The IBPS Specialist Officer exam is conducted by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) to select qualified individuals for multiple specialist posts such as Agriculture Field Officer, Marketing Officer, Human Resource Officer, Information Technology Officer, Law Officer, and Rajbhasha Adhikari and others in various public sector banks.
The exam is held in three tiers mainly, Prelims, Mains and Personal Interview round. The candidates who clear the sectional and overall cut off of prelims exam qualify to appear for the Mains exam and so on. English is a compulsory section in the prelims exam carrying one-third weightage of the total marks. The knowledge of the subject plays an integral role in the Mains and Interview round too.
Often banking exam aspirants commit a mistake of taking the subject for granted which results in their failure to clear the sectional cut-off. English Language is not complex and doesn’t involve any calculation which makes it a scoring section for the candidates in the written exam. All candidates need is a decent knowledge of grammar, strong comprehensive reading and vocabulary skills.
On that note, let’s talk about some important topic-wise preparation tips to ace the English Language section in the IBPS Specialist Officer exam.
Cloze Test
Cloze Test is a type of comprehension exercise in which the reader has to fill in the missing words in a passage. It tests the candidate’s comprehensive reading skills as well as his/her knowledge of grammar and vocabulary.
Tips:
- Read the paragraph carefully.
- Try to relate sentences with each other.
- Pay attention to the Noun, Pronoun, Verb, Tense, Prepositions and Conjunctions in a sentence.
- Use elimination method to reach the correct option when in doubt.
Reading Comprehension
Reading comprehension in banking exams like IBPS SO contains a passage with questions on it.
Tips:
- Take a glance at the questions first to know what aspect of the passage to concentrate on to answer the questions.
- Read the passage carefully and the main points and arguments given in it.
- Don’t answer the questions on synonyms and antonyms with a word as per its generic meaning but as is used in the passage.
- Develop vocabulary and sentence correction.
- Practice a few comprehension passages regularly and eventually, your speed will improve.
Para Jumble
An important question asked in the English section of almost all IBPS exams. In this candidates have to rearrange the sentences of the paragraph so that the paragraph makes perfect sense.
Tips:
- Read the sentences carefully to figure what the paragraph is about.
- Take a note of the first word of the sentences. For instance, the first sentence of the paragraph never starts with a pronoun.
- Find hints in pronouns, articles, connectors, adverbs and more.
- It is essential that you Know the rules of sentence construction.
Fill in the Blanks
Candidates need to fill in the correct word that makes up a correct sentence.
Tips:
- You should have a good vocabulary.
- Keep an eye out for the grammatical clues.
- Try to understand the logical structure of the sentence and what it requires.
- Certain questions can test your knowledge of commonly used Idioms and Phrases in English.
Error Detection
These questions require you to find out the errors in them regarding grammar or mispelled words.
Tips:
- Candidates should be thorough with all basic rules in grammar.
- These questions are time saving questions and take very less time to answer. With that said, try to attempt them in the beginning.
- Learn sentence construction and its various rules.
Sentence Correction
These types of questions test candidates’ knowledge of sentence construction and basic rules in grammar.
Tips:
- Candidates must know the basic grammar rules to score well in this part.
- Regular reading can be of great help.
- A strong vocabulary will help you to determine the correct use of words to get a sentence right.
 to select qualified individuals f){kind=link}