The IBPS Guide: For a Career You Can Bank On!

The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) helps find the right candidates for Public Sector Banks and other Financial Institutions by conducting a Common Written Exam for the posts of Probationary Officer, Specialist Offer and Management Trainee.

IBPS works in tandem with 22 Government Banks and thousands of aspirants are placed through the IBPS Exam.

The IBPS has authorization to help find skilled and qualified talent for banks across India by streamlining the selection process with this exam. Four types of exams are conducted by the IBPS which are:

IBPS PO Exam

IBPS SO Exam

IBPS Regional Rural Banks Exam

IBPS Clerk Exam

Age

20-28 years.

The age relaxation is as follows:

(i) OBC: 3 years

(ii)SC/ST: 5 years

(iii) PWD: 10 years

Educational Qualification

Graduation in any stream from a recognized university.

Age

20-30 years.

This is the age relaxation:

(i) OBC: 3 years

(ii)SC/ST: 5 years

(iii) PWD: 10 years

Educational Qualification

Graduation in any stream from a recognized university.

Office Assistant

Age

18-28 years.

Educational Qualification

Graduation in any stream from a government recognized university.

Candidate should have good proficiency in his/her local language.

Officer Scale I

Age

18-30 years

Educational Qualification

Graduation degree in any stream from a recognized university with minimum 50% aggregate marks.

Good command over local language.

Officer Scale II- General Banking Officer

Age

21-32 years.

Educational Qualification

Degree from a recognized university with minimum 50% aggregate marks.

Min. two years experience in a bank/financial institute.

Officer Scale II- Specialist Officer

Age

21-32 years.

Educational Qualification

For various posts, the educational qualification is as follows:

Information Technology Officer

Degree from a recognized university in Electronics, Communication/ Computer Science/ Information Technology

Desirably holding a Certificate in ASP, Java, C++, OCP, VB,PHP etc.

Experience: 1 year

Law Officer

Degree in Law from a recognized university.

Minimum aggregate marks should be 50%.

Experience: 2 years as an advocate or having worked as a Law Officer in Banks/Financial Institutions for at least 2 years.

Chartered Accountant

Must be a Certified Associate (CA) having successfully completed the course from Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Experience: 1 year

Marketing Officer

MBA in Marketing from any recognized university.

Experience: 1 year

Treasury Manager

Certified Associate (CA) passed out from Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Experience: 1 year

Agricultural Officer

Degree from any recognized university in Agriculture/ Horticulture/ Animal Husbandry/ Dairy/ Agricultural Engineering/ Pisciculture/ Veterinary Science.

Experience: 2 years

Officer Scale III

Age

21-40 years

Educational Qualification

Graduation degree in any stream from a recognized university with 50% minimum marks as aggregate.

Experience: 5 years in a Bank of Financial Institution on the post of Officer.

Age

20-30 years.

This is the age relaxation:

(i) OBC: 3 years

(ii)SC/ST: 5 years

(iii) PWD: 10 years

Educational Qualification

IBPS SO exam can be given for a variety of posts. Depending on the post, the qualification is as follows:

I.T. Officer (Scale I)

Four year Engineering Degree or Post Graduage Degree in Computer Application/ Computer Science/ Information Technology/ Electronics and Telecommunication/ Electronics/ Electronics and Instrumentation

OR

A certified computer cource from DOEACC with "B" level PASS.

Law Officer (Scale I)

Bachelor holding a Degree in LLB

AND

An advocate enrolled with the Bar Council.

Agricultural Officer (Scale I)

Graduation (four years) in Agriculture/ Animal Husbandry/ Pisciculture/ Horticulture/ Dairy Science/ Veterinary Science/ Agro Forestry/ Agri Marketing/ Agri Engineering/ Fishery Science.

Rajsabha Adhikari (Scale I)

Post Graduation in Hindi or Sanskrit with English as a subject at Graduation or Degree level.

HR or Personnel Officer (Scale I)

Post Graduate Degree or Post Graduate Diploma in Industrial Relations/Labour Law/Social Work/Personnel Management/HRD/HR.

Marketing Officer (Scale I)

Graduate

AND

Full Time MBA in Marketing or a Post Graduate Diploma in Management with Marketing as a specialization.

Preliminary Exam

English: 30 questions, 30 marks

Numerical Ability: 35 questions, 35 marks

Reasoning: 35 questions, 35 marks

Total Time: 1 hours

Total Marks: 100

Mains Exam

English: 40 questions, 40 marks

Numerical Ability: 40 questions, 40 marks

Reasoning: 40 questions, 40 marks

General Knowledge: 40 questions, 40 marks

Computer Knowledge: 40 questions, 40 marks

Total Time: 2 hours

Total Marks: 200

The qualifying candidates are then called for an Interview round for final selection.

Preliminary Exam

English: 30 questions, 30 marks

Numerical Ability: 35 questions, 35 marks

Reasoning: 35 questions, 35 marks

Total Time: 1 hours

Total Marks: 100

Mains Exam

English: 40 questions, 40 marks

Quantitative Aptitude: 50 questions, 50 marks

Reasoning: 50 questions, 50 marks

General Knowledge: 40 questions, 40 marks

Computer Knowledge: 20 questions, 20 marks

Total Time: 2 hours

Total Marks: 200

The qualifying candidates have to sit through an interview process for final selection.

Office Assistant

English (a): 40 questions, 40 marks

Hindi (b): 40 questions, 40 marks

Quantitative Aptitude: 40 questions, 50 marks

Reasoning: 40 questions, 50 marks

General Knowledge: 40 questions, 40 marks

Computer Knowledge: 40 questions, 20 marks

Total Time: 2 hours

Total Marks: 200

Officer Scale I

English (a): 40 questions, 40 marks

Hindi (b): 40 questions, 40 marks

Quantitative Aptitude: 40 questions, 50 marks

Reasoning: 40 questions, 50 marks

General Knowledge: 40 questions, 40 marks

Computer Knowledge: 40 questions, 20 marks

Total Time: 2 hours

Total Marks: 200

Officer Scale II- General Banking Officer

English (a): 40 questions, 40 marks

Hindi (b): 40 questions, 40 marks

Quantitative Aptitude & Data Interpretation: 40 questions, 50 marks

Reasoning: 40 questions, 50 marks

Financial Awareness: 40 questions, 40 marks

Computer Knowledge: 40 questions, 20 marks

Total Time: 2 hours

Total Marks: 200

Officer Scale II- Specialist Officer

English (a): 40 questions, 20 marks

Hindi (b): 40 questions, 20 marks

Quantitative Aptitude & Data Interpretation: 40 questions, 40 marks

Reasoning: 40 questions, 40 marks

Financial Awareness: 40 questions, 40 marks

Computer Knowledge: 40 questions, 20 marks

Professional Knowledge: 40 questions, 40 marks

Total Time: 2 hours

Total Marks: 240

Officer Scale III

English (a): 40 questions, 40 marks

Hindi (b): 40 questions, 40 marks

Quantitative Aptitude & Data Interpretation: 40 questions, 50 marks

Reasoning: 40 questions, 50 marks

Financial Awareness: 40 questions, 40 marks

Computer Knowledge: 40 questions, 20 marks

Total Time: 2 hours

Total Marks: 200

Candidates can select between the medium English or Hindi.

The qualifying candidates are then called for an Interview round for final selection.

Law Officer and Rajsabha Adhikari

English (a): 50 questions, 25 marks

Reasoning: 50 questions, 50 marks

General Awareness: 50 questions, 50 marks

Professional Knowledge: 50 questions, 75 marks

Total Time: 2 hours

Total Marks: 200

IT Officer,HR/Personnel Officer/Agricultural Field Officer and Marketing Officer

English (a): 50 questions, 25 marks

Quantitative Aptitude & Data Interpretation: 50 questions, 50 marks

Reasoning: 50 questions, 50 marks

Professional Knowledge: 50 questions, 75 marks

Total Time: 2 hours

Total Marks: 200

The qualifying candidates have to sit through an interview process for final selection.

Yes. Every wrong answer carries a penalty of 0.25 marks.

Start of Registration: August, 2016

Last Date of Registration: September, 2016

Online Payment of Form: August, 2016

Download of Admit Card: November, 2016

Date of Prelim Exam:

26th November, 2016

27th November, 2016

3rd December, 2016

4th December, 2016

Result Declaration for Prelims: December, 2016

Download Mains Call Letter: December, 2016

Mains Exam Date:

31st January, 2016

1st January, 2017

Result Declaration for Mains: January, 2017

Download of Call Letter-Interview: January, 2017

Interview Slot: February, 2017

Allotment of IBPS Clerk (Provisional): April, 2017

Start of Registration: July, 2016

Last Date of Registration: July, 2016

Online Payment of Form: July, 2016

Download of Admit Card: September, 2016

Date of Prelim Exam:

16th October, 2016

22nd October, 2016

23rd October, 2016

Result Declaration for Prelims: October, 2016 (online exam)

Download Mains Call Letter: November, 2016

Mains Exam Date:

20th November, 2016

Result Declaration for Mains: December, 2016

Download of Call Letter-Interview: January, 2017

Interview Slot: March, 2017

Allotment of IBPS Clerk (Provisional): April, 2017

The dates for RRB V Exam are as follows:

Start of Registration: July, 2016

Last Date of Registration: July, 2016

Online Payment of Form: July, 2016

Pre Exam Training Call Letter Download: August, 2016 (Officer Scale 1/Office Assistant)

Pre Exam Training:August, 2016 (Officer- Scale 1)

Pre Exam Training:September, 2016 (Office Assistant)

Download of Admit Card:September, 2016 (online exam)

Officers Exam Date September, 2016

Office Assistant Exam Date:September, 2016

Expected Result Declaration: November, 2016

Start of Registration: 23rd November, 2016

Last Date of Registration:10th December, 2016

Online Payment of Form from: 23rd November, 2016

Offline Payment of Form from:10th December, 2016

Download of Admit Card from:19th January, 2017

Date of SO VI Exam:

28th January, 2017

29th January, 2017

Result Declaration: February, 2017

Download Interview Admit Card:March, 2017

SO Interview Date:March, 2017

Allotment of IBPS SO (Provisional): April, 2017

Get to know your performance before the big exam thanks. Practice here.

Practice various segments of the IBPS exam and ace it by taking mock tests here.

What better way to practice than on the official site itself. Take a practice test here.

Be it IBPS PO or IBPS Clerk, give yourself good practice. Click here to take a mock test.

Purchase a package from Mock Bank to give yourself a good understanding of the IBPS Exam. Click here.

Get ready for the IBPS Exam by thoroughly going through mock exam papers. Click here.

Take the Career Launchers Bank Test Series to familiarise yourself with the exam pattern and level of difficulty. Click here.

Enroll with Career Power and understand the exam pattern of the IBPS exam by taking plenty mock tests. Click here.

T.I.M.E. has been in the education sector for over 22 years giving them rich experience and good understanding of how banking exams are conducted making them one of the most popular centres amongst aspirants.

Career Launcher offers classroom and correspondence programs to those interested in starting a banking career and wishing to crack one of the IBPS exams. Become thorough with the question pattern thanks to their test series.

For those unable to join a coaching center, Bank Exam Portal brings a solution to their problem by bringing online coaching solutions helping aspiring candidates get familiar with various IBPS exams be it the PO exam or SO exam.

Another brilliant endeavour of speading education in the digital world is Route2Jobs which helps you prepare for various entrance exams including the bank P.O. exam helping you crack exams in the first attempt.

Get ahead in the race thanks to Talent Sprint which conducts online PO coaching with renowned trainers to help you ace the big test.

Plutus Academy

Vidya Guru

CAAS Institute

T.I.M.E.

Career and Competition

Achiever's Academy

Ideal Classes

Seven S Academy

Mahendras Institute

Career Launcher

Focus Competition Zone

National School of Banking

Mahindras Institute

T.I.M.E.

Navneet Institute

Shree Swaminarayan Competitive Classes

Liberty Career Academy

Navigator Solutions

IBT Institute

Pathfinder Education Services Pvt. Ltd.

IMS Learning Resources

CAAS Institute

Erudite

Talent Sprint Educational Services

Career Launcher

Jaro Education Coaching

Race Institute

SAI Banking Academy of Competitive Exams

B Fit Banking Finance & Insurance Training

Advanced Learning Institute

Visu Academy

Vel Career Academy

The English/Hindi section is surely one of the easier sections to score which is why you should use it to the best of your advantage to accumulate marks. This section works in the favour of those who have a command over the English Language and have their basics clear. For those who wish to score well in this segment, this is what you should pay attention to:

Grammar Preparation Tip:

The key to polishing grammar is regular practice. Take mock tests and focus on synonyms, rearranging sentences, sentence correction etc. as the major questions revolve around these topics.

Comprehension Preparation Tip:

The key to scoring in the comprehension section is to read passages slowly and grasping the message behind it. Read it two times at least and then skim read it which will make it easier to find answers in the passage. Mark what feels important and correctly read the questions to understand what is asked. Keep practicing mock papers.

Vocabulary Preparation Tip:

In order to improve vocabulary, start developing a regular reading habit be it novels, newspapers, magazines or articles on the internet. This will not only help build word power but also help you gain knowledge for the general knowledge section.

Spotting Errors Preparation Tip:

To be able to better spot errors in sentences, work on nouns, tenses and verb agreement to polish basic grammar. Also, strengthen your reading habits as this makes it easier to spot incorrect sentences.

Topics to Focus on:

Comprehension passage

Prepositions

Phrases and Idioms

One Word Substitution

Articles

Antonyms and Synonyms

Fill in the Blanks

Sentence Completion.

The key approach to quantitative aptitude is that you need to acquire accuracy with proper time management. Attempt this segment after the English section if Quant is your strong suit and if you are weak with math, attempt it in the end to not consume too much time with calculations.

Divide the Quant section into two segments:

Easy Scoring Segment

This segment requires less time as calculations are easy and the level of accuracy is high. Questions for this segment are generally framed from:

Simplification

Data Interpretation

Arithmetic problems involving questions on Simple and Compound Interest, Ration and Proportions, Percentage, Profit and Loss and averages.

These make up 15-17 questions in the exam paper.

Difficult and Time Consuming Segment

This segment has questions which require time to calculate and are harder to crack. The topics on which the questions are framed are:

Time Speed and Distance

Time and Work

Number Series

Probability

Quadratic Equations

These questions surely require more time devotion and should be kept for the end so as to not use up too much time.

For those who want just the cut off marks for this section, focus on the easier segment and attempt a few from the difficult segment so as to get a desired result.

The Reasoning Segment is yet another scoring segment if practiced well and can help boost your score if you have to make up for the quant segment. If you are good with Reasoning, attempt it after the English segment to save most time for Quant.

If not, then attempt this segment at the end to give yourself time to attempt this segment carefully as chances of making mistakes are high.

Easy Questions

In order to set a pace and finish more questions in less time, attempt this portion first. Around 10-12 questions comprise this segment and come from the following topics:

Odd Pair

Series and Analogy

Direction Sense

Number and Ranking

Time Sequence

Medium Level of Difficulty

This section has about 15-17 questions which require good practice to attempt in the first go without consuming too much time. The topics that comprise this segment are:

Coding and Decoding

Data Sufficiency

Blood Relations

Syllogisms

Inequalities

Try attempting questions from these two categories to get a sectional cut off in this segment.

Complex and Time Consuming Questions

This segment has about 10-15 questions and should be kept for last as it all boils down to how much time you have. If you are not sure on this category, it is better to not waste too much time on it. The topics that cover this segment are:

Floor Puzzle

Seating Arrangements

Input and Output Machine

Complex Puzzle

By aptly figuring out your strong and weak segments, you can better allocate time and prioritise solving the reasoning segment.

This segment appears in the Mains and holds quite some weightage and can be quite scoring too. However, you cannot prepare for this segment overnight and must put yourself in the habit to read the newspaper every day along with business and political magazines to be up to date with day to day current affairs.

The topics on which you should focus are:

Indian Economy

Current Affairs in the last year

Current happenings in the finance and banking sector

RBI Regulations

Monetary and Fiscal Policies

Budget

Banking Jargons

Sports

Recent Honours and Awards

A thorough read of the newspaper and a special finance paper every day should help you polish up the GK Segment.

With good practice, this too can become a scoring segment as your basic Computer knowledge and skill is tested and the questions are hardly time consuming.

The level of questions varies from easy to moderate and you can polish up your knowledge by getting text books to increase your base knowledge on this subject.

The questions are easily attemptable and only a small fraction of questions are tricky.

You can easily correctly attempt about 20 questions from this segment.

The topics of focus should be:

LAN and WAN Network Basics

Computer Peripherals

MS Word and MS Excel- Shortcut and Basics

Input and Output Device

Internet

While it is important to attempt a reasonable number of questions in the paper to get a good score, one must also know when to not take risks to avoid high negative marking. Read these tips to reduce your chances of getting negative marking in the exam:

Read the Question

Many a time in a hurry, test takers read questions quickly leading them to make silly mistakes which could have easily been avoided. Read the question and understand what it is trying to ask before hurriedly marking its answer.

Mock Test Practice

It is essential to take a good number of mock tests before the main exam as this will help strategise areas of strengths and weaknesses. This will allow you to know how much guess work you might be doing and strike an ideal balance.

Calculated Risk

While it is important to practice and be thorough with the syllabus, it is also impossible to know the answer to every aspect of the syllabus. When in doubt, make a calculated risk where you have a high chance of getting the option right. Where you are completely blank, let the question be rather than making guess works where it is not needed.

Attempt what you are Comfortable with

Attempt the section where you know you can score most securing a good percentage of marks. Then move on to the trickier segments which might take up some time and are difficult in order to accordingly calculate how many more guess works you can make in the rest of the paper. If you get a large portion of easier questions right, you could leave the trickier questions to completely avoid negative marking.

Time Management is Key

It is important to time yourself when taking mock tests to know how much time each segment consumes. If you do not have good time management, you will most likely rush through the questions in the end leading you to make mistakes and trying to guess answers. With the right time management, this can be avoided.

Making mistakes helps

Learn from your mistakes. There are some topics with which you must have struggled when preparing for the exam and you already know your chances of getting the right answer from such topics is low. Avoid these questions in the exam too if you have always found a certain topic difficult.

Learn from your Mistakes

The mock tests are a good way to know what mistakes you might be making when you try to go in for guesses. If your guess work is poor in the Quant Section, avoid guessing on the day of the exam too. Keep in mind the mistakes you make while practicing papers to better strategise your test taking approach on the final day.

There is no fixed number of seats or vacancies that are offered. It entirely depends on the participating bank and their recruitment proces every year.

The Common Written Exam (CWE) is conducted on an online platform.

Upon successful registration, the page generates a registration number along with a password. Note this down and keep it carefully. This will come in useful while downloading the Call Letter.

If you're still studying in your final year, you cannot apply as you need to be a graduage.

However, if your result is declared before the IBPS application date closes, you can apply for the exam.

All the segments in the exam except the English section are conducted both in Hindi and English.

The top participating banks are:

Allahabad Bank

Indian Bank

Canara Bank

UCO Bank

Bank of Baroda

Corporation Bank

Andhra Bank

Bank of India

Punjab National Bank

Dena Bank

Bank of Maharashtra

Vijaya Bank

IDBI Bank

Any other bank or financial institution

No, there is no cut off score. The selection process depends on the performance of the students every year which is calculated based on the Common Written Test and Interview.

If you're applying online, you can make the payment via MasterCard and Visa or Internet Banking as well.

Upon successful payment, a Transaction Reference Number is generated which is the acknowledgement of your payment.

For online and NEFT payments, a service fee will be imposed on the candidates.

If there is an internet issue, you can close the browser and try logging in again after a while. However if you have already submitted your payment form and are facing an issue, then send an email to registration_helpdesk@ibsporg.org.