Banking | NABARD Grade A
NABARD Grade A sets 30 Reasoning Ability questions for 30 marks across 2 stages, so it is worth planning your preparation around the topics below.
The puzzles and seating arrangements carry the most marks and take the most time, so the skill is choosing which set to attempt and which to leave. Clear the quick scoring topics — inequality, syllogism, coding-decoding, blood relations — first, then spend the remaining time on one or two puzzles you can actually finish.
How much Reasoning Ability is worth in each NABARD Grade A stage, from the official pattern.
| Stage | Questions | Marks | Time | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phase I: Preliminary Examination | 20 | 20 | — | 10% |
| Phase I: Preliminary Examination | 10 | 10 | — | 5% |
Every topic in the official syllabus. The linked ones open a set of solved questions you can practise straight away.
Written to the NABARD Grade A pattern, with the answer key and the method behind it — a look at how the section is actually set before you drill the full topic sets.
Coding and decoding · solved example
In a certain code, FARM is written as GBSN. Following the same rule, how is CROP written?
Solution
Each letter moves one step forward: F to G, A to B, R to S, M to N. Apply the same to CROP: C to D, R to S, O to P, P to Q, which gives DSPQ.
Syllogism · solved example
Statements: All banks are offices. Some offices are rural. Conclusions: (I) Some banks are rural. (II) Some offices are banks. Which conclusion follows?
Solution
'All banks are offices' converts to 'some offices are banks', so II follows. Nothing links banks to rural directly, so I does not follow.
Inequality · solved example
Statements: D < A < B < F ≤ E Conclusions: I. A ≥ D II. F ≤ B Which conclusion(s) definitely follow?
Solution
Reading the chain, conclusion I is true and conclusion II is not necessarily true. Hence: only i follows.
Ranking · solved example
In a row of 36 people, A is 7th from the left end and B is 7th from the right end. How many people sit between A and B?
Solution
Positions occupied from the two ends are 7 and 7; those between them number 36 − 7 − 7 = 22.
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Untimed drills with the method shown after every question — the step between learning a topic and sitting it under a clock.
Analogy and classification
81 questions, instant feedback
Blood relations and direction sense
108 questions, instant feedback
Seating arrangement
93 questions, instant feedback
Coding, decoding and series
135 questions, instant feedback
Order and ranking
69 questions, instant feedback
Puzzles
99 questions, instant feedback
Syllogism and inequality
126 questions, instant feedback
Reasoning Ability shows up in every NABARD Grade A mock test, in the same interface, with sectional locking and negative marking.
NABARD Grade A 2026 cycle (notification awaited) sets 30 Reasoning Ability questions for 30 marks, split across 20 in the Phase I: Preliminary Examination and 10 in the Phase I: Preliminary Examination.
Yes. NABARD Grade A deducts one fourth of a mark for each wrong answer, Reasoning Ability included, so unsure guesses cost you. One fourth of a mark is deducted for each wrong answer.
The NABARD Grade A syllabus lists Puzzles and seating arrangement, Syllogism and inequality, Coding and decoding, Blood relations and direction sense, Decision making and situational judgement. Weight your revision towards the ones you are weakest on and confirm the emphasis against the paper analysis for recent cycles.
Every Reasoning Ability question on this site is free and written to the exam pattern. Use the topic drills for instant-feedback practice, the daily quiz to keep the section warm, and the NABARD Grade A mock tests to sit it under a real clock with negative marking.