IBPS SO 2024: Admit Card (Out), Exam Dates, Exam Pattern, Syllabus & FAQs

IBPS SO application form 2024 was released online in on August 1, 2024. The last date to fill the application form was August 28, 2024. The application form was released to fill up vacancies to the post of Specialist Officer. The application process comprises registration, uploading scanned photograph and signature, filling the detailed application form, previewing the application form, uploading scanned photograph and signature, paying the application fees and submit the form. The application fees can be paid online only.

The posts announced under IBPS SO exam are given below:

• Agriculture Field Officer
• Marketing Officer (Scale I)
• HR/Personnel Officer (Scale I)
• IT Officer (Scale I)
• Law Officer (Scale I)
• Rajbhasha Adhikari (Scale I)

IBPS SO 2024 exam dates were announced. IBPS SO 2024 prelims exam was conducted on November 9, 2024. The Mains exam for IBPS SO will be conducted on December 14, 2024. Selection of candidates is done in three phases-prelims, mains, and personal interview.  IBPS SO exam is conducted to recruite candidates for various posts such as Agriculture Field Officer, Marketing Officer, HR/Personnel Officer, IT Officer, Law Officer, and Rajbhasha Adhikari.

IBPS SO prelims admit card 2024 was released on October 31, 2024. The link to download the admit card was made available on the official website. However, the direct link to download the admit card is provided on this page. Candidates can download their admit cards by logging with the required credentials. Candidates need to carry the printed copy of their admit cards along with one photo-identity proof to the exam centre.

IBPS SO exam is conducted to select candidates for Specialist Officer's posts in 11 participating banks. The participating banks of IBPS SO are given below.

IBPS SO Recruitment process to select Specialist officers is done in the following three phases:

1. Online Preliminary Exam

2. Online Mains Exam

3. Interview Process

A candidate must qualify for both the preliminary exam and the main exam to proceed to the interview round. The candidates selected after the interview round are given the appointment letter.

There are negative marking in IBPS SO exam. For wrong answers, 0.25 marks are deducted. IBPS SO prelims exam pattern for Law Officer and Rajbhasha Adhikari comprises objective-type questions based on subjects such as English Language, Reasoning and General Awareness with Special Reference to Banking Industry. The prelims question paper for the post of IT Officer, Agriculture Field Officer, HR/Personnel Officer, and Marketing Officer comprises subjects such as English Language, Reasoning, and Quantitative Aptitude. The total marks allotted to the test are 150. The Mains exam comprises both objective and descriptive tests. The total marks allotted to the test are 120. 

IBPS SO recruitment is conducted to select candidates for the posts of Agriculture Field Officer,  Marketing Officer (Scale I),  HR/Personnel Officer (Scale I),  IT Officer (Scale I),  Law Officer (Scale I),  Rajbhasha Adhikari (Scale I). The selection of candidates are done based on prelims exam, Mains exam and interview.

IBPS SO application fees should be submitted online only. The application fees are given below.

IBPS SO application process is completely online. There is no facility to submit the applications offline. To apply for IBPS SO 2024, candidates need to first register themselves with IBPS. The application process comprises online registration, uploading of scanned documents, filling the form and fee payment. The photograph, signature, handwritten declaration and left thumb impression should be uploaded in the given format. The application fees for the exam are INR 850 for the General and OBC categories and INR 175 for PwD/SC/ST candidates.

The specifications for uploading documents in IBPS SO application form are given below.

IBPS SO application process is online. Candidates are not required to send the hard copy of the application form to the examination authority. Candidates are advised to take the printout of their application forms and keep it safely till the time the recruitment process is over.

IBPS SO eligibility is given below:

IBPS SO Age Limit: The aspirants must be between 20 and 30 years.

IBPS SO Educational Qualification: The post-wise educational qualification for IBPS SO exam is given below:

Candidates from any discipline can apply for IBPS SO exam. The stream-wise eligibility is given below.

The aspirants must be between 20 and 30 years. Candidates within the prescribed age limit should apply for the exam. It is important to meet the age limit.

IBPS SO 2024 vacancies was released onAugust 1, 2024. The vacancy break-up of 2024 is given below.

IBPS SO Syllabus for prelims exam is given below.

IBPS SO syllabus for Mains exam is given below.

IBPS SO syllabus for Reasoning is given below.

• Alphanumeric Series
• Data Sufficiency
• Coded Inequalities
• Seating Arrangement
• Ranking/Direction/Alphabet Test
• Puzzle
• Syllogism
• Coding-Decoding
• Blood Relations
• Input-Output

IBPS SO syllabus for Quant is given below.

• Simplification
• Profit & Loss
• Simple Interest & Compound Interest
• Surds & Indices
• Time & Distance
• Mensuration
• Cylinder, Cone, Sphere
• Permutation-Combination & Probability
• Mixtures & Alligations
• Work & Time
• Sequence & Series

IBPS SO interview is conducted for candidates who qualify the Mains exam. The interview is conducted by the participating banks and coordinated by the nodal banks in each state/UT. The total marks allotted for the interview are 100. The minimum qualifying mark in the interview is 40 per cent (35 per cent for SC/ST/OBC/PWBD candidates). 

IBPS SO Mains exam tests the professional knowledge of candidates. The Mains exam pattern for the post of Law Officer, IT Officer, Agriculture Field Officer, HR/Personnel Officer, and Marketing Officer is such that it comprises questions from professional knowledge. The test paper carries 60 questions of 60 marks. The language of the question paper is framed in English and Hindi. The duration of the test is 45 minutes.

IBPS SO Mains question paper for the post of Rajbhasha Adhikari comprises objective and descriptive-type questions from professional knowledge. The test carries a total of 47 questions (45 questions in objective paper and two questions in descriptive paper). The total marks allotted to the test are 60. The language of the question paper will be English and Hindi. The duration of the test is 30 minutes. The structure of IBPS SO Mains exam pattern is given below.

IBPS SO prelims exam pattern for Law Officer and Rajbhasha Adhikari comprises objective-type questions based on subjects such as English Language, Reasoning and General Awareness with Special Reference to Banking Industry. The prelims question paper for the post of IT Officer, Agriculture Field Officer, HR/Personnel Officer, and Marketing Officer comprises subjects such as English Language, Reasoning, and Quantitative Aptitude. A total of 125 questions are asked in the exam and the total marks allotted to the test are 150. The language of the question paper is framed in English and Hindi. There is sectional timing of 40 minutes for each section, and the total time allotted for the exam is 120 minutes.

The marking scheme of IBPS SO is given below:

• For correct answer, candidates score one mark
• There will be a penalty for wrong answers marked in the Objective Tests.
• For each question for which a wrong answer has been given by the candidate one fourth or 0.25 of the marks assigned to that question will be deducted as penalty to arrive at a corrected score.

The tips and tricks to prepare IBPS SO Reasoning section are given below:

• Practice different types of questions regularly to make this section interesting and scoring
• Pay attention to seating arrangement and puzzle-related questions 
• Attempt mock tests to understand the type of questions asked in the exam
• Focus on blood relations, analogy, age, number sequences, mixed, non-verbal reasoning, encoding and decoding, and word order.

The tips and tricks to prepare for IBPS SO English section are given below:

• Focus on comprehension and grammar, covering things like spelling, grammar rules, idioms, sentences, and paragraphs.
• Daily reading of newspapers not only improves English but also increases general awareness.
• Practice the previous papers thoroughly to understand the question formats and improve your exam performance.
• The important topics for this section are misspelled words, idioms/expressions, one-word substitutions, synonyms and antonyms, mistakes, comprehension, and grammar.

The tips and tricks to prepare the IBPS SO Quant section are given below:

• Learn the basics of calculus. Regular daily tests help candidates to review the basics and improve your problem-solving skills
• Learn quick tips, formulas, and direct methods for various topics to speed things up. Increases calculation speed as time management is crucial in this section
• Practice questions from previous year’s papers and take multiple mock tests to improve your speed
• Important topics are Algebra, Geometry, DI (Bar/Limit Diagram), Profit and Loss, SI and CI, Trigonometry, Measurement, Time and Distance, and Time and Work.

The tips and tricks to prepare for IBPS SO General Awareness are given below:

• Read newspapers and magazines regularly to stay updated on national and international affairs.
• Make a list of frequently asked questions, revise previous year model papers, and take notes to revise effectively.
• Focus on Indian History, Geography, Agriculture, Awards, Politics, Finance and Insurance, Indian Economy, Taxation, Budget, and Sports.

IBPS SO admit card is released online. To download the admit card, candidates are required to enter the desired details. The steps to download the admit card are given below:

• Visit the official website of IBPS 
• Click 'IBPS SO admit card' link on the home page
• Enter the required details
• The admit card appears on the screen
• Download the admit card and take its printout

The following documents are required along with IBPS SO admit card:

• Aadhaar Card/E-Aadhaar card with a photograph  
• PAN Card
• Permanent Driving License
• Voter’s card
• Bank passbook
• Photo-identity proof issued by a gazetted officer/people’s representative along with a photograph
• Identity card issued by a recognised college/university

IBPS SO admit card is released online for different stages of selection process. The link to download the admit card is made available on the official website. However, the direct link to check the result is provided to this page. To downoad the admit card, candidates need to enter registration number or roll number and date of birth or password. The hard copy of the admit card is not sent to candidates by post. 

IBPS SO admit card is an important document related to the exam as it comprises all the details related to the exam. The following details are mentioned in the admit card.

The hard copy of IBPS SO scorecard is not sent to candidates by post. Candidates need to download it online only. To download the scorecard, candidates need to enter the required credentials.

IBPS SO result is announced within one week after the exam is conducted. The result is announced online on the official website. Candidates can check their results by logging with the required credentials. The scorecard is released few days after the declaration of the result.

The following details are mentioned in IBPS SO exam:

• Name of candidate
• Maximum score overall and section-wise
• Roll number
• The score obtained in the exam section-wise and overall
• Category
• IBPS SO Cutoff marks
• Registration number
• Details on the process of arriving at scores
• Date of IBPS SO Prelims exam

The scores of IBPS SO are calculated in the following manner:

• Each correct answer is awarded one mark
• 0.25 marks are deducted for every incorrect answer
• Check the number of correct answers 
• Multiply the number of incorrect answers by 0.25 to find the total negative marks
• Subtract the total negative marks from the total marks obtained for correct answers in each section
• Add up the sectional scores to get the overall score for the exam

IBPS SO prelims cut off in 2022 is given below.

The post-wise IBPS SO cut off is given below.

IBPS SO cut off marks are the minimum marks that a candidate must get to proceed to the next stage of the recruitment process. IBPS SO cut off marks are announced after the exam is conducted for each stage. IBPS SO cut off is derived based on the two different aspects-sectional and overall. IBPS SO cutoffs are issued for each post category separately.

Cut offs are the minimum marks required to be scored by each candidate in prelims, Mains or interview round. The preliminary exam is qualifying in nature although candidates have to secure the cut off to be eligible for the Mains round. The following factors determine IBPS SO cut off marks: 

• Number of appeared candidates
• The difficulty level of the exam
• Total marks
• Number of vacancies
• Normalisation