IBPS PO key terms

A reasoning format where two or more premises about categories are given and you must decide which conclusions necessarily follow, using rules of distribution, conversion, and complement rather than real-world knowledge.

A technique for solving syllogisms by drawing overlapping circles for each category and checking whether a conclusion holds in every possible arrangement of the premises.

In syllogism questions, a conclusion stated as 'possibility' is treated as true if at least one arrangement of the premises satisfies it, unlike definite conclusions which must hold in all arrangements.

A puzzle where words or numbers are written in a coded pattern and you must identify the rule, such as letter shifts, reversal, or symbol substitution, then apply it to a new word.

A sequence mixing letters, digits, and symbols, tested by asking positions, counts of elements between two characters, or which element satisfies a positional condition.

Problems about positions in a row or list, solved with formulas such as total = left rank + right rank - 1, or by tracking relative positions when people are added or removed.

A puzzle placing people around a circle or in a row under constraints like facing direction and adjacency, solved by fixing one anchor person and building outward from definite clues.

A seating puzzle with people in a single row, where 'facing north' or 'facing south' changes whether left and right of a person point toward or away from the row's ends.

A set of linked clues about people, floors, days, or colours that must be combined into one consistent arrangement; usually five questions share a single puzzle setup.

Questions that describe family links through statements or a tree diagram and ask how two named people are related, often using coded symbols for father, mother, brother, and so on.

Problems tracking a person's path using compass turns, solved by drawing the route and applying Pythagoras to find straight-line distance between start and end points.

A format where a question is followed by two or three statements and you judge only whether the data is enough to answer, without computing the actual answer.

A reasoning question giving statements like A > B ≥ C and asking which of several combined conclusions, such as A > C, is definitely true under the chain rules.

A pair-based reasoning item where the relationship between the first two elements must be identified and the same relationship applied to complete a second pair.

A reasoning set where a machine rearranges a given line of words or numbers by fixed steps; you must deduce the rule and predict an intermediate or final arrangement.

A quantitative item requiring quick evaluation of an expression using BODMAS order, fraction-to-decimal conversions, and approximation rather than full long calculation.

Rounding numbers to convenient values so an expression can be estimated within seconds; the answer choices are spaced widely enough that exact computation is unnecessary.

A sequence with a missing or wrong term, solved by spotting the pattern of differences, ratios, squares, cubes, or alternating operations between consecutive terms.

A comparison item giving two equations in x and y; you find the roots of each and decide whether x is greater, smaller, equal, or the relation cannot be established.

A set of five questions based on a table, bar graph, pie chart, or caselet, testing percentage change, ratio, average, and share calculations from the given data.

A data interpretation passage written in paragraph form instead of a chart, from which you must extract the numbers and relationships needed to answer the attached questions.

A fraction expressed per hundred; core to profit-loss, discount, and data interpretation, and converted quickly using standard equivalents such as 12.5% = 1/8.

Comparison of two quantities and equality of two ratios; used to split amounts, scale recipes of mixtures, and solve partnership and age problems through a common multiplier.

A method using a cross-diagram to find the ratio in which two ingredients of different prices or concentrations must be mixed to obtain a desired mean value.

The sum of observations divided by their count; shortcut methods use assumed mean and deviation, and the concept extends to weighted averages and replacement problems.

Problems linking speed, time, and distance, including relative speed for trains and boats, and conversion between km/h and m/s by multiplying or dividing by 5/18.

A speed problem where downstream speed is boat plus current and upstream is boat minus current, so boat speed is the average of the two and current is half their difference.

Problems where rates add when people work together; the standard trick is to take total work as the LCM of the given days so each worker's one-day output is a whole number.

A variant of time and work where inlet pipes add to the filling rate and outlet pipes subtract from it, with negative work representing leakage or emptying.

Simple interest is principal times rate times time divided by 100; compound interest applies interest on interest, and the difference between them for two years equals P(r/100)².

Counting arrangements where order matters versus selections where it does not; tested through word-letter arrangements, committee formation, and probability-based questions.

The ratio of favourable outcomes to total equally likely outcomes, applied to drawing balls from bags, dice, cards, and selecting committees from groups of people.

A passage with blanks, each to be filled by the option that fits the grammar and meaning of the surrounding sentence and the overall theme of the text.

A passage followed by questions on main idea, inference, tone, and vocabulary; answers must be supported by the text rather than by outside knowledge.

A conclusion drawn from stated facts without being directly written; comprehension questions often ask what can be inferred, requiring a step beyond the literal sentence.

The author's attitude in a passage, such as critical, neutral, optimistic, or sarcastic; identified from word choice and asked directly in comprehension sets.

A word or phrase such as however, therefore, or although that links clauses and signals contrast, cause, or addition; connector questions test choosing the pair that fits both blanks.

A sentence divided into parts where one part contains a grammatical flaw in subject-verb agreement, tense, preposition, or article, and must be identified.

A sentence with an underlined phrase is given, and you choose the replacement that makes it grammatically correct and idiomatic while keeping the original meaning.

A set of shuffled sentences that must be rearranged into a coherent paragraph using opening clues, pronoun reference, and logical connectors between sentences.

A question giving a word with several sentences, asking in which sentences the word is used correctly in meaning and grammar, often testing multiple senses of one word.

Vocabulary items asking for a word closest in meaning or opposite in meaning to a given word, best solved by eliminating options with the wrong shade of meaning.

The rate at which the Reserve Bank of India lends short-term funds to commercial banks against securities; raising it tightens liquidity and is a key monetary policy signal.

The rate at which the RBI absorbs surplus liquidity from banks by borrowing from them; normally below the repo rate and part of the liquidity adjustment framework.

Cash Reserve Ratio: the share of net demand and time liabilities that banks must hold as cash with the RBI, earning no interest and directly reducing lendable funds.

Statutory Liquidity Ratio: the portion of net demand and time liabilities banks must keep in cash, gold, or approved securities, held with themselves rather than the RBI.

Non-Performing Asset: a loan on which principal or interest is overdue for more than 90 days; classified as substandard, doubtful, or loss asset depending on how long it stays bad.

A 2002 law letting banks and financial institutions enforce security interests and take possession of pledged assets without going to court, after giving the borrower notice.

The 2016 Indian law creating a time-bound corporate insolvency resolution process run by resolution professionals and overseen by the NCLT, with liquidation as the last resort.

RBI rules requiring banks to direct a minimum share of credit to agriculture, MSMEs, education, housing, and weaker sections, with shortfalls paid into a rural development fund.

The minimum lending rate below which a bank may not lend, calculated from cost of funds, operating expenses, and profit margin; replaced by the marginal cost-based MCLR in 2016.

A document promising or ordering payment of money that can be transferred by delivery or endorsement, covering promissory notes, bills of exchange, and cheques under the 1881 Act.

An image-based clearing system where a cheque's electronic image and data replace physical movement between banks, speeding up clearing and reducing fraud and transport cost.

Two RBI-operated funds transfer systems: NEFT settles in batches at half-hourly intervals for any amount, while RTGS settles in real time and requires a minimum of two lakh rupees.

Unified Payments Interface, run by NPCI, allowing instant bank-to-bank transfers through a virtual payment address on mobile apps, without sharing account details.

A differentiated bank licensed by the RBI that accepts deposits up to a limit and offers remittances and payments but cannot lend or issue credit cards or loans.

A licensed bank focused on serving unserved and underserved sections, required to hold a large share of loans as small-ticket advances and priority sector lending.

International capital adequacy standards from the Basel Committee; Basel III raises the quality and quantity of capital and adds liquidity and leverage ratio requirements.