If you are looking for jobs in a sector which is more or less secure and comes with a definite scale of promotion, then you should be looking for jobs in the banking sector. A lot of people are working in this sector and there are various vacancies in many banks all around the country, so if you are looking for a good job you will surely find one in the banking sector. However, there is one very important thing that you have to remember about this sector and that is the entrance process is not exactly very easy. You will have to appear for written examinations in two stages for which you will need to know the Bank Exam Syllabus and prepare yourself for the examinations accordingly.
Prepare according to the post:
Banks, both private as well as public sector undertaking banks, hire based on the vacancies in various posts. There are mainly three major posts that all the PSU banks, including SBI and private banks, offer- the clerical posts, the post of a probationary officer and the post of specialist officers. Each post has its own demands and hence when it comes to the entrance examination question pattern and difficulty level and hence you need to know the Bank Exam Syllabus for each post in order to prepare for them. Just before you start the preparations, it will be a good idea to check out the eligibility criteria for the post in question. For example, you have to have cleared your 10+2 examinations for a clerical post in any bank that you will be applying, you will need to be at least a graduate from any recognised university of India to be able to sit for the PO examinations and for the specialist officers. In case of a specialist officer, your subject of graduation or specialisation will be counted as your area of speciality and depending on the posts available you will be assigned your job. So when you start your preparations for the examination, you ought to prepare based on the post that you will be applying for.
The examination pattern for most of the bank entrance examinations:
It is important to know first that each private bank has its own system of hiring applicants which is through a written examination followed by an interview. Though SBI is a public undertaking sector bank, it conducts its own separate examination for the PO and the clerical posts. Then there is the IBPS or the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection which conducts a common entrance test for all the other PSU banks that are registered with it, the IBPS is affiliated to the Government of India.
There are generally three stages to any entrance examination for banks and the Bank Exam Syllabus remains more or less the same, no matter who is conducting the examination. The three stages of a bank examination are:
- Prelims: For this stage, the candidate will have to answer 100 questions, compiled from various subjects like English Grammar, Quantitative Aptitude and Logical Reasoning.
- Mains: In this stage, the candidate will have to answer 200 questions, from areas of knowledge like English grammar, quantitative aptitude, logical reasoning, basic knowledge of computers and general knowledge and current affairs.
- Personal Interview: If a candidate fares well and qualifies in the prelims and the mains, then they will be called in for an interview, based on which they will be allotted their position and location.
The Bank Exam Syllabus that you need to prepare for:
Well when preparing for the examinations, one needs to be aware of the syllabus of every post. The difficulty level of the probationary officer and the specialist officer posts is higher than that of the clerical post examination. When you collect your study material, you will have to collect them based on the post that you are applying for. Let us take a look at the Bank Exam Syllabus that applicants need to be aware of when preparing for bank examinations for both the mains and the prelims:
| Subject | Syllabus |
| English Language | Cloze Test
Comprehension and answering questions Spotting Errors Double Fillers Correcting sentences Summary of paragraphs Completing paragraphs Conjunctions to connect sentences Vocabulary Paragraph jumbling correction |
| Quantitative Aptitude | Data sufficiency
Data interpretation Ratio Proportion The number series Average Quadratic equations SI and CI Percentage Calculation profit and loss Unitary method for streams and boat problems Allegation and mixtures Time and Distance Combination and Permutation Calculating probability Sums of cisterns and pipes Partnership sums |
| Reasoning Ability | Data sufficiency
Output input Seating arrangement problems Syllogism Decoding and coding Finding blood relations Tabulating data Alphanumeric series Calculating ranks Verbal reasoning Direction and distance sums Coded inequalities |
| Computer Aptitude and Knowledge | Basics
Computer Applications Networking DBMS |
Apart from these three major sections, there is also a General Awareness section which consists of three subsections. Let us take a look at them:
| Sub-section | Syllabus |
| Static Awareness | Authors, books, international awards, the currencies of different countries etc, all fall under this category |
| Financial and Banking sector awareness | All acts and regulations, abbreviated terms for the banking sector or any basic knowledge about this field is necessary for this portion |
| Current affairs | This portion will include news from different parts of the world which has any bearing on the banking sector |
Preparing right for each segment of the Bank Exam Syllabus
It is not possible to have absolute grasp over every section of the syllabus. While some candidates will be better with English, others will be good at the quantitative aptitude portion. So when it comes to the Bank Exam Syllabus you will need to work on the portion that you are weak at during the first stage of the preparation so that you get a grip on it and then you can focus on the portion that you are most confident about. Start preparing by solving previous years’ question papers.
The Bank Exam Syllabus is a pretty huge one and hence you should get on with your preparations as soon as you can.
