Every year lacs of candidates appear for Bank PO exam. Ever
since its launch in 2011, IBPS PO has become synonymous with Bank PO. This exam
is a gateway to a Bank PO career in any of the 20 public sector banks. As the
name suggests, the exam is conducted by IBPS (Institute of Banking Personnel
Selection).
Candidates who appear and get short-listed in the exam, are
subsequently called for a Common Interview, which is conducted by the
participating banks and coordinated by IBPS. IBPS PO (Exam Pattern) IBPS Bank
PO is an online exam and its duration is 2 hours.
The structure of this exam is as follows:
S.No
|
Section
|
Maximum Marks
|
1
|
Reasoning
|
50
|
2
|
Quantitative Aptitude
|
50
|
3
|
English Language
|
40
|
4
|
General Awareness (Banking Industry)
|
40
|
5
|
Computer Knowledge
|
20
|
TOTAL
|
200
|
|
The sections mentioned above except the English Language
section are available bilingually, i.e. English and Hindi to the candidates.
Important Points Candidates are required to obtain a minimum
score in each section and also a minimum total score to be short-listed.
- There is a penalty for wrong answers marked in the Objective Tests. For each question for which a wrong answer has been given by the candidate one fourth of the marks assigned to that question will be deducted as penalty.
IBPS PO (Section-wise Strategy) Reasoning – The reasoning
section tests the ability of the candidate to apply logic. It is basically the
test of a candidate’s general mental ability.
- This section can be further divided into Analytical Reasoning, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning.
These questions can be mastered by regular practice and are
generally considered to be time consuming by candidates.
English Language – In
order to score well on this section good reading skills are a must. Apart from
good reading skills, the ability to apply grammatical concepts is critical.
There are questions in this section where sentence errors have to be spotted.
Besides these, a candidate must also have good vocabulary and the ability to
use words to fill in the blanks. To score high on this
section, regular reading is a must. Quite often candidates commit the mistake
of equating their communication skills with an ability to do well in the
language.
This is where it is imperative to understand that the
written exam tests the candidates on verbal ability and usage skills, not on
communication skills.
Quantitative Aptitude – This section has questions on numeracy
and mathematical concepts of basic level. Sharp problem solving skills are
required to crack this section. In addition to it, the candidate must have the
knowledge of short cuts and time saving tricks. Without knowing these, the
requisite speed to attempt a high number of questions on this section can never
be achieved.
Even if the candidate is able to solve the questions in this
section using a step-based descriptive method learnt at school, then too it
does not do any good to his chances of clearing the exam. Precious time is lost
when one uses this method and the greater the number of steps in the solution,
the higher is the chance of getting the question wrong. To score well on any
IBPS Exam, it may be PO or clerk.
Doing complex calculations in a very short span time is
required. In this regard, memorizing formulae and the values of fractions,
squares, cubes, square-roots and cube roots can highly boost the speed of the
candidate.
General Awareness – As in any bank exam, IBPS PO puts special
emphasis on the issues relating to the banking industry. Indian banking system
and its changing dynamics frequently become the source of a lot of questions.
However, current affairs are the area which presents the maximum number of
questions in this section.
Events pertaining to the last six months are crucial and the
candidate must be thorough with them.
Any new appointments (who is who), sports, awards, budget,
book releases, international indices, India’s international relations,
Government’s welfare schemes etc.. are some of the favourite areas of exam
setters.
A candidate’s knowledge of financial and economic
abbreviations and jargon also gets repeatedly tested by this exam.
Computer
Knowledge – The rationale behind this section being a part of IBPS PO is that
the human resource becoming a part of public sector banks should be technology
savvy. A candidate’s fundamentals of information technology are tested here.
The level of questioning in this section is basic. The format of the
questioning is such that it relates to the application of information
technology in our daily functioning.
Questions related to MS Office package,
internet, computer hardware, software and essential ITs are a regular feature of
the exam. Overall, it does not present much of a problem provided that the
candidate has a working knowledge of the IT domain and keeps himself well
versed with the latest developments taking place in the same. IBPS PO
(Preparation Levels) Preparation for a Bank PO exam requires focused and well
guided preparation. The direction in which a candidate takes his preparation
often determines his success or failure in IBPS PO.
Ten Golden Rules
1. Concept clarity is a must. Focus on concept building, not
on cramming.
2. Start well in advance. Give yourself a time of about 4-5
months for preparation.
3. Set a study schedule and follow it religiously.
Preparation without consistency never results in success.
4. Building capabilities across all areas is required as
each section has an individual cut-off.
5. Once the individual cut-offs have been cleared the focus
should be on maximizing the aggregate score.
6. Devote appropriate time to each of the three levels of
preparation mentioned. Don’t remain stuck at the concept building level.
7. Strengthen your strengths. The areas of strength should
be relied upon to drive up the aggregate score.
8. Weaken your weaknesses. The weak areas must be dealt with
in such a way to ensure a hygiene level of performance.
9. Strike a balance between speed and accuracy; one
shouldn't be sacrificed to achieve the other.
10. Taking a test is important, but more so is the analysis
of the test and learning from the mistakes.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for your comment