Indian Bank Clerical Exam Pattern, Sample papers & Books

Indian Bank Clerical exam pattern:
Indian Bank Clerical exam consists of two stages: Written test followed by Personal Interview for those selected in the written test. Final selection is made on the basis of aggregate marks obtained by you in the written test & Interview.

There are two types of tests in Indian Bank Clerical written exam: Objective Test & Descriptive Test. However Descriptive Test is only of qualifying nature and the marks obtained in the Descriptive Test is not counted for deciding the merit.

Let us go into more details of these tests:
Objective Test Pattern of Indian Bank Clerical exam:
Indian Bank Clerical Objective test consists of 200 questions with 200 total marks, to be answered in 95 minutes. Section-wise question & mark distribution is as follows:
1 Test of Reasoning ability (50 Questions) (80 marks)
2 Test of English Language English (50 Questions) (0 marks)
3 Test of Numerical Ability (50 Questions) (80 marks)
4 Test of Clerical Aptitude (50 Questions) (40 marks)
You will have the option to answer these objective tests in Hindi or English except the Test on English Language, which has to be answered in English only. Also as you can see above, Test of English Language is qualifying only and hence no mark is attached to it.

If you analyze section-wise question/mark distribution of above Indian Bank Objective test, you would find that you have roughly half-a-minute for answering each question. Again, you have more marks per question in Reasoning & Numerical (1.6 marks), compared Clerical Aptitude section (0.8 marks). Thus you know where to put more emphasis on.

You have to pass in each of the Objective Test separately. Cut-offs would be decided on the relative performance of candidates in each of above four sections. There is negative marking for wrong answers – so make your guesses wisely!

Descriptive Test Pattern of Indian Bank Clerical exam:
The descriptive test will be of 45 minutes duration. It will consist of 5 compulsory questions with internal options, to assess knowledge on Socio-Economic Developments and Communication skills. The descriptive test is only of qualifying nature. You will have the option to answer Descriptive Paper in Hindi or English or Official Language of the State.

Final selection will be on the basis of the ranking accorded after adding the marks obtained in the Objective Tests and Interview.

I found that Competition Master is an excellent resource which has good collection of online papers for Bank Clerical exams.

Indian Bank Clerical Exam Sample Paper: Clerical Aptitude test
Clerical Aptitude tests your ability to notice similarities and differences between pairs of names and numbers. Questions asked also assesses ability to handle office routine work, like filing, abbreviating, indexing etc. Following links should help you prepare for it:
Psytech
Psychometric-success
Personality-and-aptitude-career-tests

Recommended books for Indian Bank Clerical Exam:
Your basic tool for preparation should be the exam books rather than the online website sample/model papers. The online papers should be used for the purpose of familiarizing yourself with the question pattern asked in the clerical exams.

Therefore, let’s find what are the recommended books for Bank Clerical Exam:
Ramesh Bank Clerical Practice Work Book by RPH Editorial Board (Rs. 190)
Ramesh Bank Clerical Exam Solved Papers by RPH Editorial Board (Rs. 110)
Ramesh Bank Clerical Test Guide (Big) by Anjani A Gupta (Rs. 195)
Ramesh Bank Clerks Exam Guide (Small) by Saurabh Sharma, Karan Dev (Rs. 140)
Upkars Banks Recruitment Tests by Khanna & Verma (Rs. 130)
Upkars Bank Competitions by T. S. Jain (Rs. 205)
Upkars New Banks Recruitment Tests by Dr. M. B. Lal & Bhatnagar (Rs. 140)
Upkars Quicker Numerical Test for Bank Clerical Cadre by Dr. M. B. Lal & Jain (Rs. 145)