IBPS PO Prelims Exam Pattern, Syllabus and Application Process

The IBPS Bank Exam is the government banking exam of the country. It is an annual exam with three stages – The Preliminary examination, The Mains Examination, and the Final Interview. The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection has been functioning in India since 1975.

They encourage individuals to engage more with the public sector organization by conducting these exams. It is an autonomous body that coordinates with the Indian government. It sees a large number of applicants every year. And this is only going up with every passing year.

The prelims are the first level of the exam and are only to qualify. This means that the score of this exam doesn’t make it to the final cut. It only enables candidates to sit for the Mains examinations held later. The prelims have one objective type paper with three sections in it.

The sections are the English Language, Quantitative Aptitude, and Logical Reasoning. The total score of the paper is 100 and it has 30-35 questions under each section. Mathematics, accounting, and economics are very important subjects for this exam.

IBPS PO Prelims Points to Remember

• There are three stages of the Bank PO examination.
• The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection is responsible for conduction.
• The exam duration of the prelims is 60 minutes.
• There is only one paper with three sections.
• The mode of the prelim exam for the year 2020 is online.
• There is a negative marking of 0.25 marks per incorrect answer.
• The medium of the paper is both in English and Hindi language.

IBPS PO Application Process

1. Visit ibps.in
2. Click on ‘CWE PO/MT’
3. Click on New Registration
4. Enter your Email ID, Mobile Number, and other details
5. Provisional Registration Number and Password will generate
6. Fill IBPS PO Application FormUpload Documents
7. Choose Organization Preference
8. Pay IBPS PO Application Fee
9. Save the application form and the admit card

IBPS PO Prelims Exam Pattern

The total marks are 100 for the paper. The institute announces the results on its official website which the candidates can look at.

IBPS PO Prelims Syllabus

The syllabus is based on the exam analysis of the previous year’s question papers. The IBPS doesn’t release an official syllabus but only mentions the subject that will be important. The level of this exam is usually an undergraduate degree based.

Reasoning

• Making Series
• Analogy
• Number Series
• Coding and Decoding
• Problem Solving
• Passage and conclusions type questions
• Comprehension Reasoning
• Alphanumeric Series
• Ranking/Direction/Alphabet Test
• Data Sufficiency
• Coded Inequalities
• Seating Arrangement
• Puzzle
• Tabulation
• Syllogism
• Blood Relations
• Input-Output

Quantitative Aptitude

• Simplification
• Profit & Loss
• Mixtures & Alligations
• Simple Interest & Compound Interest
• Surds & Indices
• Work & Time
• Time & Distance
• Mensuration – Cylinder, Cone, Sphere
• Data Interpretation
• Ratio & Proportion, Percentage
• Number Systems
• Sequence & Series
• Permutation, Combination & Probability

English Language

• Fill in the Blanks
• Comprehension Passage
• Phrases, and idioms
• Spotting Error Questions
• Preposition, and Sentence Improvement
• Para jumbles
• Cloze Test
• Paragraph completion

IBPS PO Prelims Question Division 2020

All the sections lie between easy to moderate level of exam. The section-wise division of the paper was –

Quantitative section

• Data Interpretation – 15 Questions
• Missing Number Series – 05 Questions
• Approximation – 05 Questions
• Data Sufficiency – 05 Questions
• Arithmetic Word Problems – 10 – 12 Questions

English Language

• Reading Comprehension – 10 Questions
• Cloze Test – 07 Questions
• Filler – 07 Questions
• Sentence Rearrangement – 07 Questions
• Phrase Arrangement – 08 Questions
• Sentence Correction – 04 Questions
• Error Detection – 07 Questions

Reasoning

• Puzzles and Seating Arrangement – 20 Questions
• Syllogism – 04 Questions
• Inequality – 03 Questions
• Direction Sense – 04 Questions
• Blood Relation – 03 Questions
• Alphabets – 03 Questions
• Data Sufficiency – 03 Questions

IBPS PO Prelims Result

The institute declares the exam results usually in a month. The shortlisted candidates then appear for the mains examinations. The gap between the exam is not more than two months. Candidates can check their result on their official website.

And even for notification updates, visiting their website is the best option.

IBPS PO Prelims Cutoff 2019

The cutoff for the bank prelims exam 2019 according to different categories is –

• General Category – 59.75/100
• Other Backward Class – 59.75/100
• Scheduled Caste – 53.50/100
• Scheduled Tribe – 46.25/100
• Economically Weaker Sections – 59.75/100
• Hearing Impaired – 21.25/100
• Open Category – 44.50/100
• Visually Impaired – 52.25/100
• Pwd – 20.75/100

IBPS PO Prelims Tips

• Design a proper preparation strategy for the exam at least a few months before the date.
• This may be in the form of a time table or by setting short term goals.
• Solve mock papers to get an idea of the exam structure. You can even opt for the test series for this exam.
• Read the syllabus properly before beginning and opt for quizzes to have better time management.
• Don’t take the risk of leaving any topic for the last moment, revise regularly.
• The preparation strategy for this exam should be well crafted and focused.
• Because most of the questions are application-based, understanding the concept is very important.

Conclusion

The preliminary examination plays an important role in deciding the future. Just because it does count for the final score, candidates must not take it lightly. It decides if you will sit for the mains exam or not. This qualifying exam needs more preparation and hard work as the competition is higher.

The candidates must be familiar with different aspects of the exam. This includes exam patterns, syllabus, cutoff, and more. This article will help cover all of them before you begin with your IBPS PO Exam preparation.