Banking jobs are the most sought-after public sector jobs in India. The reasons are lucrative pay, job security, and no risk of layoffs and downsizing. Two of the most common exams for banking job aspirants are bank PO and clerk exams. Bank PO is position of Assistant Manager that comes with a good salary and other perks.
IBPS PO exam can help you get a job in public sector banks. However, SBI conducts it’s paper separately. After cracking any of the two exams that might be followed by an interview, candidates have to undergo training and are posted as PO with the bank.
Bank PO Exams and the Competition
Cracking the bank PO exam has become comparatively tough over the years due to the increased competition and limited number of attempts.
Bank PO Exam Pattern
- The bank PO selection process includes three stages, namely prelims, mains and interview.
- The Bank PO exam are designed to test candidate’s reasoning, verbal ability, quantitative ability and general awareness. Both prelim and main exam are objective type in nature.
- Not just government sector banks select candidates by conducting a series of exam, but private sector banks also do the same.
- The exam include negative marking for every wrong answer.
Success Tips
- Work on speed and accuracy.
- Practice tricky questions quickly and short tricks.
- Prepare notes of important formulas and concepts.
- Take mock tests and track your progress.
What Types of Questions are Asked
The bank exams are conducted in computer-based mode and are of objective type.
Quantitative Aptitude Questions
Questions are asked from quantitative aptitude that include problems related to distance and time, probability, profit and loss, percentages and more. The questions are to test the numerical ability of the candidate.
Verbal Ability Test
The verbal aptitude section is to test the skills of candidates in English language. The questions asked in this topic range from fill in the blanks, reading comprehension and sentence arrangements. Individual’s with strong grasp of grammar can easily score well in this section. This is considered as the easiest section of the exam.
Test of Reasoning Ability
As the name suggests this section is to test the reasoning and analytical skills of the candidates. Questions include puzzles, syllogisms, seating arrangements, coding-decoding and more.
Test of General Awareness
This is an important and easy to score section of the exam. This section tests candidate’s banking/economic/general awareness. It’s easy to grab marks in this section if you are fond of reading newspapers.
The Cut Off
To get shortlisted for interview, candidates need to clear two different cutoffs. The first one is the sectional cut off and the other is overall cutoff.
Bank PO Interview
- In Bank PO interview questions asked are generally related to social awareness. No one will test your academic knowledge.
- Interview is conducted to test candidate’s views and the personality.
- Questions in the interview might be related to your previous job or academic history.
- The interviewers try to gauge the social competence of a candidate through this process.
- Brush up your knowledge on banking awareness, most of the questions asked are related to it.
- Candidates’ communication is another key factor which is judged here.
Success Tips for Bank PO interview
- The bank PO interviews are more like a formal chat session.
- Choose your dress wisely. A formal dress would be the best option to go with.
- Your gestures will be observed, so take care of your actions in front of the interview panel.
- Avoid talking other way round. Give clear and concise answers in the interview.
- Answer what you know. If you don’t know answer for any question let the panel know the truth.
- Keep yourself hydrated and confident.
- Take a deep breath before walking inside the interview room. This will take away the nervousness.
The interview round is the final round of the selection process, so you have to be prepared for this round.
The Bottom Line
Banking exams are definitely not a cake walk, instead they are high on competition. With every passing year an increase in number of bank job aspirants is seen. We are here to help you with your questions related to bank jobs. Let us know the query by placing it in the comment box below. You can subscribe to our blog for updates.
