IBPS Clerk: Recommended Books to Kick-Start Your Preparation!!

Institute of Banking Personnel (IBPS) conducts the IBPS Clerk Examination for selecting candidates for clerical positions available in various banks. The exam is conducted once in a year and is divided into two parts – Preliminary examination and Mains examination.

IBPS Clerk exam judges an aspirant on the basis of speed & accuracy primarily.It gives you the chance to join the reputed Public-Sector Banks and avail the perks and power imparted by these Banks to its employees.

But the competition for this exam is huge. More than 30 lakh aspirants appear for this exam, while the number of vacancies is in thousands. Therefore, the success of a student in this exam depends on his/her level of practice, exposure to relevant questions, strong conceptual knowledge of all the subjects and knowledge of relevant tricks and shortcuts.

All these qualities can be attained if a candidate purchases and practices from the right type of books. You need to study subjects like Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning, Computer Awareness, Banking Awareness and English for qualifying IBPS Clerk.

So, to help you get the exposure to the best available questions, tips and tricks for preparation, we have curated the list of best books that you can use for each subject.

Let’s Get Started!!

Best books for IBPS Clerk Quantitative Aptitude

Quantitative Aptitude becomes a big problem for many because not everyone is well versed with the core mathematical concepts. But this section of both preliminary and mains examination can be cracked if you practice regularly and focus to ace the basics first.

IBPS Clerk Prelim exam consists of 35 questions on Quantitative Aptitude, with a composite time limit of 60 minutes for a total of 100 questions.

On the other hand, IBPS Mains examination has 50 questions which are to be done in 45 minutes. The majority of these questions belong to Simplification, Quadratic Equations and Arithmetic operations.

Since the time available to do the questions is very limited, one must be aware about the shortcut techniques to solve them.

So, if you want to learn and practice this section from best available study material, take a look at the list of books:

Book Name Author Publisher ISBN
Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Examinations R S Aggarwal (S Chand Publishings) 9352534026
Fast Track Objective Arithmetic Rajesh Verma (Arihant Publishers) 9351760146
Topic wise solved papers for IBPS/SBI/Clerk Prelim and Mains – Quantitative Aptitude Disha Experts (Disha Publication) 9386320169

PREPARATION TIPS FOR QUANTITATIVE APTITUDE

As we have been talking, this section is an important one, therefore you must have a right strategy to ace this section. Therefore, there are some pointers which you should take care of.

First of all, while starting any chapter, keep a notebook with you. Note down all the basic rules and note down all the formulae in a single list. After studying these, start solving problems. In initial days, just focus on getting the answers accurately.

After you are done with your syllabus, take the book which contains past year papers (As mentioned above: – Topic wise solved papers for IBPS Clerk Prelim and Mains – Quantitative Aptitude). Start solving questions from this book and always keep a timer with you. Give yourself targets like solving 20 questions in 20 minutes, or even faster than that. This will give you actual exam like practice.

In the initial days, 25-30 questions per day is a good number. However, when you are close to the exam, take this number up to 50-60 or even higher.

Best Books for IBPS Clerk Reasoning Section

Reasoning section is assumed to be an easier section for IBPS Clerk. This is because many candidates enjoy doing logical questions, which do not involve much calculation.

Reasoning includes topics like Blood Relations, Puzzles, Number Series, Coding Decoding etc. You should be accustomed to all these topics properly to score high in this section.

However, to succeed in this section, you will need to know the tricks involved while solving such problems. You will be required think objectively and answer only after proper analysis. Doing it in a quick manner involves a lot of practice.

Therefore, before buying a book for this section, do check whether it has enough number of practice questions or not, along with chapters for each topic.

For excellent preparation for IBPS Clerk reasoning section, we recommend you the following books –

Book Name Author/Publisher ISBN
A new approach to REASONING Verbal and Non-verbal BS Sijwali, InduSijwali (Arihant Publishers) 9351765105
A modern approach to verbal and non-verbal reasoning R S Aggarwal (S Chand Publications) 9352535316
Kiran’s Tricky Approach to competitive reasoning Pratiyogita Kiran and KICX Think tank of Kiran Publications B00WW62UVW (ASIN)

PREPARATION TIPS FOR REASONING SECTION

Reasoning section is all about practice. Try to solve different type of questions. We recommend that you pick at least 2 books for this section, so as to have exposure to variety of questions. The obvious approach is to start chapter wise.

Try to complete a chapter within two days (concepts and basic questions) before moving on to a new topic. Once you are done with your syllabus, then best approach is to solve questions from multiple chapters in a day. For example, while you are studying Blood Relations for the first time, do 50 questions from it, this will give you good understanding of this chapter.

When you are done with all the chapters, target 20 questions for a chapter in a day and do 3 chapters in a day. For example, 20 questions of number series, 20 from puzzles and 20 from coding decoding. This way, you will be doing 60 questions in day and will be able to revise 3 chapters as well.

Ideally, you should be able to do most of the questions in less than a minute as you proceed in the final phase of your preparation.

Best Books for IBPS Clerk English Section

Many candidates appearing for IBPS Clerk examination are from the vernacular background. As English section is mandatory, they devise various methods to study English in a way which can ensure they are at least able to clear the sectional cut-off.

English section majorly includes Reading Comprehension, Sentence Correction, Sentence Re-arrangement and some vocabulary and grammar based questions. Thus, for succeeding in this section, you need to develop a good knowledge of grammar, a rich vocabulary and regular reading habit.

With the proper study of basics and apt amount of practice, this section can be turned into a high scoring section too. Also, with English section, there is an added advantage. English questions take lesser solving time than quantitative aptitude and reasoning, as you are not required to pick up pen and paper.

Therefore, if you practice from the best study material, you can score good in English and thus can boost your chances to clear the exam.

Take a look at following books for preparing for English section of IBPS Clerk:

Book name Author/Publisher ISBN
Objective General English SP Bakshi (Arihant Publishers) 9351768449
High School English Grammar and Composition Book PC Wren and NDV Prasada Rao (S Chand Publishers) 8121900093
Bank PO English Chapter wise solved papers Arihant Experts (Arihant Publishers) 9311124524

PREPARATION TIPS FOR ENGLISH SECTION

Before starting preparation, check what is your level of proficiency in grammar. Having a good knowledge of basic grammar is very important. If you are not good at grammar, take lessons on basics like tenses, verbs, preposition and other topics. Simultaneously keep solving ‘High School English Grammar and Composition Book’ for proper practice.

Those who are good at grammar may go through Wren and Martin book quickly. This will help them to revise their grammar.

Speed in English gets developed automatically as your level of understanding increases. So, while solving questions, do read the explanation given in the book for every question.

Best Books for Banking Awareness and Computer Awareness

Apart from Mathematics, Reasoning and English, IBPS Clerk mains exam also includes questions on Banking Awareness, General Awareness and Computer Awareness.

For Banking Awareness, a candidate must have extensive knowledge of basic banking terms along with abbreviations.Also, you must be aware of the current affairslike current bank rates, RBI governor and issues related with Banks.

On the other hand, for computer awareness, you must have basic and intermediate level knowledge of Microsoft Excel, word, PowerPoint and other essential features of a computer. You can expect some questions from General Awareness as well.

A good book for this section must have all the basic and advancedconcepts. Also, the book must have more of relevant information, rather than just being a stockpile of a lot of information. Here are some recommended books:

Book Name Author/Publisher ISBN
Banking Awareness Arihant Experts (Arihant Publications) 9311124664
General Awareness Basic Banking and Financial Issues Gautam Majumdar (Upkar Publications)
Banking Awareness for SBI/ Bank PO/ RRB /RBI exams Disha Experts (Disha Publication) 9386323494
Objective Computer Awareness Arihant Experts (Arihant Publications) 9311121266
Computer Knowledge for SBI/IBPS Clerk/PO/RRB/RBI exams Shikha Aggarwal (Disha Publications) 9386320177
General Knowledge by Lucent Lucent

PREPARATION TIPS FOR AWARENESS SECTIONS

Banking, computer, and general awareness sections are generally approached in two ways.

Some prepare for these subjects by watching the news, reading newspapers and by actually using the computers. On the other hand, some prefer to study through only books.

However, a good mixture of both can bring excellent results. We suggest that you must devote at least 30 minutes of reading newspaper every day. Also, do not leave books as these contain good static information which you should know.

 

All the tips and suggestions given above are useful only if you follow them properly. Do remember that consistency is very important to succeed in any competition. Stay Strong and Stay confident!!

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