IBPS has released the dates for the PO 2017 exam and the preliminary exam is scheduled to be held in October. Although preliminary exam does not have any weightage in the final selection, but it is the gateway to write the mains examination. Hence, any serious candidate should not take prelims lightly. In order to get an idea about the paper you can access the free IBPS PO previous years papers on our website. In this post, we will try to provide you with a 90 days study plan for IBPS PO 2017. If you follow this plan religiously, your chances of clearing the prelims will increase manifold.
IBPS PO prelims consist of 100 questions. The duration of the exam is 60 minutes. 30 questions are from English, 35 from reasoning and 35 from Quantitative Aptitude. The cut-off for the IBPS PO exam usually hovers between 40 to 50 marks. Hence, one should aim to score 55+ marks to be on a safe side. We will discuss in our study plan as to how to go about the preparation to score high marks.
To begin with, we will divide the 90 days study plan for IBPS PO 2017 into three 30 day plans. We will call it the Initial, Intermediate and Final stages of preparation.
Initial stage of Study Plan for IBPS PO 2017 Exam
In the first 30 days of your preparation try to revise the basic concepts related to all the topics. In the reasoning section, try to understand the approaches to solve the different kind of puzzles which have appeared in the past. Solve some easy to moderate level questions from some good book. You can get good quality free practice questions for IBPS PO on our website.
Similarly, in Quant section try to revise all the basic concepts and formulae of IBPS exam from different topics like Quadratic equations for IBPS PO, Progressions for IBPS PO etc. You can solve easy-moderate questions to apply the concepts which you have learnt. Moreover, try and improve your calculation speeds. It will come in very handy in the exam.
To do well in the English section, revise the grammar rules from some good book. You may also watch some free videos from our video series to understand the basic concepts which are tested in banking exams. Alongside this, keep solving at least one reading comprehension set daily. Reading comprehension in IBPS PO is generally on the easier side and you should not miss out on any easy marks in the exam. Read about tips to improve in English section for IBPS PO exam.
So the first 30 days of our 90 days study plan for IBPS 2017, just try to cover the basics of all the topics. Once you are done with this, you can move on to the next stage of the plan.
Intermediate stage of the study plan for IBPS PO 2017
Once you are done with covering the basics of all the topics, the next step is to apply these concepts in a timed environment. Hence, you should subscribe to a good test series for IBPS PO 2017. You can get free mock tests for IBPS PO 2017 on our website. The test series will serve multiple purposes. It will help you in developing the ability to solve questions under a stressed environment. The timer running on the top of the screen creates a lot of pressure and that can never be felt by simply solving questions from a book.
Another benefit of the test series will be that you will be able to understand your strengths and weaknesses. You will be able to figure out the topics in which you can solve the questions quickly and accurately. You will also be able to figure out the topics you are weak at. Attempting 100 questions in 1 hour is close to impossible. Hence, it is important to know which questions to leave. The more you practice, the more easily you will be able to figure out which questions to attempt and which questions to leave.
Another important thing which you need to do in the phase 2 of your 90 days study plan for IBPS PO would be to work on your weaknesses. Once you start taking tests you would figure out the topics you are weak at. You should go back and clear your basics for those topics which you are weak at. This is important because you don’t know that which topics will contribute easy questions in the exam. You should be able to attempt the easy questions irrespective of whether they are from your weak zone or strong zone.
Final Stage of 90 days study plan for IBPS PO 2017
In the last 30 days of your preparation, you need to finalize your test taking strategy. Remember that you not only need to clear the overall cut-off but sectional cut-off also. Hence, during this phase you need to strategize how you are going to use your 60 minutes. Mocks will play a huge role in this and hence a good quality test series is must. Try to spend some time in each of the sections to score sufficiently high to clear the sectional cut-offs. Learn important IBPS exam maths tricks that will save your time and effort.
The remaining time can be devoted to the area which you most comfortable in. Phase 2 of your plan will help you in this. You will know the topics you are good at. You should try to solve questions from those topics to maximize your overall score. It is advisable to not start any new topic in this phase. Revise the basics of whatever you have prepared and try to arrive at a final test taking strategy. You should also have backup strategies to go for in case the paper is different from what you expected.
We are not suggesting any fixed strategy because it may vary according to individual’s strengths and weaknesses. Someone who is very good in verbal may want to increase his score in English and just clear sectional cut-offs in other two sections. Read important tips for quantitative aptitude section of IBPS exam and maximize your score. Someone who is good at Quant will have a different strategy. This is why we have just provided you a broad framework and you can make your strategy accordingly.
We have some useful blog posts for various topics of IBPS PO. You may find them useful in your preparation.
Ratio and Proportion for IBPS PO
