Quick answer. RBI DSIM Paper II is a descriptive Statistics paper worth 100 marks in 180 minutes. Questions are displayed on a computer screen and answers are written by hand on paper. A non programmable on screen calculator is provided, and it is the only paper in the whole examination where any calculator is allowed. Answers may be written in Hindi or English. It draws from the same nine units as Paper I.
What the Official Notification Says
Precisely this, and no more:
| Item | Official detail |
|---|---|
| Type | Descriptive, on Statistics |
| Duration | 180 minutes |
| Marks | 100 |
| Format | Question paper displayed on computer, answers to be written on paper |
| Calculator | On screen non programmable calculator, DSIM candidates only, this paper only |
| Language | Hindi or English |
| Held with | Paper III, on the second examination date |
The Question Structure, and What It Forces You to Do
Where this comes from. The official notification specifies only the duration and marks above. The structure below comes from our own conversations with candidates who appeared in recent cycles, and from past Information Handouts. The Handout is released fresh with the admit card each cycle, so confirm it when yours arrives.
Paper II has been set as three sections of six questions each, twenty marks per question.
You attempt five questions in total, with a maximum of two from any one section.
The three sections have covered:
| Section | Content |
|---|---|
| One | Statistical Inference, Multivariate Analysis and core Statistics |
| Two | Stochastic Processes and Time Series |
| Three | Data Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and Database Management |
Now do the arithmetic
Five questions. Maximum two from any section. Three sections.
Two plus two is four. You cannot reach five without taking at least one question from every section.
That single rule reshapes the whole preparation, and most candidates never work it out.
| If you skip | You can attempt | Marks available |
|---|---|---|
| Nothing | 5 questions | 100 |
| One section entirely | 4 questions | 80 |
| Two sections entirely | 2 questions | 40 |
A candidate who ignored units 8 and 9 walks in with a maximum of 80 marks available, before writing a word. That is a twenty mark handicap chosen months earlier.
What this means in practice
Depth in two sections is not enough. You need genuine depth in your two strong sections, because that is where four of your five answers will come from. But you also need at least one reliable topic in the third section, whichever it is for you, because you are required to answer from it.
For most Statistics postgraduates, section three is the weak one. Data Science, Machine Learning and Database Management are the units nobody taught them.
So the minimum viable position is: two sections at real depth, plus one topic in section three you can write twenty marks on with confidence.
Pick that topic early. Logistic regression, decision trees and random forests, or principal components and clustering are all reasonable candidates, because they sit at the boundary between classical statistics and machine learning and you can bring statistical reasoning to them.
Paper I, for contrast
Paper I has been set as around 20 questions of 5 marks each, with a penalty of one third of the marks for a wrong answer, spread fairly evenly across the syllabus.
Work that penalty out. A wrong answer on a five mark question costs roughly 1.67 marks. Three wrong answers cancel one correct answer. With high value questions and no calculator, accuracy matters far more than attempt count in Paper I.
The two papers therefore reward opposite instincts. Paper I punishes guessing. Paper II punishes narrow preparation.
The Format Is the Hard Part
Read the format line again. Questions on a screen. Answers on paper.
That combination is unusual and it creates friction most candidates never practise for.
| Friction | What it costs you |
|---|---|
| You cannot annotate the question | No underlining, no marking the given data |
| You cannot see question and answer together | Constant eye movement between screen and page |
| You cannot flip back easily | Comparing two questions means scrolling |
| Handwriting speed becomes a limit | 180 minutes of continuous statistical writing |
Practise in exactly this setup. Put the question on a laptop screen, write on paper, and time yourself. It feels awkward the first three times, which is precisely why you should do it before the examination rather than during it.
The Calculator Rule Cuts Both Ways
This is the only paper in the entire RBI Grade B examination where a calculator is available, and only for DSIM candidates.
What that means for Paper II. Numerical questions can be genuinely computational. The presence of a calculator suggests the paper is willing to ask for real arithmetic.
What it means for Paper I. Paper I is objective Statistics for 120 minutes with no calculator at all. Every computation there must be done mentally, on rough paper, or avoided by recognising a shortcut.
Practise Paper I level questions without a calculator from day one. Candidates who prepare with a calculator in hand and then meet Paper I are slower than they expected, and slowness in an objective paper is indistinguishable from not knowing the answer.
How to Structure a Descriptive Statistical Answer
A twenty mark statistical answer is not an essay. It has a structure, and examiners reward it.
| Part | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| 1. Statement | State what is being asked and the result you will establish |
| 2. Assumptions | Name the conditions. Independence, distributional form, sample size. |
| 3. Derivation | The mathematics, with steps shown, not skipped |
| 4. Interpretation | What the result means, in words |
Part 2 and Part 4 are where marks are lost, because candidates in a hurry go straight to the derivation and stop when the algebra ends.
Stating assumptions shows you know when a result applies. Interpreting the result shows you understand what you derived. Both are cheap to write and both are frequently the difference between a competent answer and a good one.
Where to Practise
UPSC ISS descriptive Statistics papers are the closest available rehearsal, and they are free.
ISS has descriptive Statistics papers going back years, asking long form questions on probability, inference, sampling, design of experiments, multivariate analysis and econometrics. The topics overlap heavily with the DSIM units.
How to use them. Pick a question, put it on a screen, set a timer, and write the answer by hand. Then compare against a standard textbook treatment and mark yourself honestly on the four part structure above.
Ten answers written properly this way are worth more than a hundred solved mentally.
Preparing Across All Nine Units
Paper II draws from the same nine units as Paper I. That has a practical consequence.
A unit you cannot write about at length is a unit you cannot use here. Objective familiarity is not the same as being able to derive a result and explain it on paper.
Some units lend themselves to descriptive treatment more naturally than others:
| Unit | Descriptive potential |
|---|---|
| 3. Statistical Inference | High. Derivations, theorems, proofs. |
| 4. Stochastic Processes | High. Markov chain results, Poisson process properties. |
| 5. Multivariate Analysis | High. Distribution theory, discriminant analysis. |
| 6. Econometrics and Time Series | High. Model derivations, consequences of assumption violations. |
| 1, 2 | Moderate. Standard results and regression theory. |
| 7 | Moderate. Optimization methods, algorithm descriptions. |
| 8, 9 | Conceptual explanation rather than derivation |
Build depth in units 3, 4, 5 and 6 first for this paper. They carry the most derivable material and they are where a well prepared candidate can write with confidence.
Two Practical Points
Handwriting endurance is real. Three hours of continuous mathematical writing is physically tiring in a way that solving objective questions is not. Build up to full length written practice rather than discovering it on exam day.
You will not know your Paper I score. For DSIM, no marks are published at any stage until the final result. You write Paper II without knowing whether Paper I went well. Prepare for it as though you cleared comfortably, because assuming otherwise changes nothing and helps nothing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is RBI DSIM Paper II?
A descriptive Statistics paper worth 100 marks in 180 minutes. Questions are displayed on a computer screen and answers are written by hand on paper.
Is a calculator allowed in RBI DSIM Paper II?
Yes. A non programmable calculator is provided on screen for Paper II, for DSIM candidates only. Physical calculators are banned in all phases, and no calculator is available for Paper I.
Can I write RBI DSIM Paper II in Hindi?
Yes. Paper II answers may be written in Hindi or English. Paper III must be answered in English only.
How many questions are in RBI DSIM Paper II?
The official notification specifies only the duration and marks. The detailed question structure is given in the Information Handout released with the admit card each cycle.
Where can I practise descriptive Statistics answers for DSIM?
UPSC ISS descriptive Statistics papers are the closest available rehearsal. Write the answers by hand, to time, with the question on a screen.
How should I structure a descriptive statistics answer?
State the problem and result, name the assumptions, show the derivation with steps, then interpret the result in words. Assumptions and interpretation are where marks are most often lost.
