Cloze Test Questions for SBI CLERK

What is a Cloze Test

A cloze test gives you a short passage where certain words have been removed and replaced with numbered blanks. Your job is to fill each blank with the most appropriate word from the given options. The passage has a central theme — banking, economy, environment, social issues, or current events. Every blank must fit both the meaning of the sentence AND the flow of the entire paragraph. You cannot treat each blank in isolation; the passage tells a story and each word must respect that story.

• Typically 5-10 blanks per passage in SBI Clerk
• Options are usually 4-5 words, often similar in meaning to confuse you
• Recent SBI Clerk papers lean toward economy, banking policy, and social awareness themes
• Both vocabulary (right meaning) and grammar (right form) are tested together
• One correct answer fits sense + grammar + tone of the paragraph

Step-by-Step Solving Strategy

The biggest mistake aspirants make is reading one sentence and jumping to the answer. The correct method is to read the full passage first without looking at options, understand the central theme and tone, and then go blank by blank. For each blank, re-read the sentence before it and after it. This context window — the sentence before, the blank sentence, and the sentence after — almost always reveals the answer. Only then look at options and eliminate.

• Step 1: Read the entire passage once for theme and tone
• Step 2: Identify the tone — positive, negative, neutral, critical, optimistic
• Step 3: For each blank, use the 3-sentence context window — before, during, after
• Step 4: Predict your own word before looking at options — then match
• Step 5: Eliminate options that are grammatically wrong first, then semantically wrong
• Step 6: Read the completed sentence aloud in your mind — if it sounds natural, it is likely correct

Vocabulary in Context — The Core Skill

SBI Clerk cloze tests often give you options that are near-synonyms — words with similar but slightly different meanings. For example, options might be: agree, concur, comply, consent. All mean roughly yes but they fit different contexts. Agree is general, concur is formal opinion agreement, comply means following rules, consent means giving permission. The passage context decides which one fits. Tone clues are your best friend here — if the passage discusses government orders and citizens, comply fits. If two experts are discussing a theory, concur fits.

• Near-synonyms are the main trap — always check contextual meaning, not dictionary meaning
• Positive tone words: bolster, augment, foster, facilitate, surge
• Negative tone words: hamper, hinder, exacerbate, deteriorate, dwindle
• Neutral/formal words: delineate, stipulate, enumerate, ascertain
• Adjective-noun collocations matter: robust growth, mounting pressure, dire consequences
• Learn word families — noun, verb, adjective forms of the same root

Grammar Signals Inside the Blank

Even before thinking about meaning, the grammatical structure of the sentence can eliminate 1-2 options immediately. Look at what comes before and after the blank. If you see an article 'a' before the blank, the answer must be a noun starting with a consonant sound. If you see 'is' or 'are' nearby, a gerund or noun fits. Subject-verb agreement, tense consistency with the rest of the paragraph, and preposition collocations are the three grammar checks you must do for every blank.

• Article before blank: 'a/an' tells you noun is needed and hints at starting sound
• Tense consistency: if paragraph is in past tense, verb blank should be past tense
• Preposition collocations: consist OF, comply WITH, differ FROM, succeed IN — these are fixed
• Blank after a conjunction like 'although', 'despite' needs a contrasting idea word
• Blank after 'not only' almost always pairs with 'but also' — look for parallel structure

New Pattern Cloze Test — SBI Mains Alert

In recent SBI Clerk Mains papers, a new pattern has appeared where instead of choosing one word, you are given a sentence with a blank and asked which of five given words fits. Sometimes two options seem correct — here you must choose the MOST APPROPRIATE one based on tone and register. Another new pattern gives a paragraph with words highlighted and asks you to identify the word that is incorrectly used — this is essentially a reverse cloze test. Being aware of both patterns saves valuable time in the exam.

• Old pattern: fill blank from 4-5 options — still appears in Prelims
• New pattern: identify the correct word among 5 standalone options for each blank
• Reverse cloze: spot the wrong word used in the passage — tests active reading
• Both patterns reward the same skill: strong contextual vocabulary
• In new pattern, always check if two options are both grammatically correct — then meaning and register decide

• Reading only the blank sentence and ignoring surrounding sentences — context is everything and one sentence is never enough
• Choosing a word because it looks familiar or is used commonly in daily life — common words often distract you from the precise word the passage needs
• Ignoring tone — picking a positive word when the passage is discussing a problem or crisis, or a formal word in an informal passage
• Skipping the grammar check — jumping straight to meaning and missing that the blank needs a verb form, not a noun form
• Not re-reading the completed sentence — always read the final answer back in context to confirm it sounds natural and logical

• 3-C Rule for every blank: Check Context (surrounding sentences), Check Grammar (word form needed), Check Collocations (what words naturally pair together) — Context, Grammar, Collocation
• PTEN mnemonic for tone identification: Positive, Negative, Neutral, Emphatic — tag the passage tone before solving
• Think of cloze test as a jigsaw puzzle — each word is a piece that must fit the exact shape of that blank, not just look similar to another piece
• Predict Before Peeking — always form your own word guess before looking at options; this stops options from confusing you and speeds up elimination

• SBI Clerk Prelims cloze test is usually moderate difficulty with straightforward vocabulary — aim to attempt all blanks and finish the set in 4-5 minutes
• SBI Clerk Mains cloze test uses formal academic or banking-themed passages — build vocabulary around RBI reports, Economic Survey summaries, and newspaper editorials for theme familiarity
• In Prelims, banking and economy themes dominate — words like liquidity, monetary, fiscal, regulation, inflation appear very frequently as blank answers or distractors
• If stuck on one blank, skip it and complete the rest — a later blank often gives context that resolves an earlier difficult one
• Recent SBI papers show a preference for testing words that have similar-looking synonyms — practice distinguishing pairs like affect vs effect, ensure vs assure, eminent vs imminent