1.4 Descriptive Communication Test (Email, Situation, Report/Précis)

Descriptive Communication Test

The current SBI PO Phase II descriptive component is a 30-minute, 30-mark computer-typed test with three tasks. It follows the 170-question Main objective test and evaluates whether a future officer can communicate a decision clearly under pressure.

Current task map

Do not prepare from older patterns that describe a 50-mark essay-and-letter paper. The current notice uses email, situation analysis, and report/précis. SBI does not publish a rigid per-task mark split, official word limits, or a percentage scoring rubric, so prep materials should not invent those details.

A practical 30-minute plan

A workable starting plan is:

1. Scan all choices (2 minutes). Select prompts you understand immediately. Avoid a topic that would force you to invent facts.
2. Email (7–8 minutes). State purpose early, include only decision-relevant facts, request or confirm the next action, and close professionally.
3. Situation analysis (9–10 minutes). Identify the issue, stakeholders, risks, options, decision, and implementation control.
4. Report or précis (9–10 minutes). Use the format the prompt requests. A report organizes findings and recommendations; a précis condenses the supplied passage without adding opinion.
5. Final review (1–2 minutes). Correct missing words, tense shifts, names, numbers, and incomplete sentences.

This is an editorial pacing plan, not an SBI-prescribed allocation. Adjust it in practice, but always reserve time to submit all three answers.

Email framework

An exam email should look like an email, not a postal letter. Use a specific subject, a professional greeting, a first sentence that states the purpose, only the relevant facts, a clear requested or confirmed action, and a professional close.

Email checklist

• The subject line names the issue.
• The first sentence states the purpose.
• Facts are specific and internally consistent.
• Tone matches the recipient.
• The requested action is unmistakable.
• There are no unsupported account numbers, policy claims, or dramatic filler.

Mini-example: A branch system outage delayed end-of-day reconciliation. A good email tells the operations manager what failed, what has already been checked, the customer or control impact, the support needed, and the time of the next update. It does not hide the outage or blame an unnamed colleague.

Situation-analysis framework

Situation analysis tests judgment rather than decoration. Use a compact sequence:

1. Issue: What decision or failure must be addressed?
2. Stakeholders: Who is affected—customer, branch, staff, regulator, or bank?
3. Immediate risk: Is there a safety, fraud, privacy, service, or compliance concern?
4. Facts needed: What must be verified before a final conclusion?
5. Options: Give realistic alternatives and their trade-offs.
6. Recommendation: Select a defensible action.
7. Control and follow-up: Assign responsibility, documentation, escalation, and a review point.

For example, if a customer alleges an unauthorized digital transfer while the branch queue is growing, authenticate the customer and start the authorized security/dispute process, preserve relevant evidence, avoid promising reimbursement before investigation, escalate through the bank’s fraud channel, and keep the customer informed. Assign roles so one incident does not paralyze the branch. Listing generic virtues such as “be honest and work hard” is not analysis.

Report framework

A report organizes evidence for a reader who must act. Use a title, purpose, method or sources, key findings, analysis or impact, recommendations, and conclusion. Separate observed facts from interpretation. Recommendations should be feasible, prioritized, and linked to findings.

A report may recommend action, but it should not invent survey results, percentages, quotations, or dates absent from the prompt. If evidence is limited, say so.

Précis framework

A précis is a faithful condensation of the source passage.

1. Read once for the central claim.
2. Mark the main supporting ideas and logical order.
3. Remove examples, repetition, ornament, and minor detail.
4. Rewrite in your own words without changing meaning.
5. Keep the original tone and viewpoint.
6. Add no opinion, new evidence, or recommendation.
7. Give a concise title if the prompt requests one.

Self-check: could a reader recover the passage’s main argument and structure from the précis without seeing any idea that was not in the passage? If yes, the condensation is probably faithful.

Language controls

Strong descriptive answers use plain professional English:

• Prefer short, complete sentences.
• Keep subject and verb agreement consistent.
• Use parallel lists.
• Use transitions only when they show a real relationship.
• Avoid slang, texting abbreviations, and memorized quotations.
• Do not use complex vocabulary you cannot control.
• Recheck proper nouns, amounts, and dates supplied by the prompt.
• Never include real confidential identifiers in a practice template.

Preparation routine

Rotate the three current task types rather than practising obsolete essays alone.

• Email drills: complaint response, escalation, service update, request, and confirmation.
• Situation drills: customer service, ethical conflict, cyber incident, staff allocation, credit/process risk, and financial inclusion.
• Report drills: branch service review, campaign outcome, incident summary, and operational improvement.
• Précis drills: banking, economics, technology, governance, and workplace passages.

Type under a 30-minute timer. After each attempt, check completion, relevance, structure, factual restraint, grammar, and whether the action follows from the facts. Build a personal error list: missing subject line, weak recommendation, invented evidence, repetition, or précis opinion.

Common traps

Bottom line: prepare for the current email + situation analysis + report/précis pattern. Complete all three tasks in 30 minutes, choose prompts strategically, use the requested format, and prefer clear defensible communication over memorized ornament.