CWE Clerical Exam by IBPS - All details for Bank Clerk test

Everything You Want to Know About Recruitment to Bank Clerk Exam Jobs

(These are broad guidelines for Bank clerk exams, they are likely to vary for each process of selection)

CWE for Bank Clerk Jobs to be conducted by IBPS :

Indian banking is on the verge of vast expansion once again. There had been hardly any recruitment for about 20 years for clerks. Now with massive retirement in the coming four to five years, banks are in a recruitment mode. With such a big challenge in recruitment, public sector banks have joined hands and have agreed that they will recruit clerks based on the Common Written Examination (popularly known as CWE) , which will be conducted by Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) twice a year. [The first exam in the series for 2011 was held on three Sundays i.e. 27th November, 4th December and 11th December, 2011)

Therefore, there is a golden opportunity even for an average student to pass through the exam for bank clerks, provided he prepares for such exams under the guidance of people who are well acquainted with the system of recruitment.

What is the Job Profile of a clerk in a Bank?

This is the starting point for educated youth in the banks. Usually newly recruited bank staff is given training for few weeks and then hey are placed either in a branch or an administrative office. At the branch, clerical staff is supposed to work as front office person and has direct interaction with the public. However, with most of the banks being fully computerized, the job profile will be related to working on computers and entering the day to day transactions in the system.

How Can I find the Current Jobs Available for clerical staff ?

You should keep track of the current jobs by going through the newspapers regularly. CWE exam is widely advertised in newspapers and you can come to know of this from newspapers. You can also get the details of these from IBPS Website or various other websites, including www.AllBankingSolutions.com. For recruitment by other banks (not covered by CWE exam), you have to keep watch through newspapers, websites including www.AllBankingSolutions.com

What are the eligibility criteria for applying for appearing in bank clerks exams or CWE?

It is advised that it must be checked from the current year's advertisement for the jobs for which the candidate intends to apply for. The following are only broad guidelines and can be changed at any time.

Minimum Age is18 years and maximum Age can vary from bank to bank, but is upto 28 years for CWE. ((Relaxation allowed for certain category of candidates). However, it must be checked from the current year's advertisement for the jobs for which the candidate intends to apply for.

However, we will advise the candidates that they should start preparations for such exams the moment they intend to apply for the bank job.

The minimum educational qualification varies from 12th Standard (with a minimum level of marks) to a bachelor's degree. One of the banks had the following options of educational qualifications.

Minimum 12th Standard (10 + 2) or equivalent qualification thereof with a minimum level of marks fixed by the bank

OR
ii) Diploma Course passed after 10th Standard with a minimum level of marks fixed by the bank
(a) Diploma course passed must be a full time course (Diploma course through correspondence are not eligible) with a minimum of two years duration
(b) The Diploma course should be recognized / approved by the State Board of Technical Education of the concerned State.
OR
iii) A degree (Graduation level) from recognized university with a minimum of level of marks

What is the Fee structure for appearing in these tests?

The fee is around Rs.350/-. (Rs.50 for reserved category candidates)

What is the selection procedure for recruitment for clerks ?

The selection of clerks in banks which will recruit through CWE will be through two stages, whereas for banks which are outside the CWE will conduct their own exams (and may also hold interviews).

IBPS has proposed that a Common Written Examination will be conducted by them which will be objective type and consist of the following papers and the total time given will be 150 minutes :-

Sr No	Name of the Test (Objective Type)	No of Questions	Maximum marks	Total time
1	Test of Reasoning	50	50	150 Minutes
2	Test of English Language	50	50
3	Test of Numerical Ability	50	50
4	Test of General Awareness with special reference to Banking Industry	50	50
5	Test of Computer Knowledge	50	50
	TOTAL

IBPS has also advertised that it will convert the marks secured by the candidates into standadized scores following Linear conversion method and then decide the minimum standardized score in each of the tests to qualify the candidate in the written examination, and then CWE score card will be issued to qualifying candidates only.

The successful candidates in the CWE who have been issued score cards and who meet the stipulated eligibility criteria will be required to apply to any of the participating banks as and when individual banks call for application, quoting their personal details and CWE scores. Each bank will then individually shortlist candidates and carry out their own selectionprocess such as interviews etc for final selection.

How Should I prepare for CWE for Clerks:

There are few options from which you can choose:

(a) Buy few good books and with the help of your parents and senior friends, learn the art of solving such questions in a time bound manner. However, the problem in this case is that there are hardly any good books which give you proper feedback about the exact type of questions that are asked in the exam. Moreover, your parents either may not be educated for such exams or do not have sufficient time to help you on regular basis

(b) Join some good coaching institute in your city. The major problem in this case is that good institutes are available only in big cities. Moreover, they are very expensive and you have to waste lot of time in commuting to such institutes, Some of these institutes do not have experienced teachers as they are not able to afford them due to high salaries required to be paid to such teachers.

(c) Join some online course by people who have wide experience of banking and education. If you have selected the right course, you can get good course material and latest updated questions which will immensely help you in scoring high marks and pass with flying colour. However, it is necessary that you must join well before the next exam and put up regular study and attempt the questions seriously. You can join ONLINE PRACTICE TEST SERIES at website www.AllBankingSolutions.com, which along with its associate website BestGuru.com are offering an excellent course. This course is being offered jointly by people who have experience in banking and education. Here you will get the courses which have been prepared by the BEST GURUS and vetted by BANKERS so that you are able to get the right kind of questions and answers for the bank exams.

(This course will be offered soon. Some of such test papers can also be given free of cost to limited number of candidates).