IBPS PO Prelims 2018 will take place from 18th September to 22nd September. IBPS PO is one of the most awaited banking exams for the Banking Sector candidates. The difficulty level of English in banking exams is increasing unexpectedly. This was evident in not just SBI PO 2018 Prelims/Mains but also in other exams like BOB PO, etc. Since IBPS is the exam conducting body for all these exams, so the IBPS PO exam will naturally be tough. In this case, you can use the English section to your advantage! Read further to know how to prepare and ace English for IBPS PO 2018.

The reading comprehensions have become very tricky in SBI PO 2018. Moreover, cloze tests were modified and confusing. Therefore, many of you are worried about it. However, English section of IBPS PO is not as hard as it seems. It only seems so because there are no straightforward rules to prepare for the section. These tips and shortcuts will help you in having a holistic strategy for the English section.

Division of Topics

English in most exams, including the IBPS PO, is divided into 4 broad groups. These different groups test different skills in English Language. They also include different questions that are used to test those skills. These groups are:

1. Reading Comprehension: Passages focused on topics like Banking & Economy, Business, Social Issues etc. Fact. Inference and Theme based questions.
2. Grammar: Error Spotting, Phrase Replacement/ Sentence Correction, Fill in the Blanks.
3. Vocabulary: Error Spotting, Phrase Replacement, Cloze Test (single passage with 5-10 questions), Fill in the Blanks (Double Blanks).
4. Verbal Ability: Para Jumbles.

Weightage for Different Topics

Knowing the marks carried by a particular topic helps you to categorise questions into those which you must focus more on. Furthermore, you can also systematically decide which topics are easy to score and which require more practice for good marks.

Topic	Weightage
Reading Comprehension	7 – 10
Grammar	5 – 10
Vocabulary	7 – 10
Verbal Ability	0 – 5

How to Prepare for Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension is the most holistic type of question because it tests everything from your ability of understanding and critically analysing the given information to your grammar, vocabulary, and even writing ability.

• Keep your reading speed to the maximum. This is because you should aspire to completely solve all comprehensions in the exam.
• Don’t shy away from difficult questions. Some questions do not have direct answers and are more inference-based. However, they will make you completely ready for the actual exam.
• Reading Comprehensions are time consuming but you can easily solve if you have enough practice.
• Make sure you are familiar with all types of questions that can be asked.

Prepare for Grammar

• Practice learning to speak English the way you write it. In Spoken English, it is easy to commit grammatical errors without noticing. Additionally, Speaking English the writing way makes you more conscious and you are better able to find out your own mistakes.
• Ensure you are familiar with the parts of speech since they are the basic blocks guaranteeing a proper structure to any sentence.
• Also use sentence diagrams for remembering all the knowledge of grammar you have.
• Cover topics such as Tenses, Articles, Prepositions, Subject Verb Agreement, Parallelism, Degrees of Comparison, Sentence Construction, Phrasal Verbs, Pronouns, Adverbs, Non-Finite Verbs, Common Errors, etc.

Prepare for Vocabulary

• Increase your vocabulary daily by learning, whenever you are bored or have nothing to do, to read as much as you can be memorising spellings.

• Make use of flashcards since they are very helpful.

Prepare for Verbal Ability

• In this exam, your Verbal ability will be tested with para-jumbling questions.
• Remember that there will be no straightforward techniques for jumbling questions. Come up with your own approaches that suit you.
• Having a good vocabulary is beneficial. Therefore, you should work on your vocabulary since it is useful for multiple topics in the English section.
• The key to solving these questions is to spot the theme of each jumble. Understanding the context makes it easier for solving verbal ability questions.