RBI Assistant Mains mock tests

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This page covers the RBI Assistant Mains pattern and marking. The practice tests on this site are for the other forms listed above.

About the exam

The Reserve Bank of India recruits Assistants for its offices by a country-wide examination. The advertisement dated 16 February 2026 (Panel Year 2025) invites applications for 650 posts. A candidate needs a bachelor's degree in any discipline with at least 50% marks in aggregate (a pass for SC, ST and PwBD candidates) and a working knowledge of word processing on a PC, and must be between 20 and 28 years of age on 1 February 2026, with the relaxations the advertisement lists. The candidate must also know the official or local language of the office applied for.

Selection has three stages. The Preliminary Examination is an online objective test of 100 questions and 100 marks in 60 minutes: English Language (30 questions, 20 minutes), Numerical Ability (35 questions, 20 minutes) and Reasoning Ability (35 questions, 20 minutes). Each test has its own clock. A candidate can attempt a test only during the time given to it, and cannot move to the next test until that time is over or go back. Every question has five options and one right answer. A wrong answer takes away one-fourth of a mark. About ten times the vacancies, category-wise and subject to availability, are shortlisted for the Main Examination. A candidate must qualify in each test separately as well as on the total; the Bank fixes those cut-offs.

The Main Examination is an online objective test of 200 questions and 200 marks in 135 minutes, again with a separate clock for each test: Reasoning (40 questions, 30 minutes), English Language (40 questions, 30 minutes), Numerical Ability (40 questions, 30 minutes), General Awareness (40 questions, 25 minutes) and Computer Knowledge (40 questions, 20 minutes). The same one-fourth negative mark applies, and each question has five options. About twice the vacancies are called, on the aggregate of the Main Examination, for a mandatory Language Proficiency Test in the official or local language of the State. No one is exempted from that test. Final selection follows merit in the online examination, qualifying the language test, medical fitness and document verification. Where a test is held in more than one session, scores are equated.

Selected Assistants start at a basic pay of ₹29,000 a month, in the scale given in the advertisement. The advertisement puts the initial monthly gross emoluments, without house rent allowance, at about ₹58,514. Staff are posted in the recruiting zone and can be transferred across the centres of that zone. Tests other than English are shown in English and in the language chosen for that office, including Hindi.

Exam pattern

Form

RBI Assistant Main Examination · since 2026-02-16

How it is taken

Online test at a centre allotted by the Bank

Timing

A separate clock for each test: 30, 30, 30, 25 and 20 minutes. The next test opens only when the current test's time is over.

Adaptive

None. Scores from different sessions are equated.

The Main Examination information handout (Hindi, on rbi.org.in) repeats the separate clocks, five options and the quarter-mark penalty, and says cut-offs may be applied on each test and on the total.

The Language Proficiency Test is conducted at the Bank's regional offices in the official or local language of the State. It is not a multiple-choice paper and is not set as a practice test here.

Topics in the exam

• English: reading comprehension
• English: cloze
• English: error spotting
• English: sentence completion
• English: sentence rearrangement
• Simplification
• Number series
• Data interpretation
• Percentage
• Profit and loss
• Simple and compound interest
• Time and work
• Time, speed and distance
• Ratio and ages
• Puzzles: row, floor and circle
• Syllogism
• Inequality
• Coding and decoding
• Blood relation
• Direction sense

How it is scored

Each of the 200 questions carries 1 mark. A wrong answer takes away 0.25 marks and a question left unanswered scores 0, so each test runs from −10 to 40 and the paper from −50 to 200. All five tests are added. The Bank also applies a cut-off on each test and on the total; it does not print those percentages in the advertisement, so a raw total here is not a pass or fail. Scores are reported to two decimal places and equated across sessions. Candidates called for the Language Proficiency Test are those who stand high enough on the aggregate of the Main Examination, about twice the number of vacancies. The language test is mandatory and qualifying. The practice test on this site is for the Preliminary Examination.

Tips to clear RBI Assistant

1. English: reading comprehension

   Read the passage once for what it actually says, then answer from a sentence you can point to. Reject an option that adds a fact the passage never states.

2. English: cloze

   The word after the blank often decides it: a clock time takes 'at', a pair such as 'must' plus a base verb, or 'without' plus a noun. Read the whole sentence before choosing.

3. English: error spotting

   Find the subject before the verb. 'Each', 'the list' and 'news' stay singular even when a plural noun follows 'of'. Check since/for, despite, and comparatives such as 'shorter', not 'more shorter'.

4. English: sentence completion

   Learn the fixed pair, not a single word: 'no sooner ... than', 'look forward to', 'opens at' a clock time. If two words look close, the pair in the sentence is the one that fits.

5. English: sentence rearrangement

   A sentence with 'this', 'that' or 'then' cannot be first. Link each pronoun to the noun in the previous sentence, and do not start a new chain until that link is used.

6. Simplification

   Do the bracket and 'of' first, then multiplication and division from the left, then addition and subtraction. Write each step as a whole number before you touch the next sign.

7. Number series

   Write the differences under the terms. If those differences themselves rise by a fixed step, or if each term is double the previous plus or minus one, test that rule on every term before you pick the next.

8. Data interpretation

   Add a column once and reuse the total. For a percentage, the table's own total is the base; do not use another shop's figure by mistake.

9. Percentage

   If a value has already risen by r percent, divide by (100 + r) and multiply by 100 to get the original. For two successive rises, multiply the two factors; do not add the percentages.

10. Profit and loss

    Selling price = cost × (100 + profit%)/100. If the selling price and the loss percent are given, divide by (100 − loss%). When the cost of n articles equals the selling price of m, the profit percent is (n − m)/m × 100.

11. Simple and compound interest

    Simple interest is P × R × T / 100. For two years, compound interest is P × (1 + R/100)² − P. Check the last step by adding the two years' interest separately.

12. Time and work

    Write one day's work as a fraction. Add the fractions for people who work together, and divide 1 by that sum. If someone has already done a part, subtract it before you use the other person's days.

13. Time, speed and distance

    Time = distance ÷ speed, with both in the same units. Two people moving towards each other close the gap at the sum of their speeds. 54 km/h is 15 m/s: multiply km/h by 5/18.

14. Ratio and ages

    Split a sum in the ratio a : b by multiplying the sum by a/(a+b) and b/(a+b). For ages, put the present ages as multiples of x, write the later ratio, and solve one equation.

15. Puzzles: row, floor and circle

    Fix the ends and the given seats first, then fill the one seat that is left. For a circle, use only the direction the question defines, and do not turn left and right around.

16. Syllogism

    'All A are B' gives 'some B are A'. 'Some A are B' and 'all B are C' give 'some A are C', not 'all A are C'. A 'no' statement blocks only the part it names.

17. Inequality

    Combine signs that face the same way: > and ≥ can be joined into >. Do not join two people when a < sits between them and points the other way. 'Definite' means every allowed case, not one example.

18. Coding and decoding

    Test the rule on both examples before you touch the question word. A shift of +1, a reversal, or a swap of the first and last letter must fit every given word, not only the first.

19. Blood relation

    Draw three generations as three lines. 'The only daughter of my mother', said by a woman, is the speaker herself. Do not invent a sister the sentence has ruled out.

20. Direction sense

    Sketch north at the top. A right turn from north faces east. Cancel equal distances in opposite directions, then read what is left.

After the exam

For information only. Selection, allotment and admission follow the rules in the official notice of your year, which can change.

Assistant in the Reserve Bank of India

A clerical post in an RBI office. The advertisement dated 16 February 2026 gives a starting basic pay of ₹29,000 a month and initial monthly gross emoluments of about ₹58,514 without house rent allowance. House rent allowance of 15% of pay is paid if the employee is not in the Bank's accommodation. Posting is in the recruiting zone, with liability to transfer among the centres of that zone. The advertisement says there are reasonable prospects of promotion to higher grades. Official page

Official links and sources

• Reserve Bank of India (rbi.org.in)
• Recruitment of Assistants, Panel Year 2025 (advertisement, 16 February 2026)
• Advertisement PDF: Recruitment for the Post of Assistant, Panel Year 2025
• Preliminary Examination information handout, Hindi (rbi.org.in)
• Main Examination information handout, Hindi (rbi.org.in)
• Preliminary Examination result and Main Examination date (rbi.org.in)

Where this information comes from

Checked against these sources on 2026-10-16. Exams change their format and rules; the exam’s own site is always the final word.

• Recruitment for the Post of Assistant, Panel Year 2025, advertisement dated 16 February 2026 (opportunities.rbi.org.in) (2026-10-16)
• Same advertisement as a PDF on rbidocs.rbi.org.in (2026-10-16)
• Preliminary online examination information handout, Hindi, Panel Year 2025 (rbi.org.in) (2026-10-16)
• Main online examination information handout, Hindi, Panel Year 2025 (rbi.org.in) (2026-10-16)
• Result of the Preliminary Examination held on 11, 13 and 30 April 2026, and the Main Examination date of 7 June 2026 (rbi.org.in) (2026-10-16)

Still to be confirmed

• The English Preliminary information handout (file name 01HandoutEnglish02042026) was not found on rbi.org.in on 2026-10-16. Five options, separate timers, the quarter-mark penalty and the two-stage cut-off are taken from the Hindi handout on rbi.org.in. A file of that English name, hosted outside the Bank, was read the same day and agrees with the Hindi handout.
• How the compensatory 20 minutes per hour is split across the three 20-minute Preliminary tests is not stated in the advertisement.
• The advertisement says final selection follows performance in the online examination in order of merit, after the language test. The call for that language test is on the aggregate of the Main Examination. The advertisement does not use a separate sentence to say that Preliminary marks are left out of the final order.
• The Bank fixes the sectional and overall cut-offs and does not print the minimum percentages in the advertisement. This guide does not treat any raw total as a pass.
• The date on the pattern is the 16 February 2026 advertisement. The same 30-35-35 shape with 20 minutes each is older than that notice; this page does not date the first year it was used.
• The 650 vacancies include backlog figures shown in brackets in the advertisement, and the Bank may change the number.