Economics and Banking

Tips for Reading Comprehensions on Economics & Banking in SBI PO

Any comprehension passage can prove to be problematic for students if they are not familiar with the theme of the passage. Banking/economics is one such arena where not everyone is comfortable. The issue is often the same – while the passage itself may be easy, there may be technical words or jargon that are specific to the industry. If you do not have a background in economics or banking, this may prove to be problematic. Here are a few tips to help you handle such comprehensions.Skim through the passage before you read the passage thoroughly or attempt the questions given after it. There is no exception to this rule. But don’t spend more than 30 seconds doing so.

1. Try to grasp what the main idea of the passage is. Don’t try to focus on small details on the first reading.
2. Reread the passage thoroughly.
3. Figure out the tone and style of the author. Figure out if he’s trying to narrate, analyse, describe or criticize.
4. While reading, try to mentally note down the points you think are important or relevant. Reading comprehension is made easier if you involve your memory and retention abilities. Then you don’t have to keep referring to the passage repeatedly.
5. Be familiar with common terms associated with business, banking and economics because sometimes questions are framed based on general understanding and awareness.
6. Tackle the questions one by one. Attempt all the vocabulary questions first. Then move on to fact based questions that have answers directly stated in the passage. If there are any theme (main idea) based questions, answer those too. Leave the inference based questions for the very end. Remember that you don’t need to tackle the reading comprehension questions in the order they appear. You need to maximise your marks in minimum time.

Tips for Reading Comprehensions on Economics & Banking in SBI PO

There are several things you can do to strengthen your preparation.

1. Reading newspapers like Mint, Economic Times, and Business Line will help you understand the nature of these types of passages. You will also automatically get familiarized with several concepts of business, economics and banking beforehand so that you won’t have to spend time doing so during the exam.
2. Jot down important concepts of economics, banking or business when you come across them.
3. For practice, try to write your own opinion on an article when you read about some interesting aspect. Focus on its impact on the economy. This will be helpful as some questions can test your economics acumen.
4. As you read the papers, try to relate these concepts with real-life examples. These will make concepts vividly clear to you.
5. Economics is not only about banking and finance; it can also include development aspects and social issues. Be thorough with your knowledge of current affairs regarding the same.
6. You should be able to link economics to the political scenario as well as often policies determine the economy and vice versa.
7. Popular and relevant theories of banking and economics can round out your preparation. For example, the recent death of the famous mathematician John Nash should have prompted you to read up on his Nobel-prize winning work on the extremely interesting Game Theory, which is widely used in economics and decision scienc