Prepare / Crack IBPS Bank PO Exam 2020 ..
Here I have few Tips for those who want to Clear IBPS Bank PO Exam 2020. I have done in depth analysis for few government exams on how to clear exam with good marks, how to prepare and so on. I am gonna tell what I have learnt about IBPS Bank PO Exam 2020 and I am sure If you follow these Instructions and work hard, you will be able to clear the IBPS Bank PO Exam 2020.
IBPS (Institute of Banking Personnel Selection) is a recruitment company, conducting Bank PO exam since 2011. And the marks you score through IBPS PO exam is valid for 20 Public sector banks ( Except SBI).
The IBPS PO Prelims Exam 2020 is going to take place on 7th,8th,14th,15th October 2019 as per the official exam calendar released by the IBPS. Around 20 lakh students are expected to appear for the IBPS Bank PO Exam this year.
Every year number of candidates applying for the bank jobs are increasing. You can understand the there is a high level of competition.
IBPS Bank PO Exam Pattern 2020 (based on 2019 as there is no official update so far) :
It is a 3 Phase exam : Preliminary Exam, Mains and Interview
Prelims exam is further divided in 3 parts
Section | Number of Que | Maximum Marks | Duration |
English Language | 30 | 30 | 60 Minutes |
Quantitative Aptitude | 35 | 35 | |
Reasoning Ability | 35 | 35 | |
Total | 100 | 100 |
** There is a Negative marking of .25 marks on each wrong answer
** You must score Sectional cut-off as well as Overall cutoff marks to clear the phase – I exam.
IBPS Bank PO Mains Exam Pattern [New Pattern] – This year difficulty level of Mains Exam has increased. So knowing the pattern and strategy to prepare for the IBPS PO exam is very important. Mains exam is divided into 2 Parts (i) IBPS PO Mains Objective type (200 Marks) (ii) IBPS PO Discriptive paper (50 Marks). Both of them will be an online test.
Section | Question | Marks | Duration |
Reasoning & Computer | 45 | 60 | 60 Minutes |
English | 35 | 40 | 40 Minutes |
Data Analysis & interpretation | 35 | 60 | 45 Minutes |
General Awareness with special reference to Banking Sector | 40 | 40 | 35 Minutes |
Total | 155 | 200 | 3 Hours |
Descriptive (English Language) ( Letter & Essay Writing) | 2 | 50 | 30 Minutes |
Phase III (Interview) : Candidates who clear the IBPS Bank PO Mains exam will be called for Interview. It will be of 100 Marks. General candidates need to score 40 Marks while SC/ST/OBC/PWD candidates need to score 35 marks out of 100. Combined Marks of Mains exam & Interview will arrive at final result.
Now you know what subjects you need to cover to crack this exam. Now let’s look at the syllabus
IBPS Bank PO Exam Syllabus – Here’s the in depth IBPS PO Syllabus for each section
For Quant Section (Prelims & Mains): Simplification, Percentage, Ration & Proportion, Mixtures & Allegation, Profit & loss, Average, Number Series, Speed-Time & Distance, Time & Work, Number System, Data Sufficiency, Mensuration, Data Interpretation, Simple Interest & Compound Interest, Problems on Ages, Quadratic Equation, Linear Equation, Permutation & Combination, Probability
For Reasoning Ability Section (Prelims & Mains) : Syllogism, Coded Inequality, Mathematical Inequality, Order & Ranking, Seating Arrangement (Circular, Rectangular, North South facing etc), Coding & Decoding, Direction & Distance, Blood Relation, Arrangement & Pattern, Double line up, Scheduling, Analogy, Data sufficiency, Classification, Series, Computer aptitude
For English Section (Prelims & Mains) : Reading Comprehension, Cloze test, Grammer (Fill in the blanks, Finding Error, Phrase Replacement), Para jumbles, Vocabulary ( Fill in the blanks, Error Spotting)
For General Awareness (Mains) : Banking & Financial Awareness, Current Affairs, Static General Knowledge
For Descriptive paper (Mains) : It will contains 2 Questions (1 Essay, 1 Letter). They may tell you write an essay on any topic. There is a probability of a topic related to bank. So read newspaper editorial section to prepare discriptive paper.
(Find the source below to prepare all these Subjects & Topics)
There is a change in pattern in Cloze test, Error spotting, Fill in the blanks. You have to learn both the patterns.
So these were the topics you need to cover in IBPS PO Syllabus.
Let’s have a look at some facts and figures from previous year’s IBPS PO Exam
Number of Candidates is just a number that people have discussed over the Internet. IBPS doesn’t reveal information about number of candidates applied for post. Check IBPS PO Exam Cut Off for 2013,2014,2015,2016 & 2019
Year | Candidates (Approx.) | Posts | Overall Cut off | Reasoning Cut Off | Aptitude Cut Off | English Cut Off | Computer Cut Off | Gen. Awareness Cut Off |
2011 | 14 Lakh | 19000 | ||||||
2012 | 19 Lakh | 22415 | Final Marks | |||||
2013 | 17 Lakh | 21680 | Final Marks | 10 /50 | 6 /50 | 6 / 40 | 7 /20 | 8 /40 |
2014 | 15 Lakh | 16721 | Final Marks | 10/50 | 7/50 | 8/40 | 9/20 | 10/40 |
2015 | 22 Lakh | 12615 | 37.25 /100 (Only pre) |
11.25 / 35 | 7.75 / 35 | 7.5 / 30 | Left for Mains | Left for Mains |
2016 | 18 Lakh | 8822 | 47.5 /100 (Only pre) |
8.5 / 35 | 8.25 / 35 | 7 / 30 | Left for Mains | Left for Mains |
Cut Off marks for 2019 Probationary Officer IBPS (Prelims and Mains)
Prelims
Max. Score | General | SC | ST | OBC | Visually Impaired | |
English | 30 | 05.00 | ||||
Quant | 35 | 07.75 | ||||
Reasoning | 35 | 10.00 | ||||
Overall | 100 | 42.75 | 36.00 | 28.50 | 42.25 | 23.25 |
Mains
Max. Marks | General | SC | ST | OBC | VH | |
Reasoning & Computer Aptitude | 60 | 10.25 | 7.50 | 7.50 | 7.50 | 7.50 |
General Economy/Banking Awareness | 40 | 11.25 | 8.25 | 8.25 | 8.25 | 8.25 |
English Language | 40 | 5.75 | 3.25 | 3.25 | 3.25 | 3.25 |
Data Analysis & Interpretation | 60 | 14.00 | 10.75 | 10.75 | 10.75 | 10.75 |
English Language (Descriptive) | 25 | 10.00 | 8.75 | 8.75 | 8.75 | 8.75 |
Overall Cut Off | 225 | 82.00 | 62.50 | 42.25 | 75.63 | 77.87 |
So, from the above table you can clearly notice that competition has increased manifold.
2011 to 2014 – There used to be only one exam followed by interview. Marks doesn’t matter now as the pattern has changed completely. What is important now is information about 2015 & 2016 exam.
2015-2016 – Look at the difference – final cutoff increased from 37.25 to 47.5 and this year, there is a high probability that cut off will move up to approx. 55 (that’s what I think) as number of applicants has increased and number of posts are less.
So you have to prepare very well for the IBPS Bank PO Exam 2020 . So
- Work hard, Act smart.
- Prepare well and prepare strategically.
How to Prepare for the IBPS Bank PO Exam 2020 ?
There are three golden rules to clear the exam
Learn shortcuts to solve the problems
If you don’t know the shortcuts to solve a problem, you will never be able to finish IBPS PO Prelims Exam on time.For Quant Aptitude – To be very honest you won’t find shortcut tricks in any book, however you can find basic methods to solve the problems (but basic is not enough for exam), if you are good at cramming and have a sharp memory you can buy M.Tyra – Click here to Check . This book is full of math shortcuts & tricks. But no clear explanation of tricks. This book simply explain if situation is “this” apply “this” trick. Resultant you need to remember all the cases and all the related tricks. Anyway I won’t advice you to buy this book, atleast not for IBPS PO prelims exam, may be good for other govt exams as many people buy this book. If you really want to learn short cut tricks to solve quant questions. You can Join Live sessions by (MeritShine) or (Mahendra Guru).
Meritshine – They haven’t published the videos on IBPS PO Prelims exam, however they have plenty of videos on SBI PO Exam, which is very much similar to the IBPS PO Exam. So you can learn tricks for free, that too in depth in a very beautiful way. I personally like maths tricks by meritshine
Mahendra Guru – They have also published videos on SBI PO, they have videos on IBPS RRB but not on IBPS PO as both exams are similar. Their quant section is also good, easy to learn tricks, free videos, their tricks to solve the problems are little different from Meritshine, not completely.For Reasoning -Again I will say check short cut tricks by Meritshine / Mahendra Guru on Youtube. You will find those videos very much useful.For English Section – This section is less time consuming than the other two sections. You must prepare this section well as you can score good marks. Get a good command over grammer and vocablury. You will see many questions in comprehension directly related to Vocablury. So if your vocab is not good you may loose the game. And same goes with Grammer part. Here’s few sources to prepare english part
Book | Author |
Word Power Made Easy | Noram Lewis – Click here |
General English | S.P Bakshi – Click Here |
For Revision | Paramount Notes – Click Here |
Word Power is just Incredible. Best book to improve your vocablury. This book is just like reading a story. Read this book atleast two – three times (don’t say “why”. Just read it). And you will see the difference. For comprehension read newspaper. read Variety of topics, it all depends on practice.
For General Awareness Section – This section make a big difference. You must prepare this section very well because candidates are prone to make more mistakes in this section. Check below all the sources to prepare for IBPS bank PO Exam 2020.
All Sources to prepare and don’t forget to read 2 points below (very important points to remember)
Subject | Books with Authors & links to buy or Read |
Quant Aptitude | * Youtube Videos by Meritshine – Click here to Watch * Magical Maths – M. Tyra – Click to Buy (Only buy if you have good memory to remember shortcut else you will mix up everything
* Online Practice – Click here to Practice for free * Offline Practice Set – CLick here to Check |
English | * Word Power made Easy – Norman Lewis- Click here to buy * General English for Grammer – SP Bakshi – Click to Buy
* Revision – Paramount Coaching notes – Click to Buy |
Reasoning | * Youtube Videos by Meritshine – Click here to Watch * Online Practice – Click here to Practice for free
* Offline Practice Set – CLick here to Check * Join Test Series by ( Testbook, Gradeup, Oliveboard etc) |
General Awareness | * Current Affairs – Click to read for free * NCERT (6-10) for Static GK – Click here to read for free
* Join test Series and Practice questions |
Discriptive Paper | * Read Editorial Section or Economic Outlook Magazine |
Practice & more Practice (People generally ignore this, most important factor)
This is the most important factor that directly affect your result. I have seen people ignoring this step and they end up joining some other coaching center. It doesn’t matter what book you read, what coaching center you go, they will clear the basics and tell you tricks which you can learn for free on youtube. Merely knowing the tricks will not take you to the other side of the river. You need to learn how to apply those tricks, where to apply those tricks. You need to master the tricks and that you can achieve only be practice.Instead of buying a book filled with rules, explanations, methods buy a book that has variety of questions to solve. Take online Quiz. Solve many questions to develop a habit of solving questions on tips. The more you practice, the less time it will take in the examination. Take Mock test or sample test regularly to find where you are lacking. You can buy Arihant’s Practice Sets. You can also find plenty of questions to solve on Bankers Adda . . . That’s It.
Master Time management.
Mastering the time management is as important as practicing. As I said “more you practice, less time it will take” . So if you practice, that will definitely give you time bonus. Second factor for mastering the time management is to choose the questions carefully while taking the exam. I’ll explain, you will get 100 questions to solve in 60 minutes.It means you have 36 Seconds to solve a question. Practically it is impossible to solve 100 questions in 60 minutes. Remember you don’t have to create a world record. Prelims is just qualifying, you just need to reach cut off marks. In the worst case cut off will touch 60. So you need to select easiest 60 questions out of 100.
For example, A set of DI will ask you 5 questions. It is possible that you will find all 5 question be easy. Or 3 easy & 2 difficult or 1 easy 4 difficult. You need to attempt all 5. Just glance through, in couple of second decide which one is easy, attempt it and skip the others. That is call time management.
Best of luck for the Exam friends,
For any queries regarding above topic, please tell us through below comment session.