1. Prologue
  2. Graduation related
  3. Standard operating procedure
  4. Generic (for all)
  5. IT / Computer background
  6. BE/B.Tech related
  7. Biotech
  8. B.Pharm
  9. B.Com / Finance
  10. BBA/MBA/ HR/Marketing related
  11. Arts / Literature 

Prologue

Total five articles on how to prepare for IBPS Bank Interviews

  1. Stop Feeling Guilty and Tell me about yourself, Stupid cutoffs and Insecurities about Profile
  2. Why BankPO? Preparing the Sales Pitch: Career growth, job satisfaction, negative factors, work-profile, Promotion, hierarchy, Sample Answers
  3. Interview Questions related to Banking, Economy, Current Affairs, HR and GK related questions
  4. Interview questions related to Graduation IT, B.E., B.Tech, Biotech, B.Com, BBA, Arts, sample questions from previous interviews (You’re here.)
  5. Stress Interviews, When things don’t go as planned for BE, B.Tech, Engineers and IT graduates

Graduation related

Bank Interviews are conducted by senior officials in their 50s. They’ve some misconceptions and stereotypes in their mind. For example:

  1. Every engineer is supposed to know about induction coils, AC DC motors, equations of line (irrespective of whether he is civil / mechanical /ECE/ IT engineer.)
  2. Every IT person is supposed to know about C/C++ (Even if he has mastered in some other area Java, PHP, SQL.)
  3. Every B.Pharm is supposed to know blockbuster drugs for heart, diabetes, cancer, BP, Ulcer; and Business GK related to pharma companies. (Even if he is not running a medical store.)
  4. Every Arts graduate is supposed to know a few things about English literature, Shakespeare, Charles dickens, Old man and sea. (Irrespective of whether he is BA with economics or history or political science!)

So, it is better if you prepare a few lines on those topics, rather than enter into argument with the panel that “it was not part of our syllabus.” and run into the danger of stress interview.

Standard operating procedure

  1. Take out your marksheets of all semesters/years. You must prepare atleast 2-3 minutes worth speech content for each subject listed in there. No need for Ph.D, he’ll interrupt you within 2-3 minute with some question.
  2. They usually confine the grad. Questions to theory portion. So again, don’t waste lot of time finding current affairs related to your field. Except some really big issues like IT: Prism project, NSA etc., Biotech: GM crops.
  3. @IT/Computer/Engineers/Pharma: Instead of going through thick college textbooks, go through GATE guidebooks, mugup the important terms/definition overview from relevant chapters. (Not all chapters.)
  4. @Those from minority fields such as architect, aviation engg., physiotherapy etc. As such you willnot get a big list of graduation specific question for “PO” interviews. But if you dig pagalguy.com forums’ previous IIM GDPI threads, you’ll find good number of questions.

Generic (for all)

These apply to all, irrespective of your background:

  1. Who was the founder of your college / university?
  2. Name a few famous personalities associated with your college/univ.?
  3. What is/are special things about the city where you college was located?
  4. What do you think about ragging?  What should be done to prevent it?
  5. What is the use of your degree in Banking sector?
  6. What was your favorite subject?
  7. Why gap between UG/PG?
  8. Why gap after graduation?
  9. Why gap between graduation and first job?

Now let’s check some graduation specific questions asked in previous interviews.

IT / Computer background

  1. Why MT? why not Specialist IT officer?
  2. You are from an IT background and doing exceptionally well there. Then why do you want to be a PO?
  3. How does information systems help businesses? (need to give real examples)
  4. Can you name any special software that is used in Banking Sector? (hint: Finacle by Infosys.)
  5. IT principle behind Credit Card, Debit Card, ATM Machine, Electronic Fund transfer, Phone Banking, CBS.
  6. Suppose there is severe data loss in bank server, how will you fix it?
  7. How can social networking sites be used for promoting banking business?
  8. How much volts of power supply is there in a computer?
  9. Banking correspondence agents (BCA) use special type of computer- is it online or is it offline?
  10. Why not a career in IT?
  11. What is computer,expert systems and their applications ,electromagnetic waves,radio waves,microwaves,alpha ,beta,gamma waves?
  12. What is Cloud Computing? What is Hardware? what is GUI?
  13. Most preferred computer language in business parlance.
  14. Name 4 operating systems, name three 4th gen computer languages.
  15. Different types of ports in a computer?
  16. Optical fiber, 2G, 3G, Wifi, Bluetooth etc. and their principles. What is broadband and narrowband and difference between them?
  17. What is video conferencing? why is skype?

BE/B.Tech related

  1. When and how did you get the feeling that you are not interested in engineering line?
  2. What was your final year project in BE and what role did you play in the team?
  3. Now a days in banking interview the ratio of engineer vs simple graduate is 60:40, can you tell me why?
  4. M.E./M.Tech is considered evergreen line. Why don’t you pursue it?
  5. If you join banking sector, don’t you think your 4 yrs of engineering knowledge will go to waste?
  6. What is the difference between AC and DC current? Which current in transformer?
  7. You had Professional Communication as a subject in your B-tech? What all u studied in that? how was it helpful?
  8. Isotopes and Isomers
  9. Explain archenemies principle.
  10. Why does the temperature increase after snowfall?
  11. Engine related: RPM and CC.

Biotech

B.Pharm
  1. How will biotech help a bank?
  2. Biotech is a sunrise industry, why do you want to join bank?
  3. What is the issue regarding hybrid seeds?
  4. What are Stem cell technology and Cloning? Are they same thing?
  5. What biodiversity?
  6. Explain cell theory, DNA model?
  7. What is the role of biotech in vaccines?
  1. Name of blockbuster drugs for diabetes in India? (same question for all remaining major ailments)
  2. Mechanism behind diabetes, heart attack, cancer etc. major diseases.
  3. Name a few machines used in a drug factory.
  4. Business GK related to big Pharma companies and their CEOs.
  5. What do you know about medical tourism? Why is India considered an attractive option?
  6. (if time permits) From current affairs: drug pricing policy, Novartis patent issue.

B.Com / Finance

  1. What is balance sheet? What is financial report? What is double entry book keeping? are they same things?
  2. Define Accountancy. What are its benefits?
  3. What is the difference between Credit and investments?
  4. What are the assets and liabilities of a bank?
  5. What are the risks of a bank?
  6. What is manufacturing accounts?
  7. Debt equity ratio analysis.Net profit to turnover ratio. Diversified portfolio

BBA/MBA/ HR/Marketing related

  1. You can easily get job in foreign banks and private banks in India. Why do you want to settle in the low paying public sector banks?
  2. Difference between marketing and selling?
  3. Motivation theory: What is self-actualization needs
  4. What is communication, its barriers. Difference between communication nad effective communication? What are communication gaps?
  5. Who is more important speaker or listener?
  6. What is marketing? What do you know about consumer behavior?
  7. What is brand equity?

Arts / Literature

  1. What have you read in literature? Name of your favorite author/poet and his famous works and why do you like them?
  2. What is a Sonnet? What are its types?
  3. What else did Shakespeare write besides Sonnets? Have you read any comedies by Shakespeare, did you like them?
  4. Have you read any novel by **xyz famous author**?
  5. This year, who won the booker prize, noble literature prize? their famous books.

in the next article, we’ll see about the stress interviews in IBPS BankPO recruitment.

For more on IBPS, visit Mrunal.org/IBPS