Have you understood the revised IBPS PO Exam Pattern

As an aspirant looking for a reputed job in public sector banking, by now you must be aware that the pattern of IBPS exams has undergone a change. After some wait, the official notification for IBPS PO CWE 2015 is now out and we know the pattern of this  year’s exam.

However, it is important to have clarity as to what the new IBPS pattern is all about and what implications it will have for your exam preparation. Keeping this in mind the faculty at Vidya Guru, the best institute for IBPS Coaching in Delhi, have come up with a thorough analysis of what you can expect to see in the exam.

New IBPS PO Pattern

The online recruitment examination for PO / MT will be conducted in the month of October this year. The exam is going to be conducted in two phases:

(I) Preliminary Exam (Prelims) – The duration of this online exam will be one hour. This exam will have three tests: English, Maths (Quant) and Reasoning. It will serve as the elimination round. The candidates who get shortlisted on the basis of Preliminary Exam will have to appear in the Main Exam.

(II) Main Exam (Mains) – The pattern of the Main Exam is going to be the same as the pattern of the CWE online exam conducted last year. It will be a 2 hour online exam, which will have 5 tests as given below:

Noteworthy Points: Selection Procedure

1. There will not be much time gap between Prelims and Mains. The Preliminary Exam is scheduled to happen in the first and the second weeks of October. The Main Exam will be conducted on 31st October, 2015.
2. Prelims will not have General Awareness and Computer Knowledge. This means you may find the time allotted (1 hour) for 100 questions collectively based on Maths, English and Reasoning to be on the lower side. Questions based on General Awareness and Computer Knowledge are generally factual in nature and attempting them does not take much time.
3. In case of both Prelims and Mains, you have to display your proficiency in all areas. The cut off for each of the tests / sections will have to be cleared separately.
4. Apart from the minimum cut off marks, you will also have to score a minimum number of total marks to be considered to be shortlisted for Interview.
5. You will be shortlisted for Interview on the basis of your performance on Mains alone; your score on Prelims will not be taken into account for short listing for the Interview.
6. The Interview will be of 100 marks. You must score a minimum of 40 marks to qualify it. However, qualifying marks will be 35 in case of SC/ST/OBC/PWD candidates.
7. The marks obtained on Prelims will not be added in the final merit list. The final merit list will be prepared on the basis of your score in the Mains and the Interview.
8. The weight age of the Mains and the Interview in the final score will be 80% and 20% respectively.
9. You will be awarded a normalized score (equated on the basis of difficulty level of the exam conducted in different sessions) arrived at by using the equipercentile method.
10. The cut off score will be decided by calculating mean and standard deviation. The cut off scores are as follows:

(a) For SC / ST / OBC / PWD Categories: Mean – 3/4th of Standard Deviation
(b) For General Category: Mean – 1/4th of Standard Deviation

Implications on Preparation Strategy

• In the run up to Prelims, you must focus on increasing your speed and learning judicious question selection. Without it you may find yourself lagging behind. Appropriate time will have to be allotted for each of the tests / sections from the perspective of clearing the sectional cut offs and simultaneously scoring a competitive overall score.
• If you are preparing for Prelims, it automatically means you are also preparing for the Maths, English and Reasoning which will be there on the Mains. It is advisable to prioritize these 3 subjects over General Awareness and Computer Knowledge till you are not through with the Prelims.
• Your preparation for Maths, English and Reasoning should be complete before Prelims. The time between Prelims and Mains must be used to revise the concepts related to these 3 subjects and maintain the level of performance which you had already acquired before Prelims.
• Between Prelims and Mains your primary focus should be on brushing up General Awareness and gaining further Computer Knowledge. A total of 60 marks are up for grabs from these two subjects. A strong performance on these subjects is required to have a competitive edge against other candidates.

• A systematic study schedule will have to be prepared for the time which has been provided between Prelims and Mains. A day wise agenda must be set to maximize the efficiency of your preparation.

Finally, adequate practice through online mock tests is a must to fine tune your exam strategy. The online mock tests provided by any top Bank PO Coaching Institute in Delhi will suffice this purpose. However, taking the mock test is only half the job done. After taking any mock test, a thread bare analysis is required to learn from the mistakes that were made so that you don’t repeat them in future.

Summary

Over here, the structure of IBPS PO 2015 exam has been described in detail. In addition to understanding the new IBPS exam pattern, the focus has been on making you aware about what this pattern has in store for you. After going through this article, you will have much better understanding about how to approach the exam. In case you wish to seek further guidance from Vidya Guru experts, you can drop a mail at vidyagurudelhi@gmail.com.