NABARD Grade A Exam Pattern
Three phases, but only two of them decide your rank. Here's exactly how the scoring works.
NABARD Grade A runs across three phases, but only two of them touch your final rank. Phase I is a screening round: it decides who moves forward, and nothing more. Once you clear it, the marks you scored in it are gone, they don't add to anything downstream.
That changes how you should read your own performance. A high Phase I score feels like progress, but it buys you nothing beyond qualifying. What actually decides where you land on the merit list is Phase II and the interview. The table below shows exactly what carries forward and what doesn't, before we walk through each phase in detail.
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What Actually Counts Toward Your Final Rank
As last notified, this is the full weight of each stage in your final merit.
Phase I: Preliminary
Marks
200
Counts toward final merit?
No, qualifying only, 0 carried forward
Phase II: Mains (Paper I + II)
Marks
200
Counts toward final merit?
Yes, 80% weight
Phase III: Psychometric Test
Marks
No marks
Counts toward final merit?
No, non-scoring
Phase III: Interview
Marks
50
Counts toward final merit?
Yes, 20% weight
Final merit
Marks
250
Counts toward final merit?
Phase II (200) + Interview (50), 80:20
| Stage | Marks | Counts toward final merit? |
|---|---|---|
| Phase I: Preliminary | 200 | No, qualifying only, 0 carried forward |
| Phase II: Mains (Paper I + II) | 200 | Yes, 80% weight |
| Phase III: Psychometric Test | No marks | No, non-scoring |
| Phase III: Interview | 50 | Yes, 20% weight |
| Final merit | 250 | Phase II (200) + Interview (50), 80:20 |
Your Phase I score does not carry forward into your final merit. Once you clear the cut-off, that score has done its job, so there's little point chasing extra marks in it beyond what's needed to qualify.
Phase I: Preliminary (Qualifying Only)
As last notified, Phase I is 200 marks across 8 sections, 120 minutes, online, multiple-choice, with a quarter-mark negative deduction per wrong answer.
Reasoning
Questions
20
Marks
20
English Language
Questions
30
Marks
30
Computer Knowledge
Questions
20
Marks
20
Quantitative Aptitude
Questions
20
Marks
20
Decision Making
Questions
10
Marks
10
General Awareness
Questions
20
Marks
20
Economic & Social Issues (ESI)
Questions
40
Marks
40
Agriculture & Rural Development (ARD)
Questions
40
Marks
40
Total
Questions
200
Marks
200
| Section | Questions | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| Reasoning | 20 | 20 |
| English Language | 30 | 30 |
| Computer Knowledge | 20 | 20 |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 20 | 20 |
| Decision Making | 10 | 10 |
| General Awareness | 20 | 20 |
| Economic & Social Issues (ESI) | 40 | 40 |
| Agriculture & Rural Development (ARD) | 40 | 40 |
| Total | 200 | 200 |
Because the entire 200 marks get reset once you clear the cut-off, Phase I isn't a scoreboard to maximise, it's a gate to get through. The two heaviest sections, ESI and ARD at 40 marks each, together outweigh every general-aptitude section combined, so a candidate who can clear those two comfortably has more room to spare elsewhere. Beyond that, the target is simple: clear the cut-off, then move on to preparing for Phase II, which is where your actual rank gets decided.
Questions in the format described above. No signup.
Phase II: Mains (This Is What Decides Your Rank)
As last notified, Phase II is where your 200 out of 250 final-merit marks come from.
Paper I
Content
General English: essay, précis, comprehension, drafting (3 questions, descriptive)
Duration
90 min
Marks
100
Paper II
Content
ESI & ARD: objective (30 MCQ)
Duration
120 min (shared)
Marks
30
Paper II
Content
ESI & ARD: descriptive, answer 4 of 6
Duration
120 min (shared)
Marks
70
Total
Content
Duration
Marks
200
| Paper | Content | Duration | Marks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper I | General English: essay, précis, comprehension, drafting (3 questions, descriptive) | 90 min | 100 |
| Paper II | ESI & ARD: objective (30 MCQ) | 120 min (shared) | 30 |
| Paper II | ESI & ARD: descriptive, answer 4 of 6 | 120 min (shared) | 70 |
| Total | 200 |
Paper I is entirely descriptive and typed online: three questions covering essay, précis, comprehension and drafting, worth 100 marks in 90 minutes. There's no MCQ component in Paper I at all.
Paper II mixes both formats. The first 30 marks are straightforward multiple-choice on ESI and ARD. The remaining 70 marks are descriptive, and here the format itself is worth understanding: you're given 6 prompts and asked to answer only 4. That means you can drop your two weakest areas on the day and put your effort into the ESI or ARD topics you know best. Depth on your strongest areas can outscore an attempt to cover all six shallowly, since you're never actually required to answer more than four.
Paper I and Paper II, at a Glance
- Paper I: General English
- 90 minutes, fully descriptive, typed online. 3 questions covering essay, précis, comprehension and drafting, worth 100 marks in total.
- Paper II: ESI & ARD
- 120 minutes. A 30-mark objective section (30 MCQs) plus a 70-mark descriptive section where you answer 4 of 6 prompts, for 100 marks in total.
Phase III: Psychometric Test and Interview
Phase III has two parts, and they don't carry equal weight. The psychometric test is non-scoring, it doesn't add or subtract marks from your final tally, so don't over-prepare for it as though it were another exam to crack.
The interview is where Phase III actually affects your rank: it's worth 50 of the 250 total marks, a 20% share alongside Phase II's 80%. Between the two, the interview is what you should be treating as the graded component of this phase.
Candidates in the specialist streams, Agriculture, Finance, IT, Legal, Civil Engineering and Rajbhasha, sit the same Phase I as the General (RDBS) stream. What changes is Paper II in Phase II: specialist streams get a paper built around their own subject instead of the general ESI & ARD paper.
Common Questions
Does the Prelims score count toward merit?expand_more
No. Phase I is qualifying only. Once you clear the cut-off, your Phase I marks don't carry forward into the final merit list.
Is Mains objective or descriptive?expand_more
Both, depending on the paper. Paper I is fully descriptive. Paper II combines an objective section (30 MCQs) with a descriptive section (answer 4 of 6 prompts).
How much does the interview count?expand_more
50 of the 250 total marks that make up final merit, a 20% weight alongside Phase II's 80%.
Is the psychometric test scored?expand_more
No. It's non-scoring and doesn't affect your final marks.
How many phases does NABARD Grade A have?expand_more
Three: Phase I (Preliminary), Phase II (Mains), and Phase III (Psychometric Test and Interview).
Is the pattern the same for every stream?expand_more
Phase I is common to every stream. Paper II in Phase II differs: specialist streams sit a paper built around their own subject rather than the general ESI & ARD paper, so the pattern isn't identical end to end.
Next steps
Take a full NABARD Grade A mock testSimulate the real Phase 1 format, timed and scored.