IBPS SO 2017 Preparation | Important Tips to Crack IBPS SO Exam |

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Dear Students, the notification for IBPS Specialist Officer is already out and registrations are on the go. IBPS has released various posts for different specialist officers required in the concerned departments. It is going to be a great opportunity for all those who wanted to be officers but couldn’t give their best in the previous officer level examinations. So students, now that you have got one more chance to become an officer in a public sector organization by the end year, just do not let it go waste. Here are a few important tips and important topics for IBPS SO Examination that you all must know of to bring it off this very year.

IBPS SO 2017 Preliminary Exam Pattern

For Rajbhasha Adhikari and Law Scale-I officer

Serial No	Section	No. of Questions	Total Marks	Duration
1.	Reasoning	50	50	120 minutes
2.	English Language	50	25
3.	General Awareness with Special Reference to Banking Industry	50	50
	Total	150	125

For other Specialist Officers (Agriculture Field Officer, Marketing Officer (Scale I), HR/Personnel Officer, IT Officer Scale I

Serial No	Section	No. of Questions	Total Marks	Duration
1.	Reasoning	50	50	120 minutes
2.	English Language	50	25
3.	Quantitative Aptitude	50	50
	Total	150	125

Students, the first and the most important thing that you need to keep in mind while preparing for the Prelims Examination of IBPS SO is that the pattern of examination is way more different than the Prelims Examination of any other Banking Recruitment. The total number of questions that will be asked is 150, 50 in each of the Reasoning, English Language and General awareness or Quantitative Aptitude Section. The time duration to solve the paper is 120 minutes. The interesting part is that English Section has 50 questions for 25 marks only. Many students who are good at English used to have a mindset of scoring maximum marks in this particular section and thereby ignoring the difficult questions of the sections they are not so good at. To their dismay, this strategy won’t be working anymore as one can score a maximum of 25 marks in English after having attempted all of the 50 questions. So, you a deep penetration through all the three subject is needed if you really want your hard work to bear fruits in the end.

The students who are weak at Quantitative Aptitude have an opportunity to become a Specialist Officer (Rajbhasha Adhikari and Law Scale-I officer) with the help of General Awareness Section. The posts of Rajbhasha Adhikari and Law Officer have General Awareness Section instead of Quantitative Aptitude Section in the Preliminary Examination Pattern. So, it’s a great opportunity for you, don’t let it go waste.

Following are the important topics that are expected to be asked in the three sections of the IBPS SO Preliminary Examination 2017:

English

Reading Comprehension: The topics of RC may be based on banking, finance, and economy. The new pattern RC based on Paragraph 1, 2, 3… can also be asked as it is an Officer level Examination.
Spotting Errors/Sentence Errors/Improvements: You need to pay special attention while doing questions based on errors as the errors can be very minute that one may remain unnoticed and the candidate can mark the option ‘No error’ or ‘No correction required.
Para Jumbles: The good thing about para jumbles is that you can manage to do it even if you are weak in English as it doesn’t test your grammar or vocabulary, you just need to find the connection between two parts and you can score very well.
Fillers: The fillers can be word or phrases based. They don’t consume much of your time. It is one of the topics that you should start doing English Section with.
Cloze test: This is also a very important topic for English Section. The new pattern fillers are also expected to be asked that will be based on fillers. This is also a scoring topic if you prepare it well.
Miscellaneous: Connectors, Starters, phrase replacement, Paragraph related questions that include paragraph completion, paragraph improvement, restatement, etc.

Reasoning

Syllogism: The questions can be based on the usual old pattern as well as the new pattern of Reverse Syllogism in which the conclusion is given in the question and you have to choose the correct statements for that particular conclusion. It is one of the easiest and scoring topics so prepare it well.
Data Sufficiency: The questions based on data sufficiency can have 2 or 3 statements based on the difficulty level of the questions. The questions based on data sufficiency can have 2 or 3 statements based on the difficulty level of the questions. If asked, there will be a total of 3-5 questions on this topic.
Coding-decoding: This topic also comes under the category of easy level questions. The questions may be based on old as well as new pattern coding-decoding. You may check the new pattern coding-decoding in the quizzes provided by us on Adda247 app.
Blood Relation: The questions in this section test the candidate’s cognitive ability. The questions asked are very complex and convoluted. It can be asked in various forms, i.e. puzzles, mixed blood relation, coded blood relations, etc.
Order and Ranking: The questions asked on this topic are comparatively easy and less complicated. Once you are used to solving questions on this topic, they would become easier and less time taking.
Alpha Numeric Symbol Series: You will be given a series of numbers, symbols with a mix of alphabets based on a pattern. The series may also be based only on numbers or only on alphabets.
Logical Reasoning: The questions asked in this section are based on cause and effect, course of action, assumptions, and conclusions, strength of arguments, inference, etc. The level of questions has always been moderate so you can easily attempt the questions without wasting much of time on them.
Inequalities: The other most important topic is Inequality. It is one of the easiest topics in Reasoning. You will have the compare the quantities given to you and there will be statements followed by the given equation. You have to find out which of the statements is correct.

Quantitative Aptitude

Data Interpretation: Data and Interpretation is an essential part of any banking examination. More than one-fourth of the total questions are based on DI. The usual pattern of DI questions has always been based on Ratio and Proportion, Percentage, Average, and Profit and Loss, but this year we observed a change in the pattern when DI questions asked were based on Time and Work and a few more topics from Arithmetic. So, be well prepared with these topics so as to deal with DI with poise.
Inequality: The other most important topic is Inequality. There is a possibility of two types of questions on this topic. First is the usual concept of Quadratic Equations and Second is the new pattern of Quantity 1 and Quantity 2 where the questions asked are based on Profit and Loss, Average, Mensuration, etc. and you will have the compare the two quantities based on the solutions obtained.
Number Series: Number Series is an equally important topic this Exam. The number series are mostly based on two patterns, Uniform, and Non-Uniform Pattern: The uniform pattern may have series based on Addition, Subtraction, Prime Numbers, Squares, Cubes, Decimals, etc. The non-uniform pattern may include the series based mixed pattern of the topics mentioned for the uniform pattern. The more you practice, the easier it becomes for you to recognize the pattern of series.
Simplification and Approximation: This can be the simplest part to deal with if you are good at calculations. So be fast with calculations and keep practicing, it will always stand you in good stead. Remember the BODMAS Rule and have all the tables, cubes, squares entirely grasped.
Miscellaneous topics: The topics that come under this particular topic are CI & SI, Time and Work, Pipes and Cisterns, Partnership, Profit and Loss, Ratio and Proportion, Percentage, etc. The questions are generally framed in a twisted manner and may be time taking. This is the reason why one should always try to attempt the questions on miscellaneous topics in the end.