Exam Pattern
SEBI Grade A Exam Pattern
Securities and Exchange Board of India: Officer Grade A (Assistant Manager), General Stream
The SEBI Grade A exam pattern below is checked stage by stage, so one stage cannot inherit another stage's scoring rules.
Phase I: Paper 1
Official Officer Grade A 2025 pattern| Questions | 80 |
| Total marks | 100 |
| Duration | 60 minutes |
| Negative marking | 0.3125 per wrong answer |
| Sections | General Awareness, English Language, Quantitative Aptitude, Test of Reasoning |
| Test | Qs | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| General Awareness | 20 | 25 |
| English Language | 20 | 25 |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 20 | 25 |
| Test of Reasoning | 20 | 25 |
Timing: Single composite 60-minute timer for all four Paper 1 sections combined: no sectional lock, you can move between sections freely..
Paper 1 is common to every stream and covers General Awareness (including some financial sector questions), English Language, Quantitative Aptitude, and Test of Reasoning. There is no sectional cut-off within Paper 1, only an overall cut-off of 30%. Paper 1 and Paper 2 are separately timed: once Paper 1 ends, Paper 2 begins as its own timed block (modelled here as a separate test).
Official source · checked 6 August 2026The SEBI Grade A Phase I: Paper 1 exam pattern is 80 questions carrying 100 marks, to be answered in 60 minutes. That works out to about 45 seconds per question on average, before any time spent reading instructions or revisiting marked answers. The 4 sections are General Awareness, English Language, Quantitative Aptitude and Test of Reasoning. All sections share one composite timer, so you are free to move between them and spend your time where it earns most.
SEBI Grade A Phase I: Paper 1 marking scheme
- Each correct answer is worth 1.25 marks.
- A wrong answer deducts 0.3125 marks; an unattempted question scores zero.
- A guess therefore breaks even at 20% accuracy: above that it gains you marks on average, below it loses them. A blind guess between four options is right 25% of the time, which is already above that line, so an educated guess is clearly worth making rather than leaving the question blank.
- Worked example: attempt 64 of the 80 questions and get 48 right and 16 wrong, and you score 55 out of 100.
Practising against the same clock is the point of a mock test: at 45 seconds a question, the difference between a good score and an average one is usually pacing rather than knowledge. Attempt a free SEBI Grade A mock test to see where your time actually goes.
Phase I: Paper 2 (General Stream)
Official Officer Grade A 2025 pattern| Questions | 50 |
| Total marks | 100 |
| Duration | 40 minutes |
| Negative marking | 0.5 per wrong answer |
| Sections | Commerce, Accountancy, Management, Finance, Costing, Companies Act, Economics |
| Test | Qs | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| Commerce | 8 | 16 |
| Accountancy | 7 | 14 |
| Management | 7 | 14 |
| Finance | 8 | 16 |
| Costing | 7 | 14 |
| Companies Act | 6 | 12 |
| Economics | 7 | 14 |
Timing: Single composite 40-minute timer for all General Stream subjects combined: no sectional lock, you can move between subjects freely..
Paper 2 tests subject knowledge specific to each recruitment stream. This mock covers the General stream syllabus: Commerce, Accountancy, Management, Finance, Costing, Companies Act, and Economics. SEBI does not publish an official question-wise split across these seven subjects. The breakdown below reflects how this mock test's questions are organised, not an official SEBI-published distribution. Paper 2 has its own overall cut-off of 40% and is timed separately from Paper 1.
Official source · checked 6 August 2026The SEBI Grade A Phase I: Paper 2 (General Stream) exam pattern is 50 questions carrying 100 marks, to be answered in 40 minutes. That works out to about 48 seconds per question on average, before any time spent reading instructions or revisiting marked answers. The 7 sections are Commerce, Accountancy, Management, Finance, Costing, Companies Act and Economics. All sections share one composite timer, so you are free to move between them and spend your time where it earns most.
SEBI Grade A Phase I: Paper 2 (General Stream) marking scheme
- Each correct answer is worth 2 marks.
- A wrong answer deducts 0.5 marks; an unattempted question scores zero.
- A guess therefore breaks even at 20% accuracy: above that it gains you marks on average, below it loses them. A blind guess between four options is right 25% of the time, which is already above that line, so an educated guess is clearly worth making rather than leaving the question blank.
- Worked example: attempt 40 of the 50 questions and get 30 right and 10 wrong, and you score 55 out of 100.
Practising against the same clock is the point of a mock test: at 48 seconds a question, the difference between a good score and an average one is usually pacing rather than knowledge. Attempt a free SEBI Grade A mock test to see where your time actually goes.
Phase II: Paper 2 (General Stream)
Official Officer Grade A 2025 pattern| Questions | 100 |
| Total marks | 100 |
| Duration | 90 minutes |
| Negative marking | 0.25 per wrong answer |
| Sections | Commerce, Accountancy, Management, Finance, Costing, Companies Act, Economics |
| Test | Qs | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| Commerce | 16 | 16 |
| Accountancy | 14 | 14 |
| Management | 14 | 14 |
| Finance | 16 | 16 |
| Costing | 14 | 14 |
| Companies Act | 12 | 12 |
| Economics | 14 | 14 |
Timing: Single composite 90-minute timer for all General Stream subjects combined: no sectional lock, you can move between subjects freely..
Phase II has two papers: Paper 1 (General English, 100 marks, fully descriptive: essay, précis, and reading comprehension) and Paper 2 (100 objective questions, 100 marks, 90 minutes), both weighing 85% of final merit together with a 15%-weighted interview. Only Paper 2 is covered here, since Paper 1 is descriptive and not suited to an auto-scored mock test. Paper 2 tests the same seven General-stream subjects as Phase I Paper 2 (Commerce, Accountancy, Management, Finance, Costing, Companies Act, Economics), but at a harder, more analytical tier, so this mock's questions are written to require applied calculation and deeper statutory/technical detail rather than repeating Phase I's screening-level definitional questions. SEBI does not publish an official question-wise split across the seven subjects; the breakdown below reflects how this mock test's questions are organised, not an official SEBI-published distribution.
Official source · checked 27 August 2026The SEBI Grade A Phase II: Paper 2 (General Stream) exam pattern is 100 questions carrying 100 marks, to be answered in 90 minutes. That works out to about 54 seconds per question on average, before any time spent reading instructions or revisiting marked answers. The 7 sections are Commerce, Accountancy, Management, Finance, Costing, Companies Act and Economics. All sections share one composite timer, so you are free to move between them and spend your time where it earns most.
SEBI Grade A Phase II: Paper 2 (General Stream) marking scheme
- Each correct answer is worth 1 mark.
- A wrong answer deducts 0.25 marks; an unattempted question scores zero.
- A guess therefore breaks even at 20% accuracy: above that it gains you marks on average, below it loses them. A blind guess between four options is right 25% of the time, which is already above that line, so an educated guess is clearly worth making rather than leaving the question blank.
- Worked example: attempt 80 of the 100 questions and get 60 right and 20 wrong, and you score 55 out of 100.
Practising against the same clock is the point of a mock test: at 54 seconds a question, the difference between a good score and an average one is usually pacing rather than knowledge. Attempt a free SEBI Grade A mock test to see where your time actually goes.
SEBI Grade A exam pattern: frequently asked questions
Is there negative marking in SEBI Grade A?
SEBI Grade A Phase I: Paper 1 deducts 0.3125 marks for a wrong answer; SEBI Grade A Phase I: Paper 2 (General Stream) deducts 0.5 marks for a wrong answer; SEBI Grade A Phase II: Paper 2 (General Stream) deducts 0.25 marks for a wrong answer. An unattempted question always scores zero, so the choice is only ever between guessing and leaving it blank.
How many questions are there in SEBI Grade A?
SEBI Grade A Phase I: Paper 1 has 80 questions, SEBI Grade A Phase I: Paper 2 (General Stream) has 50 questions, SEBI Grade A Phase II: Paper 2 (General Stream) has 100 questions. That leaves about 45 seconds per question in SEBI Grade A Phase I: Paper 1, 48 seconds per question in SEBI Grade A Phase I: Paper 2 (General Stream) and 54 seconds per question in SEBI Grade A Phase II: Paper 2 (General Stream).
What are the total marks in SEBI Grade A?
SEBI Grade A Phase I: Paper 1 is out of 100 marks, SEBI Grade A Phase I: Paper 2 (General Stream) is out of 100 marks, SEBI Grade A Phase II: Paper 2 (General Stream) is out of 100 marks.
How long is the SEBI Grade A exam?
SEBI Grade A Phase I: Paper 1 runs for 60 minutes, SEBI Grade A Phase I: Paper 2 (General Stream) runs for 40 minutes, SEBI Grade A Phase II: Paper 2 (General Stream) runs for 90 minutes.
Does SEBI Grade A have a sectional time limit?
No. Every section shares one composite timer, so you can move between sections freely and give the slower ones more of your time.
How many stages does SEBI Grade A have?
This site covers 3 objective stages: Phase I: Paper 1, Phase I: Paper 2 (General Stream), Phase II: Paper 2 (General Stream). Each stage is checked against the official notification separately, because scoring rules routinely differ between stages of the same exam.