In a recent interview with Mr. R. Shiva Kumar, Chief Academic Officer, CL Educate Ltd, we discussed the various important areas of Bank PO exam and preparation strategies & tips to crack the exam. Below is the transcript of the interview.
CL Educate Ltd: CL Educate Ltd is Asia’s one of the most prestigious edu-corporates, with focus on diverse segments of education and across learners of multiple age-groups. Established with a passion for excellence in education and led by a team of IIT-IIM alumni, CL Educate Ltd has shaped the lives and careers of lakhs of students in the last 18 years.
The establishment’s core ideologies are focused on academic excellence, technological innovation, and deep rooted domain expertise built over close to two decades. Within 18 years of its existence, the CL brand has become a household name in India. It operates across a broad spectrum of segments including test preparation, K-12 education and vocational training. Its core value is to ‘enable individuals to realize their potential and achieve their dreams’.
The company has state-of-the-art infrastructure spread across 225 learning centers over 175 locations in India. It has a strong 3000+ team of teachers, trainers and academicians, who are committed to deliver path breaking education across various segments. Outside India, it has learning centers in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Mr. R. Shiva Kumar, Chief Academic Officer, CL Educate Ltd: Currently, Mr. R. Shiva Kumar is Chief Academic Officer at CL Educate Ltd. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Technology from IIT (Madras) and a Master’s degree from IIM (Kolkata). He brings 17+ years of experience in the private education sector and had been a part of the CL Educate family since 1997, serving in various roles. In August 2011, he joined CLEIS and prior to that he had worked with Steel Authority of India Limited and Hindustan Thompson Associates (now J. Walter Thompson).
Q.1. What strategies are best to crack the Bank PO exam?
Ans. I would say the best ways to crack the Bank PO exam are:
- Developing very good speed
- Solve questions as much as possible
- Pick up easier questions first
- Complete all the sections first which takes less time to solve
- Don’t get stuck in any section that takes a little more time e.g. Reasoning Section
Another critical factor is to have good command over English. Because being good at English makes a big difference. For e.g. Reasoning and Mathematics takes a little more time to think, but if a student’s reading speed is higher he/she can attempt more questions. Typically, candidates who score in the range of 125-140 marks gets the final interview calls and placement.
To summarize, first candidates should pick up things that they are good at. Secondly, they should be good at reasoning and third they must work on the English section, as it ends up to be very crucial.
Q.2. How long should one prepare for PO exam?
Ans. Preparing for Bank PO varies from aspirant to aspirant and depends a lot on their level of preparation. Typically, it should take between 6-12 weeks for somebody who is fairly good e.g. a student who has prepared for MBA may take 5-6 weeks for reorientation and doing practice sets. Aspirants who are starting completely new might take 12-14 weeks. Also, students who are good at English, stand a better chance to clear the exam. Someone who had already started some part of the preparation might take 6-8 weeks.
There is lot of practice elements in Bank PO. And speed is something which is very critical. Securing at least 130-140 marks (60-65%) is good enough. To secure in the 60-65% range, candidates should find out their areas of weakness and work toward addressing it and learn to focus on their strengths.
Q.3. Tips for each of the different sections of a Bank PO exam?
Ans. Aspirants should pay enough attention to each of the sections. For the Awareness section, they need to keep themselves updated about current happenings of the world and having knowledge of static General Knowledge would be enough from the examination point of view.
Coming to the Mathematics section, candidates must remember it is essentially a 10th level questions. Aspirants should learn to find shortcut methods and learn to identify the answers quickly from the given answer options. Bank PO aspirants should never get into the habit of solving a problem by writing the entire equation, as with this approach they wouldn’t be able to crack the exam.
In the English Section, vocabulary plays a very crucial role. As poor vocabulary can hinder the process of preparation. Candidates need to be at least average or above average in English to enhance their chances of succeeding in the exam. People who are poor in vocabulary are going to struggle in the PO test.
There are some questions in the Reasoning Section which doesn’t take much time to solve e.g. if a candidate solves 100-150 questions in ‘Series’ topic, he/she would practically cover all the types of questions that comes in Bank PO exam from ‘Series’ topic. What aspirants can do is schedule two days for each of the reasoning topics and start solving it. One of the plus point is, pattern of the exam doesn’t change much (at max it would be 10%). However, level of difficulty may vary up and down. Still there is not too much of surprise students can expect or get.
Q.4. What capabilities in aspirants generally pass the Bank PO exam?
Ans. Aspirants should be good and fast at calculations, up-to-date current awareness and average to moderate or moderate to little above average in English. Candidates must keep themselves updated about current happening of the world, if they are clueless about it they would struggle in the exam. Math and Reasoning can still be learnt. But of all sections, I think probably the most challenging part is the skill in taking up English.
However, candidates should remember there are certain Specialist Officers’ roles e.g. Agricultural Officer, where candidates can get into the job with minimum preparation or skills. Because sometimes the vacancy is fairly large and there are instances where the cut-off marks were as low as 40-45 marks (out of 200 total marks). Normal Bank PO is far more competitive and tough.
Q.5. How to go about answering the question paper to score better in the written test?
Ans. It has to be personal. If I am supposed to take up the exam, I would start with the section which takes me least time with greatest accuracy. I would solve the paper in the sequence – General Awareness, English, Math and finally the Reasoning section. I look at it primarily per questions how much time does it takes me to solve because it’s all about speed. Every student has to figure out his/her sequence. If someone is poor in General Awareness, probably they can spend less time on that and pick up sections which they are sure to solve fast with great accuracy. This enhances their chance of cracking the exam.
There is no cut-off marks for each of the PO exam sections. It is always calculated on an aggregate basis. The test is available in English and Hindi option. If a candidate is appearing the exam in Hindi, and even if he is very good at Mathematics and Reasoning and poor at English, he is going to struggle to clear the exam. As scoring 130-140 marks will be tough without being at least average in English. For candidates who are appearing the exam in Hindi, being average in English is essential and being good makes a big difference.
Q.6. What type of questions are asked in the interview round?
Ans. The interview questions can vary from goal oriented topics like ‘Why do you want to join as a Bank PO?’ to any key financial policy changes. In case of Specialist Officers’ role, they may ask in-depth questions from that specific subject. Broadly, the PO interview is like a MBA interview where goal orientated and current awareness questions are asked.
Bank PO exam is so much about speed test. It makes a lot of sense to do sufficient amount of practice. The reasoning section of bank exam is tougher than SSC and some other exams. People can do it in terms of Math is concerned. Need not to be true with other sections. In terms of testing, it’s not an inferior cousin to MBA for e.g. people writes in discussion forums – This time CAT exam was like Bank PO exam (In reality, PO exam can be tougher than the CAT sections). Be prepared and don’t take it easy.
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