How to Prepare for IBPS Specialist IT Officer Exams


FAST FACTS

Name of the exam :IBPS Specialist Officer -IT Officer
Number of Specialist Officer - IT office cadre posts :There are two Specialist officer - IT Officer cadre posts - Scale I & Scale II

Eligible age : Specialist Officer - IT (Scale I) - 20 to 30 years (for general category) Specialist Officer - IT (Scale II) - 20 to 35 years (for general category)

Availability of online forms :Usually in the month of November

Exam held in the month of :Usually in the month of February

Mode of exam :Common Written Test followed by an interview

Total marks for Common Written Test :200

Duration of the Common Written Test :2 hours

Negative marking :Yes, .25 marks for a wrong answer

Allocation of posts :Usually in the month of February

What is IBPS Specialist Officer - IT officer exam?

Conducted by the Institute for Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS), IBPS Specialist Officer Exam recruits Specialist Officers for certain cadre posts in public sector banks. There are about 10 Specialist Officers' cadre posts and Information Technology (IT) Officer is one of them. There are two Specialist IT Officer cadre posts: Specialist IT Officer - Scale I and Specialist IT Officer - Scale II.

A bit about IBPS

IBPS was set up by the banking industry in 1975 to select suitable candidates to fill up various vacancies in the public sector banks. IBPS then went on to become an independent entity in 1984. Today, it is in-charge of the entire recruitment process for public sector banks - right from issuing forms to conducting Common Written tests and interviews to coordinating the allocation of posts to candidates, IBPS does it all. In fact, if a person is aiming to make a career in public sector banks, he or she has to take part in the exams conducted by IBPS.

List of the banks where the Specialist Officer - IT officer will be posted:

Depending on the vacancies, the selected candidates will be allotted postings to Allahabad Bank, Central Bank of India, Indian Bank, Syndicate Bank , Andhra Bank, Corporation Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, UCO Bank, Bank of Baroda, Dena Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Union Bank of India, Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, United Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, IDBI Bank, Punjab & Sind Bank, Vijaya Bank, Canara Bank.

How to apply for Specialist Officer - IT officer post

As mentioned, IBPS has the mandate to recruit officers for about 19 to 20 public sector banks. Interested candidates will have to apply to IBPS after carefully reading the eligibility criteria, the online registration process, the fees to be paid, details about the Common Written Test and the personal interview. This will enable them to apply for the post in a correct manner, and will reduce the chances of their applications getting rejected.

Eligibility criteria

Specialist Officer - IT Officer (Scale I)

Age

For the post of Specialist Officer - IT Officer (Scale I), the minimum age requirement is 20 and maximum is 30 years.

Educational qualification

The candidate should have any one of the three educational qualifications mentioned below:

The candidate should have 4 year Engineering Degree in Information Technology / Computer Applications/ Computer Science/ Electronics/ Electronics & Telecommunications/ Electronics & Communication/ Electronics & Instrumentation (or)

A Post Graduate Degree in Electronics & Instrumentation/ Computer Science/Information Technology/ Electronics/Electronics & Tele Communication/Electronics & Communication/Computer Applications (or)

A simple graduate having cleared DOEACC 'B' level

Work experience: Nil

Specialist Officer - IT Officer (Scale II)

Age

For the post of Specialist Officer - IT Officer (Scale I I), the minimum age requirement is 20 and maximum is 35 years.

Educational qualification

The candidate should have any one of the three educational qualifications mentioned below:

The candidate should have completed a 4-year Engineering Degree in Computer Science/ Computer Applications/ Information Technology/ Electronics & Instrumentation/ Electronics/ Electronics & Telecommunications/ Electronics & Communication (or)

A Post Graduate Degree in Electronics/Electronics & Tele Communication/Information Technology/ Computer Applications/Electronics & Communication/ Electronics & Instrumentation/ Computer Science (or)

Have a DOEACC 'B' level completion certificate

Work experience :A minimum of 2 years work experience in IT

Examination process

Any candidate who aspires to join a public sector bank as an IT officer will have to take the Written Test conducted by IBPS. Once they clear the Written Test, then he or she will be called for the Interview, which will be conducted by the concerned public sector banks in coordination with IBPS.

How to prepare for IBPS Specialist Officer - IT Officer

Name of the testNumber of questionsMarks
Reasoning5050
English5025
Quantitative Aptitude5050
Professional Knowledge5075

As mentioned, the IBPS Specialist Officer - IT Officer exam will comprise a Written Test, followed by a personal interview in case a candidate manages to clear the written test.

Common Written Test - IBPS Specialist Officer - IT Officer

Total marks: 200

Time duration: 2 hours

The Common written Test will comprise the following :

Medium :Except for English test, all the other tests will be available in English and Hindi

How to Prepare for the Common Written Test

Let us pick up each test and see how best a candidate can fare in it.

Reasoning

Reasoning would consist of topics like Blood Relation, Round Table, Sitting Plan, Syllogism, Mirror Images. To prepare for this section, one must develop logical skills and sharpen one's mental alertness. This can be done by practicing and solving past question papers and model question papers.

English

This test usually comprises word meanings, spotting common errors, comprehension, synonyms and antonyms, grammar tests, etc. This is supposed to be a scoring section and to prepare for this, one can begin by regularly reading English newspaper and magazines, watching English news daily, learning few new English words daily, accompanied with their antonyms and synonyms. Do strengthen your grammar by solving online grammar tests and reading basic grammar books.

Quantitative Aptitude

This test will have questions from topics like Data Interpretation, Profit and Loss, Time and Work, Simplification, Discount, Average, Probability with Sets theory, Number System, Series, etc. To prepare for this section, go back to the basics and clear your concepts. Ensure that you learn to manage time in an efficient manner such that you are able to attempt and answer all the questions. In the process, also try also to learn small tricks and short-cuts that will help you solve the sums easily. The bottom line to score well in this section is practice, practice and practice as many sums as possible from model question papers and past question papers. Try to take mock online test also if possible.

Professional Knowledge

The questions in this section will come from the areas like Computer Architecture, Networking, Database Management, Network Security and the like. Revise these topics thoroughly to ensure that your concepts are clear. Going back to your course books would be a good idea to prepare for this section.

Preparing for the interview

The total marks for the interview is 100. The minimum score has to be 40 percent. The weightage ratio between Common Written Test and interview is usually 80:20. The final score of the candidate will be arrived at by combining both the marks. Please remember that only a candidate found suitable in both the Common Written Test and the interview stands to qualify for the allotment of posts. So, please prepare accordingly. Best of luck.

Useful link :

http://www.ibps.in/career_pdf/Draft_ad_Specialist_Officers_III.pdf

Useful books

Question Bank In Computer Science
Quantitative Aptitude by RS Aggarwal
Verbal and non-verbal reasoning by RS Aggarwal


Last Updated on : March 28, 2016