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SEBI Grade A Job Profile, Syllabus, Exam Pattern, Mock Test, Books, Preparation Strategy and Eligibility Criteria

Topics Covered: SEBI Grade A Job Profile, Selection Criteria, Exam Pattern (Prelims, Mains & Interview), SEBI Grade A Syllabus (Phase 1 & Phase 2), Preparation Strategy, Best Books for SEBI Grade A, Eligibility Criteria, & Mock Tests

This blog will provide you with complete information about SEBI Grade A in a brief and systematic manner.

SEBI offers a fulfilling career with lots of opportunities to grow in life and career. By clearing SEBI Grade A, you would be working as a government employee in one of the best government organisations of India that is well known all over the country. SEBI is a statutory regulatory body to protect the interests of investors in securities, to promote the development of and regulate the securities market.

Realizing the post of Assistant Manager by clearing SEBI Grade A is not easy but one can achieve it with due hard work and planning.

You can crack SEBI Grade A. How? Be thorough with the SEBI Grade A syllabus and exam pattern, cover the right books, get to know your shortcomings and strengths through mock tests. Here we will give you all that you need to take your step forward in the preparation of SEBI Grade A. 

Let's get started with the preparation, with a detailed analysis of the syllabus and the exam pattern and all the information that you need to know about SEBI Grade A.

The first question that comes to mind is - What is the Job Profile of SEBI Grade A?

SEBI Grade A is an exam with different streams – you can apply for General, Legal, Civil, Electrical, Information Technology, Research, and Official Language. After clearing the SEBI Grade A you get selected as an Assistant Manager and can be assigned to the particular department with special functioning. 

The work of SEBI is monitoring and regulating the Indian capital and securities market while ensuring to protect the interests of the investors, formulating regulations and guidelines. 

SEBI has its head offices in Mumbai and regional offices in four other places such as Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, and Ahmadabad and then there are many local offices in different states. Generally, after recruitment, the candidate gets posted to SEBI head office in Mumbai. SEBI officers are not posted in any rural areas.

Career Growth: - Candidates joining as Assistant Manager can be promoted to the Board members position which depends on the continuous performance in the organization and the interview for the promotion occurring in 3 to 5 years. The career growth of candidates selected through SEBI Grade A exam is given below:

What is the Salary and Career Progression for SEBI Grade A Officer?

SEBI offers handsome payrolls.

Pay Scale

• Basic pay of ₹28,150/-p.m. in the pay scale of Rs. 28150-55600. 
• Officers will also be eligible for Dearness Allowance, Local Allowance, House Rent Allowance, Family Allowance, and Grade Allowance as per rules in force.
• At present, initial monthly gross emoluments are at the minimum of this scale is approx. Rs. 1,07,000/- p.m. without accommodation and Rs.73,000/- p.m. with accommodation provided by SEBI.

Perks

• Residential accommodation, subject to availability
• Newspaper, Telephone charges, Book grant, allowance for furnishing of residence, Eye Refraction, Education Allowance, Financial Dailies, Book Grant, Briefcase, Conveyance Expenses, House Cleaning Allowance, Staff Furnishing Scheme, Scheme for Purchasing Computers, Subsidized Lunch Facility as per eligibility and all other benefits as admissible to an Officer in Grade A in SEBI.
• Free dispensary facility besides reimbursement of medical expenses for OPD treatment/hospitalization as per eligibility.
• Leave Fare Concession

What is the eligibility for SEBI Grade A Examination?

Eligibility criteria for SEBI Grade A examination are as follows:

Age Limits 

a. A candidate must not have exceeded the age of 30 years.

Relaxation in (Upper) Age limit

b. The upper age limit prescribed above will be relaxable for SC, ST and OBC:

i. up to a maximum of five years for candidates belonging to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe if the posts are reserved for them;

ii. up to a maximum of three years in the case of candidates belonging to Other Backward Classes who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable to such candidates if the posts are reserved for them;

c. Only those candidates belonging to 'Non-Creamy Layer' are eligible to apply under OBC Category. The OBC candidates who belong to 'Creamy Layer' are not entitled to apply under OBC Category. They should indicate their category as ‘Unreserved’. Candidates belonging to the OBC (NCL) category should have an OBC (NCL) certificate issued earlier than the due date (closing date) of the application.

d. Relaxation of 10 (ten) years for PwBD candidates shall be applicable whether the post is reserved or not. Relaxation of 13 (thirteen) years for PwBD (OBC) candidates where vacancies are reserved for OBC candidates. Relaxation of 15 (fifteen) years for PwBD (SC/ST) candidates where vacancies are reserved for SC/ST candidates.

e. Relaxation of 5 (five) years for Ex-servicemen. Ex-servicemen include Emergency Commissioned Officers/Short Service Commissioned Officers, who have rendered at least five years continuous Military Service and have been released a) on completion of assignment (including those whose assignment is due to be completed within one year from February 29, 2020) otherwise than by way of dismissal or discharge on account of misconduct or inefficiency or b) on account of physical disability physical disability attributable to Military Service or c) on invalidment. Emergency Commissioned Officers/Short Service Commissioned Officers who have completed their initial period of assignment of five years of Military Service but whose assignment has been extended beyond five years and in whose case the Ministry of Defence issues certificates that they would be released on selection within three months from the date of receipt of offer of appointment.

f. Candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Classes who are also covered under the category of Persons with Benchmark Disabilities and Ex-servicemen will be eligible for grant of cumulative age-relaxation.

Where there is no vacancy reserved for OBC/SC/ST category candidates, such candidates can still apply. However, they will not be eligible for any relaxations. SC/ ST candidates are exempt from payment of application fee even in such case but will have to pay specified intimation charges. OBC/ PwBD candidates should possess a latest certificate to this effect issued by the Competent Authority in the prescribed Format (formats are available on the SEBI website).

Minimum Education Qualification for SEBI Grade ‘A’ for all Streams–

General Stream – Master’s Degree in any discipline, Bachelors’ Degree in Law, Bachelors’ Degree in Engineering from a recognized university, CA /CFA / CS / Cost Accountant.

Legal Stream - Bachelor’s Degree in Law from a recognized University / Institute. 

Information Technology - Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering (Electrical / Electronics / Electronics And Communication / Information Technology / Computer Science) OR Masters in Computers Application OR Bachelor’s Degree in any discipline with a post graduate qualification (minimum 2 years duration) in Computers / Information Technology.

Engineering (Civil) - Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from a recognized University / Institute.

Engineering (Electrical) - Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from a recognized University / Institute.

Research - Master’s Degree in Statistics / Economics / Commerce / Business Administration (Finance) / Econometrics from a recognized University / Institute.

Official Language - Master’s Degree in Hindi with English as one of the subjects at Bachelor’s Degree level or Master’s Degree in Sanskrit / English / Economics / Commerce with Hindi as a subject at Bachelor’s Degree level from a recognized University / Institute.

The responsibility to provide necessary document in this regard shall be on the candidates.

Candidates are permitted to apply for maximum of 2 streams only for which he/she is eligible to apply, as per their educational qualifications. Separate on-line application for each stream will have to be submitted and requisite fees are to be paid for each application.

How can I get Selected in SEBI Grade A?

The selection of the Assistant Managers for SEBI through the SEBI Grade A is through 3 Phases:

1.   Phase 1 Examination (Preliminary exam)

2.   Phase 2 Examination (Mains exam)

3.   Phase 3 Examination (Interview)

Phase 1 will only help you in getting to Phase 2. It is just a screening test i.e., the marks you obtain in Phase 1 will not be counted in the final selection. 

So, work hard in clearing Phase 1 but remember you have limited time so focus on clearing Phase 1 rather than achieving the maximum marks. 

When the candidate clears the cutoff of Phase 1 (preliminary exam), the candidate goes to phase 2.

Moving to the Phase 2 and Interview: Remember to focus on doing your best, achieving the maximum marks, as the combined marks of Phase 2 and Interview decides your final selection.

The final Selection list is made available on the official SEBI website within 2-3 weeks after SEBI Interview.

After understanding the basic process of selection, you must be thinking about what comes in all of these phases- what subjects to study, how much marks they carry. Don’t worry. Let's talk about the pattern of the exam, understanding all of these Phases individually.

SEBI Grade A Exam Pattern 

Phase 1 and Phase 2 exams are conducted online. You will be assigned a center and you will get a computer to give your exam on. 

Phase 1 (Preliminary) Examination Details:

The Phase 1 examination or the preliminary examination consists of 2 papers of 100 marks each.

Preliminary Examination Structure for Grade A:

i) There shall be negative marking (1/4th of marks assigned to the question) for Paper 1 and Paper 2 in Phase I.

ii) There shall be a cut-off of minimum 30% for Paper 1 (no sectional cut-off shall be there) and a cut-off of minimum 40% for Paper 2 in Phase I.

iii) Candidates would need to secure separate cut-off in each paper as mentioned at (ii) above as well as aggregate cut-off marks of 40% in Phase I exam to be shortlisted for Phase II. Marks obtained in Phase I shall be used only for shortlisting the candidates for Phase-II examination process and will not be counted for the final selection of the candidates.

iv) Subject to the criteria mentioned at (iii) above, all the candidates who clear Phase I shall be shortlisted for Phase II. List of candidates shortlisted for Phase II will be made available on SEBI website.

Phase 2 (Mains Exam) Examination Details:

The marks you obtain in this phase as well as in interview is taken in consideration in making the final selection list. You need to score as high as possible in Phase 2 as it has higher weightage.

The Phase 2 examination of SEBI Grade A consists of 2 papers of 100 Marks each.

Mains Exam Test Structure for Grade A -

i)                  If you get shortlisted for Phase ll, you will get new hall tickets.

ii)                Paper 2 will be conducted in various shifts, the timings of which will be intimated in the hall ticket so if you have applied in multiple streams, no need to worry.        

iii)              There shall be negative marking (1/4th of marks assigned to the question) for Paper 2 in Phase II (except IT stream for which details are not yet announced).

iv)               There shall be a cut-off of minimum 30% for Paper 1 and a cut-off of minimum 40% for Paper 2 in Phase II.

v)                 Candidates would need to secure separate cut-off in each paper as mentioned at (iv) above as well as aggregate cut-off marks of 40% in Phase II exam (weightage of 1/3rd for Paper 1 and 2/3rd for Paper 2) to be shortlisted for Phase III.

vi)              Subject to the criteria mentioned at (v) above, candidates equaling 3 times the number of vacancies shall be shortlisted, in order of merit, for Phase III i.e. the Interview. List of candidates shortlisted for Interview will be made available on SEBI website.

vii)        All question papers (in both the Phases, except the test of English) are set bilingually in Hindi and English. 

Phase 3 (Interview) Details:

What happens after you clear Phase 2 of SEBI Grade A, you need to get ready for the interview. The interview is the third and the last stage in the SEBI Grade A selection process.

What happens in the interview?

The shortlisted candidates are called for interview. Candidate may opt for interview either in Hindi or English. Weightage of marks obtained in Phase II will be 85%, while marks obtained in interview shall be given a weightage of 15%.

Analysing the previous year interviews by talking with the candidates, the 15% weightage can be divided as giving 6% weightage to the knowledge of the candidate about SEBI, the functions of SEBI and other technical information while 6% is the weightage of the communication skills of the candidate i.e., how well you can communicate your answer and opinion to the panel and the 3% is in the discretion of the panel whatever they think is appropriate to ask considering SEBI.

Whatever you are writing in your resume, that is your background, can be questioned as well as whatever you answer can be a source of further questions.

Technical information and Knowledge is important in the interview phase too. 

 (Here is a link to one of the candidates who cleared the SEBI Grade A exam.)

The final selection and ranking of the applicants for the post of Assistant Manager in SEBI Grade ‘A’ will be based on their performance in the Phase-II Main Examination and Interview, taken together. 

When you clear all three phases including the Phase 3 i.e., the interview, you will be called to show up for the medical trial which will be the final step in your journey of clearing SEBI Grade A and achieving the dream of being an officer in SEBI. 

SEBI Grade A Syllabus 

After understanding the pattern you need to focus on the syllabus so that while preparing you can stick to the syllabus and clear the exam as soon as you can.

We are providing you the detailed analysis of the syllabus in easy words with all the topics and sub topics, so that you do not get confused in the syllabus.

Detailed syllabus for Phase 1 and Phase 2 of SEBI Grade A examination is as given below:

SEBI Grade A Phase I Syllabus

Paper 1

Exact syllabus for SEBI Grade A Phase 1 is not provided in notification. The below topics have been listed on the basis of analysis of previous year papers of SEBI Grade A examination.

SEBI Grade A Paper 1 of Phase I syllabus has 4 components with similar topics as in NABARD and RBI.

You have to score 30% in total to clear this level and the good news is Phase I is only a screening test so if you are not good in quantitative aptitude, just focus on the other sections and achieve 30%.

Here is the analysis provided by the EduTap team where you can see the topics that came in Phase I Paper 1 of the previous year paper of 2020. Click HERE

SEBI Grade A Phase 2 Syllabus

Paper 1 English (Writing Skills)

English Descriptive paper is Paper 1 of Phase 2 which is framed in a manner to test your writing skills, the understanding of the topic as well as how you perceive the topic and the expressions you use. Questions are asked under the following topics:

1.   Essay 

2.   Reading Comprehension 

3.   Précis writing