IBPS has released the notification for IBPS Specialist Officers in 2017 with 1315 vacancies for positions in 20 banks. This recruitment process involves 2 online examinations which are known as Prelims and Mains. These levels are also followed by a shortlisted list of candidates that are called for the interview.

After the execution of the interview, the final list with the ranks of each person is let out by IBPS and then the recruitment process is completed. These exams are scheduled to take place on 30^th and 31^st December in 2017.  To know more about IBPS SO Exam including important dates and other necessary things towards preparation for the upcoming examination, read on…­

IBPS SO Exam Important Dates

Application process for the 2017 exam began on 7^th November. The process of application ends on 27^th November. This means that the forms for this exam are still out and you can fill them if you are interested in IBPS SO Exam.  The call letters for this exam will be available for download in December 2017.  The preliminary online examination will be conducted on 30^th and 31^st December 2017. The result for prelims will be out in January 2018. The call letter for Mains will also be out in January 2018. The Online Mains Exam will be conducted on 28^th January 2018.

The result of Mains Exam will be declared in February 2018. The call letters for interview will also be out in February 2018. The process of interview will be conducted in February-March 2018 and the provisional allotment for jobs will be done in April 2018. Now that you know the schedule, you can plan the process for studying accordingly.

IBPS SO Exam Pattern

IBPS Exam for Specialist Officers is conducted in order to recruit people for the following posts:

1. Agricultural Field Officers
2. Marketing Officer Scale 1
3. HR Officer/Personnel Officer
4. IT Officer Scale 1
5. Rajya Sabha Adhikari Scale 1
6. Law Officer

Online Exam for Law Officers and Rajya Sabha Adhikari Scale 1 has the following pattern:

Total time duration of the exam is 2 hours. There are a total of 150 questions with 125 maximum marks. There will be 50 questions each for Reasoning, English Language and General Awareness. Each question will be for 1 mark except in English Language section, which has questions worth 0.5 marks.

Online exam for Agricultural Field Officers, Marketing Officer Scale 1, HR Officer/Personnel Officer, IT Officer Scale 1 has the following pattern:

Total time duration of the exam is 2 hours.  There are a total of 150 questions with 125 maximum marks. There will be 50 questions each for Reasoning, English Language and Quantitative Aptitude. Each question will be for 1 mark except in English Language section which has questions worth 0.5 marks.

The test can be attempted in both English and Hindi. Each question has a negative marking of ¼ for each question that has been answered wrongly.  There are a total of 1315 vacancies for various posts.

Preparation Plan for IBPS SO Exam 2017

In order to prepare for IBPS SO Exam, candidate must know about topics that need to be covered in order to be fully prepared. We will tackle each section for the preparation of IBPS SO Prelims Exam 2017.

IBPS SO Reasoning Syllabus – The Specialist Officer (SO) exam consists of 50 questions and 50 marks. This makes this section quite important when you want to crack the exam in one go. It covers the questions that involve forming judgement and conclusion from the data available. All questions will be based on Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning.

The important topics of Reasoning section in IBPS SO Exam are –

1. Syllogism
2. Data Sufficiency
3. Input-Output
4. Coding-Decoding
5. Analogy
6. Blood Relation
7. Puzzle
8. Test Direction
9. Sense Logical
10. Venn Diagrams
11. Alphabet & Alpha Numeric
12. Sequence Test
13. Eligibility Test
14. Arrangements-Linear & Circular
15. Series test
16. Analogy
17. Odd figures
18. Miscellaneous test

In order to prepare for this section, it is suggested that one spends at least 1 hour on this section each day and attempt mock tests every week for proper preparation. Practicing at least 50 questions from each topic will give a good idea about the type of questions that can be asked in the exam and how the brain works in order to find the solution.

IBPS SO English Language Syllabus – The people who want to be recruited as Specialist Officers through IBPS SO Exam must understand that they should have a good hold on the basic English and can use it wherever necessary as English has become the universally accepted language for communication. The commonly asked questions are quite similar and they are not very difficult to understand. Even if the candidate comes from a non-English speaking background the smaller weightage of 25 marks for 50 questions plays in your favour. With a small amount of effort you will actually be able to get great marks in this section. The important topics include –

1. Synonyms
2. Antonyms
3. Sentence completion
4. Deriving a conclusion
5. Theme detection
6. Passage completion
7. Rearrangement of passage
8. Spelling Errors
9. Sentence Improvement
10. Reading Comprehension
11. Spotting Errors
12. General usage means phrases and idioms
13. Fillers

In order to prepare for this section, you have to study for 30-45 minutes depending on your knowledge about this section. In order to get better at it you can take mock tests every week in order to solidify your preparation. You must practice 30 questions of each type before the final exam in order to be confident about your preparation.

IBPS SO Quantitative Aptitude Syllabus –

As described above, this section is not relevant to you if you are going to apply for the Law Officer or Rajya Sabha Adhikari post. This test will be designed to test your accuracy when dealing with numbers and computation ability, interpretation of tables and graphs and quantitative reasoning.

IBPS SO General Awareness Syllabus –

The IBPS SO Exam will focus on all current affairs relevant in today’s times and will focus primarily on the details of the banking industry. You should be able to work on the following topics in order to get a good hold of this section during IBPs Prelims Exam.

1. Indian Economy Questions for IBPS
2. International Economy
3. UNO
4. Marketing
5. Indian Constitution
6. Awards &Honors
7. Sports
8. Finance
9. Agriculture
10. History of Banking
11. current affairs of last six months
12. countries/currencies
13. Books & Their Authors
14. Banking Terms
15. RBI
16. Questions for IBPS Fiscal-Monetary Policies
17. Social Function of Banks

You can research the internet about these questions in order to actually expand your knowledge about them.

This sums up the tips for your IBPS SO Exam preparation. We hope that this article has given you a good plan to start your IBPS SO Prelims Preparation.

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