Frequently Asked Questions about IBPS PO / RRB PO / SBI PO / Other Banks Interview
Q 1. What is the highest mark a student can get in IBPS PO interview?
ANSWER: IBPS PO interviews are assessed on various parameters such as personality, soft skills, communication skills and knowledge of the candidate. Therefore, to score high in these interviews one must display an all-round performance. Although on an average a fairly good performance can fetch a candidate around 65-75 marks, there have been instances where candidate have scored in the range of 85-90 too. If your interview goes well and you perform good on all the above parameters, you can surely score around 85-90.
Q 2. Can an introvert get high marks in IBPS PO interview?
ANSWER: According to psychological studies and opinions, no person has 100% introversion or extroversion traits. A person is leaned towards either of the trait, some to a larger extent. Also, there is no evidence suggesting that IBPS PO interview panel prefers extroverts over introverts.
Therefore, yes! An introvert too can score high marks in IBPS PO interview if he shows excellence in the various parameters on which the interview panel is assessing the candidates.
Few of the parameters are the following:
1. The Personality Traits (like confidence, soft skills, motivation level etc.)
2. Communication Skills
3. Knowledge
Q 3. What are the minimum marks one might get in IBPS PO interview?
ANSWER: The interviewers in IBPS PO interview panels are generally very cooperative and considerate. They try to make the interviewee comfortable and encourage him/her to give his/her best shot, but there are chances that the candidate may not perform well.
In case of the worst of the performance too, the interviewers generally do not fail a candidate and may give him/her the minimum passing marks, i.e., 40 (out of 100).
The only cases where the panel may give below passing marks is where the candidates shows personality traits which may be problematic in future or the panel comes to a conclusion that the candidate may have used unfair means during Pre/Main exam.
Q 4. On what basis marks are awarded in IBPS PO interview?
ANSWER: An Interview in IBPS-PO is the third and final stage of the selection process. A candidate who has cleared the Preliminary and Main exam is called for an interview, which means that he/she has already proven his/her mettle in the fundamental knowledge that’s required for becoming an officer in the Bank, i.e., Quantitative Skills, Logical Reasoning, and command over English language. This leads to the final assessment of the candidate which is focused to understand the fitment of a candidate in the specific job profile and organisation.
During an Interview, the panel is more focused towards finding out the personality traits of the candidate, his/her soft skills such as communication skills, confidence, leadership skills, his/her ability to work in a team, motivation, and his/her ability to work under highly competitive and stressful environment etc.
Therefore, the marks in IBPS PO interview are awarded on basis of the following parameters:
1. Personality Traits (like confidence, soft skills, motivation level etc.)
2. Communication Skills
3. Knowledge
Q 5. What are the average marks one might get in the IBPS PO interview?
ANSWER: Most of the candidates of IBPS PO interview with get an average mark ranging in between 55-65 (out of 100). The happens mostly because of under preparation. The candidates tend to not take the interview stage of exam as seriously as the other two, i.e., Preliminary and Main.
There are several reasons why a candidate that has potential to score high but gets average marks:
- Weightage of interview is on 20%, thus many candidates tend to take it lightly.
- Lack of practice. Candidates do not self-practice or practice by giving mock interviews, thus during the actual interview they aren’t able to answer question even when they know the answer.
- Choosing inappropriate language. There is a prevalent myth that candidates should give IBPS PO interview in English. Candidates who aren’t well versed with spoken English tries hard but fails to express themselves.
Q 6. I had a really bad IBPS PO interview, I fumbled a bit and gave some wrong answers how much marks will they give?
ANSWER: One should keep in mind that the interviewers aren’t only assessing the candidates on the number of questions that they are able to answer. In fact, there are dozens of different parameters under which the candidates are continuously being judged, right from when they enter the room to when they leave, how you sit, your body language at different stages of interview, how you handle and react to different situation. Therefore, even if you fumble in few questions, skip a few or not answer some, the marks that you get may surprise you.
If the above case, if you had a bad interview in terms of answering the questions, but your other assessment parameters such as appearance, grooming, etiquettes, soft skills, and communication skills were better, you may expect an average marking in the range of 55-65. In case, you weren’t up to the mark in the other parameter too then the marks can fall in the lower range of 45-50.
Q 7. How can I calculate the interview marks from combined marks in IBPS PO?
ANSWER: The IBPS PO interview carries an overall weightage of only 20% in the final marks whereas 80% weightage is given to the common written normalized score. Therefore, one must reverse calculate the approximate marks that he/she may have scored in the IBPS PO interview, out of 100.
We can use the following steps to calculate the actual interview marks:
• Final marks obtained after Interview = F
• Actual marks obtained in Main Exam = M
• Percentile Score of Main Exam (Normalized) Y = 2M / 5 (which is 80% of Marks obtained in Main Exam out of 200)
• Percentile Score in Interview (Normalized) Z = F – Y
• Actual Marks obtained in Interview (Out of 100) X = Z x 5
Example:
• Final marks obtained after Interview; F = 48
• Marks obtained in Main Exam; M = 90
• Percentile Score of Main Exam (Normalized); Y = 2*90 / 5 => 36
• Percentile Score in Interview (Normalized); Z = 48-36 => 12
• Actual Marks obtained in Interview (Out of 100); X = 12 x 5 => 60
OR
Use this Formula:
X = [F-(80*M/T)]*5
Where:
X = Actual marks obtained in the Interview
F = Final marks (normalized) obtained after the Interview
M = Actual marks obtained in Main Exam
T = Total Marks of Main Exam
Example:
X = [48-(80*90/200)]*5
= 60
Q 8. How can one score 70+ in the IBPS PO interview?
ANSWER: IBPS PO Interview carries a weightage of only 20% in overall cut-off and therefore many students take this stage of exam lightly which results in average to below average final marks.
A careful and sincere approach can help students to easily score around 70 marks in the interview, thus giving them an edge in final cut-off.
IBPS Interview questions can broadly be categorized in 4 groups:
1. Personal Questions
2. Academic Questions (Related to Graduation Subjects)
3. Job and Sector (Banking Fundamentals) / Situation Based
4. General Awareness
The students need to make an exhaustive list of probable questions that can be asked for each of these groups and prepare custom answers for them. One can take help of internet to make this question bank.
Other than answers (knowledge), the interviewers are also judging the candidates for their personality. Therefore, it becomes very important for you to present yourself well (dressing and grooming), behave well (follow good etiquettes and manners) and have positive body language.
Q 9. How should I prepare for IBPS PO interview?
ANSWER: A candidate should start the preparation by making a list of all probable questions that could be asked from him/ her. An interview is a very personal affair and no two candidates are same therefore the set of questions will vary a lot from candidate to candidate.
We can group the generally asked questions in IBPS PO interview into 4 broad categories, such as:
- Personal Questions
- Academic Questions (Related to Graduation Subjects)
- Job and Sector (Banking Fundamentals) / Situation Based
- General Awareness
The candidate should carefully analyse each group keeping self in mind and make a list of the questions that can be asked from each of these groups. Once the question bank is ready, the candidate should start preparing answers. He/ She should also revise the fundamentals of his/her graduation subjects.
Example Questions:
- Introduce yourself (Personal Questions)
- Why is there a gap? (Personal Questions)
- What is your hobby? (Personal Questions)
- What is a Bank? (Job and Sector (Banking Fundamentals) / Situation Based)
- Who is India’s Finance Minister? (General Awareness)
- What is the role of RBI? (Banking Fundamentals) / Situation Based)
Simultaneously, the candidates should start practicing answering the questions in front of mirror and record the sessions. One can also take help of friends and family to conduct mock interviews.
