Bank Exams 2023

One of the prominent sectors of the economy, banks play a vital role in our day to day life. Ranging from providing cash to sanctioning loans and maintaining stability in the market, they do it all with the help of individuals proficient in handling both people and the economic requirements of the society. Every year, lakhs of candidates aim to make a career in banking, some take up banking courses while others take the route of competitive exams to work in this sector. These Exams are regularly conducted to recruit an array of professionals and train them to fit into the mould of banks. These exams are specially designed to check the knowledge of the candidates in the sections like Reasoning, English Language, Aptitude, Basic General Knowledge etc. If you also aspire to be a bank employee, this blog will help you elucidate the top bank exams.  

Overview: Bank Exams

These competitive top bank exams are designed to thoroughly gauge the skills of the students in a majority of the arena. These tests are majorly held in 3 phases such as the Preliminary exam, Mains exam followed by an interview. All the 3 stages are of equal importance and the candidates have to qualify every stage to acquire the recruiting post. The conducting mode of all these exams is online and there would be objective type questions in the exam. For every correct answer, students will be allotted 1 mark and ¼ of the mark will be deducted in the case of incorrect answers. Majorly there are 5 sections in the exam, namely:

1. Reasoning Ability (Mains & Prelims)
2. English Language  (Mains & Prelims)
3. Quantitative Aptitude  (Mains & Prelims)
4. General/ Economy/ Financial/ Banking Awareness (Mains)
5. Computer Aptitude (Mains)

You cannot miss: Best Books For Bank Exams 

Types of Bank Exams

Role of personnel working in Banks may vary as per the exam they clear. Bank Exams can be categorized into 3 broad categories based on the kind of tests conducted at the national and state level in the country. The table given below depicts the role & responsibility of professionals working at different levels in a bank: 

Position	Roles
Bank SO – Specialist Officer	Responsibility of Bank SO depends on the department they are handling. They are qualified to work as Marketing Officer, HR Manager, Agricultural Officer, IT Officer, Law Officer, etc.  The exams and eligibility to become bank SO vary from post to post.
Bank PO – Probationary Officer	Have to manage Accounting, Finance, Investing and Billing of the entire branch.  Also involved in managing loans, budget and investments.  Handles customer issues related to accounts and cheques.
Bank Clerk	Deals with customers on one to one level.  Checks documents of customers and help them with basic requirements. Updates accounts of customers.

Exam Schedule 2022-23

With the new year comes new opportunities. If you are an aspiring banker then you must check the exam schedule for the 2021-22 bank exams:

Name of Exam	Date of Registration	Date of Exam
IBPS SO (Specialist Officer) 2023	Notification: 31st October 2022 Online Registration: 1st November 2022	Preliminary level Exam: 30th December 2023 – 31st December 2023 Mains Exam: 28th Jan 2023
IBPS PO 2021	2nd week of August 2021	Preliminary Exam: 1st week of October 2021 Mains Exam: 3rd week of November 2021
IBPS Clerk 2021	Between September 2021 – October 2021	Preliminary Exam: December 2021Mains Exam: January 2022
IBPS RRB Officer (Grade B) 2021	Online Registration: July 2021	Preliminary Exam: Scale 1 Officer: 1st week of August 2021 Office Assistant: August-September 2021 Mains Exam: Scale 1 Officer: September 2021 Office Assistants: October 2021
IBPS RRB Exam 2021	July 2021	Date of Exam: 3rd, 4th and 11th August 2021
SBI Clerk 2021	January 2021	Preliminary Exam: July 2021Mains Exam: 5th August 2021
SBO SO (Specialist Officer 2021)	Notification to be issued: January 2021 Registration: January 2021	Written Exam: February 2021
SBI PO 2021	April-May 2021	Preliminary Exam: July 2021 Mains Exam: August 2021
RBI SO 2021	Release of Notification: August 2021 Dates for Online Registration: August to September 2021	Written Exam: October 2021 Round of Interviews: December 2021
RBI Assistant 2021	Release of Notification: October 2021 Dates for Online Registration: October to November 2021	Preliminary Exam: January 2022 Mains Exam: February 2022
NABARD 2021	March – April 2021	Preliminary Exam: May 2021 Mains Exam: June 2021
RBI Grade B 2021	June – July 2021	Preliminary Exam: August 2021 Mains Exam: September 2021

Top 10 Bank Exams in 2023

Before finding an answer to How To Prepare For Bank Exams? One must know the options available for them. Here is a list of the choicest bank exams that can help you scale your career in 2020:

SBI PO (State Bank of India)

Annually, the State Bank of India conducts a national-level exam for the post of Probationary Officer in the branches of SBI. Being one of the oldest and the most prominent bank exams, SBI PO aims to gauge the overall skills of the candidates appearing in the exam. The application process for this exam will start in April 2021. 

Level	Number of Questions	Total Marks	Duration
Preliminary	100	100	1 hour
Mains	155	200	3hourss

Have a look at Bank Exam Preparation Apps

IBPS PO (The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection)

To recruit candidates for the post of Probationary Officers for all the public sector banks, the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection organizes the IBPS PO exam. The selected applicants are employed Bank of India, Canara Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, etc. The application process will start by the 1st week of August 2021. 

Level	Number of Questions	Total Marks	Duration
Preliminary	100	100	1 hour
Mains	200	200	2 hours 20 minutes

RBI Grade B (Reserve Bank of India)

If you dream about entering the apex institution of India, then the RBI Grade B exam can be your gateway. This is one of the most famous bank exams and the only path that leads to working in the Reserve Bank of India. Through this exam, the candidates can enter officer-level positions in the RBI. Unlike the other competitive exams, the RBI Grade B exam has 4 sections in the preliminary exam which the candidates have to solve 200 questions in 2 hours, and in the mains, there will be 3 distinct papers namely- 

Papers (Mains)	Description	Time	Marks
Paper 1	Economics and Social Issues	90 minutes	100
Paper 2	English (Descriptive)	90 minutes	100
Paper 3	Finance Management	90 minutes	100

Subject (Preliminary)	Number of Questions	Total Marks
General Awareness	80	80
Reasoning	60	60
English Language	30	30
Quantitative Aptitude	30	30
Total	200	200

Bonus: Investment Banking Jobs  

NABARD Grade A and B Officer

Every year the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development organizes national-level recruitment exams for multiple posts. NABARD Grade A and B recruit candidates for the Assistant Manager post. The last date to apply for one of the leading bank exams for the year 2021 is 12th January 2021. Apart from the above-mentioned 5 sections, there will be 2 more sections in the preliminary exam which will in total offer 200 questions for 200 marks, and the appearing candidates have to solve them in 2 hours. The other part includes Economic and Social Issues and Agriculture and Rural Development. 

Papers (Mains)	Discription	Time	Marks
Paper 1	English (Descriptive)	90 minutes	100
Paper 2	Agriculture	90 minutes	100
Paper 3	Finance & Management, Statistics, Development Economics	90 minutes	100

Know About: MBA in Banking 

SBI Clerk

This competitive exam takes place every year to test and select the candidates for the posts of clerical cadre or Junior Assistants by the State Bank of India. Since the exam is for clerical-level recruitment hence, there are only two phases of the exam i.e., Prelims and Mains. The pattern of the SBI Clerk exam is a bit different from the other exams. Here is a detailed description of both phases:

Sections(Preliminary)	Number of Questions	Duration	Marks
Numerical Ability	35	20 minutes	35
English Language	30	20 minutes	30
Reasoning Ability	35	20 minutes	35
Total	100	60 minutes	100

Sections(Mains)	Number of Questions	Duration	Marks
General English	40	35 minutes	40
General/ Financial Awareness	50	35 minutes	50
Reasoning Ability & Computer Aptitude	50	45 minutes	60
Quantitative Aptitude	50	45 minutes	60
Total	190	2 hours 40 minutes	200

Must Read: English For Bank Exams 

IBPS Clerk

IBPS also conducts an exam for clerical cadre positions for all public banks except SBI. Exam Pattern: The IBPS Exam Pattern has two phases:

Phase 1: Preliminary Examination
Phase 2: Mains Examination

Phase 1 and Phase 2 are objective-based MCQs. The exam includes questions on

1. Reasoning Ability
2. Quantitative Aptitude 
3. English Language
4. General/Economy/Banking Awareness (Only in Mains)
5. Computer Aptitude (Only in Mains)

IBPS RRB Officer Scale I 

IBPS recruits officers for Regional Rural Banks of India. Exam Pattern: IBPS PO Exam has three phases:

Phase 1: Preliminary Examination (Online)
Phase 2: Mains Examination (Online)
Phase 3: Personal Interview

Phase 1 and Phase 2 are objective-based MCQs. The exam includes questions on

1. Reasoning Ability
2. Quantitative Aptitude 
3. English Language
4. General/Economy/Banking Awareness (Only in Mains)
5. Computer Aptitude (Only in Mains)

IBPS RRB Office Assistant

IBPS recruits Office assistants for Regional Rural Banks of India. Exam Pattern: IBPS PO Exam has two Phases –

Phase 1: Preliminary Examination (Online)
Phase 2: Mains Examination (Online)

Phase 1 and Phase 2 are objective-based MCQs. The exam includes questions on

1. Reasoning Ability
2. Quantitative Aptitude 
3. English Language
4. General/Economy/Banking Awareness (Only in Mains)
5. Computer Aptitude (Only in Mains)

RBI Office Assistant

RBI conducts RBI Office Assistant Examination for the recruitment of clerical and assistant cadre posts. Exam Pattern: RBI Office Assistant has two Phases –

Phase 1: Preliminary Examination
Phase 2: Mains Examination

Phase 1 is objective-based MCQs. The exam includes questions on

1. Reasoning Ability
2. Quantitative Aptitude 
3. English Language
4. General Awareness 

Phase 2 is objective-based MCQs. The exam includes questions on

1. Economic and Social Issues
2. English Language
3. Finance and Management/Economics/Statistics.

NABARD Development Assistant

NABARD conducts exams called NABARD Development Assistant for recruitment of clerical cadre posts. It has two phases –

Phase 1: Preliminary Examination
Phase 2: Mains Examination

Phase 1 and Phase 2 are objective-based MCQs. The exam includes questions on

1. Reasoning Ability
2. Quantitative Aptitude 
3. English Language
4. General/Economy/Banking Awareness (Only in Mains)
5. Computer Aptitude (Only in Mains)

Syllabus for Bank Exams 2023

Each post may have a different syllabus and can vary from the other one. However, there are a few topics which are common to all exams. You can check out some of the common important topics which will help you prepare for your exam:

Name of Subject	Topics Covered
Quantitative Aptitude	Simple Interest and Compound Interest, Percentage and Averages, Time and Work, Series, Surds and Indices, Number Systems, Ratio and Proportion, etc.
English Language	Sentence Correction, Error Spotting, One-word Substitution, Jumbled Sentences, Reading Comprehension
Reasoning Ability	Coding-Decoding, Logical Reasoning, Alphanumeric Series, Non-Verbal Reasoning, Coded Inequalities, Ranking/ Alphabet Test, etc.
General Knowledge and Current Affairs	Economy based current affairs, Constitution, Banking News, Government Schemes, National and International Events, Indian History, etc.

FAQs

Apart from these Bank Exams, one can also sign up for Banking Courses After Graduation in order to study the working of banks closely. To find a course that will answer your question How To Become A Bank Manager, let Leverage Edu be your helping hand. Get in touch with our experts and get your career sorted!