In this guide
The biggest planning mistake in RBI Grade B is treating the phases one after the other: aptitude until Phase 1, then economics and finance. Phase 2 arrives only a few weeks after Phase 1, and it carries most of the marks. So both must run together from the first week, with the balance shifting as the exam approaches.
This plan assumes about six hours a day, six days a week. If you are working, scale it down using the guide to preparing with a job.
The idea
- Every day: current affairs (for GA, Phase 2 and the interview) and some aptitude.
- Every week: one ESI topic, one F&M topic, and typed answer writing.
- As the exam nears: shift weight to mocks, first for Phase 1, then for Phase 2.
The hours budget
Six hours a day for six days is 36 hours a week, or about 936 hours over 26 weeks. Here is how the daily structure below spends it:
| Block | Per day | Per week | Over 26 weeks | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Current affairs and notes | 1 h | 6 h | 156 h | 17% |
| Reasoning and quant | 1.5 h | 9 h | 234 h | 25% |
| ESI or F&M topic study and answers | 2 h | 12 h | 312 h | 33% |
| English reading and writing | 1 h | 6 h | 156 h | 17% |
| Revision | 0.5 h | 3 h | 78 h | 8% |
| Total | 6 h | 36 h | 936 h | 100% |
A third of your time goes to ESI and F&M because they carry 200 of the 300 Phase 2 marks and take the longest to build. The seventh day is for a mock, its analysis and rest.
Month by month
| Month | Aptitude | ESI | F&M | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reasoning and quant basics; daily drills | Growth, development, national income; economy structure | Financial system, RBI functions, financial markets | Daily editorial reading; one précis a week |
| 2 | Puzzles daily; DI | Inflation; monetary and fiscal policy; Budget | Banking regulation, Basel norms, NPAs and IBC | One essay a week |
| 3 | Sectional tests | Poverty, employment, agriculture, industry, infrastructure | NBFCs, payment systems, fintech, financial inclusion | Essay and précis weekly |
| 4 | One full Phase 1 mock a week | External sector, trade, international institutions | Management: functions, leadership, motivation | Comprehension answers; essay |
| 5 | Phase 1 mocks every other day | Social issues, demography, education, health, sustainability | Communication, HRM, ethics, change management, corporate governance | Timed full English papers |
| 6 | Phase 1 exam, then Phase 2 mocks | Revision with current issues | Revision with current issues | Two full papers a week |
Why this order? Months 1 and 2 cover the topics that appear across papers (inflation, monetary policy, banking regulation), so early work pays everywhere. Management moves to months 4 and 5 because its theories are stable and quicker to revise, but it is never dropped: it needs steady answer practice.
A daily structure
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 1 h | Current affairs: read, then note by category |
| 1.5 h | Reasoning and quant: one timed set, then error review |
| 2 h | ESI or F&M: read the topic, make a one-page note, type one answer (later months) |
| 1 h | English: editorial reading, or an essay or précis on writing days |
| 30 min | Revision of the week's notes |
A weekly template
| Day | Main focus | Also |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | ESI topic study | Reasoning set |
| Tuesday | F&M topic study | Quant set |
| Wednesday | ESI: two typed answers | Précis |
| Thursday | F&M: two typed answers | Reasoning set |
| Friday | Objective quiz on the week's ESI and F&M | Essay |
| Saturday | Weekly revision; GA quiz of 80 questions in 25 minutes | Weak-area drill |
| Sunday | Sectional test or full mock, with analysis | Rest |
Current affairs runs every day alongside this.
Checkpoints
| When | You should be able to |
|---|---|
| End of month 1 | Explain the RBI's functions and the structure of India's financial system without notes |
| End of month 2 | Explain inflation, monetary policy transmission and Basel norms in your own words |
| End of month 3 | Clear the cut-off comfortably in most sectional tests |
| End of month 4 | Type a structured 300-word answer in about 15 minutes |
| End of month 5 | Score steadily above recent Phase 1 cut-offs in full mocks |
| Month 6 | Complete a full Phase 2 mock paper within time |
If you fall behind
Almost everyone does. Adjust in this order:
- Protect the daily current affairs. Missing a month cannot be recovered cheaply.
- Cut topic depth, not topic count. A one-page note on every topic beats three detailed notes and three blanks, because the descriptive section gives you a choice of four from six.
- Keep writing. Two typed answers a week is the minimum, even in a bad week.
- Reduce aptitude drills before you reduce Phase 2 work, unless a sectional test shows you below the cut-off.
A worked example: re-planning a lost fortnight
Suppose an aspirant loses the last two weeks of month 3 to illness, missing payment systems, fintech and financial inclusion in F&M.
- List what was missed: three F&M topics and about four typed answers.
- Spread the three topics over the first three weeks of month 4, one per week, alongside the planned management topics.
- Make a single one-page note per missed topic instead of full notes.
- Add one typed answer per week on the missed topics.
- Keep month 4's Phase 1 mock schedule unchanged.
The plan absorbs the gap in about three weeks without moving the exam-month schedule.
What to do this week
- Download the latest notification and mark the Phase 1 and Phase 2 dates
- Count back six months and write the month-by-month table into your calendar
- Start a current-affairs note file sorted by category
- Type your first 250-word answer, on the RBI's functions, and time it
- Take one sectional test in each Phase 1 section to find your starting level
A note on dates and numbers. Exam patterns, vacancies and schedules change from year to year. Always confirm the current details in the latest notification on the Reserve Bank of India website .
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