The State Bank of India and its associate banks administer entrance exams for the recruitment of Probationary Officers and Clerks. The tests are conducted in all major cities across the country. The frequency of the tests depends on the recruitment drive of the bank and does not follow any particular time period for administering the test. Questions in the test are from English language, General Awareness, Marketing and Computer Knowledge, Data Analysis and Interpretation and Reasoning.
The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection organises exams for recruitment in all major nationalised banks in India for the posts of Probationary Officer, Specialist Officer and Clerk. They also organise exams for recruitment for various positions in regional rural banks in the country. The exams do not follow a fixed schedule, but are conducted as per the demand for recruitment in the participating banks. The test features questions from Reasoning, English language, Quantitative Aptitude, General Awareness (with reference to banking industry) and Computer Knowledge.
The Reserve Bank of India organises exams for recruitment to various positions such as Grade – B Officers and Assistants. The exams are conducted as per their recruitment needs on an all-India basis.
In the insurance industry, Life Insurance Corporation of India and General Insurance Corporation of India are the major recruiters. These organisations recruit for the posts of Assistant Administrative Officer (AAO) and sales Officers. Their recruitment exams follow a similar pattern to the Bank Entrance Exams.
Public Sector Banks in India:
Associated Banks of State Bank of India are:
(a) State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur
(b) State Bank of Hyderabad
(c) State Bank of Mysore
(e) State Bank of Patiala
(f) State Bank of Travancore
Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) Conducts the IBPS Bank Exam for providing human resources to the Participating Banks; most public sector banks and other financial institutions.
Over the years, IBPS has gained reputation of being a major “Personnel Selection Test Conducting Agency” of the country. Its strength lies in its capability to develop and construct Multiple Choice Objective Tests & tools used for mass level testing programmes and its ability to conduct these exams simultaneously for lakhs & lakhs of candidates in about 200 cities/towns all over India and also in few foreign locations.
The major exams conducted by IBPS are given below:
S.No | Exam | Stage | Mode of Exam | Exam Structure | Tentative time of Exam | ||||
Section | No. Of Ques. | Marks | Negative Marks | Duration | |||||
1 | IBPS Probationary Officer (PO) | Preliminary | Online | English Language | 30 | 30 | 0.25 per wrong | 1 hour | October |
Quantitative Aptitude | 35 | 35 | |||||||
Reasoning Ability | 35 | 35 | |||||||
TOTAL | 100 | 100 | |||||||
2 | IBPS Probationary Officer (PO) | Mains | Online | Reasoning & Computer Aptitude | 45 | 60 | 0.25 per wrong | 3 hours 30 mins | November |
English Language | 35 | 40 | |||||||
Data Analysis and Interpretation | 35 | 60 | |||||||
General Economy & Banking | 40 | 40 | |||||||
English Language(Letter Writing and Essay) | 2 | 25 | |||||||
TOTAL | 157 | 225 |
S.No | Exam | Stage | Mode of Exam | Exam Structure | Tentative time of Exam | ||||
Section | No. Of Ques. | Marks | Negative Marks | Duration | |||||
1 | IBPS Clerks | Preliminary | Online | English Language | 30 | 30 | 0.25 per wrong | 1 hour | December |
Quantitative Aptitude | 35 | 35 | |||||||
Reasoning Ability | 35 | 35 | |||||||
TOTAL | 100 | 100 | |||||||
2 | IBPS Clerks | Mains | Online | Reasoning Ability | 50 | 60 | 0.25 per wrong | 2 hours 40 minutes | January of the following year |
English Language | 40 | 40 | |||||||
Quantitative Aptitude | 50 | 50 | |||||||
General Awareness | 50 | 50 | |||||||
TOTAL | 190 | 200 |
S.No | Exam | Stage | Mode of Exam | Exam Structure | Tentative time of Exam | ||||
Section | No. Of Ques. | Marks | Negative Marks | Duration | |||||
1 | IBPS SO - Law officer Scale-I & II and Rajbhasha Adhikari Scale-I | Main (Only 1 exam) | Online | Reasoning Ability | 50 | 50 | 1/4th of the marks allotted to that question | 2 Hours 60minutes | January |
English Language | 50 | 25 | |||||||
General Awareness (with special reference to Banking Industry) | 50 | 50 | |||||||
Professional Knowledge | 47 | 60 | |||||||
TOTAL | 197 | 180 | |||||||
2 | IBPS SO - IT officer Scale-I & II, Agriculture Field Officer Scale-I, HR/Personnel Officer Scale-I, Marketing Officer Scale-I, Chartered Accountants Scale-II and Manager Credit/Finance Executive Scale-II | Main (Only 1 exam) | Online | Reasoning | 50 | 50 | 1/4th of the marks allotted to that question | 2 Hours 45 minutes | January |
English Language | 50 | 25 | |||||||
Quantitative Aptitude | 50 | 50 | |||||||
Professional Knowledge | 60 | 60 | |||||||
TOTAL | 210 | 185 | |||||||
Preliminary
S.No | Name of Test | No. of Questions | Max.Marks | Total Time |
1 | Reasoning Ability | 40 | 40 | 45 minutes |
2 | Quantitative Aptitude | 40 | 40 | |
Total | 80 | 80 |
Mains
S.No | Name of Test | Medium of Exam |
No. ofQuestions | Max.Marks | Total Time |
1 | Reasoning | Hindi/English | 40 | 50 | 2 hours |
2 | Numerical Ability | Hindi/English | 40 | 50 | |
3 | General Awareness | Hindi/English | 40 | 40 | |
4a | English Language | English | 40 | 40 | |
4b | HindiLanguage | Hindi | 40 | 40 | |
5 | Computer Knowledge | Hindi/English | 40 | 20 | |
Total | 200 | 200 |
Preliminary
S.No | Name of Test | No. of Questions | Max.Marks | Total Time |
1 | Reasoning Ability | 40 | 40 | 45 minutes |
2 | Quantitative Aptitude | 40 | 40 | |
Total | 80 | 80 |
IBPS Officer Scale-I Exam Pattern
Mains
S.No | Name of Test | Medium of Exam |
No. ofQuestions | Max.Marks | Total Time |
1 | Reasoning | Hindi/English | 40 | 50 | 2 hours |
2 | Quantitative Aptitude | Hindi/English | 40 | 50 | |
3 | General Awareness | Hindi/English | 40 | 40 | |
4a | English Language | English | 40 | 40 | |
4b | HindiLanguage | Hindi | 40 | 40 | |
5 | Computer Knowledge | Hindi/English | 40 | 20 | |
Total | 200 | 200 |
IBPS Officer Scale-II (Specialist Cadre) Exam Pattern
S.No | Name of Test | Medium of Exam |
No. of Questions | Max.Marks | Total Time |
1 | Reasoning | Hindi/English | 40 | 40 | Composite Time of 2 hours and 30 minutes |
2 | Quantitative Aptitude & Data Interpretation | Hindi/English | 40 | 40 | |
3 | Financial Awareness | Hindi/English | 40 | 40 | |
4a | English Language | English | 40 | 20 | |
4b | Hindi Language | Hindi | 40 | 20 | |
5 | Computer Knowledge | Hindi/English | 40 | 20 | |
6 | Professional Knowledge | Hindi/English | 40 | 40 | |
Total | 240 | 200 |
IBPS Officer Scale- III Exam Pattern
S.No | Name of Test | Medium of Exam |
No. ofQuestions | Max.Marks | Total Time |
1 | Reasoning | Hindi/English | 40 | 50 | Composite Time of 2 hours |
2 | Quantitative Aptitude & Data Interpretation | Hindi/English | 40 | 50 | |
3 | Financial Awareness | Hindi/English | 40 | 40 | |
4a | English Language | English | 40 | 40 | |
4b | HindiLanguage | Hindi | 40 | 40 | |
5 | Computer Knowledge | Hindi/English | 40 | 20 | |
Total | 200 | 200 |
IBPS Office Assistant (Multipurpose) Exam Pattern
S.No | Name of Test | Medium of Exam |
No. ofQuestions | Max.Marks | Total Time |
1 | Reasoning | English | 40 | 50 | Composite Time of 2 hours |
2 | Numerical Ability | English | 40 | 50 | |
3 | General Awareness | English | 40 | 40 | |
4 | English Language | English | 40 | 40 | |
5 | Computer Knowledge | English | 40 | 20 | |
Total | 200 | 200 |
# For wrong answers, there is a negative marking of 1/4th of the marks allotted for the question.
S.No | Exam | Stage | Mode of Exam | Exam Structure | |||||
Section | No. Of Ques. | Marks | Negative Marks | Duration | Tentative time of Exam | ||||
1 | SBI Probationary Officer (PO) | Preliminary | Online | English Language | 30 | 30 | 0.25 per wrong | 1 hour | July |
Quantitative Aptitude | 35 | 35 | |||||||
Reasoning Ability | 35 | 35 | |||||||
TOTAL | 100 | 100 | |||||||
2 | SBI Probationary Officer (PO) | Mains | Online | Reasoning Ability and Computer Aptitude | 45 | 60 | 0.25 per wrong | 60 minutes | July |
Data Ananlysis and Interpretation | 35 | 60 | 45 minutes | ||||||
English | 35 | 40 | 40 minutes | ||||||
General/Economy/ Banking Awareness | 40 | 40 | 35 minutes | ||||||
TOTAL | 155 | 200 | 3 Hours |
S.No | Exam | Stage | Mode of Exam | Exam Structure | |||||
Section | No. Of Ques. | Marks | Negative Marks | Duration | Tentative time of Exam | ||||
1 | SBI Clerk | Preliminary | Online | English Language | 30 | 30 | 0.25 per wrong | 1 hour | May/June |
Numerical Ability | 35 | 35 | |||||||
Reasoning Ability | 35 | 35 | |||||||
TOTAL | 100 | 100 | |||||||
2 | SBI Clerk | Mains | Online | General/Finance Awareness | 50 | 50 | 0.25 per wrong | 35 minutes | June |
General English | 40 | 40 | 35 minutes | ||||||
Quantitative Ability | 50 | 50 | 45 minutes | ||||||
Reasoning Ability and Computer Aptitude | 50 | 60 | 45 minutes | ||||||
TOTAL | 190 | 200 | 2 hours 40 minutes |
S.No | Exam | Stage | Mode of Exam | Exam Structure | |||||
Section | No. Of Ques. | Marks | Negative Marks | Duration | Tentative time of Exam | ||||
1 | Systems, CA and Engineering officers | Mains (Only 1 exam) | Online | Test of reasoning | 50 | 50 | 1/4th of the marks alloted to that question | 90 minutes | January |
Quantitative Aptitude | 35 | 35 | |||||||
English Language | 35 | 35 | |||||||
Professional Knowledge | 50 | 100 | 45 minutes | ||||||
TOTAL | 170 | 220 | 135 minutes | ||||||
2 | Law Officers | Mains (Only 1 exam) | Online | Test of reasoning | 70 | 70 | 1/4th of the marks alloted to that question | 90 minutes | January |
English Language | 50 | 50 | |||||||
Professional Knowledge | 50 | 100 | 45 minutes | ||||||
TOTAL | 170 | 220 | 135 minutes | ||||||
3 | Officers Official language | Mains (Only 1 exam) | Online | Test of reasoning | 70 | 70 | 1/4th of the marks alloted to that question | 90 minutes | January |
Language(English+Hindi) | 50 | 50 | |||||||
Professional Knowledge | 50 | 100 | 45 minutes | ||||||
TOTAL | 170 | 220 | 135 minutes | ||||||
4 | Economist | Mains (Only 1 exam) | Online | Test of reasoning | 50 | 50 | 1/4th of the marks alloted to that question | 90 minutes | January |
Quantitative Aptitude | 35 | 35 | |||||||
English Language | 35 | 35 | |||||||
Professional Knowledge | 50 | 100 | 45 minutes | ||||||
TOTAL | 170 | 220 | 135 minutes |
Preliminary
S.No | Name of Test | No. of Questions | Max.Marks | Total Time |
1 | Reasoning Ability | 35 | 35 | 20 minutes |
2 | Numerical Ability | 35 | 35 | 20 minutes |
3 | English Language | 30 | 30 | 20 minutes |
Total | 80 | 80 | 60 minutes |
Mains
S.No | Name of Test | No. of Questions | Max.Marks | Total Time |
1 | Reasoning Ability | 30 | 90 | 40 minutes |
2 | General Knowledge, Current Affairs | 30 | 60 | 20 minutes |
3 | Professional Knowledge | 30 | 90 | 40 minutes |
4 | Insurance & Financial market awareness | 30 | 60 | 20 minutes |
Total | 120 | 300 | 120 minutes | |
English Language(letter writing & essay)/ Legal Drafting for AAO(Legal) | 2 | 25 | 30 minutes |
Tier | Name of Test | No. of Questions | Max.Marks | Total Time |
I | General Intelligence & Reasoning | 25 | 50 | 60 minutes |
General Awareness | 25 | 50 | ||
Quantitative Aptitude | 25 | 50 | ||
English Comprehension | 25 | 50 | ||
Total | 100 | 200 | ||
II | Paper 1: Quantitative Abilities | 100 | 200 | 120 minutes for each paper |
Paper 2: English Language & Comprehension | 200 | 200 | ||
Paper 3: Statistics | 100 | 200 | ||
Paper 4: General Studies(Finance & Economics) | 100 | 200 |