1. What is Bank PO/IBPS PO?

The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) is a recruitment body that was started with an aim to encourage the recruitment and placement of young graduates in public sector banks in India. It also provides standardized systems for assessment and result processing services to organizations.

IBPS PO/MT exam takes place for the recruitment of Probationary Officers and Management Trainees’ in the participating banks, which are national public sector banks. IBPS SO exam takes place for the recruitment of Specialist Officers, which are Scale-I officers in the national public sector banks.

2. Why Bank PO/IBPS PO?

GREAT SCOPE FOR INDIVIDUAL GROWTH:

If you love to see yourself growing, then Bank Job will provide you immense opportunities for self-growth.

GREAT EXPOSURE:

You will get exposure. Frankly speaking a hell lot of it. The best thing is that this experience will enhance your skills and confidence in the long run.

CONTRIBUTING TO ECONOMIC GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY:

Banking has been and will always be the backbone of the Indian economy.

VARIETY IN WORK:

If you get bored easily doing the same kind of work, then let us tell you that the banking sector is one of the most diverse sectors to work in. You will start your work as a PO where you will learn a hell lot of new things. Even in the future you will be working in different areas like Finance, Foreign Exchange, Credit etc.

NEW CHALLENGES EVERY DAY:

Want some adventure in your life, and then Bank will always keep you on your toes. Ambitious employees love it as it helps to develop their personality.

EXCELLENT PERKS AND SALARY:

The salaries of the bank jobs have become very good in recent years. The initial salary is around 40K. With every promotion the salary will increase. That’s not all you get various allowances and perks like leased house, travel allowance, medical benefit, Loan at concessional rates and much more.

WORK LIFE BALANCE:

Contrary to the popular belief, a BANK MANAGER has a good work life balance with ample time for both work and family. On several occasions, civil servants request the government for peaceful assignments so as to be able to spend quality time with family or to devote some time to their children.

SEEING NEW PLACES:

You will be getting frequent transfers in different parts of the country. You will get a chance to see new places and enjoy different cultures.

JOB SECURITY:

If you are in a private sector job, you can be removed any time. You are always at the mercy of the company and its top bosses. But in Public Sector Banks, life is risk free.

JOB SATISFACTION: 

We are keeping it in last, but folks this is the most important criteria in selecting a job these days. So don’t think.

3. How to prepare?

Revise from previous years’ question papers 

Candidates should focus on the revision of critical topics. They should put maximum effort into topics with maximum weightage in the SBI PO prelims exam.

Revise with short tutorials

A number of video tutorials are available online for bank exam preparation. Short video tutorials are very helpful for revision.

Build a section-wise preparation tips

There is a fixed time to attempt each section. In order to attempt the maximum number of questions, candidates must have a clear strategy to attempt each section. If candidates want to attempt the Reasoning Ability section then they must pre-decide in their mind what types of questions to solve first in this section. For eg: one can devote the first five minutes to puzzle-based questions, the next 2 minutes to direction based questions and so on.

Analyze mock tests

Candidates should take the sectional and full-length mock tests during preparation. While in the last phase of preparation, candidates should not attempt too many mock tests. Also, candidates must analyse their performance after every mock test. They should identify the weak areas and work upon improving those areas.

Be clear with concepts

Candidates must be clear with the concepts. The standard of SBI PO syllabus is of graduation level. Candidates can clear their basic concept of Quantitative Aptitude and rules of grammar from their high school books.

Devise section-wise preparation strategy

Candidates need to prepare a strategy for each section of the exam. The study plan should be such that candidates divide equal time to each section of exam.

Learn shortcuts

Candidates learn shortcuts of solving questions. Since there are sectional timings, learning shortcuts will help candidates to attempt maximum questions in less possible time.

Increase practice

Candidates can practice with more and more sectional tests, and take one mock test every day. Practice on the computer for optimum results.

Guesswork should be limited

In the SBI PO exam, there is negative marking for incorrect responses. Therefore, candidates are advised not to do guesswork.

Avoid spending too much time in any question

While attempting the exam, do not get stuck in any question. If candidates are unable to understand the question, then leave that. Be careful, while attempting questions based on puzzles.

4. Important materials:

Syllabus:

a. E-books:

SBI PO Books for Quantitative Aptitude

Candidates might find this section to be time-consuming. To do well in this section, candidates must have speed and accuracy. Besides, they should practice questions from the previous years’ question papers. Questions are usually asked from Number Series, Approximation, Square root and cube root, Ratio and Proportion, Average, Partnership, Percentage, Time and Distance, Simple Interest and Compound Interest, Data Interpretation, Pie Charts, Bar Graphs, Line Graphs, Permutation and Combination etc. Candidates can refer to the following books for SBI PO.

SBI PO Books for Reasoning and Computer Aptitude

Candidates need to understand the basic concepts of each topic. They should practice different types of questions from sample papers and previous years’ questions papers. They need to attempt mock tests. Candidates must learn from the shortcut tips and tricks to solve questions. Topics that candidates must practice are Coding & Decoding, Inequalities, Syllogisms, Puzzles, Blood Relations, Direction Sense Problems, Data Sufficiency Problems, Series Problems, Input and Output, Statement-Assumption, Order and Ranking, etc. Candidates can refer to the following books.

• A Modern Approach to Verbal Reasoning by RS Agarwal.
• Analytical Reasoning by MK Pandey
• A New Approach to Reasoning Verbal and Non-Verbal by BS Sijwali, Indu Sijwali

SBI PO Books for English Language

Candidates must devote equal time to the English Language section as they give to the Quantitative and Reasoning section. To score well, candidates must learn the basic rule of grammar and read newspapers and magazines. Questions that are asked in the exam are Vocabulary, Synonyms, Antonyms, Error Detection, Grammar, Idioms and Phrases, Para Jumbles, Cloze Test, Fill in the Blanks, Reading Comprehension. The following books can be referred for this section.

SBI PO Books for General/Economy/Banking Awareness

In this section, questions are usually asked from the events that happened six months prior to the exam. Candidates need to keep themselves updated by reading the newspapers. Questions are asked from Current Affairs, Awards & Honours, Sports, Finance, Agriculture, Indian Economy, International Economy, UNO, Marketing, Indian Constitution, History of Banking, Currencies, Books & Authors, RBI, Fiscal Policies etc. Refer the following books for this section.

• Banking Awareness Handbook of Banking Information by NS Toor
• Manorama Year Book
• Lucent General Knowledge

b. Videos:

Bank PO exam preparation:

https://youtu.be/i2K6XAkCKro

How to prepare for Bank PO:

https://youtu.be/GnNwx2Gy2j8

Important tips and tricks for Bank PO:

https://youtu.be/GnNwx2Gy2j8

Bank PO preparation strategy:

https://youtu.be/1wZyhI_nZjY

Things you must know about Bank PO:

https://youtu.be/BM8HlWKmUfc

Maths for Bank PO:

https://youtu.be/lAQuxcaeCOw

5. Previous year question paper with answers:

IBPS PO 2019 question paper:

https://gradeup.co/liveData/f/2020/5/english_part_35_10.pdf

IBPS PO Prelims 2018 question paper:

https://gradeup.co/liveData/f/2019/6/ibps-po-2018-13th-oct-_english-part-67.pdf

IBPS PO Mains 2018 question paper:

https://gradeup.co/liveData/f/2019/8/english_part_1_37.pdf

IBPS PO Prelims 2017 question paper:

https://gradeup.co/liveData/f/2018/8/ibps-po-prelims-question-paper-2017.pdf-69.pdf

IBPS PO Mains 2017 question paper:

https://gradeup.co/liveData/f/2018/8/ibps-po-mains-question-paper-2017.pdf-63.pdf

IBPS PO 2015 question paper:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzldnLHvRAq_SGs0R3psMmViMkk/view

IBPS PO 2015 Prelims question paper:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0By05k5fbtzEbTk9HZGE5clNuVU0/view

IBPS PO 2015 Practice question paper:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7PakaIrSzo1RUMyTmJ1c2NmOFE/view

IBPS PO Sample paper:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0By05k5fbtzEba3BqRVNlamdKODQ/view

6. Important tips:

• Use General Knowledge as a Weapon:

Keeping the focus on topics like Current Affairs and events, banking awareness, political news, economic news and sports on a daily basis for at least the last 3 months. This will improve your command over this section and help you in scoring high marks in this section of the Bank PO exam.

• Time Management:

Time management either during preparation or in the exam hall is very important as the candidates will know how much time is required to solve the respective bank exam paper. They would also be able to see which section is taking more time than expected and need to improve on the same accordingly. You can also try a free online quiz to hone time management skills.

• Effective Planning:

While the candidate starts preparing for the Bank PO Examination, they should plan the time and sequence of the subject in such a manner that important subjects of the bank PO syllabus like Quantitative Aptitude and Reasoning Ability are covered in the start as preparing for them require more time than other subjects.

• Stay Up-to-date:

Once the candidate decides to appear in the Bank PO exam, he/she should start concentrating on everyday general knowledge topics as it gets inconvenient to find the appropriate general knowledge content later.

• Practicing & Revision:

The candidates should keep their focus on regular practicing and revision as the preparation time for Bank PO exam stretches up to 3 months. It has been observed that candidates who are not revising or practicing during this phase suffer a lot of difficulties as the bank exam dates draw closer.

• Complete the syllabus topic-wise:

This is the important thing because if you are studying in such a way that you don’t even know from which topic the question is, then this will be a big problem. Remembering the questions is difficult but if you study topic-wise then it will be easy to complete the topics and at the time of examination you can easily solve the questions.

• Learn through online resources:

Candidates who are willing to prepare for bank exams at home, the best way to learn is by referring to various competitive bank exam books and make the best use of the available online resources.

To get more information about the exam, check the given link:

https://elanacademy.net/courses/bank-po-ibps-po-2/