What is bank PO?
The Question:
Bank PO or bank probationary officer post is an entry level position at which a bank officer starts working after being posted. Now a Bank PO undergoes a 2 years of training also called as a probation period. After the training you are given a post of Assistant manager or deputy manager. As it is a lucrative career option and a white collar job, loads and loads of students contest for bank PO exams like IBPS PO or SBI PO.
Another way of becoming a bank PO in many govt. and private banks is through Post Graduate Diploma in Banking and Finance Program. Through PGDFB you will be given 12 months of training after which you are appointed as Assistant Manager in the bank. Now during the 12 months the first 9 months will include an exhaustive curriculum of PG diploma program followed by 3 months on the job training.
Eligibility:
Now before you go on and apply for the post let’s check your eligibility criteria. You must be 21-30 years of age while applying for Bank PO exam. Age relaxation of 5 years will be given to you if you are a SC,ST or hold the ex-servicemen or Jammu and Kashmir quota.
The minimum educational qualification you need is a graduate from a recognized university.
Salary:
We talked about what is Bank PO now let’s talk about the average salary offered in this field. The salary of a IBPS PO is in around INR 5, 57,640 per year (Cost to company) including HRA but without leased accommodation. Which is pretty good as a starting salary.
Responsibilities:
Now let’s talk about the responsibilities and what exactly are you going to do during and after the training.
During the training period you are asked to perform any kind of bank related activities like clerk or assistant type of jobs just to get you acquainted with the working of a bank.
You will be trained to have a practical knowledge in finance, accounting, marketing, billing and investment.
After training, your job will be to handle works on daily customer transactions like passing a cheque, draft issuance, cash management etc. Basically you have to increase the bank’s business.
Another job of a bank PO is to work as a PR officer. You need to have good communication skills to handle customers and their complaints and resolve any matter with patience.
You would also have to do managing tasks like supervising of clerical work, taking certain decisions for the benefit of the bank, managing cash balance etc.
PO has to verify each and every work done by clerk. All the transactions of bank requires the role of maker and checker. If a clerk is the maker then you will be the checker.
You will be required to take care of loan related documents including site visits of the load taking parties as and when is required.
You will issue ATM cards, cheque books, Demand drafts etc.
Pattern for IBPS PO:
By now you must know what a Bank PO is and what are the responsibilities of one. So let’s talk some more about IBPS PO.
To become a bank PO you would have to give IBPS- Institute of Banking Personnel Selection test.
Now IBPS PO consists of 3 parts, 2 written papers prelims and mains followed by an interview.
Preliminary exam pattern (Test Duration 1 hours)
| Sr.No | Test Name | Questions | Marks |
| 1 | Quantitative Aptitude Paper | 35 | 35 |
| 2 | Reasoning Ability Paper | 35 | 35 |
| 3 | English Language Paper | 30 | 30 |
| Total | 100 | 100 |
Mains Exam Pattern (Test Duration 3 hours)
| Sr.No | Test Name | Questions | Marks |
| 1 | Computer Knowledge | 20 | 20 |
| 2 | English Language | 40 | 40 |
| 3 | Quantitative Aptitude | 50 | 50 |
| 4 | General Awareness Paper | 40 | 40 |
| 5 | Reasoning | 50 | 50 |
| Total | 200 | 200 |
The marking system is such that you get 1 mark for every correct answer and 0.25 is deducted from your score if the answer is wrong.
Pattern for SBI PO:
State Bank of India conducts its separate PO exam namely SBI PO.
SBI PO also consists of 3 phases:
- Preliminary exam (conducted online)
- Mains exam (conducted online)
- Interview
Pattern for preliminary exam:
| S.No | Section Name | No of questions | Total Marks | Time allotted |
| 1 | English Language | 30 | 30 | 1 hour time will be given to you for completing the paper(no fixed time for any section |
| 2 | Quantitative Aptitude | 35 | 35 | |
| 3 | Reasoning Ability | 35 | 35 | |
| TOTAL | 100 | 100 | ||
Marking scheme will be such that you will be given 1 mark for each correct answer and 0.25 marks will be deducted from your total for every wrong answer.
You would have to score both sectional and overall cutoff to qualify for the next phase.
Pattern for main exam:
Main examination of SBI PO is further divided into two stages:
- Objective test
- Descriptive test
Objective test:
| S.No | Section name | Number of questions | Total Marks | Time Given |
| 1 | Data Analysis and Interpretation | 35 | 60 | 45 Min |
| 2 | Reasoning and Computer Aptitude | 45 | 60 | 60 Min |
| 3 | General/
Economy/ Banking Awareness |
40 | 40 | 35 Min |
| 4 | English Language | 35 | 40 | 40 Min |
| TOTAL | 155 | 200 | 3 hours |
Descriptive test:
After you have given the objective test of SBI PO you would have to give the descriptive test.
Descriptive test will be of 30 minutes for a total of 50 marks. It will test you on English Language – Essay and Letter writing.
You would have to qualify in the descriptive test by securing passing marks which are decided by the Bank.
Your descriptive test will only be evaluated if you have passed the objective test and are high on the merit list.
Now to clear IBPS PO or SBI PO would not be an easy task. As mentioned earlier Bank PO is a very sought after job and thus would attract competition. We at AAA-Bright Academy have our own mobile application that provides students with content for preparation of various entrance exams including Bank PO, so check that out if you are interested in pursuing this as your career and best of luck.