IBPS Clerk Syllabus: Every Section, Every Topic
Four subject areas across two phases, and no interview after them. Here is the full topic list.
The IBPS Clerk syllabus spans four subject areas: Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning Ability, English Language, and Financial Awareness. Prelims tests the first three under tight time; mains repeats them at higher difficulty and adds a 50-question General/Financial Awareness section that does not appear in prelims.
Because IBPS Clerk has no interview, the mains paper built on this syllabus is the entire selection. This page lists every topic; the exam pattern page covers how the marks and timing work.
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Quantitative Aptitude Topics
Called Numerical Ability in prelims and Quantitative Aptitude in mains:
- check_circleNumber series
- check_circleSimplification and approximation
- check_circleData Interpretation, basic to moderate difficulty
- check_circleArithmetic: percentage, profit and loss, SI/CI, ratio, time and work, speed-distance
- check_circleQuadratic equations
Reasoning Ability Topics
Tested in prelims, and combined with Computer Aptitude in mains:
- check_circleSeating arrangement, linear and circular
- check_circlePuzzles
- check_circleSyllogism
- check_circleCoding-decoding
- check_circleBlood relations
- check_circleInequality
- check_circleAlphanumeric series
- check_circleDirection sense
English Language Topics
- check_circleReading comprehension
- check_circleError detection
- check_circleSentence rearrangement
- check_circleCloze test
- check_circleWord swap and phrase replacement
- check_circleVocabulary
Real questions from these exact topics. No signup.
Financial Awareness Topics
The mains-only section, worth 50 of the 200 mains marks:
- check_circleBanking terms and concepts
- check_circleRBI policy rates: repo, reverse repo, CRR, SLR
- check_circleGovernment banking schemes
- check_circleCurrent affairs in banking
- check_circleFinancial institutions
- check_circleUnion Budget highlights
Financial Awareness Is Where Clerk Mains Attempts Fail
Many candidates clear prelims and then fail mains on insufficient Financial Awareness preparation. The section is worth a quarter of the mains paper and cannot be built in the short gap after the prelims result. Start it alongside prelims prep, not after.
How Deep Does Each Topic Go?
Clerk-level questions sit a notch below PO-level ones in complexity: DI stays basic to moderate, puzzles are less layered, and English passages are shorter. What replaces depth is speed pressure, the prelims paper gives you 100 questions in 60 minutes, so topic coverage matters less than the pace at which you can execute the routine question types.
That has a study implication: once a topic's method is learned, further gains come from timed drilling, not more theory. The syllabus is finite and stable; your speed on it is the variable being tested.
FAQs
Is the IBPS Clerk syllabus the same as IBPS PO?expand_more
The subject areas overlap heavily, but Clerk questions are less complex, DI is basic to moderate rather than caselet-heavy, and Clerk has no descriptive paper or interview. Clerk mains also uses a 50-mark General/Financial Awareness section.
Does IBPS Clerk have a computer knowledge section?expand_more
Not standalone. Computer aptitude is combined with reasoning in the mains Reasoning Ability & Computer Aptitude section, worth 60 marks.
Is Financial Awareness asked in IBPS Clerk prelims?expand_more
No. Prelims tests only English, Numerical Ability, and Reasoning. Financial Awareness appears in mains as a 50-question, 50-mark section, which is why it needs early preparation.
Which part of the IBPS Clerk syllabus should I start with?expand_more
Start all three prelims sections together with timed practice, and run Financial Awareness as a parallel daily habit. Sectional cut-offs in prelims mean no section can be deferred.
Next steps
Take a full IBPS Clerk mock testThe whole syllabus, timed and scored, in one sitting.