HOW TO PREPARE FOR IBPS EXAMS

Are u preparing for bank exams ? lets have a look this will be worth reading:

Basically any bank exam paper consists of 5 important sections:

1.Arithmetic

2.Reasoning

3.English

4.General awareness with special reference to banking sector

5.Computer awareness

Here,I will discuss a general preparation technique which is well suited to any student from any background.

Arithmetic:

In arithmetic we have simplifications,percentages,profit and loss,simple and compound interests,time and work ,time and distance,permutations and combinations,probability,income and expenditure,allegations and mixtures,partnerships,ratios and proportions and averages,data interpretation.

Things to do before starting to prepare for arithmetic:

You must learn 1-20 multiplication tables,squares of 1-30,cubes of 1-20,basic percentage to fraction conversions(50%=1/2,75%=3/4 etc) byheart.This will greatly cut down your time of calculations.

Most candidates are in a false assumption that learning short cuts are enough to crack a bank exam.

Well,these days the paper setters are being clever and are setting paper in such a way that the questions are ambiguous cases on which some of your short cuts wont work.So,before solving problems from a particular topic,list down all basic and possible derived formulae covering the topic,learn them byheart and know what is what(Suppose d=st is the formula for calculating distance when speed and time are given;You have to know what do d,s,t stand for.You have to know the units too.You cant directly substitute the given values if speed is in km/hr and time is in sec or vice versa,you need to know the conversion too) .Also,while solving the problems,first master the basic technique before going for the short-cut.

Compare both direct method and short cut method and see which saves your time.Stick to the one which saves you time.

Reasoning:

Reasoning is a boon as well as a bane in bank papers.You can score 95%-100% marks in reasoning or you can even score negative marks.Reasoning is not easy but not a tough nut to crack

Reasoning has three parts:

Verbal,Non-verbal,Logical.

I personally feel that Verbal is the easiest out of the three with sufficient practice.

In verbal,we can expect questions on syllogisms,machine input,coded inequalities,sitting arrangements and puzzles,directions,coding and decoding,alphabetical and numerical series.

You don’t need to be a master mind to solve these.Even a tenth class student can solve the verbal part of reasoning given enough time.So,you have to practice keeping in mind the time the verbal part consumes.Solve as many verbal questions as you can in minimal time.

In non-verbal part,the questions are basically on figure series,relation between figure,picking the odd figure out.This  one is of average difficulty and prett y time taking because you have to sort out the logic and apply it to every figure and eliminate the inaccurate  options.

Logical part is basically found in officer level papers and those who are preparing for clerks don’t need to prepare this topic.Questions can be found on cause-effect,course of action,assumption,argument,drawing inferences and decision making.Your understanding of the question and options is critical to get a good score in this part.So,you have to sharpen your reading skills and combine them with some logical thinking.This section too is a pretty time consuming section.

English:

Here comes the nightmare part. This is the section which makes the difference between a selected and a not selected candidate.In English,questions can be found on reading comprehension,cloze test(paragraph with filling in the blanks),scrambled/jumbled sentences,synonyms-antonyms(which can be asked in a variety of ways),correction of sentences,fill in the blanks.

For comprehension ,cloze test and jumbled sentences,you need to understand and analyse the given  paragraph and sentences.Again your reading skills play a crucial role.My opinion is to read the editorial part of newspaper with a dictionary in hand.This will also be helpful while answering descriptive paper,group discussions.

For correction of sentences,you need to know basic grammar,since this is a bank exam and not an MBA entrance.Wren and Martin book might help in this regard.

General awareness:

They say news paper reading is the best way to score well in this section.However most of the people don’t know the technique of reading it.You have to maintain a notes for every section.Sections can be classified as National,International,Banking rates and events,Awards achievements and recent appoinments,Sports,General(Who is who),Important dates,books and authors.You have to note down the points in the related section’s note book.Or you can even write them on scratch sheets and file them according to sections.Being up-to –date is important.

Writing the point is an art.Suppose you find a point ,”Amartya Sen welcomes Food security bill in India”.You have to find out who Amartya Sen is,whats his current role/job,his past achievements and also know about food security bill details.This approach will help you to frame opinions which can be used in group discussions/descriptive papers.

You will even find marketing questions in this section.Reading the questions in previous papers can help you .But don’t prepare like an MBA,prepare like a normal graduate(Remember,minimum qualification for Bank is graduate!!!) while you prepare for Marketing.

Computer awareness:

In computers,we can expect questions on Computer architecture/parts of computer,hardware and software,input and output devices,Internet and email basics,Networking basics,files and folders,MS-Office basics and shortcuts. Read basic points to latest developments like fastest computer developed till date.Keep an eye on latest softwares too because this will be helpful in interview purpose..

author of this article cleared all the four tests conducted by the IBPS in 2013 viz.,and presently working as a Probationary Officer in Bank of Baroda

IBPS-RRB's Scale I officer with 135 marks

IBPS-RRB's  office assistant (multipurpose) with 130 marks

IBPS-PO/MT III with 93 marks

IBPS-CLERKS with 155 marks

for any doubts can post ur doubts here in coments section 

Happy reading!

                                                                                                      author: Sarat Chandra M

                               

                                           co-author: Uday Shankar B