Tips and Preparation strategy to clear IBPS Clerk Prelims

Most of the students are confused over how to prepare for IBPS Clerk Exam. The blog is aimed at providing detailed information about the exam, which is extremely vital for a prospective candidate. With the exam just a little more than a month away, it is extremely important for the candidates to be ready for the exam. Before going into the details of the tips and Preparation Strategy to clear the IBPS Clerk Exams it is essential to understand the exam’s Syllabus and Pattern. These two elements of the exam are essential for the candidates to focus their energy on the required resources instead of wasting time on unnecessary pursuits. Understanding any changes in the IBPS Clerk Prelims gives the candidate a direction on the way to approach the Exam. Preparation is not considered complete unless accompanied by adequate practice. Thus important strategy by any candidate likely to appear in the bank clerical exam should thus include Study Time, Revision Time and lastly the relaxation time. Relaxation time is necessary for it helps to imbibe the study material effectively. The current article throws light on the Top 10 tips and strategies that one can adopt in order to clear IBPS Prelims. For doing well in the exam, it is vital that the candidate needs to prepare best for all the sections. The article talks briefly about the Exam pattern followed by discussing the Tips and Strategy of the IBPS Clerk Exam.

Most of the candidates confirm that the ideal approach in how to prepare for IBPS Clerk Exam initiates from knowing the IBPS Clerk Exam Pattern, which is laid by the Banking Personnel section. The aforesaid banking exam is conducted in two stages, the Preliminary and the Mains Exam. Conducted through online mode, the exam consists of multiple-choice questions (MCQ’s).  IBPS Clerk 2019 Preliminary exam will be held on December 7, 8, 14 and 21, 2019. The exam seeks to determine the candidate’s aptitude, Problem Solving Skills, Analytical Skills and Language Proficiency of the candidates. While the Preliminary examination consists of a total of 100 MCQ’s on English Language, Numerical Ability and Reasoning Ability, the Mains consists of 190 MCQs on General/ Financial Awareness, General English, Reasoning Ability and Computer Aptitude, and Quantitative Aptitude. The Mains Examination questions are worth 200 marks and supposed to be attempted in 160 minutes. It is mandatory for the candidates to qualify for the IBPS Prelims Exam before appearing for the Mains Exam. The prospective candidates can select their language of choice between English and Hindi language, except for the English section. Care should be taken in marking the answers as there would be negative marking of 0.25 for each wrong answer of the allotted marks in the exam. Each section of the exam has separate timings and cutoffs.

Prospective candidates who are curious to know about the  IBPS Clerk Exam should also understand the marking scheme. Understand the marking scheme aids the students in understanding the expectations. Thus the students should understand the nature of the asked question and figure out the characteristics of a satisfactory answer and their respective importance. Both Preliminary, as well as the Mains, differ in marking schemes. However, the negative marking of 0.25 of the allotted marks is applicable in both the exams. In the IBPS  mains exam, the questions from General and Financial Awareness, General English and Quantitative Aptitude sections will carry 1 mark and the incorrect answer will lead to the deduction of 0.25 marks. But the questions from Reasoning Ability and Computer Aptitude section will be of 1.20 marks and 0.30 marks will be deducted for each wrong answer in this section. As already mentioned before the candidate have to satisfy the overall and the sectional cutoffs separately in both the Prelims and the Mains Exam. However, the marks for the Mains exams shall only be counted towards determining the candidate’s rank or selection. The IBPS Prelims Exam is scheduled for December in 3 slots with the Result & Cutoff released by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection in the same month.

How to prepare for IBPS Clerk exam is a question that can seem very daunting unless backed by a solid preparation plan. The plan involves understanding not only the above-mentioned factors such as syllabus and pattern but also expects the candidate to have access to great study resources, the value of time management and speed with accuracy. As we list you across the list of some of the useful strategies, we urge the candidate to adjust them as per their own needs and the available time.

Preliminary Exam is merely for Qualification: Although not underrating the significance of the Preliminary exam, but it is merely for qualification. The marks obtained in IBPS Clerk Prelims will in no way affect the candidate’s performance. Therefore one just merely needs to clear the exam. Considering the exam is just a little more than a month away, we strongly advise to focus on three main elements of preparation.

Candidates should ensure to devote a sufficient amount of time in mastering each of the subjects of the examination. Candidates should be aware of the strengths and weaknesses and should devote time accordingly. For instance, the difficult and weak areas consequently require more time. Candidates should be prudent to divide time in a way the syllabus is completed before the examination. Ensure to keep days for the revision as well. In the end, the target should be to attempt all the questions asked in the exam. question paper to ensure you do not miss any questions. Most of the past candidates have expressed adopting different strategies for each section. Most of them have advised attempting the English section first for It takes a minimum time of 10-15 minutes. The balance time of 45-50 minutes can be divided into Quantitative Aptitude and Reasoning. The candidates can start with what they consider easy and less time-consuming keeping and the larger portion of time spent on answering more difficult and challenging questions. The thing that we would like to reiterate in the case of individual sections that the candidate should start with the questions that he is confident about followed by the questions that the candidate has an understanding but are time-consuming. Overspending the time on questions one doesn’t seem to know the answer of should be avoided. Thus the question on how to prepare for the IBPS Clerk exam should aim at managing your time in a way that you shall be able to read the exam paper a minimum of once in the exam. The exam is a mixed bag of easy and tough questions which take the bulk of time.

Answering questions accurately should always form the basis for the IBPS Prelims as well as the Mains Exam. Its mentioned that earlier each wrong answer is subjected to negative marking. Thus the ideal strategy is to avoid answering the questions wrongly to ensure that the candidate’s overall score is maximized. Here are some of the tips and strategies that one can adopt to elevate the accuracy in the answers of various subjects.

For instance, in the subject of English, the level of difficulty is moderate and one can eliminate the wrong answer relying on logic. There are candidates who are weak in English and are in a dilemma on how to prepare for IBPS Clerk Examination,(English Section). The ideal strategy for them is to initiate preparation for Reading Comprehension followed by other topics Vocabulary, Verbal Ability and Grammar. Considered as the highest-scoring section the best strategy for the candidate to follow is to attempt the questions in attempting the Reading comprehension first followed by Vocabulary, Verbal Ability and Grammar in that order.

For the Quantitative Aptitude, one needs to have an accurate answer as there is no guesswork involved. The ideal strategy to prepare for the IBPS Clerk Quantitative Section, one needs to memorize the formulas. The syllabus of the Quantitative section is that of the matriculation syllabus for the NCERT examination. It is highly recommended that the candidate should practice as many questions on the following topics that have been repeatedly asked in the previous year’s examinations

a) Ratio and Proportion

b) Decimal and Fractions

c) Percentages

d) Averages

e) Simple and Compound Interest

f) Profit and Loss

g) Time, Speed and distance

h) Time and Work

i) Data Interpretation

For logical Reasoning, one should be extremely careful not to go for guesswork and attempt questions randomly. There are selected topics on which the questions are asked on a regular basis. Any prospective candidate who attempts to score high in this section should be proficient in the topics mentioned in the list.

Seating Arrangements

Coding and de-coding

Data Sufficiency

Blood Relation

Venn Diagrams

Speed forms one of the three vital components in the candidate’s IBPS Clerical Exam preparation strategy. Accuracy and Speed should go hand in hand. Thus the candidate should attempt to answer maximum questions right in the given time period. Any of the above two factors cannot be compromised with respect to the other. In case if the student attempts to speed up the answering of the question without paying attention to the methodology, he is most likely to mess up on accuracy. If the candidate takes time in answering questions to ensure accuracy, he is bound to fall short of many questions which could be the deciding factor between success and failure. Whatever the section of the exam is, the one common component is the practice as it helps the candidate to build up the required speed as well as the accuracy. Many students and Faculty have suggestions that can help boost the speed. Here are some of the tips that can help you increase the speed.

In English Reading Comprehension is usually the most time-consuming one and students often are ignorant on how to prepare for IBPS Clerk Exam (Reading Comprehension). The best approach is to look at the questions first instead of reading the whole passage. Thus Sift and Sort approach are extremely helpful in answering the questions. After reading the question, the candidate can look for answers in the passage. Candidates can also mark the lines that best describe the answer. A similar approach can be used for all the questions and consequently, the entire set can be answered in a single time.

For Data interpretation-One should have the skills of speed and mathematical calculation. The data can be in a range of forms such as bar diagrams, Curves, Pie Chart or Histograms. The best strategy is to work on finding the approximate calculations and thus find the closest answer. One should have knowledge of fast calculation tips such as speed or Vedic mathematics and Memorize Tables, squares and cubes.

They are two of the subjects that form a part of the Mains Examination. The section is vital from the perspective of a successful candidate in the prelims but ignorant of the content about these two papers. While the computer aptitude is simple not only for a computer literate candidate but for any graduate too. All that is required is the class X computer book that contains the important abbreviations and terminology used in computers and knowledge about software and hardware basic terminology.

Topics on Banking or Financial Awareness are mostly current in nature and can be prepared by going through topics based on the current happenings related to the Indian banking economy. Most ideal resources are The Hindu and The economic times which help the student have exposure to the most current happenings in the Indian economy. Any news relating to notification from the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) or the Government is highly significant.

Continuously in the highlighted the need for Practice Exams. In case the candidate still has an apprehension on how to prepare for IBPS Clerk Exam, it is highly recommended to join a good Bank exam coaching institute. The institute provides a structured methodology of how to prepare for the IBPS Clerk Exam. Enrolling at a good institute delivers everything From the study material to the online mock tests, that replicate the actual examination. These online mock tests provide one with a tool to evaluate one’s performance and identify which questions took the maximum time and avoid taking them in IBPS Clerk Prelims exam. You can also see your response vs the correct response and detailed solutions in the mock test. Follow this up with a mentorship call with expert to help address the critical lacunae in your preparation.

The team of the IBS institute, in a nutshell, has left no stones unturned to ensure that none of the enrolled students is left with doubt on how to prepare for  IBPS Clerk Examination. There is no doubt on the fact that the preparation for the exam has to be backed by guidance from a knowledgeable mentor, access to the most comprehensive study material on the subject, State of the art method used for teaching, tools to monitor the student’s progress and most importantly the ability to clear the student’s doubts. The IBS institute, considered as one of the best IBPS Bank Clerk institutes in Chandigarh is led by a visionary team of Management from the leading institutes and an experienced faculty who has a vast number of years of experience in teaching for the banking exams. The institute over the years has produced the best results in the city and continues to strive in delivering a higher quality of banking education to the candidates. The highlights of the institute include its comprehensive study material designed strictly keeping in mind the updated syllabus of the IBPS Clerk Exam and doubt clearing sessions to ensure that the students achieve their goals without being concerned over the rigours of the banking exam.