Teaching Note 1.

This course is focused on the male and the female candidates appearing for the
competitive examinations conducted by IBPS. IBPS (Institute of Banking Personnel
Selection) conducts the selection process for Public Sector Banks, Regional Rural
Banks, Cooperative Banks, Private Sector Banks, and some Insurance and other
financial institutions. The selection is for both Clerical and Probationary Officers,
(inclusive of Specialist Officers) categories of employees.
Though the selection criteria is more stringent for the Probationary Officers selection
than for the Clerical selection, there is substantial commonality in the methodology of
conducting the written examination. Hence both those who have applied for the clerical
post and those who have applied for the probationary officers post have been clubbed
in this course. Though the course content is aimed at a higher and tougher training, the
faculty is well aware of the fact that the standard of examination is not that stringent for
the clerical post. The faculty will take proper care of the needs of those who have
applied for the clerical posts.
The training is aimed at improving competitive qualities and capabilities of the
participants. Since these examinations are conducted on All India basis and the
participants are going to compete with the applicants hailing from all the nooks and
corners of the country, the faculty will normally use English language for
communication, however wherever needed Marathi and / Hindi will be used to explain
and clarify the complicated ideas, points and doubts.
Often the participants say that they can understand inclusion of English Language ,
Numerical Ability, Quantitative Aptitude, General Knowledge, and Computer Awareness
in the selection process, but why the Reasoning is included? What is Reasoning? Is it
all solving some puzzles, or fancy problems?

Reason is the capacity of consciously making sense of things, establishing and

verifying facts, applying logic, and changing or justifying practices, institutions,
and beliefs based on new or existing information.

Why it is a part of the selection process?

It is a fact that the economic conditions, financial systems, financial organizations and
institutions, social structure etc. are rapidly changing. The technology, particularly
Computer and Information Technology, is making very fast inroads in our day to day life.
Every now and then New Problems are emerging. The organizations need persons
capable of facing and solving not only present day problems but those which are not
known or imagined today. Some fifty years ago, nobody faced a problem when there is
no coverage for mobile, or the battery is very low or talk time is nearly over!
 ‘ Reasoning Test’ has been brought into widespread use by employers because of the
need to ensure they place the right people in the right job at the outset. One of the main
reasons for this is the high cost of errors in today’s world of tight budgets and reduced
profit margins. To recruit a new member of staff an employer has to advertise, consider
each application, reduce the applicants to a shortlist, interview and then train the
successful applicant. If the wrong selection has been made, the whole expensive
process becomes ineffective.

Although it is generally accepted that it is not possible, in adulthood, to increase

anybody’s actual intelligence, it is possible, paradoxically, to improve his / her
performance on intelligence tests by practising on the various types of question, and
learning to recognize the recurring themes. By constant practice on different tests, and
by getting one’s mind attuned to the different types of question one may encounter, it is
possible to improve one’s rating by several percentage point.

Even World Cup Elevens do every day net practice. World class players such as PV
Sindhu, Deepa Karmakar, Saina Nehwal, Mary Kom, Shrikant Kidambi, Sushil Kumar,
Phogat sisters, Deepika Kumari , do daily practice.As with athletes who push out the
boundary of their abilities by the use of even more rigorous training schedules and
refinement of techniques, an increase in brainpower can be achieved by taking on
greater mental tasks and challenges. A further advantage to be gained from tackling the
more advanced questions is that the participants will automatically improve their
performance on competitive test questions.

Coming back to Reasoning Test, one should understand that the course is not designed
to impart any new knowledge, but it is to improve the process of understanding the
problem, processing the data and arriving at the right decision in quicker time. So,
emphasis is on understanding our own thinking process and improving the function by
eliminating the impediments.

One principle is to ask for reasons before accepting a conclusion, unless one has
already good enough reasons.

A critical thinker doesn't always use the procedure of weighing the pros and cons.
In many situations, the best thinking requires taking shortcuts--making quick guesses or
relying on a trusted friend to make the decision for you. Logical reasoners need to be
flexible thinkers.
So, throughout the course there will be more thrust on solving various problems and
getting familiar with the patterns.