Basic Introduction

The banking job of the Probationary Officer or the Bank PO is one of the most prestigious jobs in the country, providing long-term job-security and growth opportunities. The most sought-after PO examinations are the IBPS PO, conducted by the IBPS or the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection annually.

The job of a PO can entail anything from taking care of the cash, managing loans, dealing with credit cards issuance to being a teller or assistant jobs. A Bank PO is exposed to all facets of banking, making the candidate ready to deal with all situations.

The IBPS PO examination is conducted in the following four stages over a period of approximately nine months:

• Preliminary Examination
• Mains Examination
• Interview
• Provisional Allotment

Once a candidate clears all four of the above stages, the candidate is allotted the post of a Probationary Officer in one of the twenty participating Public Sector Banks.

IBPS PO Notification

The official notification of the IBPS PO Examination 2019 is expected soon! Watch this space for more.

The official notification for IBPS PO 2018 was released on 09th August, 2018 for 4,252 vacancies in various participating banks. The Bank and Category wise bifurcation is as follows:

Important Dates

Exam Pattern:

PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION:

The Prelims is an Online Exam, with multiple-choice questions.

Some Important points regarding the Preliminary Examination:

• Each section has a specific time duration. The candidates should keep a tab on the clock while attempting each section.
• Each correctly answered question fetches one mark and every incorrect answer reduces the overall by 0.25 each, i.e., there is a negative marking of 0.25 for every incorrect answer.
• An additional 20 minutes as advised for every hour of the examination, would be provided to the Persons with Benchmark Disabilities.

MAIN EXAMINATION:

The Mains examination is both Online and Descriptive. Details of both have been provided below.

Online Examination, with Multiple Choice Questions.

Some Important points regarding the online examination:

• There are 155 questions in the paper that need to be solved in the allotted time span.
• Each correctly answered question fetches one mark and every incorrect answer reduces the overall by 0.25 each, i.e., there is a negative marking of 0.25 for every incorrect answer.
• An additional 20 minutes as advised for every hour of the examination, would be provided to the Persons with Benchmark Disabilities.

Descriptive Examination.

PERSONAL INTERVIEW

Candidates shortlisted on the basis of cut-off (sectional as well as overall), will be called for a round of Interview conducted by the Participating Banks and coordinated by the Nodal Bank in each State or Union Territory with the help of IBPS.

The total marks for the Interview are 100. The candidates have to obtain a minimum of 40% (35% for SC/ST/OBC/PWD candidates) in the Interview to be eligible for Provisional Allotment. The relative weightage of the Online Main Examination and Interview would be 80:20. The final score of the candidate would be decided on the basis of marks obtained in the Online Main Examination and the Interview.

PROVISIONAL ALLOTMENT

After successful completion of the above three stages, the candidate would be provisionally allotted to one of the Participating Banks on the basis of merit-cum-preference and depending upon vacancies.

IBPS PO SELECTION PROCEDURE:

The IBPS PO Examination process begins with Online Registration. Once the candidate has successfully registered, s/he is eligible to appear for the Preliminary Examination. The candidate must obtain the required sectional cut-off in the Preliminary Examination, to be eligible for the Main Examination. The candidate must qualify in each of the sections of the Main Examination with a minimum score as decided by IBPS to be shortlisted for the Interview. On successful completion of the Interview, the candidate is provisionally allotted as a Probationary Officer in one of the participating banks on the basis of merit (decided on the basis of Mains Examination score and Interview in the ratio 80:20)-cum-preference.

IBPS PO Preliminary Exam Syllabus:

IBPS PO Preliminary Examination Detailed Analysis:

CAREER TRAJECTORY OF A BANK PO:

Once appointed as a Probationary Officer, a Bank PO can be asked to do any job in the bank, be it clerical or assistant. The job responsibilities include:

• Front-Desk Management: Dealing with customers on a daily basis, getting their queries resolved and/ or acting as Relationship Manager.
• Loan Management: Keeping a track of loans, mortgages etc. and their management as well as recovery.
• Treasurer: Taking care of the treasury, maintaining logs.
• Cashier/Teller: Handling the cash/cheque transactions of the customers.
• Manager: Keeping a tab on the latest developments, suggest ideas and plans to improve business.

The Bank PO is a lucrative career and has an upward trajectory. With hard work, a PO can achieve great success. The career progression of a PO is as follows: