IBPS CWE PO-MT Exam Structure

Written Stage: Multi choice Questions (MCQs)

2011,2012

2013 (online
test)

1. Reasoning

50

50

English Language

50 Qs x 0.5=25 marks

40

Quantitative Aptitude (Maths + DI)

50

50

General Awareness (+ Banking

Awareness)

50

40

Computer Knowledge

50

20

25
250
150 for MCQ+60 for
descriptive

-removed200

Section

Descriptive Paper of English

Total Marks
Time-limit (minutes)

Sectional cutoff? = yes

Negative marking?= yes, Minus 0.25% per wrong answer.

Interview stage

Minimum qualifying marks in interview =40% for general and 35% for
SC/ST/OBC/PWD candidates).

The weightage (ratio) of Written: interview = 80:20

IBPS: High priority topics

120

In the game of chess, if you try to defend every piece, youll end up losing every piece.
Competitive exams are no different. So in the first round of preparation, you try to get a steel
grip over following topics.
Section

High priority area

1. General
Awareness

1. Banking awareness theory

2. Economy current affairs

Revision
Essential
1. MS Office 2007 (or 2010 or 2013)
1

Computer
2. internet related topics

Reasoning

1. High level reasoning (Syllogism +

assumption/inference)
2. Sitting arrangement

Practice
Essential

Quantitative
aptitude

1. BOSMAS/simplification
2. Data interpretation (DI)

1. Grammar rules + Sentence correction

1

English

2. Daily practice of comprehension + sentence

arrangement.

Uske baad, you venture into other areas to enhance your preparation further. In this article, we
see the approach for two sections
1. General Awareness + Banking awareness
2. Computer Awareness.
Remaining sections, dealt in separate articles.

General Awareness + Banking Awareness

IBPS CWE PO/MT Exam of

Banking Theory
Banking
Banking Current Affairs
Banking Subtotal
Economy Theory
Economy
Economy Current Affairs
Economy Subtotal
IA
International Current Affairs
Polity
Polity Current Affairs
Current Affairs (IA+Polity)
Misc.PIN
Misc.Sports
Misc.GK
Misc.Books-Authors
Misc.filler (Census, Geography, Nuke Reactors, Defense etc.)
Misc.GK subtotal
Total

2011
18
4
22
2
9
11
4
2
6
6
2
1
2
11
50

Each year, more than 30 out of 50 questions came from (Banking + Economy) only. Hence
Priority order for study:
1. Banking: and within banking: Theory >> Current

2012
15
6
21
4
7
11
5
3
8
3
4
1
2
10
50

2. Economy: and within Economy: Current >> Theory

#1: Banking Awareness (Theory)

1. Any one Book on Banking awareness (theory) Topics
BOOK

i.

MY REVIEW/COMMENT

Cheap, reliable work horse.

Not updated after 2009 (only reprinted), but for

IBPS level theory, its coverage is sufficient and
you can always google for any latest happenings.

Doesnt contain practice MCQs. (Although doesnt

matter because youll be using a separate book on
papersets anyways)

Written for JAIIB/CAIIB type exams, printingstructure-explanation is professional grade.

Few MCQs after each chapter.

Doesnt burden you with lot technical-legal

aspects, sticks to conceptual clarity.

Not updated after 2008, just reprinted.

Written for JAIIB/CAIIB type exams.

Most updated information about banking topics,

among the given books. (36th Edition released in
Jan 2013).

But also burdens you with many technical-legal

aspects that are not much relevent from IBPS exam
point of view.

Contains more MCQs than previous book by IIFB.

Money, Banking and Finance

by BSC Publication

Principles and Practices of

Banking By Indian Institute
of Banking and Finance
(IIFB)

Handbook of Banking
information by N.S.Toor
(Skylark Publication)

If you have any similar book from Arihant Publication, Kiran Prakashan etc. that is also fine. All
these books have overlapping content. Remember that youve to finish the topics, not the
books.
1

+ Various articles posted on Mrunal.org/economy

Anyone BankPO Paperset for practicing the MCQs

i.

Arihants paperset of previous Bank PO exams

ii.

Kiran Prakashans Paperset for IBPS PO/MT (with FREE CD for computer test)

iii.

If youve paper set from any other publication, thatll also work just fine.

Minimum Topics from Banking theory

Youll have to face banking awareness, not only at the MCQ-stage but also during interview
stage. Here is the list of Minimum Topics to be prepared. Dont do Ph.D on any topic, just get
an overview from MCQ point of view. (same advice for all the topics listed in this entire article)

RBI
1. Origin of RBI. Who is the current governor,
whom did he replace?
2. RBI vs SEBI vs IRDA: Name of their main
bosses, Who controls what? NBFCs, MFI,
Gold Loans, ULIP, Mutual funds etc.
3. powers functions of RBI

Banks: Basics
1. What is bank? What are its
functions? how is it different from an
NBFC/NBFC-factor, Post-office
savings, Chit Fund, Nidhi etc?
2. Types of banks: commercial banks,
regional rural banks, cooperative
banks, investment banks,
development banks etc.

4. How does RBI control the money supply?

5. Open market operations, MSF, liquidity
adjustment facility
6. SLR, CRR, Repo, Reverse repo, bank rate
7. Priority sector lending: and its subsectors.
How do they apply to Domestic bank vs
foreign bank?

3. What is a Scheduled commercial

bank?
4. Public sector versus private sector
banks. Where does RTI apply?
5. IDBI, ICICI, IFCI, SIDBI, EXIM,
NHB etc.
6. Bank nationalization, mergers and

8. Currency chest, Mint and press. Who signs

coins and currency?

9. Measures of money supply
consolidations.
10. Foreign exchange management,
components of forex reserves, approx. forex
under RBI. Powers under FERA/FEMA,
Tarapore Committee on capital account
convertibility
11. Banking regulation act and its recent
amendment

7. Names of chairman/CMD of big

banks.
8. Basic GK related to banks: first
commercial bank in India, first bank
setup by Indians, origin of
SBI/ICICI, subsidiaries of SBI, etc.

12. Banking reform, Banking License,

Narsimhan, BASEL.

Banking services
1. Assets, liabilities and working capital of a bank.
2. Demand liabilities vs time liabilities
3. Bankers rights (lien). Know your customer (KYC) norms, Adhar Card enabled payment,
Money laundering, Benami transections
4. Types of Bank customers and provisions related to them:
1. Minor-Guardian, partnership firms
2. HUF and karta
3. NRI, PIO
4. joint account holders
5. Married Women
6. partnership firm accounts
7. public/private companies
8. trusts and cooperatives

5. Types of bank accounts and their features:

1. current account, savings account
2. term deposit account, fixed deposit,
3. PPF, senior citizens account
4. NRE-rupee account, FCNR account, RFC, EEFC, escrow account
5. Allied topic: post office savings account and National savings certificate
6. Unclaimed/dormant accounts, RBI provision for them, Death of customer, insolvent
customer, liquidation, Garnishee orders
7. Types of negotiable instruments: bank draft, bank check, promissory note, warehouse
receipt, Treasury bills etc.
8. Cheque:
1. order/bearer/travel/bankers cheque
2. endorsement, cheque-crossing,
3. post-dated cheque, what if cheque-date is invalid (31st Feb) or holiday (2nd Oct)?
4. when Bank should not pay, cheque-dishonor (cheque-bouncing)
5. MICR, Cheque truncation, new CTS-system
6. Note refund rule, clan note-policy
9. demand drafts, telegraphic transfers, safe deposit lockers
10. ATM: PIN, HWAK, White Label ATM, third party ATM
11. Debit card, credit card, smart card
12. Mobile Banking, personal banking, tele-banking, corporate banking
13. Online banking:
1. NEFT, RGTS, EFTS, Bankwire, E-commerce
2. networking among banks: INDONET, BankNET, RBINET, SWIFT, Point of Sale
(POS) terminal

3. core-banking solutions
4. Electronic signature and Information Technology Act
14. Loans
1. different type of loan products,
2. Subprime lending
3. mortgage, reverse mortgage, collaterals, stamp duty on loan documents
4. lien, set-off
5. Priority sector lending: and its subsectors. How do they apply to Domestic bank
vs Foreign bank?
15. bank guarantee, letters of credit
16. Banking Ombudman: powers functions, appeal structure and Consumer courts
17. Bancassurance, cross-selling, universal / narrow / retail banking

Rural banking
1. RBI vs NABARD
2. Rural infrastructure development fund (RIDF) and budget-2013 allocation for RIDF
3. financial inclusion and various government schemes associated with it (covered in my
economic survey summaries, available on mrunal.org/economy)
4. regional rural banks, their amalgation
5. cooperative banks
6. micro-finance institutions (MFI)
7. primary agricultural credit Society
8. Banking correspondent agents (covered in my article)
9. lead bank scheme, local area banks, service area approach
10. Kisan credit card, interest subvention on crop-loans

^Almost all of these topics have been covered in my articles on Mrunal.org/Economy

Bad Loans
1. What is NPA?
2. Gross NPA versus net NPA
3. Asset classification under NPA
(substandard/doubtful/loss)

International banking
1. Bretton Woods
2. World Bank

4. Current figure of NPA? Which bank has

highest NPA?
5. Capital adequacy norms, hypothecation

3. IMF: SDR, voting rights

4. Who are the Main boss of IMF,
World Bank, ADB?

6. CIBIL and credit rating

5. BASEL
7. SARFAESI Act and its recent amendment
6. bank for International settlement
8. asset reconstruction companies
7. Asian clearing union
9. Debt recovery tribunals.
8. Islamic Banking
10. Lok Adalats
9. ADR, GDR, IDR
11. Industrial sickness
12. Board for industrial and financial
Reconstruction

again, most of these topics have been covered in my articles on Mrunal.org/Economy

Sample questions from previous papers

Observe the following questions asked in previous IBPS PO papers, itll give you an idea on
what kind of information you should be focusing on, while reading the banking awareness
theory.
Q. RBI related

1. Which of the following is a correct

statement?
a. State Bank of India is the sole
authority to issue and manage
currency in India.

Which of the following is NOT a

function of the Reserve Bank of India?
a. Fiscal Policy Functions

b. A nationalised bank is the sole

authority to issue and manage
currency in India.

b. Exchange Control Functions

c. Issuance, Exchange and
destruction of currency notes

c. A cooperative bank is the sole

authority to issue and manage
currency in India.

d. Monetary Authority Functions

d. RBI is the sole authority to issue

and manage currency in India.
None of these

e. Supervisory and Control

Functions
1

2. By increasing repo rate, the economy may

observe the following effects:

Interest payable on savings bank

accounts is
a. Not regulated by RBI.

a. Rate of interest on loans and

advances will be costlier
b. Industrial output would be affected
to an extent
c. Banks will increase rate of interest
on deposits
d. Industry houses may borrow
money from foreign countries

b. Regulated by State
Governments.
c. Regulated by Central
Government.
d. Regulated by RBI.
e. Regulated by Finance minister.

e. All of these

Q. Bank Nationalisation / types of banks related

Nationalization of banks aimed at all of the following

except

Axis Bank is a
a. Public Sector

a. Provision of adequate credit foragriculture, SME

bank
& exports
b. Private Sector
Bank

b. Removal of control by a few capitalists

c. Provision of credit to big industries only

c. Co-operative
Bank

d. Access of banking to masses

d. Foreign Bank
e. Encouragement of a new class of entrepreneurs
e. Gramin Bank

Q. Banking services

1. Which of the following statements is

true?

Which one of the following is a retail

banking product?

a. Banks cannot accept demand

and time deposits from
public.

a. Home Loans

b. Banks can accept only

demand deposits from public

c. Corporate term loans

b. Working capital finance

d. Infrastructure financing
c. Banks can accept only time
deposits from public
d. Banks can accept both
demand and time deposits
from public.
e. Banks can accept demand and
time deposits only from
government.
2. With reference to a cheque which of
the following is the drawee bank?
a. The bank that collects the
cheque

e. Export Credit
1

A money deposit at a bank that cannot be

withdrawn for a preset fixed of time is
known as a
a. Term deposit
b. Checking Account
c. Savings Bank Deposit
d. No Frills Account
e. Current Deposit

b. The payees bank

c. The endorsees bank
d. The endorsers bank
e. The bank upon which the
cheque is drawn

Q. online banking related

1. An ECS transaction gets bounced and you are unable

to recover your money from your customer. Under
which Act criminal action can be initiated?

Upper limit prescribed for

RTGS transaction is
a. Rs. 1 lac

a. Indian Penal Code

b. Rs. 2 lacs
b. Negotiable Instruments Act
c. Rs. 5 lacs
c. Criminal Procedure Code
d. Rs. 50 lac
d. Payment and Settlements Act
e. No upper limit is
prescribed

e. Indian Contract Act

1

NEFT means
a. National Electronic
Funds Transfer
system
b. Negotiated Efficient
Fund Transfer
System
c. National Efficient
Fund Transfer
Solution
d. Non Effective
Funds Transfer

System
e. Negotiated
Electronic Foreign
Transfer System

Q. ombudsman related

1
1. Mr. Rajendra had filed a complaint with Banking
Ombudsman but is not satisfied with the decision.
What is the next option him for getting his matter
resolved?

Banking Ombudsman
Scheme is applicable to the
business of
a. All scheduled
commercial banks
excluding RRBs

a. Write to the CMD of the Bank

b. File an appeal before the Finance Minister
c. File an appeal before the Banking
Ombudsman again

b. All scheduled
commercial banks
including RRBs
c. Only Public Sector
Banks

d. File an appeal before the Dy. Governor RBI

e. Simply close the matter as going to court
involves time and money

d. All Banking
Companies
e. All scheduled banks
except private banks

#2: Banking Awareness (Current Affairs)

for this, youve to keep an eye on the newspapers + monthly current affairs in magazines. Main
focus areas:
1. RBIs monetary policy and key rates
2. Any committee made by RBI/government for Banking sector. Who is its chairman and
what is the purpose?
3. Any new directives to banks by RBI/Finance Ministry

4. Person in News: Any new appointments in RBI/Big Banks, Any Indian being appointed
in foreign banks
5. Banking license, entry of foreign banks.
6. When a big bank launches a new product
7. Government schemes associated with financial inclusion/pension/insurance: swabhiman,
swavalamban etc.
Important: Whenever you come across above info, Note them in a separate diary/file and revise
multiple times.
Observe the sample questions from previous IBPS PO exams, this will give you an idea on what
type of information to focus on, while reading current affairs.

a. Finance Ministry has asked the Reserve

Bank of India to allow common ATMs that
will be owned and managed by nonbanking entities hopping to cut transaction
costs for banks. Such ATMs are known as

As per revised RBI Guidelines,

Provision on secured portion of loan
accounts classified as Doubtful
Assets for more than one year and
upto 3 (three) years is to be made at
the rate of

a. Black Label ATMs

a. 15%
b. Offsite ATMs
b. 20%
c. On site ATMs or red ATMs
c. 40%
d. Third party ATMs
d. 25%
e. White label ATMs
e. 30%
b. The committee on review of National Small
Saving Fund (NSSF) was headed by

Which of the following banks is

headed by a woman CEO

a. Dr. C. Rangarajan
a. Bank of Baroda
b. Mr. U.K. Sinha
b. HDFC Bank
c. Dr. Y.V. Reddy
c. Central Bank of India
d. Mrs. Shyamala Gopinath
d. Punjab National Bank
e. Dr. Usha Thorat

c. Who is the chairman of the committee

constituted by RBI to study Issues and
Concerns in the Micro Finance Institutions
(MFI) Sector?
a. YH Malegam
b. Dr KC Chakraborty

e. ICICI Bank
1

c. C Rangrajan
d. M Damodaran

Who among the following has been

appointed as a director on board of
Bank of America-the first nonAmerican on the board of the one of
the largest financial institutions in the
world?

e. Smt Usha Thorat

a. Azim Premji
d. Which of the following states became the
first state in the country to launch RBIs epayment system for commercial tax payers?

b. Ratan Tata
c. Mukesh Ambani

Andhra Pradesh

Kerala

Gujarat

Maharashtra

Karnataka

d. KV Kamath
e. Chanda Kochar

Enough of Banking awareness, lets move to next topic:

#3: Economy (Theory)

Although in previous IBPS exams, within economy they gave more emphasis on current affairs
over theory portion. But still, You must get a good grasp over basic concepts of economy.
Because of following reasons
1. For the interview / group discussion stage of banks/IIMs/State PCS/UPSC exam, youll
have to prepare current affairs related to Economy, particularly downfall of rupee, current
account deficit, petroleum pricing, FDI etc.
2. For that ^that, youll have to read newspapers and news columns, but those people write
articles with assumption that reader already knows the basic theory! So, if you dont

know the theory, youll find those articles boring/difficult to grasp=> shallow answers
during interview/GD=low marks=no selection or lower rank.
Source:
1. Mrunal.org/economy
2. NCERT Textbooks (click to download for free)
I.
II.
III.

Indias Economic Development Class 11

Macroeconomics Class 12
NIOS Material on Economy: if youve time and mood.

3. If youve Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh (TMH Publication), read it. IF you dont
have it, then there is no need to specifically buy the book only for IBPS.
4. Google as and when necessary.
Here is the list of minimum topics that should be prepared from Economy Theory / static portion

Indian Economy
Basic
1. Basic terms: GDP, NDP, GNP, NNP,
recession, purchasing power parity
etc.
2. Three types of Economies:
Capitalism, Socialist, communism +
LPG reforms of India

1. Planning commission, National development

Council, five-year plans, main targets of 12
five-year plan.
2. 14th Finance commission and who is its
chairman?
3. Inflation: types, impact, various terms
associated with inflation WPI, CPI, their new
series, who calculates what?

3. human development index

4. millennium development goals

4. IIP, industrial licensing, definition of

MSME, items reserved for SSI,
5. public sector undertaking, disinvestment

Finance
1. Money market vs capital market:

Budget

functions, who supervises them?

2. Commercial bills, Treasury bills,
certificate of deposit, commercial
paper
3. Derivatives, options-futures,
currency swaps,
4. underwriting, factoring
5. debt vs equity: IPO-shares, stocks,
debentures, bonds, mutual funds
(+NAV), G-sec
6. venture capital, angel investor
7. SEBI: functions, who is their main
boss?
8. Stock Exchange: BSE, NSE,
SENSEX, Dollex etc.
9. Credit rating: CRISIL, Moody, S&P
etc.
10. participatory notes, QFI, FII
11. FDI and its limits in various sectors,
FIPB
12. PAN card and DEMAT account
13. external commercial borrowing
(ECB), ADR, GDR, IDR

Insurance
1. Types of insurance
2. Nationalization, LIC, GIC etc.

1. Taxation:
a. direct vs indirect. taxation powers of
union and state
b. tax deduction at source
c. tax slabs
d. negative list in service tax
e. PAN Card, E-filling of tax returns
f. Basics of VAT, GST
2. types of budgets: surplus, deficit, balanced
3. votable vs non-votable items
4. Finance Bill and appropriation Bill
5. cut motions: policy cut, economy cut, token
cut
6. general budget versus railway budget
7. revenue versus capital expenditure
8. standing committees of Parliament
9. types of deficits, FRBM targets
10. fiscal deficit and its impact on economy
11. Consolidated fund, contingency fund, public
account

Foreign trade
1. current account, capital account, balance of
trade, balance of payment

2. rupee convertibility
3. IRDA: chairman, power-functions
3. currency devaluation, appreciation
4. NPS, EPFO, ESIC, social security
4. GATT, WTO
5. pension-insurance reforms, FDI
5. FERA, FEMA
6. Bancassurance
6. NEER, REER

Sample questions from previous papers

1. Financial inclusion means provision of

1. Financial services, namely,

payments, remittances, savings,
loans and insurance at affordable
cost to persons not yet given the
same.

When there is a difference between all

receipts and expenditure of the Govt.
of India, both capital and revenue, it is
called
1. Revenue Deficit
2. Budgetary Deficit

2. Ration at affordable cost to

persons not yet given the same.

3. Zero Budgeting

3. House at affordable cost to

persons not yet given the same.

4. Trade Gap
5. Balance of payment problem

4. Food at affordable cost to persons

not yet given the same.
5. Education at affordable cost to
persons not yet given the same.

Which of the following is not

considered a money market
instrument?
A. Treasury bills

2. When the rate of inflation increases

B. Repurchase Agreement
1

purchasing power of money increases

purchasing power of money decreases

value of money increases

C. Commercial Paper
D. Certificate of Deposit
E. Shares and bonds
4

purchasing power of money remains

unaffected

amount of money in circulation decreases

^as you can see, from theory very easy questions have been asked. Hence just get an overview,
dont spend too much time on Economy theory portion. Now moving to:

#4: Economy: Current Affairs

Main focus should be on Union Budget 2013 + Economic survey.

The summary of all Economic survey chapters=available on Mrunal.org/economy. And in

those summaries, Ive also included various government schemes, organizations, even the
Human development index.

Budget-2013

Numbers related to Economy

For Numbers, prepare following
1. latest Estimates of GDP

For Budget-2013, you dont have to prepare each and

everything, just focus on following areas
1. Chindus Budget speech: (click me). look for major
announcements e.g. We are working with RBI and
NABARD to bring all other banks, including some
cooperative banks, on Core Banking solution and epayment systems by 31.12.2013.
2. Major highlights of Budget-2013 (click me)
3. Income tax slabs
4. peak rates of excise, service tax and custom duty
5. Negative list of Service tax.

2. IIP, WPI, CPI: highest

lowest in recent times.
3. Repo rate, CRR, SLR,
Bank rate: highest lowest
in recent times.
4. Rupee vs dollar: highest
lowest in recent times.
5. fiscal deficit, current
account deficit
6. latest FDI limits in various
sectors
7. top-5 items in export and
import
8. excise, service tax, income
tax, custom duty (highest
to lowest in terms of
income to government)

For remaining current affair related matters e.g. US/EU economic problems, measures taken by
government to boost investment/GDP, curb current account deficit / gold consumption etc.
1. Economy section under any one Monthly current affairs magazine AND/OR
2. economy related news within monthly updates of Competitionmaster.com
3. +keep a habit of reading English newspaper on daily basis, itll help you in reading
comprehension, general awareness and interview.
Observe the sample questions from previous IBPS PO exam, it will give you an idea of what
type of information you should be focusing on, while reading magazine/newspaper for economy
current affairs.
Q. US/EU related
Almost all the major economies of the world had reacted sharply on the issue of the USAs
ceiling limit on its debt. Why was the issue so important for other nations, which otherwise was
an internal matter for the USA?
1. The Senates decision on the issue might have caused the US dollar to weaken further or
get strengthened in international markets.
2. Weakening of the dollar might have pushed up Euro and other major currencies up and
some European countries which were already in trouble would have faced a new crisis.
3. Debt limit was directly related to liquidity position of banks in USA.
answer choices
a. Only (A)
b. Only (B)
c. Only (A) and (B) both
d. Only (B) and (C) both
e. All (A), (B) and (C)
Q. Foreign Trade related

1.

The Govt. of India recently decided to lift the four-yearsThe present Foreign Trade old ban on export of wheat. What was the reason for the
policy of India will continue same?

A. India had a bumper crop of wheat during last two

years. Hence it has excess stock of wheat.
B. As per the Food Security Act, India is bound to
provide 10 million tones of wheat to World food
grain stock every year. India defaulted last year. This
year it does not want to be one.

till

C. As advised by the Supreme Court of India, the

money received from export should be used to pay
subsidy to the farmers.

A. December 2012
B. March 2013
C. March 2014

Answer Choices

D. June 2013

a. Only(B)

E. December 2014

b. Only (A)
c. Only (C)
d. Both (A) and (B)
e. All (A), (B) and (C)

Q.Govt schemes

1. Which of the following schemes of the

Govt. of India has provided electrically to
99000 villages and total 1.7 crore
households uptill now?
A. Kuti Jyoti
B. Rajiv Gandhi Grameen
Vidyutikaran Yojana
C. Bharat Nirman
D. PURA SEWA

Which of the following schemes is

launched to provide pension to
people in unorganized sectors in
India?
A. Swabhiman
B. Jeevan Dhara
C. Jeevan Kalyan
D. ASHA
E. Swavalamban

Q. Government Policies to boost investment/GDP

The Govt. of which of the following

states has agreed to give captive mines of
iron- ores to all the companies who are
willing to establish plants there?
A. West Bengal
B. Odisha
C. Jharkhand
D. Bihar
E. Karnataka

POSCO is in the process of establishing

its plants in India. What does the letter P
denote in the name POSCO?
1. Popular
2. Pallin

In order to attract more foreign

exchange the Govt. of India decided to
allow foreign investment in LLP firms.
What is full form of LLP as used in
this reference?

1. Local Labour Promotion

2. Low Labour Projects
3. Limited Loan Partnership
4. Longer Liability Partnership
5. Limited Liability Partnership

3. Pohang
4. Paradeep
5. Peterburg

Enough of Economy, lets move to next topic.

#5: International Affairs (IA)

For CDS, CAPF, IBPS= international-affairs is a common topic. Even at interview stage, you
might come across questions from here. The Cost: benefit is quite good, if you focus on the right
areas.
Although IA+Polity current had less questions than Misc.GK in previous IBPS PO Exams, but I
put them at higher place in this priority order. Why?

1. The cost: benefit of IA+Polity current is higher than Misc.GK (in terms of amount of data
to be memorized, to solve one MCQ in the actual exam.)
2. Youll have to prepare current affairs related to IA+Polity for the interview anyways,
while Misc.GK loses significance @interview stage.

Reference source for IA

1

International Affairs section under any one Monthly current affairs magazine
(PRatiyogita, CST etc) AND/OR

Monthly updates of Competitionmaster.com

+keep a habit of reading English newspaper on daily basis, itll help you in reading
comprehension, general awareness and interview.

Areas to focus?
1. PIN (Persons in news) : election of new PM/Prez. in any country. Heads of main
international organizations.
2. Places in news: where some summit/controversial event happened.
3. Recent summits of ASEAN, SAARC, G-8 etc. Location and theme.
4. bilateral visits and agreements
5. Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, new Schemes related to NRIs
6. Any recent controversies: Snowden, Wikileaks, Syria, Egypt etc.
^Dont do Ph.D, just focus on persons/places in news and main reason(s)/features.
Observe the following questions that were asked in previous IBPS PO exams, itll give you an
idea on what type of information you should be focusing on, while reading about international
affairs.
Q. Bilateral visits

The Home Minister of India was

recently on a visit to Bangladesh,
where both the countries signed a
Coordinated Border Management
Plan (CBMP). What are the major

The President of India was recently on a

visit to South Korea and Mongolia. During
her visit some agreements were signed by
both the countries. Which of the following
was a common area on which India signed

points of this agreement?

1. The plan will help in resolving the
long-pending border dispute
between both the nations.
2. The head count of the people living
in enclaves on the border will be
completed within next six months
time.
3. India assured that no BSF Jawan
will open fire on the people crossing
the borders unless there is an attack
on them.
answer choices
A. Only (A)
B. Only (B)
C. Only C

agreements with South Korea and Mongolia

both?
1. Peaceful use of Nuclear energy
2. Export of edible oil toSouth Korea and
Mongolia
3. Providing technical help to become selfsufficient in production of food grains
4. Willingness of both the countries to support
Indias bid to have permanent seat in UN
Security Council
5. To hold Olympic games in 2022 in New
Delhi jointly with South Korea and
Mongolia

D. All (A), (B) and (C)

E. Both (A) and (C)

Q. Controversy related

1. Which of the following was the issue

over which India decided to vote against
Sri Lanka in the meeting of one of the
UN governed bodies/agencies?
a. Violations of human right in Sri
Lanka

What was the reason owing to which

Enrica Lexie, an Italian ship was
detained by the Port Authorities in
Kerala and was brought to Cochin port
for inspection and search?
a. It was carrying objectionable
material

b. Allowing China to establish a

military based in India ocean

b. It was involved in sea piracy

c. Issue of subsidy on agricultural

c. It was detained as the crew

products in the meeting of the

WTO
d. Allowing part of Sri Lanka to
become an independent country
governed by LTTE
e. Sri Lankas claim to become a
permanent member of UN
Security Council

killed two Indian fishermen

d. The ship started sailing without
making payments of iron ore it
loaded

2. The president of which of the following

countries was accused of violation of
War Powers Act of his country when
he decide to attack Libya with other
NATO countries in June 2011?

e. It was detained as it was

dumping nuclear waste in deep
sea

a. USA
b. France
c. Germany
d. Spain
e. Italy

Q. International Places in News

The 10th Basic Ministerial Meeting

on Climate Change was organized
in February 2012 in

The Golden Jubilee of Afro-Asian Rural

Development organization was organized in
which of the following places in March
2012?

a. Tokyo
a. Dhaka
b. Beijing
b. Tokyo
c. Manila
c. Cairo
d. Moscow
d. Kuala Lampur

e. New Delhi

e. New Delhi

Q. International Persons in news (PIN)

1. Angela Merkel was recently in India to

receive Jawaharlal Nehru Award for
International Understanding for the year
2009. What has been her contribution to
international politics which made her the
Best Choice for the award?

Who among the following was the

Chief Guest at the three-day Pravasi
Bharatiya Divas function held in
January 2012?
a. Kamla Persad Bissessar

1. She played a major role in restarting

negotiations between Russia and USA on
START.

b. Ram Baran Yadav

2. She initiated Health Care Reforms in

Germany and solved problems related to
future energy development.

d. Salman Rushdie

3. She played a crucial role in negotiation of

the Treaty of Lisbon and Berlin declaration.

c. Lakshmi Mittal

e. Benjamin Netanyahu
1

Answer choices

Which of the following countries

recently conferred its Highest State
Honour on Late Mrs Indira Gandhi
for her contribution in its Liberation
war?

A. Only (B) and (C)

a

South Sudan

Bangladesh

Bhutan

Slovakia

Croatia

B. Only (A) and (B)

C. Only (C)
D. Only (A) and (C)
E. None of these
1

Yingluck Shinawatra won recently

held election to become first PM of
a. Myanmar,
b. S.Korea

c. Thailand
d. N.Korea
e. none of Above

#6: Polity Current affairs

In past exams, 2-3 questions appeared from polity related current affairs. but still cost-benefit is
good, just pay attention to key areas within newspaper, magazines and youll be able to solve
those MCQs effortlessly.
Areas to focus (Dont do Ph.D, just keep an eye on following topics)
1. PIN: new CM (particularly North East and those who won multiple times), New
CAG/EC/CJI etc.
2. SC judgments/ scams / controversies
3. Bills/amendments/acts
4. committees, scams
Observe the questions from past exams
Q. Polity current: controversy related
The Lokayukta of which of the
following States had submitted a
report on illegal mining of iron ore
in the State?

Which of the following agencies/ organizations

recently gave go-ahead verdict to Indias one of the
most controversial project of inter linking rivers?
(some of the rivers are international rivers)

a. Andhra Pradesh
a. UN Food and Agriculture Organization
b. Tamil Nadu
b. World Meteorological Organization
c. Karnataka
c. International Court of Justice
d. Odisha
d. Central Water Commission
e. None of these

e. Supreme Court of India

Polity: persons/places in news

Who among the following has become

the chief Minister of a State in India for
third consecutive term?
a. Tarun Gogoi
b. Nitish Kumar
c. J Jayalalitha
d. Mamta Banerjee
e. None of these

Gorkhaland Council, which was

recently in news, is a body set up for
administration of which of the following
Districts?

a. Siliguri
b. Bagdogra
c. Malda
d. Darjeeiing
e. Gangtok

Polity: Acts/bills/amendments related

Which of the following acts is vogue in

India is against the thinking of raising
school fee as per demand of the market
forces?

As per the provisions in the Food

Security Bill 2011, per month how
much food grain should be given to
each person of the target group?

a. Prevention of Corruption Act

a. 5 kg
b. Child Labour (Prohibition &
Regulation) Act

b. 7 kg

c. Sharda Act

c. 9 kg

d. Right to Education Act

d. 10 kg

e. MG National Rural Employment

Guarantee Act

e. 20 kg

#7: Misc.GK: Filler topics

If youre preparing for CAPF, CDS, State PCS or SSC, youll definitely come across
good number of questions on geography, census, defense, and science-tech. But for IBPS,
theyre only using these topics as filler material. Hence cost: benefit = not good and
therefore I put them under Misc.GK.

But still while youre reading newspaper/magazine, doesnt hurt keeping an eye on
following. Here are samples from previous IBPS PO exams.

GEOGRAPHY

CENSUS
1

1. The worlds highest Rail Bridge is

being constructed in the state of
Jammu & Kashmir. This bridge will
be on which of the following rivers?

a. Kerala has about 94% literacy, the

highest in India.
b. The sex ratio in India is 940.

a. Jhelum

c. Male literacy is lower than female

literacy in seven most developed
states.

b. Chenab
c. Indus

d. Uttar Pradesh is the most populous

State in India.

d. Ravi
e. None of these

DEFENSE
1

Akula-11 Class K-152 Nerpa was

inducted in Indian Navy recently.
These are
a. Aircrafts

Which of the following statements

containing results of Indias recent Census
is not correct?

e. The population of India has

increased by 181 million during
the decade 2001-2011.
SCI-TECH/NUKE
1

As per newspaper reports, India is

planning to use SEU as fuel in its 700
MV nuclear reactors being developed in
new plans. What is full form of SEU as
used here?

b. Radar System

a. Safe Electrical Units

c. Submarines Missiles

b. Small Electrical Units

c. Slightly Enriched Uranium

d. Warship
d. Sufficiently Enriched Units
e. Submarines
e. Safely Enriched Uranium

#7: Misc.GK: PIN/Award/Sports

Finally the most bogus headache topic.
Previous IBPS PO Exams:
Misc.PIN (persons in news, awards)
Misc.Sports
Misc.Books-Authors
Misc.filler (Census, Geography, Nuke Reactors, Defense)
total

2011
6
2
1
2
11

Source of preparation

Ive published Person in News compilation from 2012 to March 2013 click me

Copy paste it in MS Word file

Goto library, read whatever competitive magazine you get (CST, Pratiyoigta, Chronicle,
Wizard) and note down important names/details. You can also use list given by
competitionmaster.com for example click me for June 2013

Observe the sample questions from previous exams:

Person in News (PIN)/Awards

1. Which of the following awards was

conferred upon Late Mario De Miranda
(Posthumously) in January 2012?

Ranbir Kapoor was awarded Best

Actor in 47th Filmfare Award
Function for his performance in

a. Padma Vibhushan

a. No One Killed Jessica

b. Bharat Ratna

b. Stanley Ka Dabba

2
3
4
1
2
1

c. Kalidas Samman
d. Saraswati Samman
e. Padmashri
2. Which of the following films was not
directed by Manikaul, who died recently?

c. 7 Khoon Maaf
d. Rockstar

a. 3 Idiots

e. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

b. Ghashiram Kotwal
c. Uski Roti
d. Dividha
e. Ashadh Ka Ek Din

Books-Authors
Who among the following is the author of the Who among the following is the winner of Man
book Birbasan?
Booker Prize 2011?
a. Mahashweta Devi

A. Andrea Levy

b. Taslima Nasreen

B. Nicola Barker

c. Sunil Gangopadhyay

C. TomMcCarthy

d. Vikram Seth

D. Linda Grant

e. Kiran Desai

E. 5) Philip Roth

Sports: Location

1. National Table Tennis Championship

was organized in January 2012 in
a. Mumbai

The 5th Asian Indoor Athletics

Championship was organized in February
2012 in

a. Bangladesh
b. Delhi
b. India
c. Hyderabad
c. Qatar
d. Luck now
d. China
e. Jaipur
e. South Korea

Sports: Winner/loser

1
1. Who among the following Indian
Lawn Tennis player won a
Doubles of Australian Open 2012?

What among the following was the Captain of

the Australian Team which played 5 Test
matches against India in January 2012 and
won all of them?

a. Mahesh Bhupati

a. Ricky Pointing

b. Kamlesh Mehta

b. Michael Clarke

c. Leander Paes

c. Nathan Lyon

d. Samoa Mirza

d. Stuart Clark

e. Achanta Sarath Kamal

e. Andrew Symonds

2. Japan won the womens Football

World Cup 2011 by defeating

Who amongst following won the Wimbledon

Mens final 2011, which was also his first
Wimbledon Title?

a. England
a. Rafael Nadal
b. Germany
b. Novak Djokovic
c. Argentina
c. Robert Bruce
d. USA
d. Lleyton Hewitt
e. China
e. None of above.

Computer Awareness- Topicwise Breakup

Topic IBPS CWE PO/MT
MS Office
OS/software basics
Internet/network
virus/security
hardware
programming
database
total

2012
15
5
14
1
6
6
3
50

2011
6
8
13
3
14
5
1
50

^For 2013s exam, there will be only 20 marks from Computer awareness.

Priority areas:
1. Within MS Office: Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. Important: IBPS asks questions
about MS-offce 2007 and onwards (i.e. tabs-interface.) Good news is NIOS material
covers that portion.
2. Internet, Email, Webpage related
3. Within hardware: types of computers, hardware used in networking & internet

Reference?

IF you already have a book for Computer awareness from Kiran, Arihant etc. well and
good. Revise it often and solve the mock questions given in it.

If you dont have any book, there is no need to specially purchase any book because the
(free) NIOS study material for computer awareness is available for free. Click me to
Download.

Solve the computer awareness questions from previous years Bank PO questions papers.

Lets look at some sample questions from previous years IBPS PO papers

MS Office
To find the Paste Special option, you use the
Clipboard group on the tab of PowerPoint.(1)

In Power Point, the Header & Footer button

can be found on the Insert tab in what

group ?
1. illustrations group
Design(2) Slide Show(3) Page Layout(4) Insert

2. Object group

(5) Nome

3. Text group
4. Tables group
5. None of these

The letter and number of the intersecting column

and row is the
1. cell location
2. cell position
3. cell address
4. cell coordinates
5. Cell contents

______ in Excel allows users to bring

together copies of workbooks that other
users have worked on independently.
1. Copying
2. Merging
3. Pasting
4. Compiling
5. None of these

OS/Software basics
Which of the following software could assist
someone who cannot use their hands for
computer input?

____ software creates a mirror image of the

entire hard disk, including the operating system,
applications, files, and data.

1. Video conferencing

1. Operating system

2. Speech recognition

2. Backup software

3. Audio digitizer

3. Utility programs

4. Synthesizer

4. Driver imaging

5. None of these

5. None of these

What is the name given to those applications

You can keep your personal files/folders in

that combine text, sound, graphics, motion

video, and/or animation ?
1. My folder
1. motionware
2. My Documents
2. anigraphics
3. My Files
3. videoscapes
4. My Text
4. multimedia
5. None of these
5. maxomedia

Internet/Email/Networks
____ allows users to upload files to an
online site so they can be viewed and
edited from another location.
1. General-purpose applications
2. Microsoft Outlook
3. Web-hosted technology
4. Office Live
5. None of these
The method of Internet access that
requires a phone line, but offers faster
access speeds than dial-up is the
connection.

Fourth-generation mobile technology provides

enhanced capabilities allowing the transfer of both
____ data, including full-motion video, high-speed
Internet access, and videoconferencing.
1. video data and information
2. voice and nonvoice
3. music and video
4. video and audio
5. None of these
A USB communication device that supports data
encryption for secure wireless communication for
notebook users is called a
1. USB wireless network adapter

1. cable access
2. wireless switch
2. satellite access
3. wireless hub
3. fiber-optic service
4. router
4. Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)
5. None of these

5. modem

Security
____ is a form of denial of service attack in which A person who uses his or her expertise to
a hostile client repeatedly sends SYN packets to gain access to other peoples computers to
every port on the server using take IP addresses. get information illegally or do damage is a
1. Cybergaming crime

1. hacker

2. Memory shaving

2. analyst

3. Syn flooding

3. instant messenger

4. Software piracy

4. programmer

5. None of these

5. spammer

______are attempts by individuals to obtain

confidential information from you by falsifying
their identity.
1

Phishing trips

Computer viruses

Spyware scams

Viruses

Phishing scams

Hardware
Different components on the motherboard of a PC unit are
Which part of the computer is
linked together by sets of parallel electrical conducting lines. used for calculating and
What are these lines called?
comparing ?
1. Conductors

1. ALU

2. Buses

2. Control unit

3. Connectors

3. Disk unit

4. Consecutives

4. Modem

5. None of these

5. None of these

Reusable optical storage will typically have the acronym

Which ports connect special

types of music instruments to
sound cards?

1. CD
1. BUS
2. DVD
2. CPU
3. ROM
3. USB
4. RW
4. MIDI
5. ROS
5. MINI

Programming
A(n) _____ language reflects the way
people think mathematically.

A(n) program is one that is ready to run and does not

need to be altered in any way.

1. cross-platform programming

1. interpreter

2. 3GL business programming

2. high-level

3. event-driven programming

3. compiler.

4. functional

4. COBOL

5. None of these

5. executable

A set of rules for telling the

computer what operations to
perform is called a ___

A detailed written description of the

programming cycle and the program, along
with the test results and a printout of the

program is called
1. procedural language
1. documentation
2. structures
2. output
3. natural language
3. reporting
4. command language
4. spec sheets
5. programming language
5. Directory

Database management related

Grouping and processing all of a
____ is used by public and private enterprises to publish and
firms transactions at one time is
share financial information with eachother and industry
called
analysts across all computer platforms and the Internet.
1. Extensible Markup Language (EML)
2. Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL)
3. Enterprise Application Integration (EAI)
4. Sales Force Automation (SFA) software
5.

None of these

1. a database management
system
2. batch processing
3. a real-time system
4. an on-line system
5. None of these

This first step in the transaction processing cycle captures

business data through various modes such as optical scanning
or at an electronic commerce website.
1. Document and report generation
2. Database maintenance
3. Transaction processing start-up
4. Data Entry
5. None of Above

6.