About Exam

Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) is a Government Organization which possesses the obligation regarding the recruitment of people for different posts in the Public Sector Banks, Co-agents, Regional Rural Banks, and so on. IBPS-PO is an exam that is led by IBPS for the recruitment to the post of the Probationary Officers. 

Numerous organizations take part and announce their vacancies to be filled through IBPS PO exam.

Eligibility

Detailed eligibility criteria for IBPS-PO exam is given below:

IBPS Specialist:

IT Officer (Scale I):

• Age Limit: Min- 20 Years & Max- 30 Years
• 4 year B. Tech/ Technology Bachelor's or post graduate degree in Computer Science/ Information technology/Computer Applications/Electronics/ Electronics and Telecommunications
• Graduate having passed DOEACC 'B' Level

Agricultural Field Officer (Scale I):

• Age Limit: Min- 20 Years & Max- 30 Years
• 4-Years Bachelor's degree in Agriculture/Horticulture/Animal Husbandry/Veterinary Science/Dairy Science/Agri Engineering/Fishery Science/Agri Marketing & Cooperation/Cooperation & Banking/Agro-Forestry

Rajbhasha Adhikari (Scale I):

• Age Limit: Min- 20 Years & Max- 30 Years
• PG degree in Hindi with English as a subject at graduation level.
• PG degree in Sanskrit with English and Hindi as a subject.

Law Officer (Scale I):

• Age Limit: Min- 20 Years & Max- 30 Years
• A bachelor's degree in Law and enrolled as an advocate with the bar council

HR/ Personnel Officer (Scale I):

• Age Limit: Min- 20 Years & Max- 30 Years
• Graduate and a postgraduate degree in personnel management/ Industrial Relations/HR/HRD/Social work/Labour Law

Marketing Officer (Scale I)

• Age Limit: Min- 20 Years & Max- 30 Years
• Graduate and Full-time MMS (Marketing)/MBA (Marketing)/Full time 2 years PGDBA

IBPS Regional Rural Bank Exam:

 Office Assistant (Multipurpose):

• Degree in any discipline from a recognized university or Institute
• Proficiency in the local language as prescribed by the participating RRBs
• Desirable: Knowledge of computer skills

Officer (Scale I):

• Degree in any discipline from a recognized university or institute
• Preferences would be given to Agriculture/Horticulture/Animal Husbandry/Veterinary Science/Dairy Science/Agri Engineering/Fishery Science/Agri Marketing & Cooperation/Cooperation & Banking/Agro-Forestry/Law/Economics
• Proficiency in the local language as prescribed by the participating RRBs
• Desirable: Knowledge of computer skills

Officer (Scale II)  General Banking Officer:

• Should be an officer in a bank or financial institution for two years
• Degree in any discipline from a recognized university or institute with minimum 50% marks aggregate
• Preferences would be given to Banking/Agriculture/Horticulture/Animal Husbandry/Veterinary Science/Dairy Science/Agri Engineering/Fishery Science/Agri Marketing & Cooperation/Cooperation & Banking/Agro-Forestry/Law/Economics/Finance/Marketing/Accountancy

Officer (Scale II)  Specialist Officer:

• One year and two years for Law Officer and Agricultural Officer

Information Technology Officer:

• A bachelor's degree in Electronics/Communications/Information Technology/Computer Science or its equivalent from a recognized university or institute with minimum 50% marks
• Certificate in ASP,PHP,C++, Java,VB,VC,OCP etc.

Chartered Accountant:

• Certified Associate from Institute of Chartered Accountants of India

Law Officer:

• A bachelor's degree in Law from a recognized university or institute with minimum 50%marks

Treasury Manager:

• Certified Associate from Institute of Chartered Accountants of India or MBA in finance from a recognized university or institute

Marketing Officer:

• MBA in Marketing from a recognized university or institute.

Agricultural Officer:

• Degree in Agriculture/Horticulture/Animal Husbandry/Veterinary Science/Dairy Science/Agri Engineering/Fishery Science/Agri Marketing & Cooperation/Cooperation & Banking/Agro-Forestry

Officer (Scale III):

• Five years as an officer in the Bank or financial institution
• Degree in any discipline from a recognized university or institute with minimum 50% marks aggregate
• Preferences would be given to Banking/Agriculture/Horticulture/Animal Husbandry/Veterinary Science/Dairy Science/Agri Engineering/Fishery Science/Agri Marketing & Cooperation/Cooperation & Banking/Agro-Forestry/Law/Economics/Finance/Marketing/Accountancy

Application Fees

An applicant is allowed to pay IBPS PO Application Fee only through an Online medium. There is no other way in which the applicant can pay the fee. Though there are multiple options provided by the IBPS in the online medium by which the fee can be paid like:

• Debit Card
• Credit Card
• Net-Banking
• IMPS
• Mobile Wallets
• RuPay Card

Application Procedure

These are application procedure to apply for the exam of IBPS PO:

• To apply, visit the official website of IBPS and click on the link to apply for CWE PROBATIONARY OFFICERS.
• Fill the requisite details asked in the form like personal and Educational details.
• Save the IBPS PO Online application form after filling all the details.
• Submit the form after rechecking all the information. The registration will be done but will not be considered as final submission until digital picture and signature are uploaded and Application fee is paid online.
• After registration, the applicant will get a provisional registration by SMS and on their email ID as well.
• The applicant can log in using the provisional registration number anytime. They will have to upload a photograph and signature as per the specified format.
• Once the applicant has clicked on the 'FINAL SUBMIT' button, no changes can be made.
• Pay the IBPS PO Online application fee via mediums as instructed.
• The final submission is considered to be done after the submission of the Online application fee. 
• Download the copy of online application and fee receipt for future reference.

Exam Pattern

IBPS PO  will be conducted in two levels Preliminary & Mains. There is a negative marking of 0.25 marks for every incorrect answer. But, no marks will be awarded or deducted for unattempted questions. The exam pattern is given below:

IBPS PO Prelims:

The applicant who are applying for Preliminary exam need to know about its exam pattern, which is given below:

IBPS PO Mains:

The applicant who has passed the Preliminary exam are eligible for the main exam and they need to know about its exam pattern, which is given below:

Study Material

Required study material in each subject are given below which will help in preparing for IBPS PO prelims exam:

Reasoning Section:

For the reasoning section these books are referred:

• A Modern Approach to Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning -RS Agarwal
• Reasoning and Quantitative Aptitude by P.K Mittal

English Section:

For English section these books are referred:

• Objective English for Competitive exams by Hari Prasad and Uma Sinha
• Objective English by Thorpe
• New IBPS-CWE Exam Guide for Prelims and Mains Exam

Quantitative Aptitude Section:

For Quantitative Aptitude section these books are referred:

• Quantitative Aptitude Test -NK Singh
• Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Exams- RS Agarwal
• Fast Track Objective Arithmetic-Rajesh Verma

Test Centres

The IBPS PO exam was conducted in over 146 test centers all over the country. These are main exam centers:

• Delhi, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Greater-Noida, Gurgaon
• Port Blair
• Guntur, Kurnool, Vijayawada
• Visakhapatnam
• Itanagar
• Guwahati
• Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur, Patna, Purnia
• Chandigarh
• Raipur
• Surat
• Panaji
• Ahmedabad, Vadodara
• Shimla, Solan
• Dhanbad, Jamshedpur, Ranchi
• Bangalore, Hubli, Mangalore
• Bhopal, Indore
• Aurangabad, Mumbai/Thane/Navi Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune
• Bhubaneshwar
• Puducherry
• Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Mohali, Patiala
• Jaipur, Udaipur
• Chennai, Madurai, Tirunelveli
• Hyderabad
• Allahabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Meerut, Varanasi
• Dehradun
• Asansol, Greater Kolkata, Kalyani, Siliguri

FAQs

Some of the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) related to the exam of IBPS-PO are as follows:

Q: Who conducts the PO exam?

Ans: IBPS (Institute of Banking Personnel Selection) conducts the PO exam.

Q: Is the examination bilingual?

Ans: Yes. The paper is available both in Hindi and English.

Q: Is there a fixed time in which a section has to be attempted?

Ans: Not in prelims. There is a stipulated time for each section in the mains examination.

Q: Is there any negative marking?

Ans: Yes.0.25 marks will be deducted for every incorrect answer.

Q: Will the exam be conducted in Online or Offline Mode?

Ans: The exam will be conducted in the Online mode for both Prelims and Main.

Q: What is the upper and lower age limit for the Exam?

Ans: The minimum age limit for the exam is 20 years and maximum age limit is 30 years.

Q: What is the Educational Qualification required for the IBPS PO exam?

Ans: Graduation degree in any discipline is required for the getting eligible for the IBPS PO exam.

Q: I have 42% in Graduation. Can I apply for IBPS PO exam?

Ans: Yes, there is no minimum criteria for graduation percentage. You need to be a graduate from a recognized University.

Q: Is there a sectional cut-off in IBPS PO exam?

Ans: Yes, there is a sectional cut-off in IBPS PO exam and the candidate needs to secure the minimum cutoff for all the sections.

Q: What post will be given after selection in IBPS PO?

Ans: The selected candidates will be given the post of Probationary Officer/Management Trainee.

Q: I am 18 years old. Can I apply to IBPS Po?

Ans: No, the minimum age limit of IBPS PO exam is 20 years.

Syllabus

Here are syllabus is given for the exams of IBPS PO:

REASONING:

In reasoning these are the topics to be read:

• Multi-dimensional arrangements
• Course of Action and Arguments
• Puzzles
• Visual reasoning
• Arrangement, pie charts, grids
• Blood Relations and Family Tree
• Critical Reasoning
• Calendars
• Statement Conclusions
• Different types of Graphs
• Coded Inequalities
• Input-output
• Blood relations

QUANTITATIVE APTITUDE:

In quantitative aptitude these are the topics to be read:

• Basic Geometry
• Ratios and Proportion
• HCF & LCM
• Algebra
• Profit & Loss
• In-equations Quadratic and linear equations
• Geometric Progression
• Percentages and Averages
• Time-Speed-Distance
• Number system
• Mensuration
• Permutation and combinations
• Mixtures and Allegations

ENGLISH LANGUAGE:

In English language these are the topics to be read:

• Verbal Reasoning
• Syllogisms
• Fill In the Blanks
• Contextual usage
• Antonyms, Synonyms
• Sentence completion and Jumbled paragraphs
• Foreign language words used in English
• Sentence correction
• Spotting the error
• Unjumbling the sentence
• Paragraph Completion

IBPS PO Mains Syllabus:

Here are the details of IBPS PO Mains Syllabus along with important comments:

REASONING ABILITY:

These topics are covered in the mains exam:

QUANTITATIVE APTITUDE:

These topics are covered in the mains exam:

ENGLISH LANGUAGE:

These topics are covered in the mains exam:

GENERAL AWARENESS:

These topics are covered in the mains exam:

• History of Indian Banking Industry
• Monetary and Credit Policies
• Indian Financial System
• Regulatory Bodies
• Budget Basics and Union Budget
• International Organizations/Institutions
• Capital Market and Money Market
• Government Schemes
• BASEL Norms, GAAR, GST, Priority Sector Lending, Credit Rating Agencies, Financial Inclusion., etc.

COMPUTER KNOWLEDGE:

These topics are covered in the mains exam:

• Hardware
• Software
• Database
• Communication
• Networking
• Internet
• Security
• MS Windows and MS Office
• Logic Gates
• Number System
• History of Computers
  

Cut-Offs

IBPS PO Preliminary Cut-off:

Expected IBPS PO - Overall cut-off for Preliminary:

Expected IBPS PO Cut Off for Mains Exam Cut-off:

Expected IBPS PO - Overall cut-off for Mains:

Selection Procedure

These are the procedures of IBPS PO Exam:

• Applicants will be shortlisted on the basis of their score in preliminary exam for the main exam. On the basis of their score in the main examination, applicants will then again be shortlisted for the personal interview session.
• The final selection will be based on the applicant's score in the main examination and the personal interview in an 80:20 ratio respectively. The final merit will be prepared by scoring the applicants out of 100.

The stages involved are as follows:

• Online preliminary exam:  Applicants would have to appear for the written exam conducted by IBPS. Marked for 100, there would be three sections- English, Quant, and Reasoning.
• Online Main Examination: The applicants who qualify the initial round, would be appearing for the main exam. It would have 4 sections -English, Quant/DI, Reasoning & Computer Ability and General/Banking Knowledge. A subjective paper comprising of Letter Writing and Essay.
• Interview: Applicants who have been shortlisted would be subsequently called for an interview conducted by participating organizations coordinated by the Nodal Bank in each State/UT with the support of IBPS.

Provisional Allotment:

• On completion of the interview, depending on the count of vacancies needed to be filled, applicants would be selected on the basis of merit and preference.
• If two or more applicants have the same score, date of birth would be given preference.
• Provisional allotment does not amount to an offer of employment. In case, at any stage during the procedure, if it comes to notice that the applicants have not fulfilled the eligibility criteria, candidature shall stand forfeited.
• Issuance of the appointment letter and other documents is completely at the discretion of the participating organizations and they will be very last and binding.
• This is the cadre on an all India basis, therefore selected applicants may be posted anywhere in and around India.

Documents to be Carried

This is the documents that must be carried to the interview in original, as well as self, attested photocopies for IBPS PO:

• Printout of the valid Interview Call Letter
• Printout of the online application form
• Proof of Date of Birth (Birth Certificate)
• Mark sheets and Certificates of the educational qualifications mentioned
• Caste certificates issued by a competent authority
• Disability certificate (if applicable) to be issued by District Medical Board
• Proof of any other eligibility conditions that you have mentioned in your application form like ex-servicemen applicant, age relaxation cases
• Applicants serving in a Government/PSU have to furnish a NOC-No Objection Certificate -from their employer at the time of interview. Conditional NOC's will not be accepted

Intakes

Intakes of the IBPS PO is to be around 9000 vacancies for the post of Probationary Officers (PO) and Management Trainees (MT) among all the participating banks.

Important Dates

These are the important dates of exam of IBPS PO that applicants have to know about: