IBPS PO (Probationary Officer) — Syllabus & Exam Pattern

Free preparation for IBPS PO (Probationary Officer) — the official exam pattern and topic-wise syllabus are below. Start preparing from home, without books.

See current IBPS PO (Probationary Officer) vacancies & notifications

Exam Pattern

Conducting body: Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS), which runs the Common Recruitment Process (CRP) for Probationary Officer / Management Trainee posts in the participating public sector banks. Eligibility: graduation in any discipline. Selection has three stages — Preliminary, Main and Interview. PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION (online, 100 marks, 1 hour): English Language (30 questions, 30 marks, 20 minutes); Quantitative Aptitude (35 questions, 35 marks, 20 minutes); Reasoning Ability (35 questions, 35 marks, 20 minutes). The Prelims is only a screening test — these marks are NOT carried to the final merit. MAIN EXAMINATION (online): an Objective Test of 200 marks (about 3 hours) plus a Descriptive Test — English (Letter Writing & Essay) of 25 marks, 30 minutes. The objective test is usually split into four separately-timed sections — Reasoning & Computer Aptitude, Data Analysis & Interpretation, General / Economy / Banking Awareness, and English Language (the exact question count per section can change year to year, so treat the split as indicative). Negative marking is one-fourth (1/4) mark for each wrong answer in the objective tests. INTERVIEW (100 marks): candidates who clear the Mains are called for an interview. The final merit is prepared with a weightage of 80:20 between the Main examination and the interview (the Prelims marks are not counted). Confirm the current section split, marks and eligibility against the CRP-PO advertisement of the year on ibps.in.

Syllabus (topic-wise)

NOTE: IBPS does not publish a rigid line-by-line syllabus — the notification fixes only sections, question counts, marks and timing. The areas below are the standard, consistently-tested topics; treat them as indicative, not an official verbatim list.
English Language (Prelims & Mains): Reading Comprehension; Cloze Test; Para Jumbles; Error Detection / Spotting; Sentence Improvement; Fillers (single & double); Word Usage / Word Swap; Phrase Replacement; Vocabulary; Paragraph Completion.
Quantitative Aptitude / Data Analysis & Interpretation: Simplification & Approximation; Number Series; Quadratic Equations; Data Interpretation (tables, bar / line / pie, caselet, missing DI); Data Sufficiency; Percentage; Ratio & Proportion; Average; Profit & Loss; Simple & Compound Interest; Time & Work; Time-Speed-Distance; Mixtures & Alligation; Partnership; Ages; Boats & Streams; Mensuration; Probability; Permutation & Combination.
Reasoning Ability (Prelims & Mains): Puzzles & Seating Arrangement (linear / circular / floor / box-based); Syllogism; Blood Relations; Direction & Distance; Order & Ranking; Coding-Decoding; Inequality; Alphanumeric Series; Machine Input-Output; Data Sufficiency; Logical / Critical Reasoning; Analogy & Classification.
Computer Aptitude (Mains — within the Reasoning & Computer Aptitude section): computer fundamentals, hardware & software, operating systems, MS Office, internet & networking, database basics, memory & storage, input / output devices, computer abbreviations and basic security terms.
General / Economy / Banking Awareness (Mains): current affairs of roughly the last 6 months (national & international); Banking & Financial Awareness (RBI & its functions, monetary policy, SEBI / IRDAI, types of accounts & negotiable instruments, NPAs, banking terms & abbreviations); the Indian Economy & Budget; important government schemes; and static GK.
Descriptive Test (Mains): Letter Writing (formal / informal) and Essay Writing — assessed for grammar, coherence, structure and clarity of expression.

Official source: https://www.ibps.in/

⚠️ Always confirm against that year's official notification — the exam pattern and syllabus can change. This page is free guidance only.