Bank Exam Preparation Strategy 2024: Most candidates chase bank exams because these institutes offer stable jobs with good salaries. The ideal time to start preparing for major banking exams (Bank PO and Clerk) is typically around 6 to 12 months, before the exam date. After clearing bank exams, candidates enjoy multiple benefits like job security, attractive salary packages, and opportunities for career growth. But this desire isn’t easy to turn into reality without good bank exam preparation. How to prepare then, to ensure success? To fulfill your dream, you’ll have to do a lot of things, like, understanding the bank exam pattern, and its syllabus, creating a good study plan maintaining consistency in your preparation, and practicing to succeed. By following these steps carefully, you can increase your chances of success in the exam.
The year 2024 is going to be an exciting exam from the perspective of Banking exams. Organizations like RBI, SBI, IBPS, LIC, and PSBs are gearing up to conduct recruitment exams to induct thousands of vacancies in public sector banks for different posts. These sought-after posts include PO/MT, SO, and Clerks. For example, the State Bank of India (SBI) conducts exams like SBI Clerk, SBI PO, and SBI SO. Then, the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) will also conduct exams like IBPS PO, IBPS Clerk, IBPS RRB PO, IBPS RRB Clerk, and IBPS SO as always. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will also conduct RBI Grade B and RBI Assistant Recruitment exams. The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is also getting ready to conduct exams like LIC AAO, LIC ADO, and LIC Assistant. In addition, many other banks have their recruitment procedures to recruit their staff.
Before beginning your preparation, you must know the selection process for your chosen bank exam, Bank exams conducted by SBI, IBPS, RRB, RBI, and LIC usually are divided into three stages. Candidates need to be fully aware of the stages to prepare appropriately. Take a good look at the stages that you’ll have to face for your chosen exam:
1. First Stage or Prelims or Preliminary Exam: Prelims is the first stage of the bank exam that helps in selecting or eliminating the candidates for the next round and it is specifically designed to test students’ basic knowledge in English, Math, Reasoning, and General Knowledge.
2. Second Stage or Main Exam: If a candidate clears the first test, he/she takes the second test. This stage or phase covers more topics that test your knowledge of banking and finance.
3. Third Stage or Group Discussion/Interview: Some bank exams include it a group talk or a one-to-one interview after the second stage. The group discussion probes into how well you can communicate, work, and collaborate with others. On the other hand, the interview part looks at how much you know about the concerned subject and your problem-solving skills.
There are different salaries for different bank exam posts. Bank Managers and Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) earn around 7 Lakhs Per annum (p.a.). whereas, Financial Risk Managers and Investment Bankers have salaries of 11 Lakhs Per annum (p.a.). and 10 Lakhs Per annum Per annum (p.a.). which is higher average. Check out the posts with salaries from the table below:
| Posts | Salary |
| Financial Risk Manager | 11 Lakhs Per annum Per annum (p.a.). |
| Investment Banker | 10 Lakhs Per annum Per annum (p.a.). (p.a.) |
| Bank Manager | 7 Lakhs Per annum Per annum (p.a.). |
| Certified Public Accountant (CPA) | 7 Lakhs Per annum Per annum (p.a.). |
| Financial Accountant | 4 Lakhs Per annum Per annum (p.a.). |
| Equity Analyst | 4 Lakhs Per annum Per annum (p.a.). |
Some proven strategies make you capable of preparing for all bank exams. Through these Bank Exam Preparation Strategies, you can prepare very well. These strategies will assist you in competing with all sections of the bank exam. And if you follow them diligently along with a good study plan and mock tests, you may experience a downpour of marks. So, what do you need to do? You just need to follow them diligently and also, keep practicing with the latest SBI PO mock tests. So, let’s find out what strategies are there that can play a major role in making you adept at clearing the bank exam. Don’t wait, just get started.
Before preparing for the exam, you need to fully understand the exam pattern and, know all the details about it. It’s better to go through the previous year papers beforehand so that you get a perfect idea about all types of questions that you will be asked to answer in the bank exam. Here, mock tests also come in handy. You can also take a free mock test before starting your preparation to know where you stand at that moment. And, from there, you can give the initial stage of your preparation a good start. You should know all the topics that form the entire bank exam, the number of sections that divide each paper, sectional cut off (if there are any), the allotted time, and more. You should be ready to face the questions from any topic, or from anywhere from the syllabus. So, practice mixed questions to get ready to face all types of questions.
Craft a suitable timetable. It should not be too tough to follow for you and should well align with your study timings and your mood. Also, be mindful of your home conditions, while creating the study timetable that suits your study style and routine best. Study diverse topics and avoid spending an entire day on similar questions or the same topic. It can become monotonous. Keep your approach sectional. How? Divide your day to study different sections of the exam paper. For instance, start with General Awareness, then move on to Quant problems. And later, focus on English Grammar or Computer programs, and, give out more time to sections where you feel weak. Train your mind, through mock tests and regular practice, to manage time ably. If everything goes as planned you can cover multiple topics from each section of the exam every day. Keep in mind that you have to score the cut off marks to ensure success in each section of the exam, thereby, resulting in clearing the exam and grabbing the banking post you dream of.
Buy the best and most recommended (by experts and toppers) books dedicated to each section of the bank exam. Good books take you on the right track and bad books take you on the path to failure. You can find the names of all the books recommended by toppers and subject experts that have been helpful to the students who either appeared in the bank exam for the first time or those who had gone through their last attempt and came out successful. These books will enhance your chances of success in the exam. Apart from such books, you can also get multiple study resources and study material available online, including blogs and articles dedicated to each section of the exam. For instance, sites like PracticeMock tests not only provide you with the best banking courses or packs but also the latest bank mock tests specially designed by the subject experts. It also offers a free mock test for most of the bank exams.
You have to manage your time well, in each section of the banking exam, to clear it with maximum marks. If you’ll fail to do so you’ll ruin your chances of even clearing the exam, let alone the chances of maximizing the overall score. Specific time is allotted to each of the sections of the exam paper. So, you should train yourself to answer the maximum number of questions in as little time as you can. Train yourself by keeping a stopwatch to check your solving speed and improve it with every study sitting. If you keep following this strategy, develop a habit of managing your time well and solve questions quickly and accurately within the given time limit.
Master the math shortcuts and calculation tricks to solve questions easily and quickly. This will help you grab maximum marks in sections like Logical Reasoning and Quantitative Aptitude. Look for specific formulae for Speed Math and tricks for solving Reasoning Ability questions and practice questions using them. Take help from mentors, peers, or related YouTube videos made by genuine experts to apply them accurately. A mastery of such methods and tricks will help you calculate within a matter of seconds. Hence, you should memorize the formulas and practice them rigorously every day. Practice, practice, and practice.
You can follow the tips given below with the strategies above simultaneously to make sure you do everything right to complete the respective banking exam syllabus that you’re preparing. This tip will guide you, step by step, in covering the syllabus. You just have to be determined to follow each guiding light to keep yourself on the right track.
Whatever you learn, be sure to revise it. Revision is essential for your preparation, which needs to be continuous. Avoid cramming everything at the last minute. Prepare for both easy and difficult topics, and make sure you’re not procrastinating on any important topic.
Prepare each topic of the syllabus carefully. Remember, if you haven’t prepared your entire syllabus well, you’ll regret it later. So, if you don’t want that to happen, focus on the entire syllabus and keep taking mock tests to assess yourself.
Practice as much as you can to increase your chances of success. If you don’t practice, you’ll forget everything you’ve learned. Your practice will fill you with the knowledge, skills, and confidence that no one can stop you from clearing the exam. Take as many mock tests as possible, practice as much as you can, and practice all types of questions so that you don’t have to panic in the actual exam or waste time skipping tough questions.
Practice extensively with previous years’ papers because they show you the types of questions that appeared in the exam and the likelihood of similar questions appearing again. Prepare accordingly. Remember these three words: Practice with Previous Years Papers. And make full use of it during your preparation.
Quants & Reasoning, these two topics depend on practice. Their foundation is mathematics. If you practice math extensively, they will become your pets. They’ll listen to you, and in Quants, they’ll make you victorious. You can make yourself successful by scoring the most marks in these two topics. Through mock tests, make every effort to excel in these two topics.
Understand every topic well, don’t just cram it. A parrot can only say a few words. Besides that, if you ask it anything else, it gets confused and starts saying what it has learned or practiced. Use cramming less and understanding more.
As we discussed earlier, you can score more marks through Quants. So, try to solve more and more math questions every day. And solve all types of questions. Because by now, you must have understood that Quants is the key. Whoever is good in math, is good in Quants.
To sum up, start your preparation with a mock test know about your weaknesses and strengths, and try to improve with every passing day. Your practice will, in the end, determine how prepared you are to face the exam and clear it. Keep working on your Math, Reasoning, and English to counter every section of your chosen exam. Practice is the key to success, everybody says, and we too will repeat it, because practice is what matters most. Therefore, to achieve this practice take as many mock tests as you can and get ready to achieve success. It’s waiting for you!
Explore our blog "How to Score 50+ Marks in Reasoning & Computer Aptitude for Union…
Explore our blog for Mixture & Alligation most expected questions for SSC CGL Tier 2…
Want to master the art of answering Cloze Test Questions for SBI Clerk 2024 Prelims…
Get the complete SSC CHSL Tier 2 Exam Analysis 2024 with difficulty level and good…
The Union Bank LBO Syllabus 2024 has been released on the official website, Candidates can…
Explore the Union Bank LBO Selection Process 2024 provided in this blog. Check all details…