IBPS SO Syllabus for Prelims, Mains and Each Specialist Post

How the IBPS SO syllabus is staged

1. Prelims: four sectional tests of 20 minutes each, each with its own minimum score. It only shortlists for the mains.
2. Mains: English, reasoning, quantitative aptitude or banking awareness, and a longer professional knowledge test. Law Officer and Rajbhasha Adhikari candidates also write a short descriptive paper.
3. Interview: 100 marks, run by participating banks with the help of IBPS. The notification sets the minimum at 40 percent, eased to 35 percent where the candidate is SC, ST, OBC or PwBD.

Final allotment comes from mains and interview scores weighted 80 to 20. Prelims marks drop out once you reach the mains.

IBPS SO prelims exam pattern

Each professional knowledge item is worth two marks, double any other question, so your field subject now weighs heavily even at the screening stage. Any incorrect response loses you a quarter of whatever that item is worth. Remember that you must clear each test's cut off separately; a brilliant reasoning score cannot rescue a weak English section.

IBPS SO prelims syllabus topics

• English: two or three passages with inference and vocabulary questions, cloze passages, error detection, rearranging jumbled sentences, word swaps and double fillers.
• Reasoning: seating and floor puzzles, syllogisms, inequalities, blood relations, direction sense, coding, input and output, data sufficiency.
• Quantitative aptitude: table, bar and pie chart sets, missing number series, approximate calculation, comparing two quadratic roots, and word problems on percentage, ratio, profit, interest, time and work, speed and mixtures.
• General awareness (banking focus): news from the months leading up to your test date, RBI policy and functions, banking terms, financial inclusion schemes, government budget and economy basics, and static GK.
• Professional knowledge: the same field topics listed for your post in the mains section below, asked as shorter objective items.

The three general tests are close to bank PO prelims level, so that practice can serve two exams. Planning both? Our IBPS PO syllabus guide shows where they overlap.

IBPS SO mains syllabus and pattern

Law Officer and Rajbhasha Adhikari candidates then write a descriptive paper (2 questions, 25 marks, 30 minutes), taking their total to 225 marks. Law candidates write it in English; Rajbhasha candidates get English and Hindi. For these two posts the notice marks every mains test other than professional knowledge as qualifying, with merit drawn from professional knowledge; read the wording printed under your post in the notification.

IBPS does not publish a chapter wise list for professional knowledge. The areas below are the ones that past papers and the post descriptions point to, so use them as a map, not a guarantee.

• IT Officer: database management and SQL, computer networks, operating systems, software engineering, data structures, web technologies, computer organisation, and information security.
• Agricultural Field Officer: agronomy and crops, soil science, horticulture, plant protection, animal husbandry, agricultural economics and finance, and central schemes for farmers. See also the IBPS AFO syllabus.
• Law Officer: banking related laws such as the Banking Regulation Act, RBI Act, Negotiable Instruments Act and recovery laws, along with contract, company, consumer protection and constitutional law.
• HR or Personnel Officer: human resource management, labour laws, industrial relations, recruitment, training, performance appraisal, compensation and organisational behaviour.
• Marketing Officer: marketing management, consumer behaviour, segmentation and branding, pricing and distribution, services and digital marketing, and selling bank products.
• Rajbhasha Adhikari: Hindi and English grammar, translation in both directions, official language policy and rules, and terms used in banking Hindi; expect the descriptive paper to test translation and drafting.

Eligibility snapshot

In the latest cycle you had to be 20 to 30 years old on 1 July. The upper limit rose by 5 years for SC and ST, by 3 for the non creamy OBC layer and by 10 for persons with disability. Each post has its own degree rule: a four year engineering degree or a postgraduate degree in computer science, IT or electronics streams (or graduation with DOEACC B level) for IT Officer, a four year agriculture or allied degree for AFO, an LLB with Bar Council enrolment for Law Officer, a Hindi or Sanskrit postgraduate degree with English for Rajbhasha, a full time postgraduate degree or diploma in HR, personnel or labour fields for HR Officer, and a two year full time MBA, MMS or PG diploma in marketing for Marketing Officer. The wording and the deadline for your degree result change each year; check the latest notification.

Splitting preparation between the two stages

Prelims and mains were about two months apart in the latest cycle, and professional knowledge now scores in both, so start your field subject on day one rather than after the prelims result.

• Daily from day one: 45 minutes of your field subject, using your graduation textbooks and notes.
• Prelims block: one sectional test a day in rotation, and every week one complete 80 minute mock with the four 20 minute timers.
• After prelims: give most hours to professional knowledge. Condense every unit onto a single sheet and solve 50 question timed sets in 40 minutes, while keeping one mains level English and reasoning set going each week.
• Interview: revise your final year projects and be ready to connect your field with banking work.

Bank exam aspirants can find related guides in the bank exams section, and earlier closing scores are covered on the IBPS SO cut off page.