IBPS PO Mains Exam Pattern

The IBPS PO Mains Exam plays a very important role in the candidate's selection because the result of mains is used to qualify the exam as well as to calculate the rank of the candidate in final merit. The institute has changed the IBPS PO Mains Exam Pattern this year and announced it in the official notification. The mains exam is conducted in an online medium and there will be two papers. A paper will be objective and another will be descriptive.

The following changes have occurred in the new exam pattern of IBPS PO Mains.

• The duration of the objective paper is increased by 40 minutes (2 hours 30 minutes to 3 hours)  means the total allotted time for the objective paper will be 3 hours. The number of questions is also increased by 60 questions in the objective paper.

• The new section of the descriptive paper apart from the objective test is added for essay and letter writing in the English language. It will contain 2 questions for 25 marks and its duration will be 30 minutes.

• The exam duration for IBPS PO Mains will be 3 hours 30 minutes (On including objective and descriptive paper timing).

• The separate section of computer knowledge is merged with the reasoning section.

There will be 4 sections in the objective paper that contains the following subjects

1. Reasoning and Computer Aptitude
2. English Language
3. Data Analysis and Interpretation
4. General Awareness, Economy and Banking Awareness

The number of questions and allotted time for every section is different. The candidates have to qualify sectional and overall cutoff marks to pass the examination. The language of the IBPS PO Mains will be in both Hindi and English except English Language Section. The candidates preparing for IBPS PO Mains should have a better understanding of exam pattern and marking process because it helps to determine how should they attend the questions to score maximum marks.

Take a glance at the below table to quickly understand the IBPS PO Mains Exam Pattern

The descriptive paper comes under the subject of the English Language and contains only two questions to write in 30 minutes to check the communication skills of the candidates. Take a glance at the below table for the descriptive paper.

• First- the candidates will have to appear for an Online Preliminary Test that would be of 100 marks.
• Second- those who qualify the Preliminary Test will be shortlisted for the Mains Test which would be of 200 marks.
• Third- those who qualify Mains will be followed by Interviews.

Watch the video for IBPS PO Mains Exam Pattern

IBPS PO Mains Marking Scheme

The marking process of IBPS PO Mains is not similar in each section. It varies according to sections. The institute has a penalty of 1/4 of the assigned mark for a question. So it is advisable for the candidates to attempt the questions with accuracy in an appropriate time limit. The IBPS PO Mains is a computer-based test and will be conducted online. So marking more than one answer in a question will not be possible. There will be 5 answers in the mains exam and the candidate have to mark the right answer to gain mark. Negative marking is a factor here, that affects negatively on the candidates' score. There will be no penalty for unattempted questions.

Take a glance on the below table to understand the IBPS PO Mains Marking Process

• 1/4 penalty of assigned marks for a wrong attempted question in IBPS PO Mains
• No penalty for unattempted questions
• Marks for the right answer will be provided according to the above table

IBPS PO Mains Syllabus
 

Reasoning and Computer Aptitude: 

Reasoning

Computer Aptitude

Internet, Memory, Keyboard Shortcuts, Computer Related Terms Abbreviations, Computer Fundamentals, Microsoft Office and Related Word Processing and Spreadsheet Applications, Computer Hardware and Software, Operating Systems and GUI Basics, Basic Computer, Networking

English Language: 

Data Analysis and Interpretation:

General Awareness, Economy and Banking Awareness:

Banking Awareness, Financial Knowledge, Basic Economics, Current Affairs, Current Events of National and International Importance with focus on financial news, Static GK, General Knowledge on various topics of importance to financial institutions.

Preparation Tips for IBPS PO: For Mains Exam
•         You need to finish three sections of IBPS PO Prelims within 60 minutes, which means you need speed with accuracy in order to attempt 100 questions in total. The more you practice, the better chances you have of acing this exam.
•         Make mathematics and reasoning your strong subjects, practice questions to solve them within time to increase efficiency. You should lay emphasis not on mugging up the formulas but instead try understanding the concepts, so, you can modify the formulas according to the question requirement.
•         Remember negative marking is a factor here. Therefore, try not to attempt questions that put you in doubt. Although, the prelim exam will be of just qualifying nature and won’t be considered for the final merit list as only Main exam marks will matter, but you still need to secure the minimum qualifying marks in the prelims as set by the Indian Bank.
•         Manage your time properly; give appropriate amount of time to each section. Try to improve your time by practicing as many online tests as possible. Youth4work provides online mock tests will time limit attached to each question; this way one can learn to finish the entire exam within the time limit.
•         Studying in a stretch for hours can be tedious and hard and also not so good. Therefore, try to study at several times in regular sessions during a day. This will make learning easy and fun, also you will have enough time to brush up the already studied topics in between intervals.
•         It is very important to maintain proper health, so you don’t fall sick on the big day. Give your brain appropriate time to refresh itself. Don’t rush too much information into your head than its limit allows. Take it slow and steady. And get at least eight hours of sleep each night.

Youth4work Prep Tests

Online practice tests for competitive exams – are very unique and popular among aspirants. Aspirants can take self-designed mock-tests as well as practice for sections and topics separately. Youth4work’s unique and proprietary technology is helping lakhs of aspirants to reveal personal details on what are the strength areas of aspirants for any exam and also suggest how they can improve the performance.
Following are interesting insights from nearly 3.3 lakh question attempts on IBPS P0 exam practice tests on Youth4work. Every aspirant is rated on a Rating Scale. The ratings of the aspirants change with every question attempt.

Interview:  IBPS PO 

The candidates who qualify the main exams will be shortlisted for the interview which will be conducted by the Nodal Bank in each state. The call letter should be downloaded from the official website of IBPS. The interview centre, date and timing will be written in the call letter. The candidates need to bring all the original documents that will be mentioned in the call letter. The marks of interview will be 100. The minimum marks for qualifying the interview is 40% for General and 35% for SC/ST/OBC/PWD. The final result will be based on the marks of Mains and Interview.