Banks in India used to conduct their own written tests till the early 1970s. There used to be allegations of corruption, nepotism and favouritism against this bank-wise selection. Therefore, a changed pattern of selection was introduced for all banks through the National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM). The objective pattern took six to eight years to take a firm hold. However, candidates used to be bewildered by the changed pattern of tests which included subjects such as test of reasoning and many patterns which were never taught in Schools and Colleges.

Late Shri E.K. Thakur, our Founder Chairman, had joined the State Bank of India as a Probationary officer in 1966. He had then stood first in India in the all-India SBI P.O. Exam. He had thereafter also worked for many years in the Staff Department of SBI at State Bank’s Mumbai H.O. and used to conduct recruitment for all cadres. He was fully familiar with written tests, interviews and evaluation. He was also the National President of State Bank and Associate Banks’ Officers’ Central Federation, known as the SBI Officers Federation. So he also had an industry view.

It was, therefore, late Shri E.K. Thakur, a Probationary Officer himself, along with several other Probationary Officers, who decided to form an all-India Institute to train candidates for Bank P.O./Clerical exams. The institute was named National School of Banking and was established in 1978. It is now the largest pre-recruitment training Institute in India having several In-class Centres throughout the country and drawing Students from various States and Union Territories of India.

Recently, there has been a change in the recruitment pattern in Banks. The exam will be connected in 3 Phases (Preliminary, Main and G.D./Interview).

IBPS, an autonomous body registered under the Societies Registration Act 1860 and a Public Trust under the Bombay Public Trust Act 1950, has been authorised by Indian Banks Association (IBA) and has received a mandate from the various Public Sector Banks to conduct the Common Online Examination.

An individual who aspires to join any of the Public Sector Banks as a Clerk/Probationary Officer/Management Trainee will necessarily be required to take the exams. Prospective candidates who wish to appear for the exams will have to apply to IBPS and should carefully read the notification regarding eligibility criteria, online registration process, pattern of examination, issuance of call letters etc.

The State Bank of India Group conducts its own exams.

NSB Courses are conducted all year round. Regular In-class Course batches are generally started on the 5th of every month but if you are keen to join, you may make enquiry at the NSB In-class Centre where you want to join, at least ten days in advance, i.e. around the
25th of the previous month of the batch you want to join. Admissions are given on first-come-first-served basis. Admission is confirmed when the enrolment form is duly scrutinised and fees are fully paid - which has to be done at least a day before the commencement of the Course. You can join NSB’s Courier/Postal Correspondence Courses any day. Fresh batches of Courier/ Postal Correspondence Courses are however formed on every Monday.

NSB has a standard and proven methodology for teaching and training which is established by years of research in instructional methods. Directors, Lecturers and Managers of all Centres have been trained intensively in these methods. NSB, therefore, is in a position to follow standard methods at all its In-class Centres.

You must understand that a competitive exam is not like a school or college exam. School/college exams yield a result of anywhere between 40 and 60 per cent - which means if 100 students take the test, 40 to 60 qualify. In competitive exams, the success rate is determined by three factors : (i) the number of vacancies, (ii) the number of candidates who apply for these vacancies, and (iii) the level of preparedness of the candidate attuned to the test. NSB’s role comes in the third factor. We guide you through the labyrinths of the entire examination technique, process, facts and knowledge required. However, if for one vacancy, 100 candidates apply, finally the bank will select only one person out of 100 because the number of vacancies will not change. NSB’s success rate, which is the highest in the country for past over 40 years consecutively, has to be judged against the reality of vacancies and competing candidates. However, surveys conducted by our Research Department have established that more than 80 per cent of the candidates who join Banks as Officers and Clerks are NSB students. NSB thus has an unchallenged and unrivalled position. The credit goes to years of research.

If the product is good, it does not require heavy advertising. Certain institutes do heavy advertising in newspapers thinking that brilliant students do not realise the fact that all advertising costs have ultimately to be borne by students in the fees they pay. NSB issues only small notifications of vacancies and Courses in newspapers and this minimal advertising allows it to give to students an excellent Course in reasonable fees.

The very fact that NSB’s topmost position in the pre-recruitment sphere could not be taken away by new competitors for the last nearly four decades is a glowing tribute to NSB Courses. Some competitors even employed the stratagem of naming their institute in such a way that the name rhymes or looks parallel to National School of Banking. They even went to the extent of virtually copying the registered logo of NSB. But NSB has neither contested the names and logos of these latecomers who want to make a fast buck by basking in NSB’s well-established repute. NSB is confident that students are intelligent enough to understand what to expect of institutions, which have intelligence only to copy the name and logo of NSB, which is shown below.

NSB is thus tried to be copied by so-called competitors. NSB’s unparalleled reputation throughout India today is based on the work being done at NSB’s Research Department. NSB’s Founder Chairman, late Shri E.K.Thakur, who himself was an All India Topper, along with his Research Team, had studied every question pattern in every Bank Exam for past over 40 years. The work is followed up by NSB’s Research Department. A Question Bank parallel to the one of the examining body has been created at NSB’s Research Department. The result is a research-backed, up-to-date and carefully-woven Course which has earned accolades from everyone.

You are advised to look up the local newspapers for vacancy information. Please subscribe to the
Employment News Weekly for information about new vacancies. This weekly is published by the Director, Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, New Delhi, and it invariably contains all vacancy advertisements released by various Banks. Whenever relevant vacancies are announced, NSB also brings them to the notice of students by releasing its own ads and by uploading the details of the vacancies on its website www.nsbindia.net. Students are also advised to check the website of IBPS, i.e. www.ibps.in and the website of State Bank of India, i.e. www.statebankofindia.co.in

As regards bank clerical exams of Public Sector Banks, you can appear any number of times, provided you are otherwise eligible. As regards Bank P.O. exams, you can appear any number of times for Public Sector Banks’ P.O. exams. which are conducted by IBPS. But for SBI P.O. exams, you can appear only four times and for Associate Banks’ P.O. exams, you can appear only four times, provided you are otherwise eligible.

Yes. Negative marking is implemented in bank exams. In objective exams, generally one mark is allotted for one question. One-fourth of the allotted mark of the respective question is deducted for every wrong answer. So it is advisable to attempt only those questions where you are sure of answers. If you prepare well and answer well, where is the worry of negative marking ? At least NSB students should not experience this uncertainty.

NSB rules are reproduced overleaf the Enrolment Form. Please read the Enrolment Form and the Rules carefully.

You are advised to enrol at your earliest so that you have ample time to study and prepare for the challenge of the exam. Our Course is common for all bank exams held on the NIBM/IBPS pattern. Therefore, in one single Course and on paying one single fee, you can prepare for nearly 30 All-India exams.

Course fees are not accepted in instalments. You have to pay the entire Course Fee at one time and in a lump sum.

Yes, we do provide our Course materials in 2 to 3 large bunches, if the student requests for the same on the back of the Enrolment Form or on our own if the online examination is approaching fast. However, if the exam is 2-3 months away, requests for large lots are not encouraged because we expect our students to study the materials carefully and progress through our Course step-by-step.

Our BRPO Course material is normally sent in 5 to 10 lots. Our CRCC Course material is sent in 8 lots. The Course material is sometimes sent in large and fewer bunches if the exam is very near.

We send Course material through the ‘Blue Dart’ Courier Service, wherever they have their Service Centres. Wherever Courier Service is not available, we despatch the Course material by registered post.

We do not send any material by VPP. We believe in systematic course despatch. We send three question sets in one particular despatch along with answersheets. The student has to mark the answers in the answersheets and retain them with him. In the next despatch, we send the keys to the above question sets with additional three question sets and the student has to verify his answers with the key papers supplied to him by NSB in the subsequent despatch. It is very important for a student to try to solve the questions and know for himself his present preparedness. When you clearly know what you don’t know - your appetite for answers increases. That encourages a student to absorb the solutions in the Keys, which reach him just in the nick of time, when he is restive for the answers. In this way, the student gets help when he needs it most and there is a method in his/her studies.

Our Courier/Postal Correspondence Course is available to students all over India. We have students from the remotest corners of the country. Courier/Postal Correspondence Courses are processed and administered only from our Head Office located at Dadar, Mumbai - 400 028. For admissions to the Courier/Postal Correspondence Course, you have to send your Enrolment along with remittance of fees to the Executive Director, National School of Banking, Dadar, Mumbai - 400 028, by Courier or by Registered Post. Admissions to the Courier/Postal Correspondence Courses can also be taken at any of our branches in India but the Course material will be despatched only from Dadar, Mumbai - 400 028.

Fresh batches of our Courier/Postal Correspondence Courses are started every Monday. You can, however, send your enrolment on any day.

Our students do not have to return any papers to us except for the Final Position Sheet (FPS). The Final Position Sheet contains a list of all the Course material which has been sent to the students. The student has to return the FPS to us, after verifying whether he has received all the Course material. We believe in self-assessment. This implies that the student has to check his answers himself, with the detailed key papers supplied to him, and not return any solved papers or answersheets to us.

Thousands of students come personally and attend courses at our In-class Centres. Students, however, must note that we do not provide hostel facility. A candidate, therefore, has to arrange for his own lodging/boarding. But before he comes, he may send a E-mail or can call us and we will reserve a seat for him in our Course.

We do not provide the Course material in parts, as we do not sell our Courses. The candidate has to enrol for the entire Course. Ours is a training institute and we do not subscribe to the view that training can be imparted in parts. Besides, the examiners expect the candidates to do well in all subjects of the test.

We do not sell our books. They are provided only in the Course along with the other Course material and hence you have to join the full Course. Our books are also not sold through bookshops, stalls or agencies.