Many aspirants who want to clear the SIDBI Grade A and Grade B 2025 exam on the very first attempt miss the most strategic part of the preparation. They don’t invest enough time in the important topics. These topics decide your selection. Many students focus too much on the qualifying sections like English, Reasoning, or Quantitative Aptitude. But scoring in them doesn’t guarantee selection. It’s the merit section that matters. And this merit section includes General Awareness (with special reference to banking and economy), MSME-related topics, Finance & Management (with a focus on MSME), and your Stream Specific Test. So, if you want to clear Phase 1 and move to Phase 2 confidently, you must master the topics with good weightage. In this blog, we’ll shed light on do subject-wise important topics and tips to cover them smartly.
Most students keep jumping from one chapter to another. And they waste a lot of time. But in the SIDBI exam, the merit section is vital for success. The more marks you score in GA, MSME, and Stream Test, the higher your chance of clearing Phase 1. So, to help you study smart, here’s a subject-wise list of the most scoring and repeated topics.
Here are the important topics for SIDBI Grade A Phase 1 exam:
| Section | Category | Important Topics |
| English Language (Qualifying) | Language Skills | – Reading Comprehension (Banking/Economic themes) – Error Spotting & Sentence Improvement – Para Jumbles / Sentence Rearrangement – Cloze Test (Theme-based) – Fill in the blanks (Contextual usage) |
| Quantitative Aptitude (Qualifying) | Numerical Ability | – Data Interpretation (Pie chart, Line graph, Table-based) – Simplification & Approximation – Number Series (Missing/Wrong) – Arithmetic (Time & Work, Profit & Loss, SI/CI, Ratio, Averages) – Quadratic Equations |
| Reasoning Ability (Qualifying) | Logical Reasoning | – Seating Arrangement & Puzzles (Linear, Circular, Floor-based) – Syllogism & Inequality – Coding-Decoding (New Pattern) – Blood Relations – Direction & Distance |
| Computer Knowledge (Qualifying) | Basic IT Awareness | – MS Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint Shortcuts) – Basics of Networking & Internet – Hardware & Software – Input/Output Devices – Cyber Security (Firewall, Antivirus, Phishing) |
| General Awareness (Merit Section) | Current & Static GK | – Banking Current Affairs (RBI, Monetary Policy, Repo) – Economy Current Affairs (Inflation, GDP, Budget) – Static Banking (PSL, Basel Norms) – Financial Awareness (Credit schemes, NBFCs, SEBI/RBI Acts) – Government Schemes (MSME, Startups, Women) |
| MSMEs + Finance & Management (Merit Section) | Core SIDBI Topics | – MSME Classifications (Micro, Small, Medium) – Udyam Registration, CGTMSE, PMEGP, MUDRA – Financial Ratios, Working Capital, Term Loans – IRAC Norms, NPA Classification, Recovery Mechanisms – Management Theories (Maslow, Herzberg), Organisational Behaviour |
The Phase 2 exam for the General Stream is concept-heavy and highly descriptive. It includes two papers — English Descriptive and Objective + Descriptive on Finance, Management, Economy, and MSMEs. The paper tests awareness, articulation, and depth of understanding on policy and development issues, especially related to the MSME sector.
Here are the topics that you need to master for the objective part of the exam:
Here are the topics that you must prepare well for the descriptive section:
Most candidates don’t realize that marks from the qualifying sections don’t count in the final shortlisting. The merit sections are the real game-changers. But without knowing which topics matter most, many waste time revising less-relevant chapters. Below are subject-wise important topics that can help you improve accuracy, speed, and overall score in the merit section of Phase 1 and all papers of Phase 2.
This section alone can decide your rank. It has a mix of current affairs and static questions, with a special focus on banking and economy. Prepare this weekly and revise it regularly.
SIDBI exam is all about MSMEs. Both objective and descriptive questions are asked in this domain. This is the most important area in both Grade A and Grade B.
This section is theory-based but high scoring. Most questions are conceptual and application-based. They often test your understanding of financial inclusion, risk, and MSME credit.
Legal aspirants must balance conceptual law topics and legal drafting. Objective + descriptive papers both test your legal knowledge deeply. Focus more on practical and procedural laws.
In the IT stream, most questions are from software development, programming, and security. SIDBI expects practical application-based answers in both objective and descriptive papers.
Only the merit section (GA, MSME, Stream Test) counts for shortlisting in Phase 1.
Study definitions, policies, key schemes, and finance-related applications in depth.
No, the descriptive paper is stream-specific and differs for General, Legal, and IT.
The qualifying section (English, Reasoning, Quant, Computer) has no impact on selection.
Yes, if you focus well on high-weightage merit topics, your chances of clearing the exam are very high.
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