Government Jobs in Banks have been in huge demand in the past few years. This is due to the high degree of job security, salaries and exciting career and growth opportunities offered by Banks. The ideology of Bank Jobs has completely changed the way bank exams are perceived in India. Candidates have to go through a common (slightly different) selection procedure for the selection in the Public sector banks in India. All banks individually or through IBPS has various stages of the recruitment process and set the criteria to pass in all the stages. A general exam pattern for Upcoming Bank Exams has been given in the following article which can be used by the candidates to study/practice for the bank exams. Other details about Upcoming Bank Exams can be read from the following article.
Schedule of Upcoming Bank Exams
| Exam | Online Registration | Preliminary Examination | Main Examination |
| IBPS RRB | 18th June 2019 to 4th July 2019 | Officer Scale I: 3rd, 4th, 11th | Officer Scale I: 22nd September 2019 |
| Office Assistant: 17th, 18th & 25th August 2019 | Office Assistants: 29th September 2019 | ||
| Repco Bank Clerk | 3rd June 2019 to 20th June 2019 | 7th July 2019 | |
| SBI SO | 23rd May 2019 to 12th June 2019 | – | – |
| SBI Clerk | 11th April 2019 to 3rd May 2019 | June 2019 | 10th August 2019 |
| SBI PO | 2nd April 2019 to 22nd April 2019 | 8th, 9th, 15th & 16th June 2019 | 20th July 2019 |
| IDBI Bank Executives Recruitment | 04th April to 15th April 2019 | 16th May 2019 | |
| IDBI Bank Assistant Manager Recruitment | 04th April to 15th April 2019 | – | – |
| IBPS SO | – | 28th & 29th December 2019 | 25th January 2020 |
| IBPS Clerk | – | 7th, 8th, 14th & 15th December 2019 | 19th January 2020 |
| IBPS PO | – | 12th, 13th, 19th & 20th October 2019 | 30th November 2019 |
| NIACL Assistant | 10th December 2018 | 30th January 2019 | 2nd March 2019 |
| RBI Grade B | – | – | – |
| SBI SO | – | – | – |
| RBI Assistant | – | – | – |
General Exam Pattern for Bank Exams
For Preliminary Exam
| Section | No of Questions | Max Marks | Duration |
| English Language | 30 | 30 | 20 minutes |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 35 | 35 | 20 minutes |
| Reasoning Ability | 35 | 35 | 20 minutes |
| Total | 100 | 100 | 1 hour |
For Main Exam
| Section | No of Questions | Max Marks | Duration |
| Reasoning & Computer Aptitude | 45 | 60 | 60 min |
| Data Analysis & Interpretation | 35 | 60 | 45 min |
| General/Economy/ Banking Awareness | 40 | 40 | 35 min |
| English Language | 35 | 40 | 40 min |
| Total | 155 | 200 | 3 hours |
- This is the general exam pattern can be used to prepare for all bank exam.
- The duration for each section or for all section may vary.
- Name of the section may also vary for different types of exam.
How to prepare for Upcoming Bank Exams
Quantitative Aptitude
- Practice as much mock test papers as you can.
- To cover most of the topics, follow school level syllabus of elementary Mathematics.
- Solve the practice test papers topic wise.
- Learn the important formulas, tables, and theorems.
Reasoning Ability
- Make note of important points and steps to solve questions.
- Go through example questions to analyze the syllabus.
- Practice as many questions as possible of every type.
- Speed will save you more time for other questions.
- Revise regularly.
Computer Awareness
- Have a basic understanding of how computer systems work.
- Solve computer quizzes on a daily basis.
- Learn the basics and have practical knowledge of the computer.
- Practice keyboard shortcuts on the computer.
- Refer to a good book for general knowledge of computer software and hardware.
General Awareness
- Give at least an hour every day to study for the general awareness section.
- Read from the Class 10 level textbooks of History and Geography.
- Take GK quizzes to test your general knowledge.
- Stay updated on current events and issues by reading newspapers and magazines.
English Language
- Make notes of any new word you come across while reading it in your writings.
- Practice improving your understanding of grammar.
- Have a basic conversation with people in the English language.
- Read as many synonyms and antonyms, prepositions, conjunctions, tenses, etc.
Important Books for Upcoming Bank Exams
For General Awareness
- Pratiyogita Darpan
- Manorama Year Book 2017 (English)
- Lucent’s General Knowledge (English)
- Newspaper: THE HINDU, TIMES OF INDIA
- Banking Awareness by Arihant Publication
For Reasoning Ability
- ExamKrackers LSAT Analytical Reasoning
- Test of Reasoning by Edgar Thorpe, Pearson
- A New Approach to Reasoning by Arihant Publication
- A Modern Approach to Verbal & Non-Verbal Reasoning by R S Aggarwal, S.Chand
For Quantitative Aptitude
- Disha Experts book
- Data interpretation by Arun Sharma
- Quantitative Aptitude by R S Agrawal
- Data interpretation by Dhillon Publication
- Practice Book on Quicker Maths by M.Tyra, K.Kundan
- Fast Track Objective Arithmetic by Rajesh Varma, Arihant Publishers
For English
- Student Companion by Wilfred D. Best
- Word power made easy by Norman Lewis
- English Grammar and composition by Wren & Martin
- English Grammar by Rajendra Pal & Prem Latha Suri
- Objective English by SP Bakshi, Arihant publication
For Computer Awareness
- Computer Fundamentals by P.K Sinha
- Books on Computer Knowledge by Kiran Prakashan
- Objective Computer Awareness for General Competitive Exams by Arihant publication