Start Here: Banking Exams (IBPS and SBI, PO and Clerk)

1. IBPS and SBI Exams: Posts, Stages and Pattern

The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) recruits for many public sector banks. State Bank of India (SBI) runs its own recruitment. Both hire Probationary Officers (PO) and Clerks (Junior Associates in SBI). All objective tests are online and every section has its own time limit. This lesson follows the recent (2025) notifications. Check the official notification for your cycle on ibps.in or the careers page of SBI before you apply.

Posts and eligibility (broad picture)

• PO is an officer post: you manage customers, loans and branch work and can grow into senior management.
• Clerk (Customer Service Associate in IBPS, Junior Associate in SBI) handles counter work, deposits and customer service.
• For both PO and Clerk you need a bachelor's degree in any subject. Final-year students can sometimes apply with conditions given in the notice.
• Age limits are roughly 20 to around 28-30 years depending on the post, with relaxation for reserved categories.
• Clerk posts are filled state-wise. You apply for one state and must know its official/local language.

PO stages: prelims, mains and interview

• Prelims (qualifying): about 100 questions in 1 hour, with 20 minutes for each section: English, Quantitative Aptitude and Reasoning.
• Mains objective test: Reasoning (with Computer Aptitude), English, Data Analysis and Interpretation, and General/Economy/Banking Awareness, each with its own time.
• Mains descriptive test: letter writing and essay writing in English, typed on the computer.
• IBPS PO then has an interview; SBI PO has a Phase III with psychometric assessment, group exercise and interview.
• Final merit combines mains and the interview/Phase III marks. Prelims marks are not counted in the final merit.

Clerk stages: prelims, mains and language test

• Prelims (qualifying): 100 questions in 1 hour, three sections of 20 minutes each: English, Numerical Ability and Reasoning.
• Mains: General/Financial Awareness, General English, Reasoning Ability and Computer Aptitude, and Quantitative Aptitude, each with its own time limit.
• There is no interview for clerks. Selection is based on mains marks.
• A local language proficiency test (LPT) checks your knowledge of the state's language. In SBI, you are exempt if your Class 10 or 12 marksheet shows you studied that language; otherwise you must pass the test.

Marking and normalisation

• One-quarter (0.25) of the marks of a question is cut for each wrong answer in objective tests.
• Unanswered questions get zero.
• Sectional time: when a section's time ends, the system moves you to the next section. You cannot go back.
• Some exams also have sectional cut-offs, so you must score a minimum in each section, not just in total.
• Scores are normalised across shifts.

💡 Because each section has its own clock, practise sectional mock tests with a strict 20-minute timer. Sectional cut-offs fail many candidates who score well overall.

📝 5-question quiz on this lesson: enrol free to take it and track your score.

2. Banking Exam Preparation Plan, Exam Technique and How This Course Helps

Banking exams are speed tests. Each section has a separate clock, the puzzles are long, and the mains awareness paper asks about banking, the economy and recent news. This lesson gives a plan, exam-day technique and a map from the bank syllabus to the modules of this course.

A simple preparation plan

• Build basics first: arithmetic, simplification, number series and data interpretation for Quant; puzzles and seating arrangement for Reasoning.
• Read an English newspaper editorial daily. It improves reading comprehension and builds banking and economy awareness together.
• Make monthly notes of banking and economic news: RBI policy, government schemes, appointments and important reports.
• Take sectional tests daily and a full mock test at least twice a week once prelims are near.
• PO aspirants: write one letter and one essay each week and get them checked.

Exam technique with sectional timing

• In Reasoning, first do the short questions (inequality, syllogism, coding), then attempt the puzzles you can solve.
• In Quant, simplification and approximation are fast marks. Do them first, then data interpretation.
• In English, do vocabulary and error questions first, then reading comprehension.
• Do not leave any section too weak because of sectional cut-offs.
• Avoid blind guessing because of 0.25 negative marking.

How this course maps to the banking syllabus

• Quantitative Aptitude / Data Analysis: the Quantitative Aptitude module, especially arithmetic and data interpretation.
• Reasoning Ability: the Reasoning module (puzzles, seating, syllogism, inequality, coding-decoding).
• English Language: the General English module.
• General/Economy/Banking Awareness: the economy module and current affairs modules, plus static GK.
• Computer Aptitude: the Computer Knowledge module.

💡 Keep your awareness notes for the last 6 months before the mains exam. Most current affairs questions come from this period.

📝 5-question quiz on this lesson: enrol free to take it and track your score.