Strategy to Clear Qualifying Subjects in   
                   IBPS SO - Prelims 2017 
        Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) conducts Specialist Officer (SO) exam to 
        recruit IT, Agriculture, Law, Rajbhasha, HR and Marketing Officers for various public and 
        private sector banks. This year, IBPS SO has undergone a major change, which will 
        impact the way you prepare and appear for the exam. Find out the Strategy to Clear 
        Qualifying Subjects in IBPS SO Prelims Exam and ensure cut offs in English, 
        Quant, Reasoning & General Awareness. 
        What is this Big Change in IBPS SO Exam? 
        This year, the IBPS SO Exam is taking place in 3 stages i.e Prelims, Mains & Interview. 
        The Prelims stage will be only qualifying in nature i.e marks obtained in prelims will not 
        be added in final merit list. But you have to secure the minimum cut-off marks (to be 
        decided by IBPS) in Prelims exam to get entry for the Mains exam. Note that you have to 
        qualify the sectional as well as overall cut off in order to clear the IBPS SO Prelims Exam. 
        Then the question is how to make the best use of this pattern change? The difference can 
        be made while preparing. In this article, we will discuss strategy to prepare Reasoning, 
        English, Quantitative Ability and General Awareness to maximize the output of your 
        preparation. 
        Below is the IBPS SO Prelims Exam Pattern 2017 for various posts: 
         
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               IBPS SO Prelims Exam Pattern - Law Officer &                                                     
               Rajbhasha Adhikari Scale I  
                                  S.    Name of Test            No.     Max  Time 
                                  No.  (not in sequence)  of Qs  Mrks  Duration 
                                  1     Reasoning               50      50 
                                  2     English                 50      25 
                                        Language 
                                        General Awareness                       2 Hours 
                                  3     (With Special           50      50 
                                        Reference 
                                        to Banking) 
                                        Total                   150     125 
               IBPS SO Prelims Exam Pattern - IT Officer Scale I, 
               Agricultural Field Officer, HR/ Personnel Officer & 
               Marketing Officer Scale I 
                                 S.    Name of Test             No.     Max       Time 
                                 No.  (not in sequence)         of Qs  Marks  Duration 
                                 1     Reasoning                50      50 
                                 2     English Language         50      25        2 Hours 
                                 3     Quantitative Aptitude  50        50 
                                       Total                    150     125 
                      All the tests will be available bilingually i.e. English and Hindi except the test 
                       of English Language. 
                      There is negative marking of one fourth for every wrong answer which is 0.25 
                       marks. 
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         To know the detailed exam pattern & selection procedure for Mains & Interview, go 
         through the link below: 
                     Detailed IBPS SO Exam Pattern 
         Strategy to Clear Qualifying Subjects in IBPS SO 
         Prelims Exam  
         Make sure that you have to clear the cut off of each subject as well as the overall cut off 
         to qualify the IBPS Specialist Officer Prelims Exam. In this article we are providing you 
         the Strategy to Clear Qualifying Subjects in IBPS SO Prelims Exam. These strategy will 
         help you manage your time and maximize your chances of clearing the IBPS SO Prelims 
         exam. 
         English Language:   
         This section is a part of all the Officers’ exam. Expected difficulty level of this section is 
         Moderate. This subject consist of 50 Qs worth of 25 marks. Generally, people struggle in 
         this section. But with the right strategy, you can score good marks. 
         Expected Cutoff: 
         5-6 Marks. 
         Important Topics with Weightage: 
         Reading Comprehension – 10-15 Questions. 
         Para Jumbles / Odd Sentence Out – 0-5 Questions. 
         Error Spotting – 5-10 Questions. 
         Cloze test – 5-10 Questions. 
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        Fill in the Blanks – 5 Questions.               
        Phrase Replacement/Sentence Improvement – 5-10 Questions. 
        Order of Attempt: 
        Error Spotting → Cloze Test → Fill in the Blanks → Sentence Improvement → Para 
        Jumble → Reading Comprehension. 
        Helpful Links: 
                         Tips for Cloze Test 
                     Handy Tips for Para Jumbles 
                     Tips for Error Spotting Part 1 
                    Phrasal Verb Made Easy Capsule 
                        Grammar Tips Part 1 
        General Awareness: 
        This section is part of Law Officer & Rajbhasha Adhikari only. It has a very vast syllabus 
        and questions can be asked about anything around the world. It will also have a good 
        amount of questions from Banking and Finance. 
        Having the habit of reading on a daily basis, will increase your overall knowledge related 
        to this section. 
        Expected Cutoff: 
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