If you are preparing for PFRDA Grade A 2026, analysing the previous-year Descriptive English paper is one of the most useful ways to understand what Phase II actually demands.
Previous papers reveal something that syllabus reading alone cannot: the nature of Essay topics, complexity of Precis passages, depth of Reading Comprehension questions and level of writing expected under time pressure.
According to the latest available official PFRDA Grade A recruitment framework, Phase II Paper 1 is an English Descriptive Test to test drafting skills. It carries 100 marks, contains 3 questions, has a duration of 60 minutes and carries one-third weightage within Phase II. (PFRDA PROD)
The three components are:
Essay Writing – 30 Marks
Precis Writing – 30 Marks
Reading Comprehension – 40 Marks
In this Bank Whizz analysis, we examine the PFRDA Grade A Previous Year Descriptive Paper and extract the lessons that can guide your 2026 preparation.
Important: Actual examination questions discussed below are based on post-examination candidate recollection and Bank Whizz’s 2025 post-exam analysis. PFRDA’s official information handout separately provides illustrative sample questions. These two categories should not be confused.
PFRDA Grade A Descriptive Paper: Official Structure
The official 2025 PFRDA advertisement confirms that Phase II consisted of two papers of 100 marks each.
For all streams, Paper 1 was:
English – Descriptive Test to test drafting skills
The official Phase II handout further specifies the section-wise distribution as:
| Component | Marks |
|---|---|
| Essay Writing | 30 |
| Precis Writing | 30 |
| Reading Comprehension | 40 |
| Total | 100 |
Paper 1 had a 60-minute duration and carried one-third weightage, while Paper 2 carried two-thirds weightage. (PFRDA PROD)
This immediately highlights an important point:
Reading Comprehension carries the highest marks within the Descriptive English paper.
Therefore, candidates should not make the mistake of concentrating almost entirely on Essay Writing.
PFRDA Grade A 2025 Essay Questions
According to Bank Whizz’s post-examination analysis, the 2025 Essay section offered themes around:
1. Role of Artificial Intelligence in Modern Development
This topic required candidates to discuss how AI is influencing contemporary development.
A strong approach could include:
Productivity → Innovation → Healthcare → Finance → Governance → Employment → Ethical Concerns → Responsible Adoption
The topic demonstrates the importance of preparing technology-based contemporary issues.
2. Unhappy Customers and Business Development
Another reported topic dealt with how unhappy customers can contribute to business development.
This is particularly interesting because it is neither a conventional pension topic nor a straightforward current-affairs essay.
It tests the candidate’s ability to understand:
Customer Feedback → Identification of Weaknesses → Service Improvement → Innovation → Customer Retention → Business Growth
3. Higher Education, Degrees and Internships
A third reported theme involved educational institutions, internships and the value of degrees.
This required candidates to connect:
Education + Employability + Practical Exposure + Skill Development
Bank Whizz’s post-exam analysis characterised the overall 2025 paper as doable to moderate. (Bank whizz)
Read Bank Whizz’s PFRDA Grade A 2025 Phase II Descriptive English Analysis
What Do the 2025 Essay Topics Teach Us?
The biggest lesson is simple:
PFRDA Essay Writing ≠ Pension Topics Only
Look at the reported areas:
Artificial Intelligence
Business and Customer Behaviour
Higher Education and Internships
This means candidates preparing only:
NPS + APY + Pension Reforms + Retirement Security
may create a serious preparation gap.
Certainly, PFRDA-related topics deserve priority. But your Essay preparation should also include:
Economy + Finance + Technology + Business + Education + Employment + Governance + Social Issues
The objective is to develop enough content flexibility to respond to an unfamiliar topic.
PFRDA Grade A 2025 Precis Writing
According to Bank Whizz’s post-examination analysis, the 2025 Precis passage dealt with Japan’s demographic challenge.
The reported passage covered themes such as:
- Declining birth rate
- Shrinking/ageing population
- Government incentives
- Labour shortages
- Role of Artificial Intelligence and robotics
This made the Precis particularly useful from an examination perspective because candidates had to compress multiple interconnected dimensions into a coherent response. (Bank whizz)
The lesson for 2026 aspirants is important.
Do not prepare Precis Writing by predicting topics.
Instead, develop the ability to handle passages on:
Economy
Demography
Technology
Finance
Environment
Governance
Social Development
Your Precis skill should work regardless of the subject.
What Was Required in the Precis?
A good précis of such a passage would need to preserve the logical chain:
Demographic Problem
↓
Economic/Social Consequences
↓
Government Response
↓
Role of Technology
The challenge is deciding what to remove without damaging this chain.
That is why Precis Writing should be practised through:
READ → UNDERSTAND → IDENTIFY → FILTER → PARAPHRASE → COMPRESS → REVIEW
Do not merely replace words with synonyms.
Your job is to preserve the essential meaning in substantially fewer words.
PFRDA Grade A 2025 Reading Comprehension
Reading Comprehension carried 40 marks, making it the highest-mark component of Paper 1 under the latest official handout. (PFRDA)
The 2025 RC passage was reported to revolve around the mismatch between modern lifestyles and human evolutionary or physiological characteristics.
Bank Whizz’s post-examination analysis reported five questions and described the RC as involving interpretation and analytical understanding rather than merely simple factual retrieval. (Bank whizz)
This provides a major preparation lesson.
Do not approach descriptive RC as:
Find Line → Copy Line → Submit
Instead:
Understand Question → Locate Evidence → Interpret → Frame Answer
Official PFRDA Sample Questions: What Do They Reveal?
The official Phase II handout is another valuable preparation source.
It provides illustrative Essay questions including:
Measures to eradicate illiteracy in India
and
Whether computerisation results in unemployment
The same handout provides an illustrative Precis task requiring candidates to condense a passage to about 150 words and give a suitable title. Importantly, PFRDA explicitly states that the sample question types are illustrative and not exhaustive. (PFRDA PROD)
Official PFRDA Grade A Phase II Information Handout
This official material reinforces the lesson from the previous paper:
Preparation must be broad.
Previous Paper vs Official Sample Questions
Candidates should clearly understand the distinction.
Previous-Year Actual Paper
Questions reconstructed after the examination through candidate recollection are memory-based unless PFRDA officially releases the exact paper.
Official Sample Questions
Questions appearing in PFRDA’s information handout are officially published illustrative questions, but they should not automatically be labelled as questions actually asked in that year’s examination.
This distinction is important for serious PYQ preparation.
Bank Whizz recommends clearly marking every question in your notes as:
Official Sample
or
Memory-Based Actual Exam Question
This prevents misinformation from entering your preparation material.
What Should You Learn for PFRDA Grade A 2026?
The previous paper suggests three separate preparation priorities.
Essay: Build Content Flexibility
Prepare broad clusters:
Pension & Social Security
Economy & Finance
Artificial Intelligence & Technology
Business & Management
Education & Employment
Governance & Social Issues
Do not memorise 50 essays.
Build flexible Idea Banks.
Precis: Build Compression Ability
Practise passages from different domains.
Your focus should be:
Central Idea + Essential Points + Logical Flow + Paraphrasing + Compression
The passage topic should become almost irrelevant to your technique.
Comprehension: Build Answer-Writing Accuracy
Practise:
Factual Questions
Why/How Questions
Inference Questions
Central-Idea Questions
Meaning-in-Context Questions
Analytical Questions
The objective is to answer exactly what has been asked, not everything you know about the passage.
How to Attempt a Previous-Year Paper Properly
Do not merely read the previous paper and model answers.
Reconstruct the examination experience.
Set a 60-minute timer and attempt:
Essay + Precis + Reading Comprehension
Then evaluate:
Content
Structure
Relevance
Grammar
Word Control
Comprehension Accuracy
Time Management
Finally, rewrite the weakest section.
The correct learning cycle is:
Attempt → Evaluate → Diagnose → Correct → Rewrite
This converts a previous-year paper from reading material into an actual preparation tool.
Bank Whizz Strategy for PFRDA Grade A 2026
The 2025 paper delivers one powerful message:
Do not predict narrowly. Prepare broadly.
Essay Writing requires flexible knowledge and structured expression.
Precis Writing requires accurate comprehension and disciplined compression.
Reading Comprehension requires analytical reading and precise answer writing.
And all three must be managed within the overall time available for Paper 1.
Therefore, your preparation should progress through:
Concept Learning → Sectional Practice → Evaluation → Error Correction → Timed Practice → Full Mocks
You can also refer to the official recruitment material while building your preparation plan.
Official PFRDA Grade A 2025 Recruitment Advertisement
Final Takeaway
The PFRDA Grade A Previous Year Descriptive Paper should not be used merely to collect old questions.
Use it to understand the examination.
The latest previous paper demonstrates the diversity candidates must be prepared for:
Essay → Technology, Business and Education
Precis → Demography, Policy and Technology
Comprehension → Society, Lifestyle and Human Development
That breadth should shape your 2026 preparation.
Study previous questions, but do not wait for them to repeat.
Analyse the underlying themes.
Practise unfamiliar passages.
Write answers under time pressure.
Get your work evaluated.
Correct recurring weaknesses.
Then attempt the paper again.
At Bank Whizz, the purpose of PYQ analysis is not to tell you exactly what PFRDA will ask next.
It is to ensure that whatever PFRDA asks next, you are prepared to write.
Analyse the past. Master the skills. Prepare for the unexpected.
Bank Whizz – Descriptive English मतलब Bank Whizz.