What is IBPS Clerk?

IBPS Clerk exam is a national-level competitive exam conducted by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) to recruit candidates for the clerical cadre in various public sector banks in India. The exam is held annually, and it is one of the most popular bank recruitment exams in India.

The exam consists of two stages: The preliminary Exam and Main Exam. The Preliminary exam consists of three sections: English Language, Numerical Ability, and Reasoning Ability, with a total duration of 60 minutes. The Main exam consists of four sections: General/ Financial Awareness, General English, Reasoning Ability & Computer Aptitude, and Quantitative Aptitude, with a total duration of 160 minutes. Both exams are conducted online.

Candidates who qualify for the Main exam will be eligible for provisional allotment to any of the participating banks based on their merit and preference. The IBPS Clerk exam is a highly competitive exam, and candidates need to prepare well to crack it.

IBPS Clerk is a reputed and well-paid job in the banking sector. Around 5 lakh candidates apply every year for IBPS Clerk exam. To sail through the competition, candidates should be aware of the important details such as IBPS Clerk exam date, exam pattern, syllabus, selection process, and others.

IBPS Clerk Bank Preference

The bank preference helps candidates choose to fill out the IBPS Clerk application form. To fill the bank preference, candidates need to know their home state, local or official languages, bank ranking, transfer policy, and other important details. A total of 11 public sector banks take part in the recruitment process. Following is the list of IBPS Clerk participating banks.

Bank Name

Bank Name

Bank of Baroda

Canara Bank

Indian Overseas Bank

UCO Bank

Bank of India

Central Bank of India

Punjab National Bank

Union Bank of India

Bank of Maharashtra

Indian Bank

Punjab & Sind Bank

–

 

IBPS Clerk Eligibility 2023

The Educational Qualification required for the IBPS Clerk exam is as follows:

  • Candidates should have a Bachelor’s degree in any discipline from a recognized university or its equivalent
  • Proficiency in the official language of the State/UT is preferable.
  • Computer literacy: Operating and working knowledge in computer systems is mandatory i.e. candidates should have a Certificate/Diploma/Degree in computer operations/Language/ should have studied Computer / Information Technology as one of the subjects in High School/College/Institute.

The Age Criteria for the IBPS Clerk exam are as follows:

  • Minimum age: 20 years
  • Maximum age: 28 years
  • Relaxation of Upper age limit
  • There is some relaxation of the upper age limit for special category candidates. The details on it are given below:

Sr.No.

Category

Age relaxation

1

Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe 

5 years

2

Other Backward Classes (Non-Creamy Layer) 

3 years

3

Persons With Disabilities 

10 years

4

Ex-Servicemen / Disabled Ex-Servicemen 

actual period of service rendered in the defence forces + 3 years 
(8 years for Disabled ExServicemen belonging to SC/ST) subject to a maximum age limit of 50 years

5

Widows, divorced women and women legally separated from their husbands who have not remarried

Age concession upto the age of 35 years for General/EWS, 
38 years for OBC and 40 years for SC/ST candidates

6

Persons affected by 1984 riots

5 years

 

Nationality / Citizenship

A candidate must be either –
(i) a Citizen of India or
(ii) a subject of Nepal or
(iii) a subject of Bhutan or
(iv) a Tibetan Refugee who came over to India before 1st January 1962 with the intention of permanently settling in India or
(v) a person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania (formerly Tanganyika and Zanzibar), Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia and Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India.

IBPS Clerk 2023 Salary Structure

The basic salary of an IBPS Clerk is Rs 19,900- Rs 47920 per month. Rs.19,900 is the basic pay in the IBPS clerk salary, and the remaining pay includes dearness allowance, house rent allowance, medical allowance and transport allowance. The cash in hand concerning the IBPS Clerk salary is Rs.29453 for those who join initially.

 

IBPS Clerk 2023 Selection Process

The recruitment process of IBPS Clerk CRP XIII occurs in two phases:

  1. Preliminary Examination
  2. Mains Examination

Students are required to qualify for both these exams to get selected for the post of clerical cadre in most of the premier Public Sector Banks. The main thing to note here is that there is no interview process required for the selection of candidates after the mains exam. 100% weightage is given to the result of the mains exam result.

IBPS Clerk 2023 Exam Pattern

The IBPS Clerk exam occurs in two stages: Prelims and Mains. Both these papers follow the online method of conducting the written examination. The structure of the exam is as follow:

Phase-1: IBPS Clerk Preliminary Examination

The preliminary exam of IBPS Clerk CRP XIII is an online exam testing a candidate on the basis of their aptitude, intellect and English. There are three sections in total and the candidate must clear the cut-off of each section to proceed to the mains exam round.

Candidates are required to solve the question paper in the time frame of 20 minutes for each section. The composite mark of the paper is 100 and the passing marks is decided by IBPS that is likely to change every year depending on the level of difficulty of the exam.

 

Name of Tests

No. of Questions

Maximum Marks

Duration

1

English Language

30

30

20 minutes

2

Numerical Ability

35

35

20 minutes

3

Reasoning Ability

35

35

20 minutes

Total

100

100

1 Hour

Candidates have to qualify in each of the three tests by securing minimum cut-off marks to be decided by IBPS. An adequate number of candidates in each category as decided by IBPS depending upon requirements will be shortlisted for Online Main Examination.

Phase-2: IBPS Clerk Mains Examination

No changes have been observed in the Exam Pattern of IBPS Clerk 2023 Exam. IBPS Clerk Mains Exam will now constitute of 190 questions that need to be completed in a time frame of 160 minutes.

Previously, Computer Aptitude and Reasoning Ability Section used to be conducted separately. But, in the recent update by IBPS, both these sections are amalgamated together and will constitute 50 questions that need to be solved in a time duration of 45 minutes. Both Preliminary Exam and Mains Exam will be conducted in 13 regional languages along with English and in Hindi. Let’s have a look at the Exam Pattern for IBPS Clerk CRP-XIII.

S.No.

Name of Tests

No. of Questions

Maximum Marks

Duration

1

Reasoning Ability & Computer Aptitude

50

60

45 minutes

2

English Language

40

40

35 minutes

3

Quantitative Aptitude

50

50

45 minutes

4

General/ Financial Awareness

50

50

35 minutes

Total

190

200

160 minutes

 

IBPS Clerk 2023 Syllabus

The major three sections of the preliminary examination are Reasoning, English Language and Numerical Ability. Each of these sections has multiple subheadings to focus on when preparing for IBPS Clerk CRP. The syllabus overview for IBPS Clerk 2023 Prelims and mains exams is given below.

IBPS Clerk 2023 Exam Syllabus (Pre+Mains)

English Language

Numerical Ability

Reasoning Ability

Computer

General Awareness

Reading Comprehension

Number Series

Puzzle and Arrangements

History and Generation of Computers

Banking and Insurance Awareness

Cloze Test

Simplification/ Approximation

Inequality

Introduction to Computer Organisation

Financial Awareness

Fillers

Quadratic Equations

Syllogism

Computer Hardware and I/O Devices

Govt. Schemes and Policies

Spotting Errors

Data Interpretation

Coding-Decoding

Computer Languages, Basics of DBMS

Current Affairs

Sentence Improvement

Data Sufficiency

Blood Relations

Operating System, Internet

Static Awareness

Fill in the Blanks

Miscellaneous

Direction sense

Computer Network & Security

Order and Ranking 

MS Office Suit and Short cut keys

Computer Memory, Computer Software

Number System and Conversions

 

Application Process

IBPS Clerk application process:

  1. Visit the official website of IBPS (www.ibps.in) and click on the “CWE Clerks” link.
  2. Click on the “Apply Online” link for IBPS Clerk exam.
  3. Register by providing basic details and get a provisional registration number and password.
  4. Upload scanned images of your photograph, signature, left thumb impression, and a handwritten declaration as per the specifications given in the notification.
  5. Fill in the online application form with your personal and educational details, as well as your preferences for the exam center.
  6. Pay the application fee online through net banking, debit card, or credit card.
  7. After submitting the application form, take a printout of the e-receipt and application form for future reference.

Sure, here is the table outlining the IBPS Clerk Prelims Exam Syllabus with the topic-wise weightage for each section:

Application Fees

  • For SC/ST/PwD/Ex-Servicemen candidates: Rs. 175/-
  • For all others: Rs. 850/-

Note: The application fee is non-refundable and non-transferable. Candidates must ensure that they meet the eligibility criteria before applying for the exam.