How To Prepare For IBPS Clerk 2019: The preliminary exam of IBPS Clerk 2019 is only a few months away. Candidates must start preparing for it from now on only. You must start reading newspaper for updates on current affairs and work on the speed and accuracy of attempting the question paper. The preliminary exam will be a 1 hour question paper of 100 marks with 100 questions. The questions will of MCQ type only. There is negative marking of 0.25 marks for every wrong answer. The candidate will have only 20 minutes for all the 3 section of the preliminary exam. The main exam will be of 160 minutes with 190 MCQ type question. To know more about how to prepare for IBPS Clerk 2019, read the article below.
How To Prepare For IBPS Clerk 2019
The IBPS Clerk 2019 selection process is divided into 3 phases which are preliminary exam, main exam and personal interview. All the levels will be conducted by IBPS only. The result score of IBPS will be used by the participating banks to recruit personnel as per their vacancies. Below are the date related to IBPS Clerk 2019:
| Events | Dates |
| Pre-Exam Training | 25 to 30 Nov 2019 |
| Preliminary Exam | 7,8,14 & 21 Dec 2019 |
| Main Exam | 19 Jan 2020 |
Syllabus
The syllabus for IBPS Clerk xi has not been defined by IBPS until now. However, you can get an idea of the syllabus from the previous year question papers. Given below is a rough idea of syllabus IBPS clerk preliminary as well as the main exam.
(i) Preliminary Exam: This exam consists of 3 sections of 100 marks in total. The candidate has to solve the question paper in 1 hour only. Each section will be allotted 20 minutes only.
Section 1: Reasoning Ability-
- Puzzles
- Seating Arrangements
- Direction Sense
- Blood Relation
- Syllogism
- Order and Ranking
- Coding-Decoding
- Machine Input-Output
- Inequalities
- Alpha-Numeric-Symbol Series
- Data Sufficiency
- Passage Inference
- Statement and Assumption
- Conclusion
- Argument
Section 2: Numeric Ability-
- Number Series
- Simplification/ Approximation
- Data Interpretation
- Quadratic Equations
- Miscellaneous
Section 3: General English-
- Reading Comprehension
- Close Test
- Fillers
- Sentence Errors
- Vocabulary based questions
- Sentence Improvement
- Jumbled Paragraph
- Paragraph Based Questions (Paragraph Fillers, Paragraph Conclusion, Paragraph / Sentences Restatement)
(ii) Main Exam: The main exam will have 4 sections to be solved in 160 minutes. The candidate will have 40 minutes for solving each section. Below is the section-wise syllabus for the main exam.
Section-1: General/Financial Awareness- (Read Newspaper Daily): The questions here will be asked from the current affairs of the latest 4 months.
- Science And Technology
- Economy
- Important Awards & Honors
- Current National And International Events or Issues
- Indian financial system
- Computer and IT Knowledge
- Recent Credit and monetary policies
- Banking Knowledge – Abbreviations and Economic Terminologies
- Commissions
- National financial institutions like SEBI, IRDS, FSDC, etc
- International financial institutions like IMF, World Bank, ADB, UN, etc
- Appointments and Resignations
- Sports and Politics
- Prominent Personalities
- Important Govt. Schemes on the money market, credit, capital, loans, etc.
Section-2: General English-
- Homonyms
- Antonyms
- Synonyms
- Word Formation
- Spelling
- Active/ Passive voice
- Spotting Errors
- Direct and Indirect speech
- Phrases and idioms
- Passage completion
- Rearrangement of topics in a passage
- Theme Detection
- Deriving Conclusion
Section-3: Reasoning Ability-
- Verbal and figure classification
- Decision making
- Symbols and their relationships
- Analytical functions
- Arithmetical computation
- Verbal and non-verbal
- Observation, Arithmetical reasoning
- Analysis, Similarities, Analogies
- Space visualization, Judgment
- Arithmetical number series, Visual memory
- Relationship concepts, Differences
- Problem solving, Discrimination
Section-4: Quantitative Aptitude-
- Ratio & Proportions
- Profit, Loss, and Discount
- Time And Distance
- Stocks and Shares
- Data Interpretation and Approximate Values
- Logarithms
- Equations
- HCF & LCM, Simplification
- Percentage, Partnership
- Compound and Simple Interest
- Time And Work
- Relationship Between Numbers
- Whole Numbers
- Decimals And Fractions
- Number Series, Probability
- Permutations & Combination’s
- Trigonometry
Exam Pattern
The exam pattern for both the exams has been defined by the institute. You can refer below to know about the exam pattern:
(i) Preliminary Exam:
Mode of Exam: Online Test
Language: Bilingual i.e. English and Hindi
Duration: 1 hour (every section will be given 20 minutes only)
No. of Questions: 100 questions
Type of Questions: MCQ type questions
Marking Scheme: Each right answer will be given 1 mark and for every wrong question there is negative marking of 0.25 marks eCH.
Sections:
| Sections | No. of Questions | No. of Marks |
| English Language | 30 | 30 |
| Numerical Ability | 35 | 35 |
| Reasoning Ability | 35 | 35 |
| Total | 100 | 100 |
(ii) Main exam:
Mode of Exam: Online Test
Language: English and Hindi
Duration: 160 minutes
No. of Questions: 190 questions
Type of Questions: MCQ type questions
Marking Scheme: Every Question will have marks as allotted. For every wrong answer there is negative marking of 25% marks of the marks allotted to the particular question.
Sections:
| Sections | No. of Questions | No. of Marks |
| General/ Financial Awareness | 50 | 50 |
| General English | 40 | 40 |
| Reasoning Ability & Computer Aptitude | 50 | 60 |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 50 | 50 |
| Total | 190 | 200 |
Books
Below is a list of books with the link to avail the book. You can prepare for the exam while referring from the following books.
| Reference Book | Subject | Link |
| Wren & Martin – High School Grammer and Composition | English | Click Here |
| Arihant Publication – Objective General English by SP Bakshi | English | Click Here |
| Word Power Made Easy | English | Click Here |
| Test of Reasoning for all competitive exams by Edgar Thorpe edition | Reasoning Ability | Click Here |
| R.S Agarwal Modern Approach to Verbal and Non-verbal Reasoning Book | Reasoning Ability | Click Here |
| R.S Agarwal Quantitative Aptitude Book | Numerical/Quant | Click Here |
| Fast Track Objectice Arithmatic by Rajesh Varma | Numerical/Quant | Click Here |
| Lucent’s General Knowledge Books | General Knowledge/Awareness | Click Here |
| Manoramo Year Book 2019 | General Knowledge/Awareness | Click Here |
| Target IBPS Bank Clerk Preliminary & Mains – 20 Practice Sets Workbook with CD | For all subjects | Click Here |
| Disha Experts Topic-wise Solved Papers for IBPS/SBI Bank PO/Clerk | Previous Year Question Paer | Click Here |
Preparation Tips
Not much time is left for preliminary exam of IBPS clerk as the exam is in December only. You make prepare strategically to appear in the exam. Candidates must have a positive attitude and prepare for the cut-throat competition. Below are some tips candidates must refer to before appearing in the exam:
Time and Answering Speed: In the preliminary exam, the candidates will get only 20 minutes to solve each section. There will be 30 to 35 questions in each section and you will not have even one full minute to solve a question. You must work on your speed to solve each question.
Work on Accuracy: Candidates need to work on their accuracy for answering the answer correctly. Every correct answer in the question paper will clear your path to your vacancies. There is a cut-throat competition in the exam, hence you must avoid making typical and silly mistakes.
Keep Study Note: Candidates must always make notes for revising in the crucial hours. The study notes should be prepared after completing every topic. This will ease up your revising process.
Prepare for competition: The no. of candidates apearing for this exam is more than 10 times the no. of vacancies of the post. Also, there is negative marking of 25% per question. Hence, you need to prepare strategically for the exam.
Work on Basics: You must first clear your basics and then start with the objective questions. Directly solving the question will lead to chaos. Start with NCERT and then proceed to other reference books afterwards.
Appear for Mock Tests: The candidates can appear for some mock tests to know his level of preparations and to get an idea of how to attempt the paper in the exam centre. Mock test makes you read for appearing in the exam.
Try Solving Previous Year papers: Candidates can refer to previous year papers to get an idea of difficulty level of the exam paper. The previous year papers help you in planning strategies to solve the question paper.
Read Newspaper Daily: In both the exams, there is a section of current affairs. Hence, it is advised to read the newspaper and be updated with the current affairs of at least 4 months. Reading news paper will also help you with reading habit and solving reading comprehensions.
Practice make a man perfect: Lastly, practice is all that will help in the exam. Candidates must practice a lot of questions from various reference books and previous question paper books.
Wise Words by Previous Year Qualifier –
Following are some of the tips from previously qualified candidates:
– My strategy was to score good marks in 3 sections to compensate in rest 1 section in the main section. I used to study 2-3 hours in the early morning.
– I started everything from the basics and cleared all my doubts first. This gave me confidence to solve many of the sections.
– You don’t have to study 10-14 hours daily but if you do focused study of 4-5 hours daily then I don’t think that you will not get success. Success will come by its own.
– I took over 50 tests in a test series which gradually helped me figure out where I am lacking and where I should and i can improve my speed.
– In the quantitative ability section, I tried my best in maintaining my speed. I never wasted my time of more than 30 seconds in a question.
About IBPS Clerk Exam
Institute of Banking Personnel Selection conducts exam for recruitement of clerical cadre every year. The selection process for this post consists of 3 phases. The fisrt is the preliminary exam of 100 marks. This is the qualifying test for the main exam. The candidates will be given 1 hour to complete the paper. Each section will be given 20 minutes only. The second phase is he main exam which is conducted only for those who qualify preliminar yexam. The marks obtained in the main exam are considered for preparing the final mark sheet. The candidates who qualify the amin exam are called for common personal interview,
Official website: ibps.in
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