What is IBPS PO exam?
Bank Probationary
office (Bank PO) is a lucrative career.Earlier you need to fill up form for
each bank separately.This was problematic for Candidates.They had to fill up
form for each bank.This is why IBPS PO exams was created.Most of the public
sector Banks are recruiting based on IBPS PO exams.By public sector banks I
mean Government banks.Only SBI is conducting separate exams.
Every
year IBPS comes with notification for PO recruitment.It is generally published
in months of July or August.After notification you can fill up the application
form.In next section I have covered eligibility criteria.So read that and if
eligible then only fill up the form.After filling up the form you can download
admit card for CWE (common written examination).The dates of written exams
,interview and admit card download are already given.
IBPS PO exams are divided into two
parts.The first is written test.After clearing written test candidates appear
for Interview.In this post I will cover every detail about IBPS PO written
exams.I have covered IBPS PO interview in separate post.You can read the post
and download interview questions answers and tips from this link.I have also covered SBI Bank PO
interview and written test in different post.You can read download documents of
SBI PO exams from this link.
IBPS PO Exams
Eligibility
Recently
many candidates have asked questions about eligibility criteria.Many candidates
after clearing written test come to know that they are not eligible.So I have
covered eligibility criteria in this post.Candidate should have completed
Graduation on or before 11th August 2014 for IBPS PO 2014.So your mark sheet
and provisional certificate should have date before this.If not then you are
not eligible to this year IBPS CWE PO examination.
Second
most problematic section is Age limit.For this year IBPS PO exams your date of
birth should be between 02.07.1984 and 01.07.1994.This is for General
candidates.For SC and ST candidates the dates are 02.07.1979 and 01.07.1994.For
OBC candidates (non creamy layer the date is 02.07.1981.For SC ST and OBC
candidates you should provide valid caste certificate as per Government of
India.
These
are most generic eligibility criteria where candidates make mistake.In case you
have confusion about eligibility criteria then do let me know.You can write
your query using the comment section at bottom of this article.
IBPS PO Preparation
Tips Video
IBPS PO Planning and Preparation tips
IBPS PO exam format
The
first step in preparation for any examination is to know about format of
exam.You can plan your preparation if you know format of exam.IBPS PO format
have changed over the years.So you should always look at current year format.I
have shown current year IBPS PO exam format in below table.
|
Section
|
Questions
|
Max Marks
|
|
Reasoning
|
50
|
50
|
|
English
|
40
|
40
|
|
Quantitative
|
50
|
50
|
|
General Awareness
|
40
|
40
|
|
Computer Knowledge
|
20
|
20
|
|
Total
|
200
|
200
|
|
Total TIme
|
120 min
|
|
In
last year IBPS PO exam there were 250 questions.The total time limit was 150
min.Each section contained 50 questions.But for IBPS PO 2014 they have changed
the format.Less stress is given to English,General Awareness and Computer
Knowledge.The time is also reduced to 120 mins from 150 mins.So you have 2
hours to answer 200 marks.
Also
previous year apart from this objective test there was 25 marks descriptive
test.In that you have to write an Essay or Letter in English language.The
duration was one hour.But descriptive paper is not included in current year
exams.So you can leave the descriptive paper preparation and concentrate on
objectives only.
IBPS PO exam syllabus
From
above table you can see that Quantitative Aptitude,Reasoning,English,General
Awareness and Computer Knowledge are main topics or subjects you need to
prepare.But nowhere the syllabus is mentioned.Actually there is no syllabus as
such for IBPS PO exam.We can define a syllabus only based on previous year
question paper pattern.I am outlining paper pattern and syllabus you need to
cover.I have also prepared question papers along with answers with these points
in mind.So you can download model papers using download link and get an idea of
IBPS PO exam question paper pattern.
Quantitative
Aptitude syllabus and question types
§
Time
and Distance,Time and Work – 4 questions
§
Ratio
and Mixtures – 5 questions
§
Percentage,Profit
Loss – 6 questions
§
Partnership,Clock,Pipes
and Cisterns – 5 questions
§
Permutation
and Combination – 5 questions
§
10
question based on data given example problem is given in above papers
§
10
questions on series,fractions and arithmetic operations
Reasoning
syllabus and question types
§
10
questions on Diagrams and pictures
§
15
questions on puzzle type problems download above documents from details
§
5
questions on Arguments
§
5
questions on arguments and conclusions
§
10
questions on Alphabets,patterns,arrangement
English
syllabus and question types
§
20
questions from Comprehension.It includes Antonym and Synonym
§
5
spot error in sentence problems
§
5
sentence rearrangement
§
10
preposition and fill in the blanks
General
Awareness and Computer Knowledge
Computer
knowledge covers basic questions about computers.The topics like
Internet,Microsoft Office packages and other day to day computer knowledge (bit
of hardware knowledge). The questions are basic ones only.General Awareness
focuses on Banking industry and also covers key news as well.You should read
current affairs (more focus on banking).If IBPS PO exam is in May then read
important news of before April.The paper is set approx two months before the
exam.Questions focus mainly on Banking reforms and recent Banking related
announcements.Government Yojanas impacting Banks are also hot topic.
IBPS PO exam tips
Time
Management and Time Distribution
As
you might have noticed above the number of questions are more than time allowed
in min.You get less than 1 min to answer a question.So proper distribution of
time is important for each section.Each question has equal weight-age in terms
of marks.But some sections like Computer Knowledge and General Awareness can be
solved in less time (assuming that you know the answer) compared to other
section.
So
time management and proper time distribution is very important for IBPS PO
written exam.The second important thing is order of attempting the
sections.Some sections like Reasoning and Quantitative do exhaust your
brain.Other sections like Computer knowledge and General Awareness are not that
exhausting.It is better to attempt non exhaustive sections first.This keeps you
brain fresh while attempting these sections.
Sectional
Cut off
Third
important point is sectional cut off.For example if I get 45 in one section and
10 in other I am not qualified.I may have more marks than other qualified
candidates.Often candidates do forget this during IBPS PO written exam.I have
seen few candidates who scored nearly 80% in one section but failed in other
section.So clearing sectional cut off in all sections should be first and
foremost thing you should do in IBPS PO written exam.
Normally
48% is considered as sectional cut off marks in any section.So your first aim
should be to clear the sectional cut off.IBPS has also introduced concept of
TWSS (Total Weight age standard score).They create a minimal TWSS score based
on performance of candidates that year.You should score above TWSS to get an
interview call.So your first aim is to clear sectional cut off and second is to
score as much marks as possible.
Question
Selection
Fourth
important point is each question has same marks.It is not important to give
preference to one question than other one.You should avoid time consuming
questions in first attempt.If you have solved similar questions before than
attempt them.Easy questions should be attempted first and then complex
ones.Sometimes one question eats uo too much time and you have to leave few
easy ones.This is really important.
Answer
marking in Answer sheet
Fifth
important point is marking the answers.There are couple of strategy.Some like
to mark the answers as they solve it.Some marks the answer in one go at
last.Marking answers one by one do consume seconds switching from question
sheet to answer sheet.In second method you might make mistakes marking the
answers due to time constraint.It is also tough to keep track of all answers.
There
is chance of making mistake in marking answers if you have left couple of
questions in between two answered questions.In my opinion the best way is to
combine both process.Ideally you should mark all the answers after completing a
section.This gives you idea about number of questions answered in a particular
section.You can come back to sections with less number of answered questions
later on.This is important for sectional cutoff.Also the number of answers to
be marked in the sheet will also be less.So there will be lesser chance to make
mistake.
Negative
marking mistakes
IBPS
PO written exam has negative marking.Negative marking means one fourth of marks
in deducted for every wrong answer.For example out of 10 questions if you have
5 correct answers but two wrong answers then your total marks is (5 – 2* .25) =
4.5.This is really important.In above example if you have left two wrong
questions then you would have crossed cut off marks (48%).
So
it is very important not to guess answers.Sometimes candidates mark answers of
10 to 20 questions as A or B or C or D.This does backfire.If you have answered
decent number of questions to clear sectional cut off then there is no need of
all these.Instead of guessing and marking answers try one or two questions
which you can solve and are in section you answered less.
IBPS PO exam planning
Above
we saw points to consider in IBPS PO written exam.Proper planning and practice
is important to incorporate these tips during exam.You should divide time
between the sections and stick to those timings.I have made a general time
distribution for all sections below.You can modify the same to fit your
requirement.Total time given for all sections is 120 min.We will divide this
time between sections not equally but based on certain rules.I will mention
those rules in detail after below table.
|
Section
|
Questions
|
Cutoff
|
Time
|
|
Reasoning
|
50
|
24
|
40
|
|
English
|
40
|
20
|
22
|
|
Quantitative
|
50
|
24
|
40
|
|
General Awareness
|
40
|
20
|
12
|
|
Computer Knowledge
|
20
|
10
|
6
|
|
Total
|
200
|
98
|
120
|
You
can see in above table 8 minutes are still left.You should attempt sections in
which you have answered less than sectional cut off in these 8 min.In case you
have attempted all sections well then attempt those sections or questions which
you can answer in these 8 min.I have dedicated more time to Reasoning then to
Quantitative.The reason is these sections are time consuming.The other sections
like Computer knowledge and General Awareness do not involve solving a
problem.They will not take much time if you know the answers.
You
can modify time according to your strength.You can practice sample papers
(downloadable from download links) and find out time taken in each
section.Based on your experience after solving few question paper you can add
or subtract time dedicated to individual sections in above table.After fixing
time it is very important to test it out.You should solve few test series or
papers.You can easily see whether time dedicated to each section is fine or
needs some modification.
Speed
is king in IBPS PO written test.It is important to practice as many questions
as possible.This increases chances of getting similar questions in real exam.So
you can solve them in less time.This will improve your speed and chances to
answer more questions.
IBPS PO exam
preparation
Computer
Knowledge section
IBPS
PO written exams are becoming tough with time.Introduction of Computer
Knowledge section makes it difficult for non computer background candidates.So
candidates from non computer background need to study this section.This section
is pretty scoring as well as less time consuming.So one should really focus
hard on this section.The good part is questions are not very technical in
nature nor is difficult.
General
Awareness section
Also
General Awareness section focuses on Banking industry knowledge.This indeed is
important as you are going to be part of Banking industry.But it also demands
dedication of your time to read Business section of a newspaper instead of
Sports or Movie section.There are magazines dedicated to Banking industry.You
can pick any one of them and start reading the headlines.This is also one very
scoring section and less time consuming.If you are well prepared for above two
sections then you can save lot of time for other sections.Getting good scores
this sections will help you score good results overall.So you should focus more
on these two sections.
English
section
English
is tough section for candidates not from that background.With introduction of
descriptive section as well things are getting more complicated for
candidates.In English section good amount of questions are grammar based.You
should prepare grammar thoroughly.The basics like
Noun,Pronoun,Preposition,Conjunction and tense should be primary focus.Some
questions like spot the error can be very scoring and less time consuming.The
comprehension section is also easy compared to other part of English.It also
carries good weight-age as well.
You
can pick any good English grammar book for preparation.Even class ten or twelve
English grammar books will do the trick.Every candidate should stress or
dedicate more time to these three sections.Normally candidates give more time
to reasoning and quantitative often overlooking these sections.But scoring good
marks in these sections and saving time is key to success.
Quantitative
and Reasoning section
You
should target clearing the cut off marks first in reasoning and quantitative
section.Anything above that is always a bonus.Having said that Candidates
should always focus on their strength.Someone outstanding in Quantitative
should try to score more on this section.You should practice Quantitative and
Reasoning on regular basis.
It
is good to solve different types of problems.Solving same type of problems does
not serve the purpose.You will not find same type of questions in IBPS
exam.Also practising different types of problems give you an idea about their
solution procedure.This helps in IBPS exam.Looking at the question you can
identify type of it.The data may be different but solution approach will be
same.This will help you solve the problems faster and correctly.
I
have included different types of questions in above documents.You can download
the same and start practising.It will give you an idea of type of problems
asked and their complexity.Also it is important to note the time taken to solve
the problems individually.
