NABARD Grade A Exam Analysis 2024

The NABARD Grade A exam is conducted to recruit candidates who desire to work in this apex regulatory body and significantly contribute to the agricultural and rural development.  

With such huge responsibilities tasked for the selected candidates, the exam for NABARD Grade A is equally regarded as one of the most challenging exams.  

Therefore, it is advised for the candidates to have an overview on nature of the examination in order to be well- prepared for the same.  

To have a thorough understanding on the nature of the exam, the aspirants must ensure to do NABARD Grade A exam analysis.  

As going through a comprehensive analysis of NABARD Grade A exam papers will provide you insights on the pattern, type of questions as well as the difficulty level of the exam.

If you are planning to prepare for NABARD Grade A 2025, then you are at the right place! 

To give you a clear idea about the exam, I have provided an extensive NABARD Grade A exam analysis of the previous years papers. This will not just assist you in greater understanding of the examination but will also help in your exam preparation.  

So, without any further ado, let’s get started!

NABARD Grade A Exam Analysis

Talking about NABARD Grade A exam, there are 3 stages in the exam process.  

The first is the Phase 1 or Prelims round, the second is the Phase 2 or Mains and the third is the interview round. 

Before we begin with NABARD exam analysis, let me first introduce you with the subjects in the prelims round.

• Reasoning 
• Computer Knowledge 
• Decision Making 
• English Language 
• Quantitative Aptitude 
• General awareness 
• Social & Economic Issues (emphasis on Rural India) 
• Agriculture & Rural Development (emphasis on Rural India)

Among these subjects, Reasoning, Computer Knowledge, Decision Making, English and Quantitative aptitude, comes in the non-merit section which is qualifying in nature. 

And the rest, which are ESI, ARD, and General Awareness are categorized under merit section, based on which cutoff is defined.

For complete list of topics, you can check the detailed NABARD Grade A syllabus, if you haven’t done so yet.

There are many advantages of going through the NABARD Grade A exam analysis. The benefits of such an analysis can be categorised as follows: 

• First, it will help the NABARD Grade A candidates to see how they fared in the exam, and then start with their next plan of action accordingly. 
• Second, such an analysis will be invaluable to the NABARD Grade A aspirants of the future, in other words, it’ll be something that they can use to get an idea about what can be asked in the exam they’ll eventually be appearing for.

So, now that we are done with an overview of exam analysis, let us proceed to the detailed NABARD Grade A 2024 exam analysis of Phase 1 and Phase 2.

NABARD Grade A Phase 1 Exam Analysis 2024

The Phase 1 exam of NABARD Grade A 2024 took place on 01st September 2024 and was conducted twice in a day, i.e., during Morning and Evening shift.   

Talking about the overall difficulty level for the exam range is moderate.   

To provide you a clearer picture of the exam, I have given below the detailed section – wise NABARD Phase 1 exam analysis as follows: 

Logical Reasoning 

• A total of 20 questions were asked in the section of Logical Reasoning
• 12 questions were asked from sitting arrangement and puzzle etc.

The difficulty level of this section was moderate. 

Quantitative Aptitude 

• There were a total 20 questions asked from the Quantitative Aptitude section.  
• A total of 8 – 9 questions can be counted as good number of attempts.  
• 4 questions came from approximation and number series. 3 to 4 questions came from advance arithmetic etc. 

The questions asked in this section range from easy to moderate in terms of the difficulty level. 

English Language 

• In this section, a total of 30 questions were asked. 
• Out of which attempting 16 – 18 questions can be viewed as good attempts.  
• 5 questions were from para-jumble, 4 question reading comprehension etc.  

The difficulty level of the section was moderate. 

Computer Knowledge 

• From this section, total 20 questions were asked in the paper.  
• Total of 8 – 10 questions can be considered as safe number of attempts.  

The section of Computer Knowledge lies between moderate level. 

Decision Making 

• A total number of 10 questions were asked from the section of Decision Making.  
• Major questions were from types, techniques and model of decision making. 
• Out of which 3 – 4 questions are good number of attempts. 

The difficulty level of the questions ranges from moderate to difficult.

Economy & Social Issues (ESI)

• In the section of ESI, there are a total of 40 questions.  
• Out of which attempting 28 – 30 questions can be seen as good.  
• 17 question was asked from PIB, 7 questions from scheme, 2 of finance current affairs, 8 questions of general current affair, 4 questions were asked from budget and 2 questions of NABARD annual report. 

The difficulty level of this section was moderate.

Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD)

ARD section was divided into three sections: 

1. Schemes: 4 to 5 questions were asked. 
2. PIB: 4 to 5 questions came in the paper. 
3. Static: 27 questions were asked. 

A total of 40 questions were asked. Attempting 25 – 27 questions will be considered a safe number of attempts. 

The questions asked in the section range from moderate in terms of the difficulty level.  

General Awareness (GA)

• In General Awareness (GA) section, a total of 20 questions were asked.  
• 9 question were from finance current affairs, 10 question were from general current affairs and 1 question was of scheme. 
• Out of which doing 5 – 6 questions are good to attempt.  
• This section was tough to attempt in terms of the difficulty level.  

Along with this, you must go through the NABARD Grade A previous year papers to gain proper understanding on the exam’s nature. 

With this, we come to the end of the 2024 NABARD Phase 1 exam analysis. 

NABARD Grade A Phase 1 Exam Analysis 2023

The Phase 1 exam of NABARD Grade A 2023 took place on 16th October 2023 and was conducted twice in a day, i.e., during Morning and Evening shift.  

Talking about the overall difficulty level, both the shifts for the exam range between moderate to tough.  

To provide you a clearer picture of the exam, I have given below the detailed section – wise NABARD Phase 1 exam analysis as follows:

Logical Reasoning

A total of 20 questions were asked in the section of Logical Reasoning, out of which attempting 7- 8 questions can be considered as good attempts. The difficulty level of this section was easy to moderate.

Quantitative Aptitude

There were a total 20 questions asked from the Quantitative Aptitude section. Total 7- 8 questions can be counted as good number of attempts. The questions asked in this section range from easy to moderate in terms of the difficulty level.

English Language

In this section, a total of 30 questions were asked, out of which attempting 15 – 18 questions can be viewed as good attempts. The difficulty level of the section was easy to moderate.

Computer Knowledge

From this section, total 20 questions were asked in the paper. Total of 6 – 7 questions can be considered as safe number of attempts. The section of Computer Knowledge lies between moderate to tough in terms of the difficulty level of the questions.

Decision Making

A total number of 10 questions were asked from the section of Decision – Making, out of which 2 – 3 questions are good number of attempts. The reason it is so because of the difficulty level of the questions range from moderate to difficult.

ESI, ARD & GA

• In the section of ESI, there are a total of 40 questions and out of which attempting 24 – 25 questions can be seen as good. The difficulty level of this section was easy to moderate. A maximum number of questions came from current affairs and government schemes. 
• For ARD section, a total of 40 questions were asked from the topic. Attempting 20 – 22 questions will be considered a safe number of attempts. The questions asked in the section range from moderate to tough in terms of the difficulty level. This section contained questions from current affairs, government schemes and static portion.
• In General Awareness (GA) section, a total of 20 questions were asked in the paper, out of which doing 4- 5 questions are good number to attempt. This section was tough to attempt in terms of the difficulty level. A lot of questions were asked from current affairs as well as Static GK.

Along with this, you must go through the NABARD Grade A previous year papers to gain proper understanding on the exam’s nature.

With this, we come to the end of the 2023 NABARD Phase 1 exam analysis.

NABARD Grade A Phase 2 Exam Analysis 2023

The exam for NABARD Grade A 2023 Phase 2 was held on 19th November 2023. It was conducted in two shifts, i.e., during morning and afternoon.  

The Phase 2 exam is comprised of two papers, i.e., Paper 1 and Paper 2. While Paper 1 is English descriptive section, the Paper 2 consists of subjects – Economic and Social Issues (ESI) and Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD).  

The Paper 1, which is English descriptive section is subjective in nature whereas the Paper 2 includes both MCQ – based objective as well as descriptive questions.  

The total time duration to complete Paper 1 is of 90 minutes and for Paper 2 is 120 minutes. Both the papers are of 100 marks each.  

Upon analyzing the NABARD Grade A 2023 Phase 2 question paper, the difficulty level of the same can be considered to lie between moderate to difficult.  

To provide you comprehensive analysis, I have discussed in detail the difficulty level of the exam in a section–wise manner.  

English Descriptive

The Paper 1, which is the English descriptive section comprises of 3 questions asked from topics like Essay, Precis and Letter writing.  

As few topics given under essay were related to agriculture and rural development and other topics are the most – discussed issues in present case scenario, hence the essay section was easy to attempt.  

Like Essay writing, the topics provided under the Precis and Letter writing were moderate to comprehend and are deemed as relevant in the current context. 

Therefore, the overall difficulty level of the Paper 1, i.e., English descriptive was easy to moderate. 

Economic and Social Issues (ESI) & Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD)  

As mentioned earlier, the ESI and ARD section, i.e., Paper 2 consists of both objective and descriptive – based questions.  

Talking about the objective portion in both ESI and ARD section, there were total 30 questions which were of 1 to 2 marks. Whereas the descriptive section comprised of total 6 questions which were of 10 marks and 15 marks.  

In the ESI section, the objective – based questions were tough in terms of the difficulty level. Though the questions asked were difficult and current – based, a thorough coverage of PIB and Spotlight sessions would have it easy for candidates to attempt the paper correctly.  

The descriptive section of ESI, on the other hand was moderate in nature as the questions asked were conceptual in understanding.  

Coming to the ARD subject, the MCQ- based objective questions were difficult and straightforward. Hence, like ESI section, the objective portion of ARD too was tough in terms of difficulty level. Whereas the descriptive questions were moderate to attempt.  

Therefore, the overall difficulty level of the Paper 2 or the ESI and ARD section was moderate to difficult.  

To provide a detailed overview of the exam analysis, I have explained comprehensively all the questions of NABARD Grade A 2023 Phase 2 exam in the video provided below.  

Having said that, the exam analysis for NABARD Grade A 2023 Phase 2 is over. 

NABARD Grade A Exam Analysis Phase 1 2022

The NABARD Grade A Prelims 2022 was held on 7th September 2022. The exam took place in two shifts, i.e., Morning and Evening. 

Both the shifts were of similar level and contained freebies as well as challenges. 

In the successive videos below, I have presented the detailed analysis of both the shifts of NABARD Grade A Prelims 2022.

Along with this, let me put forward the subject-wise analysis. While I am going to give you the analysis in the written format, but you have a choice of imbibing it in the visual form as well. You can watch the video of the detailed analysis of NABARD Grade A Prelims exam. 

The NABARD Phase 1 exam analysis 2022 is given below as follows:

Logical Reasoning

The difficulty level of the reasoning section in the 2022 prelims paper was moderate. The paper had 20 questions out of which 14 were based on puzzles and arrangements.

Attempting 10 out of the 20 questions can be considered as a good attempt.

Quantitative Aptitude

This section was also of the easy to solve and posed limited challenges.

English Language

The English section included questions whose difficulty level was easy to moderate.

Computer Knowledge

The Difficulty level of this section was easy to moderate. solving anything beyond 12 questions can be considered to be a good attempt.

Decision Making

Questions in this section were Easy to solve. Only 10 questions were there in this section. They looked intimidating at first, but the answers were there in the questions itself. So, those who had read the questions and went with appropriate practice they didn’t have faced much challenge in this section.

One could have easily got to the answers by using the elimination method on the options given for each question. 

General Awareness, ESI & ARD Section 

The 3 sections of Social & Economic Issue, Rural & Agriculture Development, and General Awareness had easy-moderate level questions as far as difficulty is concerned. 

Most of the General Awareness questions were based on the recent happenings. 

Most questions from the Rural & Agricultural Development section were made framed from recently launched schemes or the ones in the news. 

Similar was the case with the Economics and Social Issues section.

The aforementioned review is the blend of both morning and evening shifts. However, a separate analysis has been prepared in the video format. While the morning shift analysis has been provided above, below is the analysis of the evening shift. 

That brings us to the end of the NABARD Grade A exam analysis of the Prelims 2022 exam. Now, it’s time to focus on the Mains exam of the 2022 NABARD Grade A recruitment.

You can check the latest NABARD Grade A 2023 notification and exam dates to stay updated on the information about the exam.

NABARD Grade A Mains Exam Analysis 2022

NABARD Grade A 2022 Mains exam has successfully taken place on 29th October 2022. The exam was held in a single shift, i.e., from 10 AM to 1:30 PM. 

The mains exam is divided into two sections, viz, Paper 1 and Paper 2. Paper 1 tests the answer writing skills of the candidate, whereas Paper 2 puts forth the questions in the MCQ format. 

Both sections contain 100 marks each and are carried out in 90 minutes apiece. 

Also, the descriptive and MCQ sections include questions on the subject of Economic and Social Issues (ESI) and Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD) 

Coming to the NABARD Phase 2 exam analysis of the exam, this year the exam level was observed to be somewhat between easy to moderate. 

Let me elaborate on this by highlighting the paper-wise difficulty level.

Descriptive Portion

This section entails English descriptive (Essay writing, Letter writing, Precis writing) and Descriptive Answer Writing (ESI and ARD). 

Questions of English Descriptive were of easy to moderate difficulty level. The essay topics were relevant with the concerns of layman; hence, it wasn’t a strenuous task to mull over the content to write. Same was the case with letter and precis writing. 

As for the “ESI and ARD” answer writing, most of the questions raised were of ESI’s nature, and overall, the section was easy to moderate.

Objective Portion

The Objective part of the exam encompasses MCQs of 1 and 2 marks. In NABARD Grade A 2022 Mains exam, this section was of Easy to Moderate difficulty. 

Questions from ESI were quite easy to attempt, whereas, many of the ARD questions were tricky in nature. 

However, if one would have read “Spotlight” comprehensively then I don’t think the paper would have posed a challenge. 

To instill further clarity about the analysis of the exam, I’ve put down the findings as well as the questions that were asked in the NABARD Grade A 2022 Mains exam in the video given below.

Along with this, to gain comprehensive understanding of the difficulty level of the exam, you can check and analyze the cutoffs in NABARD Grade A exam released over the years.

With this, we have come to the end of NABARD Phase 2 exam analysis.

NABARD Grade A Exam Analysis of Prelims 2021

Talking about the NABARD Grade A 2021 Prelims, it took place on 18th September 2021. That said I had made a brief video on the same. 

You can watch it by clicking on the video thumbnail given below. However, this is just the brief analysis video. 

For the detailed analysis video, scroll further down below.

Okay, so before we begin with the NABARD Grade A exam analysis of the prelims round, let me list down the subjects in the prelims round. 

• Reasoning 
• Computer Knowledge 
• Decision Making 
• English Language 
• Quantitative Aptitude 
• General awareness 
• Social & Economic Issues (emphasis on Rural India) 
• Agriculture & Rural Development (emphasis on Rural India) 

Now, let’s take a look at subject/section-wise exam analysis of the 2021 prelims paper. I have also mentioned the good attempts pertaining to each of the same. 

Now, you might ask, what are good attempts? 

So, basically, good attempts mean the number of questions that if attempted, are considered good from the scoring point of view, taking into account the difficulty level of the paper. 

You would get a better idea of the various sections provided in the exam analysis once you go through the exam pattern first. 

Now, as I have already mentioned above in this section, I have provided the subject-wise exam analysis of the NABARD Grade A Phase 1 exam. If you would prefer to watch the same in the video format, check the video below:

Logical Reasoning

The difficulty level of the section of reasoning in the 2021 prelims paper was easy to moderate. The paper had 20 questions out of which 10-12 were based on seating arrangement. 

Attempting 10 out of the 20 questions was considered to be a good attempt.

Quantitative Aptitude

This section was also of the easy to solve. The section was very much in line with the syllabus, and questions that came were those that were expected.

English Language

The English section included questions whose difficulty level was easy.

Computer Knowledge

The Difficulty level of this section was moderate to Difficult. The section had 20 questions out of which 10-12 questions could be considered solvable, but the rest were difficult to solve. In this section, solving 10 questions was considered to be a good attempt.

Decision Making

Questions in this section ranged from the difficulty level of moderate-difficult. Only 10 questions were there in this section. They looked difficult at first, but the answers were there in the questions itself. So, those who had read the questions and their options multiple times carefully were able to solve them. 

One could have easily got to the answers by using the elimination method on the options given for each question.

General Awareness ESI & ARD Sections

The 3 sections of Social & Economic Issue, Rural & Agriculture Development, and General Awareness had easy-moderate level questions as far as difficulty is concerned. 

Most of the General Awareness questions were from the current affairs of the past few months.

Most questions from the Rural & Agricultural Development section were based on recently launched schemes or the ones in the news. 

The Economics and Social Issues section had questions that were of good quality and was in line with the syllabus. 

That brings us to the end of the NABARD Grade A exam analysis of the Prelims 2021 exam. Now, it’s time for the analyze Mains exam of the 2021 NABARD Grade A recruitment.

Before we move on to the next section, it’s a must for candidates to check the latest NABARD Grade A eligibility requirements to ensure their applicability for the exam.

NABARD Grade A Mains Exam Analysis 2021

Talking about the NABARD Grade A 2021 Mains, it took place on 16 November 2021. The exam had 2 portions. 

One was Objective, and the other was Descriptive. That said I had made videos on the same. You can watch them by clicking on the videos I have provided here in this section below. 

Let me start with the NABARD Grade A 2021 Phase 2 Objective Exam Analysis, first.

Objective Portion

In case you do not want to watch the video let me state that the objective portion of the NABARD Grade A mains had questions of easy to moderate levels of difficulty. 

The majority of one marker questions were easy to solve, and the 2 marker questions were a little difficult as compared to the 1 marker, but all in all the questions were doable. 

I’d also like to add that a lot of questions asked in the objective portion were application based and needed candidates to apply the elimination method to get to the right answers. 

Furthermore, most objective questions were of from Current affairs & ESI. Few were of ARD. 

Now, talking of the Descriptive portion, you might want to watch the video first. 

Descriptive Portion 

In the Descriptive portion of the 2021 NABARD Grade A Mains, questions were of English, and “ESI & ARD”. Most questions from the “ESI & ARD” section were of ARD. 

Questions from English descriptive section were of moderate difficulty. The essay topics were multidimensional and broad in nature. The letter writing questions were of both, informal and formal nature.

As far as the “ESI & ARD” descriptive section goes, questions asked in it were of moderate to advanced difficulty level. Topics asked in it were of technical nature and required thorough understanding of concepts to solve. 

After going through the analysis, you can look at the comprehensive NABARD Grade A preparation strategy I have provided to help aspirants clear the exam.

With that, ends this section of NABARD Grade A exam analysis.

Conclusion

Now, that we have arrived at the conclusion, I hope that the detailed discussion on NABARD Grade A exam analysis I have provided above will prove beneficial for your exam preparation. I have extensively analyzed the NABARD Grade A exam papers from 2023 – 2021. It’s time for me to bid you farewell and wish you all the best for future endeavors! 

Keep Learning! 

Stay motivated!