SEBI Grade A Syllabus and Exam Pattern, Phase by Phase

How SEBI selects its Grade A officers

Selection runs in three steps, and each one filters the field before the next.

• Phase I: an online screening test of two objective papers. It only decides who moves on, and SEBI drops its scores once the shortlist is made.
• Phase II: two online papers, one in English writing and one on the stream subjects. These marks count towards the final merit.
• Interview: roughly three candidates per vacancy are called, ranked on Phase II marks, provided they clear every cut off.

When the final list is drawn up, Phase II carries 85 percent of the weight and the interview 15 percent. For the Legal and the two Engineering streams, a quarter of the interview marks is given for relevant post qualification experience entered in the online form.

Because Phase I is only a gate, many aspirants overprepare it and leave too little time for the Phase II stream paper, which is where the final rank is really decided.

SEBI grade A exam pattern in a table

Phase I also has an aggregate minimum of 40 percent across both papers. In Phase II, Paper 1 carries one third of the weight and Paper 2 two thirds, and you need 50 percent on that weighted aggregate. In both phases an objective answer marked wrongly carries a penalty equal to 25 percent of its marks; the typed English paper carries no such penalty.

Phase I Paper 1: the common screening paper

Paper 1 is the same for every stream and is a speed test more than a depth test. Recent papers have had all four sections in roughly equal weight; the exact count of questions per section is not fixed in the advertisement, so do not count on it.

• General awareness: news from roughly the past half year, with extra weight on the financial sector: SEBI circulars and roles, capital market news, RBI policy, budget and economic survey highlights, government schemes and international bodies.
• English: comprehension passages, sentence errors, cloze and fillers, rearranging sentences and word usage.
• Quantitative aptitude: data interpretation, simplification, number series, percentages, ratio, profit and loss, interest, time and work, averages and mensuration.
• Reasoning: puzzles and seating arrangements, syllogism, inequality, blood relations, coding and decoding, direction sense and input output.

The 30 percent sectional bar is low, but the 40 percent aggregate across both papers means a weak Paper 1 has to be rescued by Paper 2.

SEBI grade A syllabus for the General stream Paper 2

The same six subjects appear in Phase I Paper 2 and Phase II Paper 2. Phase I tests them quickly in 40 minutes; Phase II gives 90 minutes and goes deeper, with more application and numerical questions.

Commerce and accountancy

Accounting as an information system, accounting standards on depreciation, inventories, revenue recognition, fixed assets, foreign exchange and investments, cash flow and fund flow statements, financial statement and ratio analysis, share capital, bonus and rights issues, employee stock options, buy backs and company final accounts.

Management

The five functions of a manager (from planning through to control), managerial roles, leadership styles and theories, human resource development, motivation, morale and incentives, and communication channels and barriers.

Finance

Financial regulators and their roles, primary and secondary markets, forwards, futures and swaps, fresh changes across the financial sector, financial inclusion through technology, alternative finance and public private partnership, direct and indirect taxes, GST, the Finance Commission, fiscal policy and the FRBM Act, and inflation measured through WPI and CPI.

Costing

Basics of cost and management accounting, unit, job, batch, contract, process and service costing, standard and marginal costing, budgetary control, lean systems such as JIT, Kaizen, 5S, TPM and Six Sigma, and business process re engineering.

Companies Act, 2013

Selected chapters named in the advertisement, which in the latest cycle were chapters III, IV, VIII, X, XI, XII and XXVII, covering prospectus and allotment of securities, share capital and debentures, dividends, audit and auditors, appointment of directors, board meetings and powers, and the company law tribunals.

Economics

Demand and supply, market structures, national income, classical and Keynesian approaches, consumption and investment functions, multiplier and accelerator, money market and the IS LM model, inflation and the Phillips curve, business cycles, balance of payments, foreign exchange markets, monetary and fiscal policy and non banking financial institutions.

Phase II Paper 1: writing in English

This is a descriptive paper typed on the computer within 60 minutes. Recent cycles have asked for an essay chosen from a few topics, a precis and a reading comprehension with written answers. Topics usually touch the economy, markets, technology, regulation and social policy, so your reading for general awareness feeds directly into it.

You need only 30 percent here, but since this paper carries one third of the Phase II weight, a strong essay can lift your rank noticeably. Practise typing at least 300 words in 25 minutes, because slow typing is the most common reason candidates leave the precis half done.

A preparation plan matched to the SEBI grade A exam syllabus

The sensible order is to master the stream subjects first, since they appear in both phases and carry two thirds of the Phase II weight.

1. Months one and two: work through accountancy and costing with numerical practice, and economics with diagrams. These are the subjects where commerce and non commerce graduates differ most.
2. Month three: finance, management and the named Companies Act chapters. Read the bare provisions of each chapter once, then make one page notes.
3. Alongside: 45 minutes of quantitative aptitude and reasoning every day, and a daily read of financial news and SEBI press releases.
4. Last six weeks: full Phase I mocks with negative marking, two typed essays a week and timed Phase II Paper 2 sets of 90 minutes.

Books and official sources

For the stream subjects, use standard graduate level textbooks in accountancy, cost accounting, macro and micro economics and principles of management, plus the bare text of the Companies Act chapters. For finance and current affairs, SEBI and RBI annual reports, press releases, the Budget speech and the Economic Survey are more useful than any compilation.

Download the advertisement from the SEBI website under careers, because it carries the detailed syllabus for every stream. For a wider look at SEBI posts see our SEBI syllabus overview. Those also aiming at similar regulator jobs compare the RBI grade B syllabus and the NABARD grade A syllabus, which overlap heavily in economics, finance and English writing. All banking and regulator exams are listed on the bank exams hub.