Bank PO and bank clerk exams are conducted by IBPS every year and thousands of aspirants go through the exam to get their dream job in banking institution. As an aspirant it becomes hard for one to get the proper guideline to crack the exam and get into the banking institution.
- Bank PO
The designation of Probationary officer in any bank is as an Assistant Manager, the only difference is that they work on probationary period for 2-3 years and handles the work of managing cash, payments, reports etc. They start serving in bank as a trainee officer in the Junior Management Grade Service of bank.
- Bank Clerk
The role of a bank clerk is to conduct general office tasks. The responsibilities of clerk includes maintaining the records filing, staffing service counters, screening specialists etc.
- Bank PO and Bank Clerk
- Exam pattern
- Exam syllabus
Exam pattern
Bank PO and Bank clerk both the exams are conducted by IBPS. The designation of PO is higher than the clerk simply means the higher post so more responsibilities and exam will be of higher level than clerk grade.
Prelims exam Mains exam +Descriptive exam Interview
Prelims Exam Mains Exam
| Bank PO | Bank Clerk |
| Prelims exam | Prelims exam |
| Mains exam + Descriptive exam | Mains exam |
| Interview | No Interview |
| Provisional Allotment | Provisional allotment |
- Prelims exam syllabus (Bank PO/ Bank Clerk)
Prelims exam syllabus for Bank PO and Bank clerk remains the same, in terms of difficulty level Bank PO prelims exam standard is a little bit higher than Bank clerk exam.
| English language (30 marks) | Quantitative aptitude (35 marks) | Reasoning (35 marks) |
| Reading Comprehension | Simplification | Logical Reasoning |
| Cloze Test | Approximation | Alphanumeric Series |
| Para Jumbles | Average | Blood Relation |
| Miscellaneous | Percentage | Directions |
| Fill in the blanks | Ration and Proportion | Ranking |
| Multiple Meaning / Error Spotting | Profit and Loss | Alphabet Test |
| Paragraph Completion | Mixtures and Allegation | Coded Inequalities |
| Simple and Compound Interest | Data Sufficiency | |
| Work and Time | Seating Arrangement | |
| Time and Distance | Puzzles | |
| Number system | Coding Decoding | |
| Sequence and Series | Input output | |
| Mensuration (Cylinder, Cone, Sphere) | Syllogism
| |
| Data Interpretation | Tabulation | |
| Permutation and Combination | Statement and Argument | |
| Probability | Analogy | |
| Quadratic Equation |
Key points for Prelims Exam
- Preliminary exam is the first step to enter into the banking institution. It is the qualifying exam.
- Only those who clear the prelims exam are eligible to appear in the mains exam.
- Marks secured by a candidate are not considered in the final result.
- Every section in the prelims exam (Quant+ Reasoning+ English) holds some sectional cutoff that one has to clear along with the overall cutoff to qualify for IBPS mains exam.
- Prelims exam pattern
| Sr. No | Name of the section | No of questions | Max marks | Time Duration |
| 1 | English Language | 30 | 30 | 20 min |
| 2 | Numerical Ability | 35 | 35 | 20 min |
| 3 | Reasoning Ability | 35 | 35 | 20 min |
| Total | 100 | 100 | 60 min (1 hour) |
English language, Reasoning ability and Numerical ability all these sections have their 30, 35 and 35 questions and marks respectively.
For a candidate to clear the prelims exam he/she have to clear the overall cutoff (cutoff means marks and that marks vary according to the difficulty level and attempts of candidates appearing for the examination). Along with the overall cutoff candidate has to clear the sectional cutoff (sectional cutoff means every section will posses some marks according to the attempts of all the aspirants appearing for the exam).
Prelims exam
| Sectional cutoff |
| Overall cutoff |
| Mains Exam |
- Mains Exam Syllabus
| Data Interpretation & Analysis (60 marks) | General Awareness (40 marks) | Reasoning & Computer Aptitude (60 marks) | English language (40 marks) | |
| Simplification | Financial Awareness | Verbal Reasoning | Memory | Vocabulary |
| Approximation | Current Affairs | Syllogism | Internet | Grammar |
| Average | General Knowledge | Seating Arrangement | Keyboard Shortcuts | Reading Comprehension |
| Percentage | Government schemes on capital and money market | Puzzles | Microsoft Office | Verbal Ability |
| Ratio & Proportion | Input output | Computer Abbreviations | ||
| Data Interpretation | Blood Relation | Computer Hardware | ||
| Quadratic Equation | Directions | Networking | ||
| Simple & Compound Interest | Order and Ranking | Computer Software | ||
| Ages | Data Sufficiency | Computer Fundamentals/Technologies | ||
| Mensuration and Geometry | Coding & Decoding | |||
| Profit and Loss | Coding Inequalities | |||
| Number Series | ||||
| Speed, Distance & Time | ||||
| Number System | ||||
| Data Sufficiency | ||||
| Linear Equation | ||||
| Probability | ||||
| Permutation and Combination | ||||
| Mixtures & Allegations | ||||
- Mains exam Pattern
IBPS PO exam also have Descriptive exam where aspirants have to write a letter and an essay. The time allotted for this descriptive exam will be 30 minutes and of 25 marks.
| Sr No. | Test Name | Questions | Marks | Time Duration |
| 1 | Reasoning & Computer Aptitude | 45 | 60 | 60 min |
| 2 | General/Economy/Banking Awareness | 40 | 40 | 35 min |
| 3 | English Language | 35 | 40 | 40 min |
| 4 | Data Analysis & Interpretation | 35 | 60 | 45 min |
| Total | 155 | 200 | 3 hours | |
| 5 | English Language(letter and essay writing) | 2 | 25 | 30 min |
IBPS clerk
| Sr No. | Test Name | Questions | Marks | Time Duration |
| 1 | Reasoning & Computer Aptitude | 45 | 60 | 45 min |
| 2 | General/Financial Awareness | 50 | 50 | 45 min |
| 3 | English Language | 35 | 40 | 35 min |
| 4 | Quantitative Aptitude | 50 | 50 | 45 min |
| Total | 190 | 200 | 160 minutes |
Key points
- A candidate has to clear sectional cutoff and overall cutoff to get shortlisted in the interview round.
- Marks obtained in the mains exam carry the maximum weightage in final selection for Bank PO.
NOTE :- There will be penalty for each wrong answer that a candidate marks in both prelims and mains exam. There will be deduction of 0.25 marks i.e., 1/4th of marks allotted for a question. If a question has no answer marked by a candidate means no answer for a question then no marks will be deducted for that question.
Prelims and mains exam both are conducted in online mode only.
- Personal Interview
The provision of personal interview can only be seen in Bank PO exam. Candidates who got shortlisted in the mains exam will be called for the Personal Interview conducted by the participating institutions and organizations.
A total of 100 marks allotted for interview. Minimum marks required to qualify interview is
General category – 40
SC/ST/PWD/OBC candidates – 35
The weightage of online mains exam and interview will be 80:20 respectively.
The final cut off will be released on the basis of vacancies available as well as maximum marks obtained by a candidate.
- Provisional Allotment
In the final result of the candidate name of the allotted bank will be mentioned, only if the candidate has secured more than or equal to the minimum final cutoff marks. At first candidates who have scored high cutoff marks than the other candidates. The participating banks are allotted to the candidate as per the availability of the seats in the bank and the preference marked by the candidate. Join Best Banking Coaching in Chandigarh at IBS Coaching Institute.
