Probationary Officers (PO) and Management Trainees (MT) are recruited every year through a Common Written Examination (CWE), commonly known as the IBPS PO exam. The CWE was started in 2011 and is being conducted for the seventh time this year and hence is officially called IBPS PO /MT CWE VII .The IBPS PO selection process consists of 3 phases (preliminary, mains and interview) and the candidate must qualify each of them to proceed to the next phase. Mentioned below are the important steps of the IBPS PO Recruitment Procedure:
An adequate number of candidates in each category are shortlisted by IBPS depending upon requirements for Online Main Examination
Candidates must qualify the sectional as well as overall cutoff in the main exam to be eligible for interview.
Interview will be conducted by the Participating Organizations and coordinated by the Nodal Bank in each State/ UT with the help of IBPS
The Final result is declared on the basis of candidates combined performance in IBPS PO Mains and Interview Rounds.
The provisional allotment of the qualified candidate is released on the official website. The IBPS Banks are allotted based on candidates' preferences which are made at the time of online application.
IBPS plays its part in the selection process only till the provisional allotment to different banks. After that, the responsibility to intimate the qualified candidates about their joining dates and procedure lies with the respective banks.
As in the previous years, the IBPS exam (CWE 7) for hiring candidates will be based on an online written exam in two parts: Tier 1 or IBPS Preliminary Exam and Tier 2 or IBPS Mains Exam. This examination is followed by a face-to-face interview process.
The IBPS PO preliminary examination has a total duration of 1 hour and is conducted in online mode. It consists of 3 sections with a total of 100 questions and maximum score of 100 marks. There is negative marking in IBPS PO pre exam and 0.25 marks are deducted for each wrong answer. Candidates must clear the cut-off in all 3 sections to qualify for the IBPS PO Main exam. The section-wise details are given below:
| S.No. | Name of Tests(Objective | No. of Questions | Maximum Marks | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English Language | 30 | 30 | Composite time of 1 Hour |
| 2 | Numerical Ability | 35 | 35 | |
| 3 | Reasoning Ability | 35 | 35 | |
| Total | 100 | 100 | ||
The IBPO PO Main exam is also conducted online, it has 5(4+1) sections with a total score of 200+25 marks and total duration of 180+30 minutes. Just like SBI PO , IBPS has introduced a descriptive paper in its mains exam for selection of candidates to the post of Probationary officer. From this year onward, there has been a modification in the IBPS main exam pattern. While IBPS exam will have the same 5 sections, there is a specific time limit for attempting each of the five sections. The sections must be attempted in the same order and the allotted time as mandated at the time of the exam. A candidate has to clear both preliminary and mains examination to be eligible for the interview process.
| S.No. | Name of Tests(Objective | No. of Questions | Maximum Marks | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reasoning & Computer Aptitude | 45 | 60 | 60 minutes |
| 2 | English Language | 35 | 40 | 40 minutes |
| 3 | Data Analysis & Interpretation | 35 | 60 | 45 minutes |
| 4 | General Economy & Banking Awareness | 40 | 40 | 35 minutes |
| Total | 155 | 200 | 3 Hours | |
| 5 | English Language (Letter Writing & Essay) | 2 | 25 | 30 minutes |
The candidates who have qualified the mains exam are called for a face to face interview which carries a maximum of 100 marks. The minimum qualifying marks in the interview is 40% (35% for SC/ST/OBC/PWD candidates).
The interview round is generally 15-20 minutes long, where a panel of bank officials ask questions to the candidates about themselves, banking sector, current affairs, general awareness, etc. The candidates must be well dressed, confident and carry all required documents to the interview.
The final merit list is prepared on the basis of marks obtained in mains examination and interview. The final scoreis calculated by IBPS with weightage of marks given to the main examination and interviewin the ratio of 80:20 respectively.
Penalty for Wrong Answers:
There is a penalty for wrong answers marked in the Objective Tests of both Preliminary and Mains exams. A wrong answer to an objective question by the candidate will lead to a penalty of one fourth of the marks assigned to that question. For example, 0.25 marks will be deducted as penalty for wrong answer to a question that carries 1 mark. There will be no penalty for leaving a question blank, i.e. if no answer is marked by the candidate.
Final Score Calculation for IBPS PO Exam:
The final score for the IBPS PO exam is calculated keeping the following points in mind:
• Marks obtained in the Preliminary Exam (Tier-1) will not be considered in the final score and are only for qualifying to Mains Exam (Tier-2).
• Candidates must qualify Phase-2 and Interview separately to be eligible for final merit.
• The weightage (ratio) of CWE Main exam and interview for final merit list will be 80:20 respectively.
• The aggregate score out of 100 is used for the final merit list for each category.Candidates with top merit rank in each category are finally selected.
IBPS exam syllabus is no different from any other bank exam. While IBPS issues only the broad subjects, they can be further subdivided into individual topics, based on the questions that have appeared in the exams over the past few years. The IBPS syllabus is divided into two parts:
This comprises of Reasoning Ability, Quantitative Aptitude and English Language.
| Reasoning | Quantitative Aptitude | English Language |
|---|---|---|
| Logical Reasoning | Simplification | Reading Comprehension |
| Alphanumeric Series | Profit & Loss | Cloze Test |
| Ranking/Direction/Alphabet Test | Mixtures &Alligations | Para jumbles |
| Data Sufficiency | Simple Interest & Compound Interest & Surds & Indices | Multiple Meaning / Error Spotting |
| Coded Inequalities | Work & Time | Fill in the blanks |
| Seating Arrangement | Time & Distance | Miscellaneous |
| Puzzle | Mensuration – Cylinder, Cone, Sphere | Paragraph Completion |
| Tabulation | Data Interpretation | |
| Syllogism | Ratio & Proportion, Percentage | |
| Blood Relations | Number Systems | |
| Input Output | Sequence & Series | |
| Coding Decoding | Permutation, Combination &Probability |
This comprises of 5 sections: Reasoning, English Language, Quantitative, Aptitude, General Awareness, Computer Aptitude.
Educational Qualification
Graduation Degree: The eligibility criteria for the IBPS CWE exam is as basic as a graduation degree (BA, BCom, BSc, B.Tech or as such) in any discipline from a University recognized by the Government of India. Any such candidate who has received equivalent qualification which is recognized by the Central Government is also eligible to apply for this exam.
The candidates must be in possession of a valid Mark-sheet / Degree Certificate that certifies that they are a graduate on the day they registers for this exam, and must indicate the percentage of marks obtained in Graduation while registering for the IBPS Bank-PO examination.
Computer Literacy: Working knowledge of computer systems is necessary for the job as well as to give the IBPS PO exam which is conducted in online mode.
Language Proficiency: Verbal and written proficiency in official language of the State/UT is desirable. The candidate must be able to read, write and speak the language.
Nationality / Citizenship of Applicants:
A candidate applying for IBPS CWE/Bank PO Examination must be one of the following:
1. Citizen of India
2. Subject of Nepal or Bhutan
3. Tibetan Refugee who came to India before 1st January 1962 with the intention of permanent settlement
4. Person of Indian Origin (PIO) who has migrated from Burma, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam or East African countries of Zaire,Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Ethiopia, Malawi, with the intention of permanent settlement in India
Candidates belonging to the category 2, 3, 4 must have a certificate of eligibility issued by the Govt of India in their favour.
Age Eligibility of candidates applying for IBPS Bank PO Examination:
Any candidate who is applying for the IBPS CWE examination should not be less than 20 years oldand not more than 30 years old at the time of registration. In addition to this, there isage relaxation applicable to category wise candidates as per the government rules:
| Category | Age Relaxation |
|---|---|
| Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) | 5 years |
| Other Backward Classes (OBC Non-Creamy Layer) | 3 years |
| Persons with Disabilities (PWD) | 10 years |
| Ex-Servicemen (Army personnel) | 5 years |
| Widows/Divorced Women | 9 years |
| Persons with Domicile of Jammu &Kashmir during the period of 1-1-1980 to 31-12-1989 | 5 years |
| Persons affected by 1984 riots | 5 years |
| Regular Employees of Union Carbide Factory, Bhopal | |
| retrenched from service(for MP state Only) | 5 years |
IBPS may add additional centres or remove some depending on need. Candidates opting for pre-examination training should download their call letter for training by entering their registration number and password/ date of birth from Bank's website. Pre-Exam training call letter will not be sent by post.
The application for IBPS PO Exam has to be done online. To avoid any technical errors please make sure that the web-browser used to fill up the IBPS PO Application form is one of the following:
• Internet Explorer 8 and above
• Mozilla FireFox 3.0 and above
• Google Chrome 3.0 and above
Candidates applying online must have the following pre-requisites:
• A valid Email Id
• Photograph and Signature scanned in the prescribed size
• Application Fee must be paid online so all document required for online transaction
The IBPS PO application form can only be filled on the official website.
Before proceeding with the registration and application process, all candidates are requested to go through the complete guide for IBPS PO Online Applicaion
The category wise fee structure for IBPS PO online application is given below. Fee/Intimation charges once paid will NOT be refunded on any account nor can it be held in reserve for any other examination or selection. The application fee must be paid online itself. To know more check the complete guide for IBPS PO Application
| Sr. No. | Category | Application Fee |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | SC/ST/PWD | Rs.100/- (Intimation Charges only) |
| 2 | General and Others | Rs. 600/- (App. Fee including intimation charges) |
Candidates must download the IBPS PO admit card from the official website of the bank as the hard copy of the IBPS PO Admit Card will not be sent to the candidate via post. To login on the official website, the candidates will require the following:
• Registration No/Roll No
• Date of Birth/ Password
The admit card will be made available 10 to 15 days before the IBPS PO Exam. The admit card or call letter for IBPS PO will be issued in 3 phases:
• Online Preliminary Examination
• Online Mains Examination
• Interview