Is IBPS Clerk Exam More Difficult Than IBPS PO Exam?

Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS), an autonomous body, is all set to kick-start the online Common Recruitment Process for Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and Public Sector Banks (PSBs). IBPS has released the notification for the post of Office Assistant and Officer recently and is all set to start the preliminary examination in the month of August. It will release the recruitment notification for the PSBs PO, Clerk and Specialist Officer exam in the coming months.

Aspirants who are aiming for the Specialist Officer post will not find any ambiguity because of the crystal clear post requirements. When it comes to the IBPS PO and the IBPS Clerk exams, aspirants will find more similarities, starting from the examination pattern to the syllabus. They even question which one is tough to crack. To answer this question better, aspirants are suggested to know about the exam pattern of the IBPS PO and the IBPS Clerk exams.

Similarities Between The IBPS PO And Clerk Exams

Aspirants will find both IBPS PO and IBPS Clerk examinations' syllabuses to be similar. IBPS has never published any detailed syllabus for either of the examinations. Hence, many guides have drafted the syllabus based on the probabilities and previous years' question papers.

One will also find similarity in the examination pattern that carries both the preliminary and main examinations. Starting from the duration to the negative marking system, both the question papers look similar. This is also one of the reasons for ambiguity over the difficulty between both.

Difference Between IBPS PO And IBPS Clerk Exams

Most of the aspirants think that there are similarities and preparing for one will also bring success in the other. Though the examination patterns look alike, one will find difficult questions in the IBPS PO exam, which will take more time to solve in the given time. Apart from the difficulty of questions, there is a difference between the quantitative aptitude section in the PO exam and numerical ability section in the Clerk exam.

The total number of questions in the main examination is same in both the PO exam and the Clerk exam, however, reasoning and quantitative aptitude sections carry more number of questions. This means, taking the IBPS PO main exam in two hours will be tougher compared to IBPS Clerk exam.

The selection process of the IBPS PO exam consists of an interview which is missing in the IBPS Clerk exam. The marks obtained in the IBPS Clerk main examination will only be considered for the final merit listing.

Final Verdict

Keep all the similarities and differences aside for a while and try to understand the major reasons that hinder with the success ratio. The major reason is the cut-off. Compared to the IBPS PO exam, the cut-off will be more for the IBPS Clerk exam because of the competition and number of vacancies. The number of vacancies for the Clerk post will be more and aspirants will compete at the regional level because of the proficiency in the local language.

In the IBPS PO exam, there will be national-level competition amongst aspirants. Apart from the online written examination, one has to face the personality round as well.

We hope that the above discussion has helped you choose which one could be more difficult. IBPS will release the recruitment notification in a couple of months for both the PO exam and the Clerk exam. Rather than assessing which exam is easy to crack, it is suggested to start preparations based on your priorities. Keep following us for more tips.

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