (SO)

Banking organizations also provide opportunities to candidates having the professional experience to work in various departments at specialized posts as officers. Every year banking organizations release vacancies for some of the common departments like IT(Information Technology), HR (Human Resources), marketing, law, etc.

Generally, the recruitment for the post of specialist officers is conducted in two stages:

Preliminary

The following tables give a section-wise distribution for the preliminary stage along with the marks and time duration of the specific posts.

Law Officer and Rajbhasha Adhikari

S.No.	Subject	Number of Questions	Maximum Marks	Time Duration
1.	Reasoning Ability	50	50	40 Minutes
2.	English Language	50	25	40 Minutes
3.	General Awareness with Special emphasis on Financial and banking sector	50	50	40 Minutes
	Total	150	125	120 Minutes

IT Officer, HR Officer, Marketing Officers, and Agricultural field officers

S.No.	Subject	Number of Questions	Maximum Marks	Time Duration
1.	Reasoning Ability	50	50	40 Minutes
2.	English Language	50	25	40 Minutes
3.	Quantitative Aptitude	50	50	40 Minutes
	Total	150	125	120 Minutes

Mains

The following tables give a section-wise distribution for the mains stage along with the marks and time duration of the specific posts.

Rajbhasha Adhikari

S.No.	Subject	Number of questions	Maximum Marks	Time Duration
1.	Professional Knowledge (Objective)	45	60	30 Minutes
2.	Professional Knowledge (Descriptive)	2	60	30 Minutes

IT Officer, HR Officer, Marketing Officers, Law Officers, and Agricultural field officers

S.No.	Subject	Number of questions	Time Duration
1.	Professional Knowledge	60	45 Minutes

NOTE: A total of 60 questions will be from the professional knowledge subject carrying 1 mark.

Grade A officers

This recruitment examination is conducted by the SEBI is conducted in three phases:

Phase-I

The phase-I is an online examination of a total duration of 2 hours. It consists of multiple-choice questions. The section-wise distribution for the General, Legal, Information Technology, and Engineering stream is given below in a tabular format:

S.No.	Subject	Max. Marks	Time Duration
1.	Quantitative Aptitude	40	120 Minutes
2.	English Language	40
3.	Reasoning ability	40
4.	General awareness	40
5.	Awareness about the securities market	40

NOTE: To qualify for the phase-II, you need to secure a minimum of 40% marks for all the subsections separately. This is of qualifying nature only and the marks obtained will not be considered for the final selection.

Phase-II

It consists of three sections and is also an online examination. The total marks for the phase-II are 300 marks.

S.No.	Subject	Max. Marks	Time Duration
General
1.	Paper I: Securities Market	100	40 Minutes
2.	Paper-II: English (Writing Skills- Descriptive)	100	60 Minutes
3.	Paper III: Economic & Social Issues and Finance & Management	100	40 Minutes
Legal/Information Technology/Engineering
	Paper I: Financial Sector	100	40 minutes
	Paper-II: English (Writing Skills- Descriptive)	100	60 minutes
	Paper III: Specialized subject related to stream	100	40 minutes

NOTE: A candidate has to secure a minimum of 40% marks in each paper.

3. Interview

The interview is the last and final step for the selection of candidates for the post of grade-A officers. The marks are distributed as the 85% weightage will be given to marks of Phase II exam while 15% weightage will be given to Interview marks.

Financial Awareness Syllabus

After the analysis of the examination pattern, you can know that the financial awareness plays a good role at various exam stages. Let’s look at the financial awareness syllabus in detail. For your convenience, we have enlisted the syllabus in the tabular format:

Securities Appellate Tribunal	Financial Reforms in India	Financial Institutions of India
Public offer and disclosure requirements	Financial Inclusion	Role of SEBI as a Regulator
Indian Financial system	Functions of Banks	Types of Accounts
Rights and duties of Depository (NSDL AND CSDL), Depository Participant, Issuer, and beneficiary	Fund Transfer Services	Unpublished Price Sensitive Information(UPSI)
Mergers Amalgamation and takeovers	SEBI ICDR Regulations	Trading on the basis of UPSI
Types and legal processes during a takeover	Exemptions by law, Exemption BY SEBI	Role of Courts in enforcing securities regulations
Unfair Trade Practices in the securities market, Securities Market offenses, Prohibition of Insider Trading	Historical Background of securities law	Commodity market
Receipts of the Government and Expenditures of the Government.	Capital markets: Primary and secondary market	stock exchanges, brokers, trading in stock exchanges, forward trading
legal issues and regulations	stock index, depositories, regulations	Bond Market: Bond valuation, Duration, sensitivity, and risk
finance commission	Money market	Government securities Market,
Financial administration	Commodity trading and exchanges	Corporate bond market
Foreign Exchange market: Exchange control, fixation of the exchange rate, currency forwards, futures and options	FEMA	Foreign exchange transactions of commercial banks in India
Exchange control in India	SEBI as a Market regulator	Currency convertibility
Trading in the foreign exchange market	Powers and Functions of SEBI	Relationship between money market and foreign exchange market.
Financial Committees in India	Quasi-legislative powers	Relationship between Company Law and securities law
International capital markets and guidelines	executive powers and quasi-judicial powers	Instruments of Capital Market
Foreign investment in India and its regulations	Meaning and Types of securities	Basic concepts related to securities law, like capital, public offer, and securities
Regulating the intermediaries and Stock exchanges	Securities Contract	Corporatization, Demutualization, and regulation of stock exchange
Dematerialization and Rematerlisation	Listing Agreement	International Financial Institutions
Regulatory framework – RBI	Chit Funds	Micro-Finance Institutions
Monetary Policies	Nidhis	Credit Information Bureaus
Non-banking financial companies	Fiscal deficit	Repo and reverse repo rate
Leasing & Hire Purchase Companies	Lease financing	consumer credit
Gold Loan Companies	hire purchase finance	Pension Products
Retail Financing Companies	Ponzi Schemes	Insurance services Life Insurance
BASEL Norms	CIBIL	General Insurance
Health Insurance	Endowment	Pension
Reinsurance and Insurance broking	Bundled products	Bancassurance

Financial Awareness: Preparation Tips

Here we have added the best strategies by our mentors for financial awareness preparation.

Understand the full syllabus, examination pattern, selection procedure, etc to make a strategy before starting your preparation.
Since there is a vast syllabus to be covered in a limited period a strategic study plan is required.
Learn various banking and financial terms
Read related books and practice test papers
Keep an eye on regular banking news
Stay aware of foreign exchange rates
Brush up your basics and gain a clear understanding of the important topics.
Taking reference from previous year papers is a must
After getting the insights of the syllabus choose the topics according to your priority. Focus on your weak topics and use your strong topics wisely to score well in the examination.
Read Newspapers and editorials daily financial news.
Making short notes can be of great help for last-minute revisions before the examination.
Practicing mock tests is mandatory to analyze your performance and increase it accordingly.
Candidates should prepare for it on a regular basis by reading current affairs. Attempt daily quizzes to check your knowledge.
Practicing mock tests is mandatory to analyze your performance and increase it accordingly.

Attempt the latest mock tests to crack the exam

Financial Awareness Books and Study Materials

Refer to the following books and study material while preparing for the financial awareness section:

Financial Awareness for Competitive Exams by Disha Experts
Financial Management – Prasanna Chandra Principles and Practices of Management – L N Prasad
Indian Financial System – Bharati V Pathak
Principles of Management – Harold Koontz
Study Notes on Financial Awareness
Financial Awareness Monthly and Weekly Capsules
Practice through Financial Awareness Quizzes

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