The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection, popularly known as the IBPS is an autonomous body. It conducts recruitment examinations for all Public Sector Banks except the SBI. Over the years, it has also provided services related to assessment and testing for different banks through various bank exams.

The IBPS conducts the following examinations:

• IBPS PO Examination
• IBPS Clerk Examination

1. IBPS PO Exam

It is also known as the IBPS Probationary Officer (PO) Exam. The IBPS PO exam mainly selects candidates for the management cadre of the Bank. The selected candidates are deputed to the role of Probationary Officers during the training phase. Later, they move on to management roles on completion of their training.

The IBPS PO exam is categorised into three stages:

• IBPS PO Preliminary Exam: The IBPS PO Prelims usually skims the candidates from a huge lot for the next stage of the exam. It retains about 2.8% of the total number of applicants for the IBPS PO Mains examination.
• IBPS PO Main Exam: In the IBPS PO Mains section, the performance of the candidates is assessed in such a way which helps in determining whether they are eligible to make it to the next stage of the exam. The IBPS PO exam paper comprises of two sections:
  • Objective test: In this section, the focus is mainly on core knowledge areas which are required in the modern workplace. The IBPS PO exam syllabus consists of Data Analysis & Interpretation, General Knowledge, Reasoning & Computer Aptitude, Economy, Banking Awareness and English.
  • Descriptive test: This test primarily measures the candidates’ ability to use written English language skills in a business setting.
• IBPS PO Group Discussion and IBPS PO Interview: Candidates who clear the IBPS PO Mains exam are put through group discussion and interview, which is the final stage of selection before a merit list of final selected candidates is listed.

2. IBPS Clerk Exam

The IBPS Clerk Exam mainly recruits new employees in the position of Junior Associates for the clerical cadre of the Bank. There are two different stages in this IBPS exam:

• IBPS Clerk Preliminary Exam: This exam is also called as IBPS Clerk Prelims. This exam is the initial stage of the clerical cadre of the banking giant which filters out candidates for the next level.
• IBPS Clerk Mains Exam: This IBPS exam is commonly referred to as the IBPS Clerk Mains. In this stage, the marks that candidates secure usually determines the selection status of candidates as clerks in the Different Banks.
• IBPS Interview: There is no interview in this stage, and the IBPS exam results are announced in a couple of months from the SBI Clerk Mains exam, and the final selected candidates are deputed on merit-basis.