IBPS SO Exam Pattern 2022: Prelims, Mains & Interview

IBPS SO Exam Pattern: IBPS SO is an exam conducted by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) for the posts of Specialist officers (SO) such as  IT Officer, Agricultural Field Officer, Rajbhasha Adhikari, Law Officer, HR/ Personnel Officer, and Marketing Officer under various PSBs (Public Sector Banks). The IBPS SO Recruitment notification will be released Soon. Candidates waiting for the release of the notification can apply online for the IBPS SO exam. In this article, we will explain to you in detail the IBPS SO exam pattern which you refer to start your preparation for the IBPS SO exam.

IBPS SO Exam Pattern 2022 – Overview:

IBPS SO Exam Pattern: Prelims And Mains

The IBPS SO exam pattern consists of two stages i.e. Prelims and Mains. Below is the detailed IBPS SO exam pattern for the prelims and mains exam.

IBPS SO Prelims Exam Pattern:

The IBPS SO exam pattern for prelims is different for Law Officer & Rajbhasha Adhikari and different for other posts. The prelims exam pattern is as below:

For the post of Law Officer & Rajbhasha Adhikari:

For the post of IT Officer, Agriculture Field Officer, HR/Personnel Officer & Marketing Officer :

Note:

• As per the official IBPS SO Exam Pattern, Candidates have to qualify in each of the three tests by securing minimum cut-off marks in individual subjects as well as overall which are decided by IBPS. The candidates who will qualify in the preliminary examination will be called for Online Mains Examination.
• English section will contain 50 questions of 0.5 marks each.
• There will be a negative marking of 1/4th marks allocated to that particular question.
• No marks will be deducted for unattempted questions.
• The question paper will be bilingual except for the English section.

IBPS SO Mains Exam Pattern:

For the Post of Law Officer, IT Officer, Agriculture Field Officer, HR/Personnel Officer, and Marketing Officer -:

For the Post of Rajbhasha Adhikari :

Note:

• Candidates qualified in IBPS SO Mains exams would be called for an interview round.
• For the post of Rajbhasha Adhikari, the main exam duration will be 60 minutes.
• For all other posts, the exam duration for the mains exam will be 45 minutes.
• The Mains exam will be of a total of 60 marks for all the posts.
• There will be a descriptive paper consisting of two questions for the post of Rajbhasha Adhikari.
• There will be a penalty of 1/4th marks for the questions attempted wrong.
• No marks will be deducted for unattempted questions.

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Penalty for Wrong Answers (Applicable to both – Online Preliminary and Online Main examinations):

According to the IBPS SO exam pattern, there is a penalty of marks for any answer marked as wrong. Each wrong answer marked by the candidate, there will be a negative marking of one-fourth or 0.25 of the marks assigned to that question. No marks will be deducted for unattempted questions.

IBPS SO Interview Process

IBPS SO interview is the last round for the selection. The IBPS SO interview round comprises 100 marks. A candidate needs to score a minimum of 40 marks (35% for SC/ST/OBC/PWBD candidates) to qualify for this round.

The Weightage for the IBPS SO Mains exam and the Interview process will be 80:20. The combined final shall be arrived at by adding the marks obtained by a candidate in the Mains Exam and the Interview round.

A candidate should qualify both in the Online Main Examination and interview and be sufficiently high in the merit to be shortlisted for subsequent provisional allotment process, details of which will be made available subsequently on the IBPS website. 

Provisional Allotment

Shortlisted candidates after the interview round will be provisionally allotted to one of the Participating Organisations, based on merit-cum-preference. 

Know the Detailed IBPS SO Exam Syllabus

IBPS SO Participating Organisations 2022:

IBPS SO Exam Pattern FAQs:

Q: Is there a negative marking in the IBPS SO exam?

A: Yes, there is a negative of 1/4th marks allotted to that particular question if marked wrong by the candidate.

Q: Is there no quantitative aptitude section in the IBPS SO exam?

A: For the posts of Law Officer and Rajbhasha Adhikari there is no quantitative aptitude section, but for the rest of the SO posts there is a quantitative aptitude section in the prelims exam.

Q: Is there a General Awareness section in the IBPS SO exam?

A: There is a General Awareness section with special reference to the banking industry in the prelims exam but only for the posts of Law Officer and Rajbhasha Adhikari.

Q: What is the Professional Knowledge section in the IBPS SO Exam Pattern of Mains?

A: The Professional Knowledge section will test the candidates in their respective fields for the posts they have applied for.

Q: What are the post under IBPS SO exam?

A: Posts under IBPS SO exam are as below :

• IT officer
• Agriculture Field Officer
• HR/ Personnel Officer
• Marketing Officer
• Law Officer
• Rajyasabha Adhikari

Q: How many phases are there in the IBPS SO Exam Pattern?

A: As per the IBPS SO Exam pattern, there are total 3 phases :

• Preliminary Exam
• Mains Exam
• Interview.

All the Best.