Upcoming Banking Exam Dates - Career as a Bank Manager

Banking Exams: Banking is one of the most popular employment sectors in India. Every year millions of students appear in Banking entrance Examinations, hoping to get the opportunity of working with national and corporate Banks. Being a Banker is a lucrative career choice in itself. An individual can apply for the Banking Entrance examination right after graduation. In India, there are various banking entrance examinations (such as PO, SBI, RRB, IBPS, NABARD, etc.) that help every year to recruit new banking officials. Before the rise of the IT sector, Banking jobs were considered one of the most sought-after career fields.

Due to the emergence of new public sector banks, there are numerous vacancies in the field of banking. In India,  27 public sector banks conduct entrance examinations for various positions. Due to the high rate of retirement of Banking professionals, there is a wide scope for opportunities for fresher candidates.  If you are someone who wants to pursue a career in the Banking sector, then please read this article carefully, In this article, you will find the details about upcoming banking examinations and other required information.

Banking Exams Selection Process:

Usually, the selection process consists of 3 stages that are:

1. Preliminary Exam
2. Mains Exam
3. Personal Interview

For the position of  Bank Probationary Officer (PO), all of the 3-stage examinations are conducted, on the other hand for the post of a Banking Assistant, Banking Associate, or Clerk, Banks usually don’t conduct the Interview round. For the selection of the Specialist officer and other posts, the procedure may vary.

Types of Banks in India:

1. National Commercial Banks: Selection for these banks is done by BSRB (Banking Services Recruitment Board)
2. Foreign/Private Banks: Selection is done by Recognised Management institutes (Indian Institute of Management {IIMs, University of Delhi, Xavier Labour Relation Institute, and the University of Bombay). The selected candidates get appointed as Assistant Managers and before that, they have to attend an Orientation program that lasts for 3 weeks before 6 months to 1 year.
3. State Bank and Other National Banks: Central Recruitment Board conducts Written entrance tests and Personal Interviews for the post of PO (Probationary Officer).
4. Reserve Bank of India: Grade I examinations are conducted in India by RBI for the recruitment of P.O, the examination includes the English Proficiency Exam and Mental ability test.

Major Upcoming Bank Exams:

All the Nationalized banks such as the Bank of India, SBI, Union Bank of India, and many more, conduct their separate examinations for recruitment the posts like P.O, Clerk, and S.O (Special Officer).

Below is the list of major upcoming banking examinations conducted for recruitment in the Banks:

1. Reserve Bank of India Grade B Exam (RBI Grade II)
2. Reserve Bank of India Grade A Exam (RBI Grade I)
3. Industrial Development Bank of India Exam
4. Private Bank PO Exam
5. Institute of Banking Personnel Selection Regional Rural Bank Officer & Office Assistant Exam (IBPS RRB)
6. ICICI PO Exam
7. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Exam (NABARD)
8. Institute of Banking Personnel Selection Regional Rural Bank Officer & Office Assistant Exam (IBPS RRB)
9. State Bank of India PO Exam (SBI PO)
10. State Bank of India Clerk Exam (SBI Clerk)
11. State Bank of India Specialist Officer Exam (SBI SO)
12. Institute of Banking Personnel Selection Clerk Exam (IBPS Clerk)
13. Institute of Banking Personnel Selection Bank PO Exam (IBPS PO)

Types of Job Positions in the Banking Field:

Bank Exams can be categorized into their main categories - Probationary Officer, Clerk, and Specialist Officer. Mentioned below are the details of the types of bank exams:

There are three Job Profiles in the Banking sector, Bank P.O, Bank Clerk, and Bank S.O, each of these profiles have different roles and responsibilities. In India, entrance examinations are held every year to recruit candidates for these job profiles in the banking sector.

1. Bank P.O: A bank Probationary Officer has to manage various banking operations such as the Billing process, Accounting operations, and Investments. Initially, a Bank P.O has to address and answer customer complaints and grievances, account for, discrepancies, and rectify undue charges. After a while the bank P.O gets involved in Managing and planning loans, designing a budget, and managing investment plans in the bank. The average salary of a Bank P.O is Rs 5.57 to Rs 8.5 L.P.A
2. Bank Specialist Officer (S.O): Various positions come under this job profile, so the role of an S.O completely depends on his/her position. An S.O can be someone who holds the positions of a Marketing officer Law Officer Human Resource Manager, Agricultural Officer, or maybe an IT officer. So the job role of an S.O is decided as per his/her field of specialization and three positions. The Average salary of an S.O may vary from Rs 4 L.P.A to Rs 4.6 L.P.A
3. Bank Clerk: A Bank Clerk is someone who addresses and deals directly with the customer.  A bank Clerk's job includes documentation of the customer during a new account opening process, updating the customer's bank accounts, and contacting the customer for advance payments and notifications. The average salary of a Bank Clerk is Rs 3.5 Lacs

Eligibility Criteria for Banking Exams:

The eligibility criteria for the selection/recruitment process might vary from bank to bank, but a few basic eligibility criteria must be fulfilled by the candidate to appear in the upcoming banking examinations:

Note: The most important eligibility criterion is that the candidate must not have any criminal records in the past or present. This criterion is strictly followed in the banking sector.

Preparation Tips To Crack Upcoming Banking Exams:

The banking entrance examinations are divided into 3 sections:

1. Numerical Ability/Quantitative Aptitude Section
2. English Grammar Section
3. Reasoning Section

• Many Banking examinations may have a slight difference in terms of exam pattern and syllabus. So the candidate must go through the syllabus, syllabus pattern and selection criteria, and procedure. This must be the first thing to do before starting your exam preparation.
• After getting all the information about the syllabus, exam pattern, and selection criteria, prepare a study plan by dividing the syllabus into various time slots and scheduling your plan according to the exam date. Try to learn the important topics first.
• Make sure to take references from the previous year's question papers and sample test papers and solve mock test papers, doing this will help you to get a basic idea about the exam pattern and difficulty level of the exam. Also, learning the topics as per their marks weightage, the previous year's question paper will be helpful in certain ways.
• Learn Time management, and make sure to solve the questions effectively and efficiently. This will help you to give you time to recheck your written answers during the examination.

Best Exercise Books for Banking Exams Preparation:

There are various Books and Supplements available online for Banking entrance Preparation, we are suggesting some of the best knowledge sources for individuals who aspire to pursue their career in the banking sector and looking forward to appearing in the banking examinations.

Best Books for Quantitative Aptitude

• Quantitative Aptitude by M.Tyra
• Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive examinations by R.S Aggarwal
• Quantitative aptitude by Arun Sharma
• Quantitative Aptitude by N.K Singh

Best Books for English Comprehension

• English by Arun Sharma
• Essential English Grammar by Murphy
• Objective English by Edgar Thorpe
• Word Power made easy by Norman Lewi

Best Books for Reasoning

• A modern approach to Verbal  and Non-Verbal Reasoning by R.S Aggarwal
• Test of Reasoning by Edgar Thorpe
• A New Approach to Reasoning Verbal and Non-verbal by B.S Sijwalil

Best Books for Computer Awareness

• Computer- Rani Ahilya - Lucent
• Objective Question Bank of Computer Awareness for general competitions by Arihant Experts
• Objective Computer Awareness by Somya Ranjan Behera by B.K Publications
• Objective Computer Awareness by R. Pilla Arihant
• Computer Knowledge for SBI/ IBPS Clerk/ PO/ RRB/ RBI/ SSC/ Insurance Exam by Shikha  Agarwal-Disha publications