The banking sector attracts hordes of people to its recruitment drives because of the

security, well-paid and great career prospects that it offers. Openings are available in
banks at various levels, right from Clerical posts to that of Probationary Officers.

There are various types of banks in India such as the State Bank of India and Associates
Nationalized Banks, Domestic Private Sector Banks, New Domestic Private Sector
Banks, Foreign Banks. The Reserve Bank of India acts a centralized monitoring body in
the Indian financial sector.

Students who have gained more than 60% in their graduate studies can appear for the All
India Examination conducted by the Public Sector Banks. This exam is the first step
towards a lifelong career in the Banking profession.

Indian Banks For Probationary Officer Examination

A List of Banks India that conduct the PO Examination Tests are:

• ICICI Bank
• Indian Overseas Bank
• Canara Bank
• SBI Bank
• Corporation Bank
• UCO Bank
• Federal Bank
• Syndicate Bank
• OBC Bank
• Saraswati Cooperation Bank PO
• Allahabad Bank PO
• Dena Bank PO
• Central Bank of India Bank PO
• Bank of Baroda PO
• Andhra Bank PO
• IDBI Bank
• Vijaya Bank PO

State Bank PO Examination: Pattern & Syllabus

SBI PO: Syllabus & Pattern

Let us look at a model of the State Bank PO exam as it is the largest bank and has several
associate banks under its fold such as the State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur, State Bank of
Hyderabad, State Bank of Indore, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala, State
Bank of Suarastra, State Bank of Travancore. But more or less this applies to all the other
bank exams too.

Educational qualifications required are a First division graduation in any discipline with
more than 65%. This is relaxed for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the
Physically Challenged.

In addition, proficiency in computers and a certificate of training from a reputed institute

is also essential.

Age limit: Not below 21 years and not above 30 years as on1st July of the year of Exam

When held: generally in the month of September-October.

There are two stages of the test which is in Hindi and English that is:

1. Written Test :

o Objective/Syllabus:

1. Test of Reasoning ( 75 Questions and time suggested is 50 minutes)

2. Quantitative Aptitude (50 Questions and time suggested is 30 minutes),
3. General Awareness (50 Questions and time suggested is 25 minutes),
4. Test of computer literacy and English language (50 Questions and time suggested is 30
minutes).

The total Number of questions asked is 225 and 135 minutes allotted for the Objective
Test. Beware as there will be negative marks for the wrong answers.

o Descriptive:

It is a test of English language.

Time: 45 minutes.

Objective: To test the person’s higher order cognitive abilities such as comprehension
and analysis of situations, generation of unique ideas or situations as well as language
ability.

Approach: Three out of four questions have to be answered on a given situation with
answers to be restricted to the space provided in the question-cum-answer sheet.

Note: no negative marks

2. Interview:
Consists of a group discussion and interview only for those candidates who have cleared
the written examination

Strategy and Tips For Probationary Officer Recruitment

Exam:
• The written sections of Reasoning, Verbal and Aptitude can be prepared for by
solving the previous papers. Try and attempt those questions that you are hundred
percent sure of.
• Do not leave anything for the last minute. Work on a little bit of everything every
day. Last minute studying will not help you.
• For the General Awareness section try and read the newspapers and general
knowledge books regularly. Try and make a scrap book on the latest banking
news, mergers, acquisitions and agreements.
• On the day of the exam first select questions that you feel hundred percent sure of.
This will enable you to keep an eye on the time and not fall in the trap of negative
marks.
• The number of applicants far outweighs the vacancy hence without enough
preparation and practice you are a sitting duck for failure. Try and time yourself
every time you practice the tests and try and do it at a less amount of time.
• Go through acquaint yourself booklet that you usually get when you apply for the
exam. It has several helpful tips.
• You have to attempt 225 questions in 135 minutes. Try and keep your goal at
around 185 questions correct with no negative marking and you are safe at 90%.
• At the exam start answering from the General Awareness section as that does not
require a lot of thinking. Keep the time to 25 minutes for this section.
• Be careful to tick the right answer as you might know it but not tick it.
• Next, attempt the English section. The first 10 questions are based on
comprehending a passage and the remaining ones are basic grammar and sentence
structure. This should not take you more than 20 to 265 minutes.
• Then you can choose from the remaining two sections whichever you are
comfortable with.
• You must be accustomed with the exam paper so that you do not waste any
precious time understanding the format or the instructions.
• Try to practice concentration and meditation regularly. This will help you to
remain focused during preparation and also on the day of the exam.
• Go ahead and prepare a study planner and calendar for yourself and ensure that
you stick to it.
• In order to do well in the Comprehension section practice reading for gist and
details. Read whatever you can and whenever you can.
• Pay attention to new vocabulary that you come across.
• Brush up on your fundamental concepts of Mathematics and English.
• Try and read up on Banks and pertaining information. This will help you in the
General awareness section and the interview.
Books For Indian Banks PO Exam Preparation:
1. Several students buy the R. S. Agarwal series on arithmetic, reasoning and basic
English and follow it stringently.
2. Go through the BSC series of reasoning and English.
3. Bank PO Exam Preparation by Aditya Publications.
4. Quantitative Aptitude for competitive exams from Abhijit Guha.

How to Prepare for Bank PO Exam

Probationary Officer ( PO ) is the initial stage to enter in banking industry. From this, one
can progress very quickly to higher hierarchy like Manager, General Manager & may
more. So this type of job fascinates fresh graduates a lot. And also they are correct in
choosing this. This year also many banks have PO exams recently. Like there is ICICI
Bank PO recruitment, SBI PO Recruitment, Corporation Bank PO exam, OBC Bank PO
Exam 2010, UCO Bank PO exam 2010 etc.
Preparing for bank PO exam is not a tough job. It needs a little preparation only. The
Probationary Officers ( PO ) are selected on the basis of written test & interview.
Almost every bank has same pattern of written test. It consists of objective test &
descriptive test.
The Objective Test generally carries of 200 – 250 marks & duration is generally 2 – 3
hrs. The questions are on the basis of reasoning aptitude, general awareness, English
language & quantitative aptitude. Also there will be negative marking for each wrong
answer.
The Descriptive Test is of 1hr generally & questions are essay type based on
comprehension in English.

The following should be taken care of while preparing for PO exam :

1. Reasoning Aptitude : In this section, questions are basically of diagrams,

analysis, statements etc. You should be very keen & skillful while attempting this.
You will be tested on the skills used by you to solve this. Also look for previous
year question paper. This will help you a lot.
2. General Awareness : For preparing this section, the best is to read the newspaper
daily & find out the current affairs in banking sectors. global business, money
markets etc.
3. English language : This section covers questions on English grammar.
Vocabulary, synonyms, antonyms etc. The simple grammar book is sufficient for
preparation.
4. Quantitative Aptitude : In this, maths of Xth Std will be asked like algebra,
profit loss, percentage etc. Class Xth maths book is the source to prepare for it
Some of the reference books are Sultan Chand publications- Quantitative aptitude,
Abhijit Guha, R.S. Agarwal & R.K. Gupta for maths, Also some CDs are available
containing important questions.

Bank exams, be it PO or clerical aren’t that difficult as people think. But the problem is
the vacancies: applicant’s ratio. So all you need to worry is about your preparation and
not the toughness of the paper (Update: A new Common entrance test for Bank’s has
been finalized wef 2011)

If you are preparing for PO exam, the first thing you need to know is the pattern of the
exam. A written test for a PO exam consists of 2 parts, objective part and a descriptive
part . The objective part consists of four sections namely, English language test,
quantitative ability, Reasoning and General Awareness/ Marketing aptitude.

The exact pattern for a specific bank can be found in the ‘acquaint yourself booklet’
which you get when you apply to an exam.

But for now I’ll discuss on how to attempt a standard bank PO exam which has 225
questions in total with 135 minutes time i.e., 2 hrs and 15 minutes.

225 questions in 135 minutes comes out to be 36 seconds per question. It may seem
daunting but it’s not the end of the world since we aren’t attempting every question. If
you can attempt 175-185 questions (> 190 is excellent) with 90 percent accuracy, you’ve
done a good job.

So as soon as you are told to start answering, I would recommend starting with the
General awareness/ Marketing aptitude section and there won’t be much to think or solve
in it. Just see the question and mark the answer. Attempt as many questions as you can in
this section (only if you’re sure of the answer) but you should be able to complete the
section in 25 minutes (20 minutes would be excellent).

The next section to go for would be English and I generally the first 9-10 questions in it
will be that of comprehensive passage. So I would recommend leaving that part of the
questions as the rest of the section is pretty Basic English which is very easy. Again you
should be able to complete this section in 20-25 minutes.

So we’ve done with 2 sections in 40-50 minutes and left with another 135 questions
which should be done in 85-95 minutes.

Depending upon your strength, go for either Reasoning or Quant but remember to solve
the easiest questions first (this will be the deciding factor). Any thing that requires serious
calculation in Quant or serious thinking in Reasoning should be left behind at first and
come back to it if time permits at the end. For example questions on circular arrangement
in Reasoning and compound interest calculations in Quant could be avoided.

From the feedback given by many test takers, what I found is that the DI part in Quant
will be an important part in the test which is also very easiest part. Most of the question
in it could be solved without even using your pen. So work hard on DI.

Coming to the time for these 2 sections, 50 questions in Quant (or all that you could
solve) should be completed in 40 minutes which leaves out 45-55 minutes to solve 75
questions in Reasoning. Don’t neglect the non-verbal part in Reasoning as there would be
atleast 15 questions from it.

All said and done, you should have atleast 5 minutes at the last which you could either
use to solve the Reading comprehension in English or the arrangement questions in
Reasoning.

If you are accustomed with any procedure from the beginning, I would recommend
following that so that you dont mess up completely. If this is your first attempt for PO/
clerical exam, then this method would work well.

Note: Due to too many comments, we’re closing the comment section in this page. Any
further comments regarding Bank recruitment’s’ can be made on a dedicate page for
Discussion on Bank recruitment’s in India.

This article will try and guide those candidates who applied to UCO Bank notification for
1000 clerks, on how to go about the written test, which is scheduled for 14 November
2010. For any recruitment, it is important to know what sections the written test consists
of. In this particular recruitment of UCO Bank, the written test has the following
sections:

Test of Reasoning ability (50 questions for 80 marks)

Test of English Language (Qualifying)

Test of Numerical Aptitude (50 questions for 80 marks)

Test of Clerical Aptitude (50 questions for 40 marks)

All the four sections above will be in objective mode for a combined 200 marks with a
cumulative time of 95 minutes.
There is also another section, Descriptive paper, which is again only for Qualifying
purpose, for 60 minutes.

Apart from English language test, remaining question paper will be printed both in Hindi
and English. Also, candidates can write the descriptive paper in English, Hindi or any
official Local language of their State.

Although there is no General Awareness paper here, it is important to go through current

affairs and recent developments, since most of the descriptive papers are seen to
concentrate on latest happenings.

Time Management

This is the most important part of any competitive test. Bank clerical tests are one of the
easiest tests seen in India. If given sufficient time, even an average student can solve
most if not all the questions given. But since we only have 95 minutes to answer 200
questions and considering that there is negative marking for wrong answers, it is
important to choose what questions to attempt. If you need more information on this and
want to know how other candidates are performing in clerical tests, please see this Bank
written test tips page (especially the comments section).

English Language paper is only of Qualifying nature (Generally the Qualifying marks
will be 40% for General and OBC and 35% for SC/ST candidates, but they may change
for this test as they like). So if you are sure that you answered at least 40% of the
questions correctly, move on to the next section. There is no point solving all since there
are no marks for English paper, all you need is to Qualify.

For the rest of 3 Objective sections, question selection is important. If the question looks
like it takes time, move to a different question.

Practicing a lot of Reasoning Questions and Numerical Questions will help solve the
questions easily and in quick time. Many Books are available in the market for Bank
clerical recruitment’s, such as unique publishers etc.

Descriptive paper is the section that most candidates take very lightly and this is where
most fail to get qualify in the written test. Although this paper doesn’t have any marks,
you are required to Qualify in this section to be eligible for consideration for an Interview
call.

Descriptive paper mainly tests your understanding of the given topic and the command
on the language that you are writing and for this, you are expected to have sufficient
knowledge of the things happening around the World, particularly in India.

This section may have internal choices with in questions.

Although this article was written keeping UCO Bank recruitment in mind, this can be
applied to any other bank clerical recruitment, just the time management thing is to be
kept in mind.

Central Bank of India Clerks written test

Recently, Central Bank of India has announced a notification to recruit 1163 candidates
as ‘Clerks’. The written test for the same is tentatively scheduled for 13 February 2011.
In this state, you should be aware of how the written test will be and what sections it
contains. More detailed instructions will be available in the information booklet that you
will receive along with the Call letter.

Written test pattern

Most of the Bank’s don’t have a Descriptive paper for Clerks recruitment but Central
Bank of India has decided to have a Descriptive paper along with the Mandatory
Objective type test.

The Objective test will be for 95 minutes and will have the following sections:

Test of Reasoning Ability, Test of English Language, Test of Numerical Ability and Test
of Clerical Aptitude.

Each section will have 50 Questions and there is negative marking for wrong answers.

English paper is only for Qualifying and will have no weight age for merit ranking.

Descriptive part will have 5 compulsory questions with internal options and this too, is
only for Qualifying purpose.

The questions will be subjects related to Socio economic developments and will test your
communication skills. You can write descriptive answers in either Hindi or English.

You can see few Sample Bank Descriptive papers.

And you may also see Union Bank of India Clerk written test pattern which will be held a
week before Central Bank test.

Those candidates who perform well in the written test will be called for the Interview.
Syllabus : Syllabus for Bank Probationary Officer (PO) Exams

1. Test of Reasoning/Mental Ability/Aptitude:

This section usually tries to test the reasoning abilities and mental aptitude of the
candidate. Questions are asked mainly from the following categories.

VERBAL

• Number Series
• Alphabet Series
• Test of Direction Sense
• Coding-Decoding
• Number Ranking
• Arithmetical Reasoning
• Problem on Age Calculation
• Blood Relations
• Analogy
• Decision Making etc.

NON-VERBAL

• Non Verbal Series

• Mirror Images
• Cubes and Dice
• Grouping Identical Figures
• Embedded Figures etc

2. Quantitative Aptitude:

This section tests the quantitative and mathematical skills of the candidate. Questions are
asked mainly from the following categories.

• Number System
• HCF, LCM
• Simplification
• Decimal Fractions
• Ratio and Proportions
• Unitary Method
• Percentage
• Time and Distance
• Time and Work
• Profit and Loss
• Average
• Simple and Compound Interest
• Mensuration (2D and 3D)
 • Algebra
• Data Interpretation

3. English:

This section is designed to test the language abilities and understanding of English
grammar. Questions are asked mainly from the following categories.

• Verb
• Adverb
• Subject Verb Agreement
• Error Correction
• Tenses
• Sentence Rearrangement
• Fill in the Blanks with Modals, Articles etc
• Comprehension
• Answering questions based on Unseen Passages
• Vocabulary
• Synonyms
• Antonyms

4. General Awareness:

This section is checks whether the candidate keep himself/herself up to date with the
world around them. Questions are asked mainly from the following categories.

• Current Affairs (National and International)

• Major Financial/Economic News
• Budget and Five Year Plans
• Who’s Who
• Sports
• Books and Authors
• Awards and Honours
• Science - Inventions and Discoveries
• Abbreviations
• Important Days
• International and National Organisations

NOTE:- Syllabus may vary from Bank to Bank and from Time to Time. However this
broadly covers all the topics one should prepare for Bank PO Examination. This syllabus
is valid for bank Probationary Officer Recruitment Exam conducted by State Bank of
India (SBI), Bank of Baroda (BOB), Allahabad Bank, ICICI, Corporation Bank, Bank of
Maharashtra and other national banks

•
Banking jobs are the hot favorite among job seekers even during this period of economic
recession and job cuts. The reasons being job security, stable pay, growth prospects
.Since Indian banks have performed well compared to American and European peers, the
demand for officers, executives, clerks is still seen in Indian job market. But how to
prepare for a job in bank?

We have compiled some important points which would be useful for all those who wish
to take up bank exams.

1) If you are determined for a job in bank, preparations for exams must be started well in
advance. Most bank exams have common sections like Aptitude, Logical, so its better
you start from them. Clerk Exams & PO Exams have these papers.

2) Practice using model or previous question papers; it could help in giving an outline of
the exam structure. Try to work out the questions atleast thrice, which will boost your
confidence level to answer. Mock tests might help to bring down the fear before taking
up the exam.Make use of guides & bank exam books while preparing

3) Having decided to appear for exams of a specific bank, research about the bank,
management, core business areas, branches, mission, achievements and recognitions is
necessary. This helps you in Interview , Group discussion & in written examination.

4) Apart from preparing specifically for bank exams, be attentive about up-to-date
happenings by reading newspapers. Stay alert on issues pertaining to banks and its
business. Watching business news channels will provide a more inside view on various
topics.

5) Be bold in expressing your views, if given a chance –since you could be appointed the
next manager!
a. Current Affairs
b. Social Economics
c. Aptitude
d. General Knowledge
e. Reasoning Section
f. Mathematics (Quantitative Aptitude)
g. Banking Awarness
h. English Section