Bank Exam Syllabus and Pattern for PO, Clerk and RBI Posts

Bank exam syllabus compared: PO, clerk and RBI

All of these accept graduates of any discipline, except the specialist streams of RBI Grade B. RBI Grade B (general) wants 60 percent in graduation (50 percent for SC, ST and PwBD) or 55 percent in post graduation. IBPS Clerk also asks for computer literacy, and the regional rural bank posts expect you to know the local language of the state you apply for.

Banking exam pattern: how prelims differ

Prelims for the PO and clerk exams of IBPS and SBI, and for RBI Assistant, lasts one hour, split into three timed sections of 20 minutes each. The split of questions is where they part ways.

For the IBPS RRB Office Assistant post, prelims has only reasoning and numerical ability, for 80 marks. A wrong answer in any objective section costs a quarter of that question's marks, so a reckless guess in the last minute can undo a good section.

Bank PO syllabus at mains level

Mains is where officer and clerk papers really separate. In the latest IBPS PO scheme the objective mains has 145 questions for 200 marks in 160 minutes across reasoning, English, data analysis and interpretation, and an awareness section on banking, the economy, digital finance and current affairs that now includes RBI circulars. A 30 minute typed descriptive test of 25 marks follows, with one comprehension and one essay.

SBI PO mains is longer: 170 questions for 200 marks in three hours, with reasoning and computer aptitude, data analysis, general and banking awareness and English, plus a descriptive paper of an email, a situation analysis and either a report or a precis, reported at 30 marks. Its third phase adds a psychometric test, a group exercise of 20 marks and an interview of 30 marks.

RBI Grade B Phase 2 goes beyond aptitude altogether: economic and social issues, English writing and finance and management, each worth 100 marks.

Bank clerk exam syllabus and topics that repeat

The bank clerk syllabus is the same family of topics at a slightly lower level. IBPS Clerk mains has 155 questions for 200 marks in 120 minutes, covering general and financial awareness, general English, reasoning and quantitative aptitude, and only mains marks count for the final list.

• Reasoning: floor and box puzzles, circular and linear seating, coded inequality, syllogism, ranking, family tree questions, directions, coding, and input and output in PO mains.
• Quant: data interpretation from tables and charts, quadratic equations, wrong number and missing number series, simplification and approximation, arithmetic word problems, data sufficiency.
• English: reading comprehension, cloze test, error detection, sentence rearrangement, word swap and fillers.
• Awareness: current affairs of the last six months, banking terms, RBI policy tools, government schemes and static GK such as headquarters and currencies.
• Computer: basics of hardware, software, networking and shortcuts, tested inside reasoning in SBI PO mains.

Bank exam syllabus books and study material

A small, well used set of books beats a heavy pile. A good set looks like this:

• One school level arithmetic book for percentages, ratio, interest and time and work, then a separate book of data interpretation sets.
• One reasoning book with a large puzzle section, since puzzles decide most mains scores.
• A standard English grammar book, plus the editorial page of a national newspaper every day.
• A monthly current affairs compilation, and the press releases section of the RBI website for banking awareness.
• Full length online mocks in the exact sectional time format, at least two a week in the last two months.

Featured banking pages

• IBPS PO syllabus: revised prelims marks and the new descriptive format
• IBPS PO cut off: sectional and overall cut offs by category
• IBPS PO previous papers: puzzle and DI types from past years
• IBPS Clerk syllabus: prelims and mains for clerical cadre
• IBPS Clerk cut off: state wise cut offs
• SBI PO syllabus: three phases and the descriptive paper
• SBI PO cut off: phase wise trends
• SBI Clerk syllabus: junior associate prelims and mains
• SBI Clerk previous papers: how to use old shifts
• IBPS RRB PO syllabus: officer scale I with Hindi or English paper
• IBPS RRB Clerk syllabus: office assistant two stage exam
• RBI Assistant syllabus: prelims, mains and the language test
• RBI Grade B syllabus: ESI and finance and management papers
• RBI Grade B eligibility: marks conditions and attempts
• NABARD Grade A syllabus: agriculture and rural development focus
• SEBI Grade A syllabus: securities market officer papers
• LIC AAO syllabus: insurance officer recruitment
• IBPS SO syllabus: professional knowledge papers by specialisation
• JAIIB syllabus: for bank staff after joining

Bank syllabus in Hindi for PO and clerk exams

Readers often look for the banking syllabus in Hindi. Here is a short summary; the full topic lists are on each exam page.

बैंक पीओ और क्लर्क दोनों परीक्षाओं में प्रारंभिक परीक्षा एक घंटे की होती है, जिसमें रीज़निंग, संख्यात्मक योग्यता और अंग्रेज़ी के तीन खंड होते हैं और हर खंड को 20 मिनट मिलते हैं। मुख्य परीक्षा में इन विषयों के साथ बैंकिंग, अर्थव्यवस्था और सामान्य जागरूकता जुड़ जाती है। पीओ की मुख्य परीक्षा में कंप्यूटर पर टाइप करके वर्णनात्मक पेपर भी देना होता है, और उसके बाद इंटरव्यू होता है। हर गलत उत्तर पर उस प्रश्न के एक चौथाई अंक कटते हैं। अंग्रेज़ी का खंड केवल अंग्रेज़ी में आता है।