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.
Given below is a list of organizations along with the examinations conducted by them which include the questions from financial awareness. Take a look:
Every year IBPS releases notification for the recruitment of candidates for the post of probationary officers, clerk/ junior associate, and specialist officers.
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 releases the same recruitment notifications as the IBPS releases i.e. probationary officers, clerk/ junior associate, and specialist officers.
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.
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:
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:
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:
The following tables give a section-wise distribution for the preliminary stage along with the marks and time duration of the specific posts.
| 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 |
| 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 |
The following tables give a section-wise distribution for the mains stage along with the marks and time duration of the specific posts.
| S.No. | Subject | Number of questions | Maximum Marks | Time Duration |
| 1. | Professional Knowledge (Objective) | 45 | 60 | 30 Minutes |
| 2. | Professional Knowledge (Descriptive) | 2 | 30 Minutes |
| 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:
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.
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.
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 |
Here we have added the best strategies by our mentors for financial awareness preparation.
Attempt the latest mock tests to crack the exam
Refer to the following books and study material while preparing for the financial awareness section:
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Q: How do you prepare for financial awareness?
A: Use financial awareness capsules for the preparation.
Q: Does IBPS bank exams have financial awareness part?
A: In most of the IBPS bank mains exams, there will be a few questions on financial awareness part.