Best books for bank exams | A collection worth your time.

If you want to pursue a career in the banking sector, then there are several exams that you can attempt. For a banking career, you can attempt exams like SBI, RBI, IBPS, IPPB, NABARD, and IIBF. Among all of these, IBPS exams open a broad spectrum of job opportunities for you. Let’s see the syllabus and the best books for this bank exam. 

The syllabus for IBPS exams

The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) is the recruiting agency for the banking sector. The Ministry of Finance conducts these exams to encourage undergraduates, graduates, and postgraduate students to become ranked officers. They are ranked as groups A, B, C, and D. The nationalized banks then recruit these candidates. 

It is considered one of the toughest competitive exams in the country. Almost 50 lakh students applied for this exam. It has four subjects and sections you need to work on. They are as follows.

No.	Subject
1	General and banking awareness
2	Quantitative aptitude
3	English language
4	Reasoning

These subjects are common for IBPS, SBI, and RBI exams. You can refer to the following books for either of these examinations. Let’s see subject-wise suggestions for the best books for bank exams.

General and banking awareness

This subject is solely dedicated to making students aware of the sector they want to work in. It comprises the history of banks in India, the banking institutions, and the banking industry’s role in the financial system. You can refer to these books to prepare for it. 

No.	Book name	Authors or publishers
1	Banking awareness for bank clerk/PO/SO/RRB/RBI exams	Disha publications
2	Banking awareness: the complete book for IBPS bank PO and clerk exam	Arihant publication
3	Banking awareness	B.K publications
4	Banking awareness	Javed Siddiqui

Quantitative aptitude

This tests the quantitative, logical, and analytical skills of the applicants. You can attempt test papers to practice and improve your score on this test. It includes algebra, data interpretation, problems on age, number series, etc. You can refer to these books for preparations.

No.	Book name	Authors or publishers
1	Comprehensive guide to IBPS-CWE bank PO/MT prelim main exam	Disha publications
2	Quantitative aptitude for competitive exams	R.S. Agrawal
3	Quantitative aptitudes by IBT institute	Gulshan Singh
4	Fast track objective arithmetic	Rajesh Verma
5	Magical book on quicker maths	M. Tyra
6	Kiran’s textbook of quickest mathematics	Pratiyogita Kiran

English language

This subject is there to help you with the grammar and vocabulary of English. It has topics like reading comprehension, word usage, idioms, phrases, etc. You can refer to the following books for study.

No.	Book name	Author
1	High school English grammar and composition	N. D. V. Prasad Rao
2	Better English	Norman Lewis
3	General English	Gulshan Singh
4	Quick learning objective English	R.S. Agrawal
5	Descriptive general English	S.P. Bakshi and Richa Sharma

Reasoning

This is the most preferred topic in the bank exams. You will have to solve questions on topics like inputs-outputs, syllogism, coding-decoding, blood relations, etc. Like quantitative aptitude, you can master it by attempting practice papers. These are the books you should refer to while preparing for it.

No.	Book name	Authors or publishers
1	Modern approach to verbal and non-verbal reasoning	R.S. Agrawal
2	Analytical reasoning	M.K. Pandey
3	Reasoning ability	IBT Institute
4	A new approach to reasoning verbal and non-verbal	B.S. Sijwali
5	Magical book on puzzles	K. Kundan

Best books for bank exams

These are some other books for your reference. You can use them to study any one of the subjects. 

No.	Book name	Author
1	Data interpretation	Arun Sharma
2	Objective mathematics for competitive exams	Tarun Goyal
3	Word power made easy	Norman Lewis
4	Lucent general knowledge	Lucent publications team
5	Advance maths for general competition	KD publications team
6	Quantitative aptitude for competitive exams	Abhijit Guha
7	Objective mathematics	R.D. Sharma
8	The person GK manual	Edger Thorpe, Showick Thorpe
9	General studies	Manohar Pandey
10	Descriptive general English	S.P Bakshi
11	Quantitative aptitude and reasoning	N. Singh
12	Handbook on banking awareness	IBC Academic publication team
13	Basic banking and financial issues	Gautum Majumdar
14	Objective English	Hari Mohan Prasad
15	Marketing aptitude	R. Gupta

Key takeaways

• All the bank exams contain some common subjects. You can prepare for them by reading books and trying practical exercises.
• The best bank books mentioned above have topic-wise guidance for each subject.
• You can attempt practice tests from books provided by the top publication houses. 

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FAQs

Q1. Which is the best book for bank exams?

Answer: Quantitative aptitude by R.S Agrawal is the best book for bank exams.

Q2. Which newspaper is helpful for the preparation for bank exams?

Answer: The Hindu publishes practice tests for competitive exams to help prepare for bank exams. 

Q3. Which bank pays the highest salary in India?

Answer: According to research, the State Bank of India (SBI) pays the highest salary in India.