General Awareness section has become an essential section of majority of banking/recruitment

examination conducted in India. This section enables the examiner to know the level
of candidates awareness about national and international current affairs, economies, sports etc.
Essentially it checks how much is the candidate keeping up with the happenings around the
world. While most exams check only your general awareness, the same section in banking
exams incorporates questions with special reference to the banking industry.
The problems with General awareness section is the range of questions is exceptionally LONG.
If you have a look at any of the syllabus of recent examination, you will find that atleast 12-15
topics ranging from Current affairs to person in news are mentioned in the syllabus, making it
nearly impossible for the candidate to prepare and retain all the information. There is static GK,
then there are banking terms, the RBI, the budget and so on. Add to this the fact that many
questions are trivial in nature, making it really tough for the candidate to answer them.
We can often find Candidates asking: HOW DO I PREPARE FOR GENERAL AWARENESS ,
or I always miss sectional cutoff for GA, what to do, or Duration of Current Affairs to be
studied for this exam etc. If you find yourself asking these questions often, then read on for
the ultimate guide to preparing General Awareness for any banking/recruitment examination.
HOW TO PREPARE FOR GENERAL AWARENESS SECTION of Banking/Recruitment
examination
The goal is set to prepare GA section. But there is one thing about goals. A goal without a
plan is just a wish.
And we do not just wish to prepare for GA section, we want to infact conquer it. So heres
the secret recipe of the plan to conquer GA:
1. First, we will take a look at topics asked in General Awareness section.
2. Then we will checkout the TIPS on how what to prepare, followed by actual questions
asked in previous examinations to get an idea about the topics.
3. Tips to prepare general awareness (no its not just about reading newspapers.)
Topics asked in General Awareness
1. Current Affairs: The biggest, meanest and the baddest of all. Following are sub topics of
Current Affairs:

National Current Affairs

International Current Affairs

Sports Current Affairs

Science, Technology, Space & Defense Current Affairs

Current Affairs Yearbook

Person in News/Awards

Economy current affairs

TIPS on What to Prepare in Current Affairs

1. National Current Affairs: Focus on the following sections
o Union and State Elections
o Government schemes announced
o National news: announcements by different ministries, ideation and execution of
pet projects of Union Ministry
o States in news: major announcements, initiatives and schemes undertaken by state
governments.
o Safety operations launched by union or state gov. for various Yatras and
calamities.
o First in India: First Geo thermal power plant, first village to be 100% literate, first
airport fully powered by solar energy etc.
o Lists/Ranking announced.
o Visits by PM Modi: Country, Capital and Head of states plus any major agreement
signed.
o Union Budget
o Schemes announced by Union as well as State governments.
o Census data
o Indias ranking in different indices
o Committees
o Religion based Census Data

2. International Current Affairs

o New appointments in foreign countries.
o International countries in News: ISIS in Syria, new constitution of Nepal,
Information which may be useful in Indian context about other countries, Paris
attacks.
o Summits, Discussions happening in foreign countries: SAARC, DOHA, PARIS
etc.
o International Organizations in news: UNO, G-20, OECD, G4 etc.
o International Calamities: hurricanes, attacks, earthquakes.
3. Sports
o News about Cricket, Tennis, Grand Prix, athletics, Football, Shooting, Badminton,
Hockey, Golf, Wrestling, Archery, Kabaddi.
o Venues of important sports events: 1 event Past/Future Olympics, World Cups,
World Championships.
o Sports Awards: Arjun , ballon dor etc.
o Grand Prix venues and winners for the current year.
o All important opens in tennis. viz., Wimbledon, Roland Garros etc
Click here to read Sports Digest for year 2015 @ 20 only. (28 Pages)
4. Science, Technology, Space & Defense Current Affairs
o Space Agencies : ISRO, NASA, SPACE X etc
o Recent satellite launches by ISRO.
o PSLV, GSLV, Falcon 9 launch vehicles
o Defense news of India and the world: Air Force, Navy , Army, Navy Seals .
o Defense Agreements
o Defense Exercise of different countries with India.

Click here to read Science & Technology, Space and Defence Digest for year 2015
@ 30 only. (32 pages)
5. Current Affairs Yearbook
o Government Schemes
o Government Departments and their functioning.
o Execution of projects by government.
Click here to read Government Schemes Digest for year 2015 @ 20 only. (15
Pages)
6. Person in News/ Awards
o New National and International Appointments: Banks, organisations, committees,
navratan companies heads, secretaries of ministries. Private Companies in the
world, Head of states of countries.
o Obituaries: important persons who died recently.
o Books and Authors : Famous books this year and their authors. Preferably some
award winner.
o Awards : National(Military, Bravery, filmfare etc.), International (Nobel, Oscars)
o Incumbents holding important designations: Head of states, Defense Chiefs.
o Movie and Entertainment
Click here to read Awards, Books-Authors, Appointments Digest for year 2015
@ 30 only. (35 Pages)
7. Economy Current Affairs
o Important organisations : SEBI, RBI
o Credit rating Agencies: National & International
o FDI limits in different sectors
o Schemes launched by governments related to banking and finance
o Export and Import Items

o RBI Monetary Review

o Announcements made by RBI and other banks
o Business News: Mergers Acquisitions and Buyouts.
Some questions asked from Current Affairs in previous examinations.

What is the budget of Mars mission of India? 450 Crore

Venue of Next SAARC summit? Islamabad

Where is the venue of next Hockey world cup? India

Venue of next G20 Summit Turkey

Shanti swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Physical Sciences 2014 -Dr.Pratap Raychaudhuri

SAARC summit 2014- Kathmandu, Nepal

Nobel Prize was given to May Britt Moser and Edward Moser in which field? Medicine

2. Banking Awareness: Divided into following sections:

1. Banking Theory
2. Banking Awareness
TIPS on What to Prepare in Banking Theory and Awareness
1. History of Banking in India: Which was the first bank to be setup in Madras province etc.
Nationalisation of Banks.
2. Organizations:RBI; NABARD; Planning Commission; 5 year plans; Finance
Commission; World Bank
3. Reserve Bank of Indias role in Indian banking system.
4. Economic/ Financial terms & concepts: GDP; GNP; PPP; HDI; Inflation; WPI; CPI; IIP;
SLR; CRR; Repo rate; Reverse Repo; Bank rate; Mutual Funds, Open Market
Operations; Money supply
5. Foreign Exchange reserves of India.
6. Different kind of accounts and corresponding interest rates

7. Non Banking Financial companies: Definition, Difference from bank etc.

8. NPA and SARFAESI
9. Acts, Committees & legislation: Budget 2015; Economic Survey 2015, Railway Budget
2015; Companies Bill 2013
10. Banking services: Assets, liabilities and working capital of a bank; NEFT; RTGS;
Banking Correspondence
agents;Bancassurance; Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana
11. BASEL norms
12. Financial Inclusion and various initiatives for it.
13. Types of Markets, Money and banking instruments
14. Reverse Mortgage Loans.
15. Priority Sector Lending.
16. Banking Abbreviations, terms and concepts.
17. Headquarters of Banks
Click here to read Banking and Economy Digest for year 2015 @ 40 only. (40 Pages)
Banking theory questions:

Insurance regulator in India? IRDA

In FEMA,M stands for- Management

Full form of EMV EuroPay, MasterCard, Visa

In MICR middle 3 digits represent? Bank

RTGS full-form Real Time Gross Settlement

MMID full form Mobile Money Identifier

CBS full form Core Banking Solution

ULIP full form Unit-linked insurance plan

Banking Current affairs questions:

Validity of Kishan vikas patra 100 months

What is the new name of MCX? Metropolitan Stock Exchange of India Ltd,
abbreviated as mSXI

Payment bank working capital 100 Crore

Jandhan yojnas objective? Financial Inclusion

Share of state government in RRB 15%

What is the exchange date for pre 2005 Notes? 1st Jan 2015

Rupay card is developed by? NPCI

3. Static GK:
1. Agriculture Seasons and various crops produced in India
2. Terrorist groups
3. White Revolutions
4. Wildlife Sanctuaries/Parks
5. States, Capitals and CMs
6. Dams in India
7. Major Fault lines in the world
8. Festivals around the world
9. Important rivers and towns
10. Important Days
11. Currencies of different countries.
12. Famous Sportspersons
Questions asked in Static GK:

Vishwanathan Anand is related to? Chess

What is the capital of Austria? Vienna

United Nations day? 24th October

Capital of Afghanistan- Kabul

Currency of Bhutan- Ngultrum

Tips on how to prepare General Awareness

1. Increase your reading speed.
2. Read Newspapers: Yeah, Yeah. I said its not all about newspapers, but they hold a fair
amount of importance in your general awareness preparation. If you are weak in english,
try reading two newspapers. one in your native language and one in English. For better
utilization of time read Economic Times. Reading newspapers also increases your
Reading Speed.
3. Watch news for 15 mins daily for all the current happenings of the world.
4. Create your own notes for examination.
5. Subscribe to Online Daily current affairs.
6. Give Online quizzes and mocks.
7. Read Partiyogita Darpan . You can also use any other current affairs magazine like CST,
Chronicle or Wizard.
a) Focus on the 5-6 most recent issues of the magazine
b) Focus on the following topics within the magazine:
i) News & Events
ii) Current Affairs
iii) Vividha- Compendium