Every year Institute of Banking Personnel Selection holds the IBPS Exams in multiple Public Sector banks. IBPS started Common Written Examination (CWE) in the year 2011 to recruit officers and clerks in Public Sector Banks. It accepts online application through its official website for registration of the examination. It is held at various locations throughout India. The mode of examination is online. Every year more than 10 lakh aspirants appear for the BANKING SO examination.
| Sl. No. | Post | Age | Educational Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | I.T. Officer (Scale I) | Min – 20 years / Max – 30 years | 1) Four years engineering/Technology degree in Computer Science/IT/Computer Application/Electronics and Communication Engineering/Electronics and Telecommunication/ Electronics and Instrumentation OR 2) Post Graduate Degree in Computer Science/IT/Computer Application/Electronics and Communication Engineering/Electronics and Telecommunication/ Electronics and Instrumentation OR Graduates having passed DOEACC 'B' level exam |
| 2. | Agricultural Field Officer (Scale-I) | Min – 20 years / Max – 30 years | 4 years graduation degree in agriculture/ Horticulture/ Animal Husbandry/ Veterinary Science/ dairy Science/ Agricultural engineering/ Fishery Science/ Agri-Marketing and cooperation/ Co-Operation and Banking/ Agro-Forestry |
| 3. | Rajbhasha Adhikari (Scale I) | Min – 20 years / Max – 30 years | Post Graduate in Hindi with English as a subject at the graduation or degree level OR Post Graduate Degree in Sanskrit with English and Hindi as a subject at graduation level |
| 4. | Law Office (Scale I) | Min – 20 years / Max – 30 years | A bachelor's degree in Law and enrolled as an advocate with Bar Council |
| 5. | HR/Personnel Officer (Scale I) | Min – 20 years / Max – 30 years | Graduate and Full Time Post Graduate Degree or Full time Diploma in Personnel Management/ Industrial Relation/ HR/ HRD/ Social Work/ Labour Law |
| 6. | Marketing Officer (Scale I) | Min – 20 years / Max – 30 years | Graduate and Full Time MMS (Marketing)/ MBA (Marketing)/Full time PGDBA/ PGDBM with specialization in Marketing |
Certificate which supports that they are graduates on the day they were registered for the exam. The percentage of marks obtained in should be mentioned at time of registration for the BANKING Bank-SO examination.
Computer Literacy: Knowledge of computer operation is a must as BANKING SO exam is conducted online.
Age Eligibility of candidates applying for BANKING SO Examination:
Candidates applying for the BANKING SO examination should be of 20 years old but not more than 30 years old at the time of registration. Besides this, there is age relaxation relevant 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 |
| Persons with Domicile of Jammu &Kashmir during the period of 1-1-1980 to 31-12-1989 | 5 years |
| Persons affected by 1984 riots | 3 years |
Exam Consists of Prelims, Mains and Interview.
The exam will be in two parts: Tier 1 or IBPS Preliminary Exam and Tier 2 or IBPS Mains Exam. Preliminary exam will be qualify phase to appear in Mains Exam. This examination is followed by an interview For the Post of Law Officer, IT Officer, Agriculture Field Officer, HR/Personnel Officer and Marketing Officer Professional Knowledge Test.
The IBPS SO preliminary examination is of two hour duration and is conducted online. It has 3 sections with having 150 questions in total with a maximum score of 125 marks. There is negative marking in IBPS SO pre exam as one fourth marks are deducted for every wrong answer.
| Serial No | Section | No. of Questions | Total Marks | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Reasoning | 50 | 50 | 40 minutes |
| 2. | English Language | 50 | 50 | 40 minutes |
| 3. | General Awareness with Special Reference to Banking Industry | 50 | 50 | 40 minutes |
| Serial No | Section | No. of Questions | Total Marks | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Reasoning | 50 | 50 | 40 minutes |
| 2. | English Language | 50 | 25 | 40 minutes |
| 3. | Quantitative Aptitude | 50 | 50 | 40 minutes |
| - | Total | 150 | 125 | 120 minutes |
A penalty for every incorrect answer will be marked in the Objective Tests of both Preliminary and Mains exams. Every wrong answer will be penalized by deducting 0.25 of the marks assigned to that question. There will be no penalty for leaving a question blank, i.e. in case no answer is marked by the candidate.
For the Post of Law Officer, IT Officer, Agriculture Field Officer, HR/Personnel Officer and Marketing Officer
| Name of Test | Number of Questions | Maximum Marks | Medium of Exam | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Professional Knowledge | 60 | 60 | English & Hindi | 45 minutes |
| Name of Test | Number of Questions | Maximum Marks | Medium of Exam | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Professional Knowledge(Objective) | 45 | 60 | English & Hindi | 45 minutes |
| Professional Knowledge(Descriptive) | 2 | 60 | English & Hindi | 45 minutes |
The Mains Examination will contain questions only from the Professional Knowledge Subjects.
For the Post of Law Officer, IT Officer, Agriculture Field Officer, HR/Personnel Officer and Marketing Officer it has Professional Knowledge Test there is 1 sections having a total score of 60 marks of 30 minutes duration.
For the Post of Rajbhasha Adhikari there is 2 sections having a total score of 60 marks of 60 minutes duration the total time duration is 30 minutes for objective and 30 minutes for descriptive.
| S.No | Test name | Max. questions | Max. marks | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Professional Knowledge | 60 | 60 | 45 minutes |
| Name of Test | Number of Questions | Maximum Marks | Medium of Exam | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Professional Knowledge(Objective) | 45 | 60 | English & Hindi | 30 minutes |
| Professional Knowledge(Descriptive) | 2 | 60 | English & Hindi | 30 minutes |
A penalty for every incorrect answer will be marked in the Objective Tests of both Preliminary and Mains exams. Every wrong answer will be penalized by deducting 0.25 of the marks assigned to that question. There will be no penalty for leaving a question blank, i.e. in case no answer is marked by the candidate.
| Reasoning Ability | Quantitative Aptitude | English Language | General Awareness |
|---|---|---|---|
| Logical Reasoning | Simplification | Reading Comprehension | Current Affairs |
| Alphanumeric Series | Profit & Loss | Cloze Test | GK Updates |
| Ranking/Direction/Alphabet Test | Mixtures & Alligations | Para jumbles | Currencies |
| Data Sufficiency | Simple Interest, Compound Interest, Surds & Indices | Multiple Meaning / Error Spotting | Important Places |
| Coded Inequalities | Work & Time | Fill in the blanks | Banking |
| Seating Arrangement | Time & Distance | Miscellaneous | Awards |
| Puzzle | Mensuration – Cylinder, Cone, Sphere | Paragraph Completion | Book And Author |
| Tabulation | Data Interpretation | - | Head quarter |
| Syllogism | Ratio, Proportion & Percentage | - | Important Days |
| Blood Relations | Number Systems | - | Prime minster Scheme |
| Input Output | Sequence & Series | - | - |
| Coding Decoding | Permutation, Combination & Probability | - | - |
Apart from these subjects, candidates are required to have Professional Knowledge in his/her area of expertise as well.
| Marketing Officer (Scale-I) |
Agricultural Field Officer(Scale-I) | Law Officer (Scale-I) |
HR/Personnel Officer (Scale-I) |
IT Officer (Scale-I) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basics of Marketing Management | Basics of Crop production | Banking Regulations | Human Resource Development | Operating System |
| Brand Management | Horticulture | Compliance and Legal Aspects | Business policy and strategic analysis | DBMS |
| Advertising | Seed Science | Relevant Law and Orders related to negotiable instruments, securities, foreign exchange | Transnational Analysis | Data communication and networking |
| PR | Agronomy and Irrigation | Prevention of Money laundering, Limitation Act | Training and Development | Software engineering |
| Sales | Agricultural Economies | Consumer Protection Act | Recruitment and Selection | Computer Organization and Microprocessor |
| Retail | Agricultural Practices | SARFARESI | Rewards and Recognition | Data Structure |
| Business Ethics | Soil resources | Banking Ombudsman Scheme | Industrial Relations | Object Oriented Programming |
| Market Segmentation | Animal Husbandry | Laws and Actions with direct link to Banking Sector | Business Policy and Strategic Analysis | - |
| Market research and forecasting demand | Agro-forestry | Bankers Book Evidence Act | Grievance and Conflict Management | - |
| Product Life Cycle | Ecology | DRT Act | Performance Management and appraisal | - |
| Corporate Social Responsibility | - | - | - | - |
| Service Marketing | - | - | - | - |
A candidate should qualify both in the Online CWE (Main Examination) and interview and be sufficiently high in the merit to be shortlisted for subsequent provisional allotment process, details of which will be made available subsequently on IBPS website.
The total marks allotted for Interview are 100. The minimum qualifying marks in interview will not be less than 40% (35% for SC/ST/OBC/PWD candidates). The weightage (ratio) of Online CWE (Main Exam) and interview will be 80:20 respectively. The combined final score of candidates shall be arrived at on the basis of total scores obtained by the candidates in the Online Main Examination of CWE- SPL-VII and Interview. Interview score of the candidates failing to secure minimum qualifying marks or otherwise barred from the interview or further process shall not be disclosed.