The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) conducts exam for recruitment of Probationary Officer (PO) in different public sector banks in India. This year, the IBPS PO prelims exam was scheduled to be conducted on October 15 and 16.

Read on to understand the exam pattern and important preparatory points:

IBPS PO prelims exam pattern 2022

There are a total of 100 questions for 100 marks each. The exam will have:

– 30 questions for the English language, valued at 30 marks

– 35 questions for 35 marks for numerical ability

– 35 questions for reasoning ability for 35 marks.

The total duration of the exam will be 60 minutes or one hour, 20 minutes for each section.

Experts’ tips to prepare English for IBPS PO 2022 exam

IBPS PO 2022 exam is believed to be one of the toughest exams in India, and it is no surprise that the level of English section in both — Prelims and Mains — tends to recline towards the tougher side. If you prepare well, then the English section can surely boost your score in the exam.

The English language section consists of grammar, vocabulary, and reading skill test. Let’s look at the topics that will be asked in this section of the IBPS PO exam.

1. Reading comprehension

– This section is usually time consuming, as the section has more questions when compared to all other sections.

– To score well in this section, improve your reading skills by practicing through a range of articles of different topics such as economy, polity, philosophy, etc.

– To save time, first try to go through the question and then read the passage. This will help you mark out the answer easily.

– For synonyms and antonyms-based questions, go through the sentence containing the concerned word first and then through the options provided.

2. Cloze test

– This section consists of a passage in which there are blanks in place of some words and you have to figure out which word fits the sentence among the given options.

– The objective is to test your ability to comprehend text.

– Read the sentence first and then try to look for the correct option by substituting the provided options in the sentence.

– You should be able to eliminate incorrect options with the help of this approach.

– If you get stuck on any question, leave it and move on to the next one.

3. Fill in the blanks

– Try to understand the basic idea of the given passage. It will help you to arrange sentences quickly.

– All you need to do is recognise the proper connection between the given sentences.

– Usually, the given message in the jumbled sentences changes from general to particular. If you scrutinise, you can see that the first few sentences are general, while others are fact-specific and informative.

– Sometimes a good knowledge of options analysis helps to rule out the possible answers from the given options. This trick will save a lot of time.

– The key is to find the first sentence swiftly as it will give us a linear direction concerning the given content. Similarly, guessing the concluding sentence will give you both ends of the linear connecting idea.

– Generally, sentences denoting time, place and name are the most probable opening lines.

4. Error spotting/sentence improvement/sentence correction

– Make sure you go through the entire sentence first

– Lookup for grammatical errors, in case the structure of the sentence seems fine to you.

– Try to eliminate the options by going through the sentence properly.

5. Phrase replacement

– You should be able to attempt these questions by reading the sentence accurately.

– In the case of doubt, try reducing the options.

– These sentences normally have grammatical flaws, so look up the structure in the sentence while attempting these questions.

6. Odd one out

– This is also a new type of question format for the English section of the IBPS PO exam.

– In this section, the candidates are required to select one option that seems different from all other options.

– You need to identify the theme and then identify which sentence is not matching that theme.

7. Fillers:

– Read the whole sentence to get the gist of the flow.

– Go with the second part first to get the proper order or sense of the sentence, while keeping the grammar rules in mind (especially tense).

– Think of the logic behind the option, you can also go with the ‘odd one out’ strategy.

There are other sections too such as match the column, para completion and summary, and sentence connector.

Important parts of English section in IBPS PO 2022 exam

There are two parts to the English section. They are

Vocabulary:

– A good vocabulary is required to clear any bank exam because unless you understand the meaning of the word, it will be challenging to attempt the question.

– To develop your vocabulary, try to read at least three to four articles from the newspaper or a novel on a daily basis.

– Reading newspapers will not only improve your general knowledge, but it will also increase your vocabulary.

– Make sure that you read at least two to three articles from different newspapers regularly.

Grammar:

– This is an important parameter of the English language that is tested in these exams.

– Try to clear your grammar basics first, because that will help you in the structuring and understanding of sentences.

– You can attempt exercises regularly that have been provided for various grammar topics to improve consistently.

(The author is an English expert at BYJU’s Exam Prep. She has over eight years of experience in teaching English for banking exams)




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