Free English practice for bank exams, Prelims and Mains

Where English counts in SBI Clerk

English is the one section that is offered only in English in both stages, even if you choose Hindi or a regional language for the others. That also makes it the section where candidates who read regularly have the clearest edge.

Which question types to expect

Common in Prelims: reading comprehension, cloze test, error detection, single and double fillers, para jumbles, word swap, word usage and phrase replacement.

Added or heavier in Mains: longer passages, column-based sentence matching, connectors, phrasal verbs, odd sentence out, paragraph completion, word rearrangement and misspelt words.

Vocabulary runs through all of them. You rarely get a direct "meaning of this word" question, but you need vocabulary to handle fillers, cloze and passages.

Three worked examples

Single filler

The bank decided to ______ the branch timings to suit farmers during harvest season. (a) alter (b) alternate (c) altar (d) halt (e) alert

Answer: (a) alter, meaning "to change". "Alternate" means to take turns, "altar" is a noun, and "halt" means stop, which does not fit "to suit farmers".

Error detection

Each of the cashiers / have been given / a new login ID / for the software.

Answer: part two. "Each of" refers to the cashiers one at a time, so it takes a singular verb: "has been given". The noun just before the verb is plural, which is exactly what makes the error easy to miss. Read the subject, not the nearest noun.

Para jumbles

Look for an opening sentence that introduces a subject without pronouns like "this" or "they", and pairs linked by words such as "however", "therefore" or a repeated noun. Fix two or three sentences that must go together, then check the options. You rarely need to order all five from scratch.

The reading habit that changes your score

Grammar rules can be learnt in a few weeks. Reading speed and comprehension take longer, which is why they should start on day one. Twenty minutes a day of an English newspaper editorial or a business news article is enough. Read it once at normal speed, then write two lines on what the main point was. That is exactly the skill a passage question tests.

Mistakes that cost marks in English

1. Answering passage questions from memory of the topic. The question asks what the passage says, not what you know. If the passage does not support an option, it is wrong even if it is true in real life.
2. Picking the filler that "sounds right" alone. Check it against the whole sentence, including words after the blank. Collocations such as "abide by" or "comply with" decide many fillers.
3. Spending too long on one para jumble. If you cannot fix the first sentence in about 30 seconds, mark it and move on.
4. Ignoring tense in error detection. Words like "since", "by the time" and "ago" point to specific tenses. They are among the most tested signals.

Note which of these you fall into most often. Every wrong English answer here comes with an explanation, so the pattern shows up quickly if you read them.

A four-week English practice plan

1. Week 1: error detection and single fillers, 20 of each daily. Note every grammar rule you get wrong.
2. Week 2: cloze tests and phrase replacement, plus one passage a day.
3. Week 3: para jumbles, word swap and double fillers, plus one passage a day.
4. Week 4: English sectional mocks three times a week, with the other days spent on your weakest type.

After Prelims, add the Mains-specific types: column-based questions, connectors, phrasal verbs and odd sentence out.

Questions people ask