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The banking exam is one of the most prominent exams in the country. It remains one of the prestigious exams to crack and sees lakhs of aspirants appearing for it every year.
Major banks of the country together take this exam to hire the Bank Probationary Officer. The banks taking this exam come under the public sector of the Indian government. Many of them separate exams as well.
Bank PO is a high profile government job and one of the highest entry-level positions that a person can hold in this country. He directly works under the Officer cadre of the Banking sector.
This makes the exam and the position very crucial for the country’s growth and development. It is evident as the officer undergoes 2 years of training before taking up an actual position. Thus knowing every detail about the examination is very important before applying for it.
We will look at bank PO recruitment, eligibility, exam pattern, syllabus, job profile, growth, salary, and preparation. These elements will help you understand what the exam is really about and if it is your cup of tea or not. Let us take a look at them now for better understanding –
List of Major Bank participating in the Bank PO recruitment process –
- Allahabad Bank
- Bank of Maharashtra
- Bank of Baroda
- Corporation Bank
- Cooperative Bank
- HDFC Bank
- ICICI Bank
- Oriental Bank of Commerce
- Punjab National Bank
- Syndicate Bank
- State Bank of India
Bank PO Exam Dates 2021
Different banks of the country conduct the exam on different dates according to their conducting body. This table will guide you with important banking exam dates of 2021.
| SBI PO Notification | April 2021 |
| SBI PO Prelims | June 2021 |
| SBI PO Mains | July 2021 |
| SBI PO Interview and GD | September 2021 |
| IBPS PO Notification | August 2021 |
| IBPS PO Prelims | October 2021 |
| IBPS PO Mains | November 2021 |
| IBPS PO 2021 Interview | January 2022 |
| IBPS RRB PO Notification | June 2021 |
| IBPS RRB PO Prelims | August 2021 |
| IBPS RRB PO Mains | September 2021 |
| IBPS RRB PO 2021 Interview | November 2021 |
Bank PO Eligibility Criteria
Nationality
- The candidate must be an Indian citizen.
- Candidates can be a subject of Nepal or Bhutan.
- A Tibetan refugee residing in India before 1 January 1962.
- Persons of Indian Origin migrated from Pakistan, Vietnam, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, or one of the listed East African countries.
Age Limit
- A common age range for most of the exam is between 20 -30 years. This varies in different banks and there is certain relaxation as well according to categories.
- The OBC category receives 3 years of relaxation while SC/ST category receives it for 5 years.
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Qualification
- A bachelor degree from a government recognized institution.
Bank PO Exam Pattern
The exam pattern almost remains the same every year for common exams. But in the case of a particular bank exam it may differ, this depends on the conducting body and their convenience. The standard pattern is –
| Exam Name | Sections | Number of Questions | Marks | Time Duration |
| Preliminary Exam | English Language | 30 | 30 | 60 Minutes |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 35 | 35 | ||
| Reasoning Ability | 35 | 35 | ||
| Mains Exam | English Language | 35 | 40 | 3.5 Hours |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 35 | 60 | ||
| Reasoning Ability | 45 | 60 | ||
| General Awareness | 40 | 40 | ||
| Descriptive Paper | 2 | 24 |
IBPS RRB PO Exam Pattern
| Exam Name | Sections | Number of Questions | Marks | Time Duration |
| Preliminary Exam | Quantitative Aptitude | 40 | – | 45 minutes |
| Reasoning Ability | 40 | – | ||
| Mains Exam | English/Hindi Language | 40 | – | 2 hours |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 40 | – | ||
| Reasoning Ability | 40 | – | ||
| General Awareness | 40 | – | ||
| Computer Knowledge | 40 | – |
SBI PO Exam Pattern
| Exam Name | Sections | Number of Questions | Marks | Time Duration |
| Preliminary Exam | English Language | 30 | 30 | 60 Minutes |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 35 | 35 | ||
| Reasoning Ability | 35 | 35 | ||
| Mains Exam | English Language | 35 | 40 | 3.5 Hours |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 35 | 60 | ||
| Reasoning Ability | 45 | 60 | ||
| General Awareness | 40 | 40 | ||
| Descriptive Paper | 2 | 50 | ||
| Interview | NA | NA | 30 | NA |
| Group Discussion | NA | NA | 20 | NA |
Bank PO Exam Syllabus
The increasing number of candidates with each has increased the competition too. Taking a look at the syllabus is always a good idea. The basic syllabus for the exams include –
Syllabus for Bank PO Preliminary Exam
- English language
- Reasoning ability
- Numerical ability
Syllabus for Bank PO Mains Exam
- General reasoning
- Computer aptitude
- English language
- General economy
- Banking awareness
- Data analysis and interpretation
Bank PO Exam Job Profile
The Probationary Officer has certain roles and responsibilities while serving the Public Sector Bank. it is better to know what the job is about before applying.
The basic responsibilities include –
- Working as a Public Relations Officer and handling customer complaints and issues.
- Managerial work like supervision of the employees under the Clerical cadre.
- Managing financial issues like cash flow, loans, and more.
- Managing loan-related documents when necessary.
Bank PO Career Growth
The banks have multiple internal examinations and interviews which enables them to qualify for promotions. The internal aspect makes sure that there is an equal opportunity available for all the employees.
Positions like Managers, Assistant Manager, Assistant General Manager, and more are easily accessible to the employees. This job is transferable and the location is likely to change with any sort of promotion.
Bank PO Vacancy
The banks open up vacancies every year for newcomers and issue a notification for the same. This again varies according to different banks of the country.
This table will provide you with information about the total number of vacancies in previous years.
| Bank PO Exam | 2020 | 2019 |
| IBPS PO Vacancy | 1417 | 4336 |
| SBI PO Vacancy | Not released | 2000 |
| IBPS RRB PO Vacancy | 3800 | 3352 |
| RBI Grade B Officer Vacancy | Not Released | 199 |
Bank PO Exam Application Fee
The application fees for the Bank PO examination are –
- Rs. 175 only for SC/ST and other reserved categories.
- Rs. 850 only for the general category.
Bank PO Salary
The Bank PO offers a considerable amount of salaries to its employees. This is one of the reasons why the exam sees lakhs of candidates every year.
You can head to their Bank PO salary page for a detailed salary structure. Otherwise, the basic salary structure is –
- IBPS PO Salary at the beginning is Rs. 23,700.
- SBI PO Salary begins at Rs. 27,620.
- RBI Grade B Officer Salary begins at Rs. 35,150.
- This is just an approximate of what they offer with other incentives as well.
Bank PO Preparation
Like all other competitive exams, Bank PO also needs a proper preparation strategy to crack the paper. This is to make sure that the candidates score well in the exams and manage to crack the exam.
Some of the tips that the candidates can follow are –
- A systematic and strategic study plan will take you a long way.
- Solving mock tests, quizzes, previous year question papers so that the candidates are aware of what the exam looks like.
- Time management is very important. This is because the papers are very lengthy and candidates often run out of time.
- Read the syllabus and the exam pattern very properly.
- Cover all the syllabus topics properly and avoid anything for the last minute.
Conclusion
The bank examination has three basic levels of exam. The prelims remain the first stage and also the qualifying one. All the Bank PO candidates need to know what they are stepping into and how to tackle the sector.
This article will guide you step to step about what a Bank PO exam is, its syllabus, time, questions, vacancy, salary, and more.
All the banking exam aspirants should go through it once before applying for the exams. We also added some quick tips so that your examination process has a smooth flow.