Banking jobs are one of the prestigious jobs in India, as they offer a good salary and job security too. With the recent recruitment announcements made by various public sector banks, students are getting encouraged to study more for their exams and get placed in a popular bank in whatever position they apply for. Also, it’s been found that the graph of banking jobs is exponential, which means there are many openings in banking job sectors.

As a result, students also want to try and crack these banking exams by giving their best attempt. And to do this, they need to know a few basic steps regarding banking exams before starting their syllabus. Similar to other entrance examinations, banking exams are a bit tough, but if you study with a proper roadmap in your mind, you will clear it without any extra attempts. Here, we are going to provide you with how to prepare for bank exam at home, since nowadays, the coaching fees are not something which every student can afford and also, few students tend to learn themselves better instead of joining in on a lecture.

Topic in this Article

Different Bank exams
Sections to focus on for the preliminary exam
Sections to focus on for the main exam
Tips for How to prepare for Bank Exams at home

How to prepare for Bank Exam

Different Bank exams

Every year, there are many banking exams conducted for the position of Bank PO, Specialist Officer, and Bank Clerk among the top and new banks. Here are a few:

1. ICICI PO Exam
2. State Bank of India PO Exam (SBI PO)
3. Institute of Banking personal Selection Bank PO Exam (IBPS PO)
4. Private Bank PO exam
5. Reserve Bank of India Grade-A Exam (RBI Grade I)
6. Reserve Bank of India Grade-B Exam (RBI Grade II)
7. Institute of Banking personal Selection Clerk Exam (IBPS Clerk)
8. State Bank of India Clerk Exam (SBI Clerk)
9. Industrial Development Bank of India Exam
10. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Exam (NABARD)

All the above-mentioned exams have the eligibility criteria of minimum age 21 and maximum varying from 28 to 45 years and candidates must have a graduate degree or any specialization from a recognized university.

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Sections to focus on for the preliminary exam

To start preparing for these exams, you need to study vigorously and follow some tips which may bring you a little bit of ease instead of starting from the ground. All banking exams in India have a similar structure, you have to first clear the preliminary exams that are of 100 marks divided into four sections which comprise of:

• English (30 marks)
• Quantitative Aptitude (35 marks)
• Reasoning (35 marks)

Now once you have cleared this phase, you will be allowed to appear for phase II of the exam also known as the “mains exam”. As the final merit list focuses more on the mains, candidates should try to score more in the given subjects below.

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Sections to focus on for the main exam

English

It contains language concepts such as Verbal Ability, Grammar, comprehension, and Vocabulary as a must.

Quantitative Aptitude

It is a little different from what you studied as a subject in preliminary rounds, there are a few extra topics you need to prepare such as Quadratic Equation, Probability, Linear Equation, and Age calculation-based questions.

Reasoning and Computer Aptitude

The studies you did for Reasoning remain the same, except for a few extra topics of Computer Aptitude which you need to practice thoroughly.

General Awareness

As the name implies, this section of the main exams is specially designed to test your General Awareness, and hence, it comprises topics such as economics, Finance, General knowledge, and bank-related current affairs.

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Tips for How to prepare for Bank Exam at home

1. Note your strength and weaknesses
2. Start your preparation with important topics, then move to the topics which are scoring.
3. Practice questions of every type.
4. Develop a habit of reading bank-related or commerce newspapers every day.
5. Identify the topics you have a weak area in and try getting it stronger.
6. Practice mock tests daily, this will help you understand how much time you are taking to complete each section.
7. Refer good books recommended for preparation.
8. Once you complete a chapter, don’t directly jump to mock tests, first go through topic-wise easy quizzes.
9. Design a timetable yourself and follow that without fail.
10. Aim it and claim it. You can do it if you try!

Apart from all this, you should make your notes, and revise regularly. Remember every year’s questions might be tricky, but it follows a pattern which you can understand if you practice past year papers thoroughly. This previous year’s question papers will also give you a hint about the difficulty level.

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Don’t forget to complete one topic first and then only jump to the next one as studying n no of topics simultaneously makes studying difficult and takes more time as well than completing them individually. We hope now you have basic knowledge about how to prepare for the bank exam at home, and you study with the right strategy to make it to the cutoff marks.