IBPS PO 2020 Syllabus (Prelims and Main), Exam Pattern and Recommended Books
Updated On -
Jun 2, 2020
Content Curator
Institute of Banking Personnel Selection has determined the sections that will come in prelims and main exam. However, there is no stipulated official syllabus for IBPS PO Examination 2020. Based on the previous years’ paper analysis, the important subjects and topics are listed in this article.
Latest: IBPS PO 2020 Application Form will be available at ibps.in from August 7 – 28, 2020.
- IBPS PO 2020 will be conducted in three phases- Preliminary exam, Main exam, and an Interview Round.
- Prelims exam will have 100 multiple choice questions from the English Language, Quantitative Aptitude, and Reasoning Ability.
- Main Exam will have 155 objective questions on Data Interpretation & Analysis, Reasoning & Computer Aptitude, General/ Economy & Banking Awareness and English Language.
- The main Exam also consists of a descriptive paper having 2 questions on Letter and Essay writing.
- Candidates who qualify prelims appear in the main exam and similarly in interview round. Check IBPS PO Cutoff
Download IBPS PO Sample Papers
Latest Changes in IBPS PO 2020 Syllabus
IBPS PO Exam Pattern introduced few changes over the years that are to be continued in the upcoming exam as well:
- The ‘Computer Aptitude’ section has been clubbed with the Reasoning Ability section. Hence, there will be no separate section for ‘Computer Awareness’ as before.
- ‘Quantitative Aptitude’ has been renamed as ‘Data Interpretation & Analysis’
- IBPS PO 2020 Syllabus for the Main Examination includes an English descriptive paper which will assess the candidates’ writing skills. There will be 2 questions- Letter Writing and Essay Writing for a total of 25 marks. The time duration allotted would be 30 minutes for this section alone.
- The Main Examination will now have 157 questions instead of 200 questions.
- The duration of the Main exam along with the English descriptive paper has been increased to 3 hours 30 minutes.
Read How to Prepare for IBPS PO 2020?
IBPS PO 2020 Syllabus
The syllabus for Prelims and Main Exam varies in respect of the number of sections, topics, and difficulty level. The preliminary exam is a screening test while the main exam tests candidates’ suitability to be recruited as probationary officers in various banks. IBPS PO Syllabus for both prelims and main exam is given below.
IBPS PO Prelims Syllabus 2020
The syllabus for the preliminary exam includes three subjects- English Language, Quantitative Aptitude, and Reasoning Ability.
| English Language (30 marks) | Quantitative Aptitude (35 marks) | Reasoning (35 marks) |
|---|---|---|
| Reading Comprehension | Simplification | Logical Reasoning |
| Cloze Test | Profit and Loss | Alphanumeric Series |
| Para Jumbles | Mixtures and Allegations | Ranking/Direction/Alphabet Test |
| Miscellaneous | Simple Interest, Compound Interest, Indices | Data Sufficiency |
| Fill in the blanks | Work and Time | Coded Inequalities |
| Multiple Meaning/Error Spotting | Time and Distance | Seating Arrangement |
| Paragraph Completion | Mensuration- Cylinder, Cone, Sphere | Puzzle |
| Data Interpretation | Tabulation | |
| Ratio & Proportion, Percentage | Syllogism | |
| Number Systems | Blood Relations | |
| Sequence and Series | Input-Output | |
| Permutation, Combination, and Probability | Coding-Decoding | |
| Percentages | Statement and Arguement | |
| Quadratic Equations | Analogy |
Note: This is the first stage in IBPS PO Selection Process. Marks scored in Prelims will not be considered while calculating the final merit of the students. However, it is essential to qualify the Prelims exam in order to get selected for the Main exam. The prelims exam has sectional and overall cutoff which implies that candidates must obtain minimum sectional and overall score as stipulated by IBPS to qualify the exam.
IBPS PO Main Exam Syllabus 2020
The syllabus for IBPS PO 2020 Main Exam includes 4 subjects- Reasoning and Computer Aptitude, English Language, Data Analysis and Interpretation, General Economy and Banking Awareness. The table given below lists out the detailed IBPS PO syllabus for the Main examination.
| Data Interpretation & Analysis (60 marks) | General Awareness (40 marks) | Reasoning & Computer Aptitude (60 marks) | English Language (40 marks) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplification | Financial Awareness | Verbal Reasoning | Internet | Reading Comprehension |
| Average | Current | Syllogism | Memory | Vocabulary |
| Percentage | General Knowledge | Circular Seating Arrangement | Keyboard Shortcuts | Grammar |
| Ratio and Percentage | Linear Seating Arrangement | Computer Abbreviation | Verbal Ability | |
| Data Interpretation | Double Lineup | Microsoft Office | Editing | |
| Mensuration and Geometry | Scheduling | Computer Hardware | Fill in the blanks | |
| Quadratic Equation | Input-Output | Computer Software | ||
| Interest | Blood Relations | Operating System | ||
| Age | Directions and Distances | Networking | ||
| Profit & Loss | Ordering & Ranking | Computer Fundamentals/ Technologies | ||
| Number Series | Data Sufficiency | |||
| Speed, Distance & Time | Coding & Decoding | |||
| Number System | ||||
| Data Sufficiency | ||||
| Linear Equation | ||||
| Permutation & Combination | ||||
| Probability | ||||
| Mixture and Allegations | ||||
Note: Descriptive Paper will be of English Language where candidates will have to write a Letter and an Essay. Total marks for the paper will be 25 and the duration will be 30 minutes. IBPS will examine the descriptive paper only when the candidate will score minimum marks in the objective paper. Read How to Prepare for Descriptive Paper?
IBPS PO Exam Pattern 2020
The exam pattern of IBPS PO Prelims and Main exam varies in terms of the number of sections, mode of exam, duration, and marking scheme. Candidates can check the basic exam pattern below:
| Particulars | IBPS PO Prelims | IBPS PO Main |
|---|---|---|
| Duration | 1 hour | 3 hours 30 minutes |
| Number of Questions | 100 MCQs | 155 MCQs, 2 Descriptive |
| Maximum Marks | 100 | 225 |
| Mode of Exam | Online | Objective- Online, Descriptive- Offline |
Check IBPS PO 2020 Exam Pattern
Recommended Books for IBPS PO 2020 Exam
Candidates may refer to various books and sample papers published by different authors for exam preparation. Listed below are few books written by some famous authors /publications known for competitive exams:
| Title | Author/Publisher |
|---|---|
| Comprehensive Guide to IBPS | Disha Publications |
| Quantitative Aptitude | R.S. Aggarwal |
| Target IBPS PO | Disha Publications |
| Bank PO solved papers for PO & MT | Kiran Publication |
| The Complete Success Package- Bank Recruitment Examination | Arihant Publications |
| Computer Knowledge | Kiran Publication |
| Objective English for Competitive Examinations 5th Edition | R.S. Aggarwal |
| Banking Awareness | Arihant Publications |
Check Easy Preparation Tips for IBPS PO Exam
IBPS PO Syllabus FAQs
Ques. What is new in the IBPS PO exam pattern? Is it similar to the SBI PO exam pattern?
Ans. As per the IBPS notification, the new exam pattern would be like SBI PO pattern. However, this change would only be observed in the main examination. The time duration of the main exam will be increased, and a descriptive section will be added.
Ques. What would be the total number of questions in prelims and mains examination?
Ans. Prelims and Mains have 100 and 157 questions respectively.
Ques. What are the different sections in the IBPS PO exam?
Ans. Prelims consist of three sections namely, English language, Quantitative aptitude and Logical Reasoning. For the Main examination, there would be four sections namely, English, Data Analysis & Interpretation, Reasoning & Computer aptitude and General Awareness. A Descriptive section has also been added recently to the Main exam.
Ques. What are the most important or scoring areas in reasoning?
Ans. Reasoning is subdivided into two parts- logical and verbal reasoning. Some of the most scoring topics are number series, coding decoding, blood relation, direction and distance, sitting arrangements, syllogism, cause and effect and data sufficiency.
Ques. What are the most important and scoring areas in English?
Ans. English is one of the easiest sections in the exam as most of the question you would come across here are all of secondary and high school level. Some of the easy and scoring areas in this section are fill in the blanks, rearrangement, spotting errors, reading comprehension and vocabulary (synonyms, antonyms).
Ques. What are the most important and scoring areas in Quantitative aptitude/ Data Analysis and Interpretation?
Ans. Since Quant is one of the toughest sections, it requires constant practice. Some of the scoring topics are number systems, ratio and proportion, profit and loss, simple and compound interest, sequence and series, simplification questions. For data interpretation, questions are based on graphs and pie charts majorly for which you should be fast with calculations.
Ques. What are the easy and scoring areas in General awareness?
Ans. For scoring good marks in this section, you should be updated with the current affairs going on at national and international level. Apart from this, some of the important topics include awards and honours, books and their authors, Banking terms, RBI guidelines and policies, sports news, etc.
Ques. What are the important topics to cover in Computer Aptitude?
Ans. This section does not require any special preparation and is the easiest in the exam. Some of the easy and scoring areas are Basics of computers, basic terminologies of internet, networking basics like LAN and wan, Input and output devices, shortcut keys, latest technologies etc.
Ques. How many stages will be there in the IBPS PO exam?
Ans. There would be three stages- preliminary examination, mains examination and personal interview.
Ques. Will the previous year’s question papers be useful for preparation?
Ans. Yes, it will help you get a hands-on experience of how the actual paper will be and if you are lucky enough, you may even expect a repetition of questions in the exam.
Ques. What kind of materials should be used for GK? Are newspapers enough?
Ans. While newspapers keep you updated with the current affairs going around in the country along with it there are other major areas also from which you can expect questions in the exam. For static gk, you can read books like Manorama and Competition Success review and also keep yourself updated with latest trends in banking industry like RBI policies, Budget and other banking related terminologies.
Ques. How much time do I need to prepare for this examination?
Ans. There is no stipulated time as to how much time one needs to prepare for this exam as it all depends upon the individual. However, it ideally requires a preparation time of 6-8 months and extensive practice to crack the exam.
Ques. Is there negative marking for wrongly attempted questions?
Ans. Yes, you will be penalized for each incorrect answer marked by you. 1/4th of the marks would be deducted for incorrect answers.
Ques. Do I need to qualify in both, Prelims and Mains to be eligible for an interview?
Ans. Marks of Prelims will only be considered for qualifying to the Main exam. However, for the final list marks of prelims will not be added. For the interview you only need to clear the main examination.
Ques. Is it an online, computer-based or an offline, pen-paper based examination?
Ans. The mode of examination is purely online and will be conducted on a computer in the designated test center.
Ques. Which categories can apply for pre-exam training? I am from the general category can I undergo this training?
Ans. No. Candidates from general category are not allowed for this training as it is only for SC/ST/Religious minorities candidates as issued by Government of India. This a free training provided five days prior to the examination across various centres.
Ques. What mode of preparation should I opt for? Online or offline?
Ans. Choose a mode that best suits your needs. If you are someone who is comfortable with regular classes and needs a traditional classroom environment, you can opt for offline classes. If you are tech-savvy and don’t want a typical time bound class then opt for online preparation.
Ques. What will be the exam duration for the preliminary and main examination?
Ans. The IBPS prelims exam would consist of 100 questions and the total duration of the exam will be 1 hour. For the main examination, total duration of the exam will be 3 hours and 30 minutes out of which 3 hours will be for the objective exam and rest of the 30 minutes will be for the descriptive exam consisting of letter writing and essay.
Ques. What is the ideal number of attempts in the exam to clear the cut-off?
Ans. While cut-off scores are totally relative in nature, they depend hugely on performances of all the candidates that appeared in the exam. However, one should aim at attempting 50-60% of questions in each section to reach the overall cut-off and the sectional cut-offs.
*The article might have information for the previous academic years, please refer the official website of the exam.