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Strategy to Clear Qualifying Subjects in

IBPS SO - Prelims 2018

Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) conducts Specialist Officer (SO) exam to

recruit IT, Agriculture, Law, Rajbhasha, HR and Marketing Officers for various public

and private sector banks. This year, IBPS SO has undergone a major change, which will

impact the way you prepare and appear for the exam. Find out the right

approach and strategy to Clear Qualifying Subjects in IBPS SO Prelims

Exam 2018 and ensure cut offs in English, Quant, Reasoning & General Awareness.

Overview

Post Specialist Officer(SO)

Vacancies 1,599

Exam Conducting Body IBPS

Application Dates 6th Nov. to 26th Nov. 2018

Exam Stages Prelims, Mains & Interview

Exam(Stage I) 29thDec & 30th Dec 2018

Exam(Stage II) 27thJan 2019

What is this Big Change in IBPS SO Exam?

This year, the IBPS SO Exam is taking place in 3 stages i.e Prelims, Mains & Interview.

The Prelims stage will be only qualifying in nature i.e marks obtained in prelims will not

be added in final merit list. Moreover, sectional timing has been introduced this

time in the Prelims exam. But you have to secure the minimum cut-off marks (to be

decided by IBPS) in Prelims exam to get entry for the Mains exam.

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Note: You have to qualify the sectional as well as overall cut off in order to clear the

IBPS SO Prelims Exam.

Then the question is how to make the best use of this pattern change? The difference

can be made while preparing. In this article, we will discuss strategy to prepare

Reasoning, English, Quantitative Ability and General Awareness to maximize the output

of your preparation.

Below is the IBPS SO Prelims Exam Pattern 2018 for various posts:

IBPS SO Prelims Exam Pattern - Law Officer & Rajbhasha Adhikari Scale I

Name of Test No. of

Qs

Maximum Marks Duration

Reasoning 50 50 40 mins

English Language 50 25 40 mins

General Awareness (With Special Reference to

Banking)

50 50 40 mins

Total 150 125 2 Hours

IBPS SO Prelims Exam Pattern - IT Officer Scale I, Agricultural Field Officer, HR/

Personnel Officer & Marketing Officer Scale I

Name of Test No.s of Questions Maximum Marks Duration

Reasoning 50 50 40 mins

English Language 50 25 40 mins

Quant Aptitude 50 50 40 mins

Total 150 125 2 Hours

Sectional Timing has been introduced in the Prelims Exam.

You have to qualify each test viz there is sectional & overall cut off.

All the tests will be available bilingually i.e. English and Hindi except the test of English

Language.

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There is negative marking of one fourth for every wrong answer which is 0.25 marks.

Strategy to Clear Qualifying Subjects in IBPS SO

Prelims Exam

Make sure that you have to clear the cut off of each subject as well as the overall cut off

to qualify the IBPS Specialist Officer Prelims Exam. In this article we are providing you

the Strategy to Clear Qualifying Subjects in IBPS SO Prelims Exam. These strategy will

help you manage your time and maximize your chances of clearing the IBPS SO Prelims

exam.

English Language:

This section is a part of all the Officers’ exam. Expected difficulty level of this section is

Moderate. This subject consist of 50 Qs worth of 25 marks. Generally, people struggle in

this section. But with the right strategy, you can score good marks.

Expected Cutoff:

5-6 Marks.

Important Topics with Weightage:

Reading Comprehension – 10-15 Questions.

Para Jumbles / Odd Sentence Out – 0-5 Questions.

Error Spotting – 5-10 Questions.

Cloze test – 5-10 Questions.

Fill in the Blanks – 5 Questions.

Phrase Replacement/Sentence Improvement – 5-10 Questions.

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Order of Attempt:

Error Spotting → Cloze Test → Fill in the Blanks → Sentence Improvement → Para

Jumble → Reading Comprehension.

Helpful Links:

Tips for Cloze Test

Handy Tips for Para Jumbles

Tips for Error Spotting Part 1

Phrasal Verb Made Easy Capsule

Grammar Tips Part 1

General Awareness:

This section is part of Law Officer & Rajbhasha Adhikari only. It has a very vast syllabus

and questions can be asked about anything around the world. It will also have a good

amount of questions from Banking and Finance.

Having the habit of reading on a daily basis, will increase your overall knowledge related

to this section.

Expected Cutoff:

13-14 Marks.

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Important Topics and Weightage:

Banking & Financial Awareness – 15-20 Questions.

Current Affairs – 7-10 Questions.

Static G.K – 5-10 Questions.

Economy - 5-6 Questions.

This section can be qualified by just following Testbook’s Current Affairs App daily

for 15-20 minutes.

Helpful Links:

Important Current Affair Capsule for October 2018

Important Current Affair Capsule September 2018

Quantitative Aptitude:

This section focuses majorly on your accuracy and speed. This section can turn out to be

a time-consuming one at times and you should have good practice to solve questions

quickly and with accuracy.

Expected Cutoff:

8.5-9.5 Marks.

Important Topics and Weightage:

Number Series – 5 Questions.

Data Interpretation – 13-15 Questions.

Algebra – 5-6 Questions.

Data Sufficiency – 5 Questions.

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Simplification/Approximation - 0-5 Questions

Miscellaneous Topics - 15-17 Qs

Order of Attempt:

Number Series → Algebra → Approximation → Data Interpretation → Data Sufficiency

→ Miscellaneous Topics → Averages → Interest → Profit and Loss → Speed, Time and

Distance → Mensuration → Time and Work etc.

Helpful Links:

Formulas & Tricks Part 1

Formulas & Tricks Part 2

Logical Reasoning:

This section is considered very tough and time taking. Having the right strategy and

time management will get you over the line.

Expected Cutoff:

11-12 Marks.

Important Topics and Weightage:

Coding-decoding – 5-10 Questions.

Direction and Distance – 2-5 Questions.

Blood Relations – 2-5 Questions.

Ordering and Ranking – 2-6 Questions.

Inequalities – 5 Questions.

Syllogism – 3-5 Questions.

Machine Input Output – 0-5 Questions.

Seating Arrangement – 10-12 Questions.

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Puzzles – 5-10 Questions.

Data Sufficiency – 3-5 Questions.

Verbal Reasoning – 5-8 Questions.

Order of Attempt:

Inequalities → Syllogism → Direction and Distance → Coding-decoding → Ordering &

Ranking → Machine Input Output → Seating Arrangement → Verbal Reasoning →

Puzzles → Data Sufficiency

Helpful Links:

Shortcut to Solve Machine Input Output Problems

Shortcut for Coding Decoding in Fictitious Language

Circular Arrangement Puzzle Solving – Complex Problems

Concepts of Syllogisms

The main thing about cracking reasoning section is to keep yourself cool & calm. This

generally comes with lot of practice. However, if you prepare the topics in the order of

attempt given above, it will be very easy to score above the qualifying marks.

Practice in Live Test Environment

To get the best exposure to the exam pattern and the approach to proceed with the test,

you should try taking tests in live test environment. Prepare yourself by taking mock

tests in the exact same test environment as your test center. It will provide you more

confidence on the day of the exam. You can get the real time feel of IBPS SO Exam, free

of cost, at any of our Exam Centers by:

Booking a free test demo.

Visiting the center and taking test.

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You can also purchase a membership plan to practice pressure handling and time

management.

Check the below articles if you any queries regarding IBPS SO Exam Pattern 2018 -

Know All About IBPS SO Salary,

Work Profile

IBPS SO Recruitment 2018 – Direct Link

to Apply!

IBPS SO Exam dates 2018 IBPS SO 2018 Eligibility Criteria