Go back to the basics

The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection( IBPS) conducts the IBPS clerk (now called Customer Service associate)examination, for selection of customer service associates. The IBPS clerk exam dates have been announced. The Prelims will be held on December 6,7,13 and 14, 2025 and the Mains exam will be held on February 1, 2026.

Here are some tips to prepare for the Prelims exam

Have an immersive view about the syllabus

The exam consists of 3 sections viz. Reasoning, Quantitative Aptitude and English Language.

Familiarise yourself with the detailed syllabus for the IBPS CSA Prelims exam, including topics for Reasoning Ability, Numerical Ability (Quantitative Aptitude), and English/Hindi Language. The topics of Reasoning would include seating arrangements, puzzles, inequalities, data sufficiency, blood relations, order and ranking,distance and ranking. Quantitative aptitude will include topics like Simplification/Approximation, number series,Simplification/Approximation, Ratio and Proportion, Percentage,Quadratic Equations and the like. For the IBPS Clerk prelims, the English section covers Reading Comprehension, Cloze Test, Error Spotting, Sentence Correction/Improvement, Para Jumbles, and vocabulary. The Hindi section, if applicable, will cover similar topics, focusing on Hindi grammar and comprehension.

Review the exam pattern

The Prelims exam consists of 100 marks with 100 questions and of 1 hour duration. You would be awarded one mark for each correct answer and a negative marking of .25 would be done for each incorrect answer. You will have to qualify in each of the three sections by securing minimum cut off marks. If  a question is left blank, i.e. no answer is marked by the candidate, there will be no penalty for that question.The exam language can be either English or Hindi. However, the English section has to be responded to in English.

Section division

There would be 3 sections in all. There can be approximately 35 questions each in Numerical and Reasoning ability and 30 questions in English Language. Allot 20 minutes to each section.

Create a Study Plan

Allocate sufficient time for each subject based on your strengths and weaknesses. Strengthen your fundamentals in each section so that you do not have to depend on guess work and elimination for selecting the right option. Focus on the most important topics and concepts, and revisit them regularly.

Practice to Practice

When it comes to prelims, both speed and accuracy are the key. So, daily practice is a must. Each day, factor in the topics you need extra time on and dovetail your learnings into building a stronger foundation the next day. Solve a variety of questions from different topics to build your understanding and speed.

Back to basics

In certain cases, you would notice that you will have to go back to the basic concepts that you learnt from Grade VI to VIII. While you practice, also try to build semantic relationships between concepts that you did not when you were actually studying them in lower grades. For instance, how are decimals, fractions, ratio and proportion related to each other. These semantic mindmaps would cement your understanding of the topics and you would not rely on rote not only for this exam but for any concept or exam that you undertake in your life.

So, go back to basics and plunge forward.

Measure before and after results

Do a surgical strike on the topics you are weak in. Regularly attempt mock tests to simulate the exam environment and evaluate your preparation level. For instance you feel that you need more practice in topics like ratio and proportion, practice working and then measure your improvement. Every time you take a CSA exam practice test, pay special attention to the questions you got wrong, the ones you had to guess , even if you guessed right, the ones you found difficult or slow to work through.

This will show you exactly what your weak areas are and where you need to devote more study time. Ask yourself why each of these questions gave you trouble. WThe more granular and specific you are in your own analysis, the better it would be for you. Needless to say, analyze previous years' question papers to understand the exam pattern and difficulty level.

To sum up, keep the goal clear in your mind and start working backwards.