As per the tentative schedule published on the official website, Indian Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) will conduct the preliminary exam for recruitment of probationary officers (PO) in the month of October.This leaves roughly six months for banking job aspirants to prepare for the exam. While it's not necessary that you begin preparation for IBPS PO exactly six months prior to the exam but it will definitely give you ample to go over all the topics and revise. In this article we will discuss the strategy aspirants should adopt right now in order to ensure a good score in the IBPS PO preliminary and main exam.IBPS PO Preliminary and Main combined, there are total five sections in the IBPS PO exam - English Comprehension, Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning, Banking Awareness and General Knowledge, and Computer Awareness. Six months are fairly enough to be completely prepared for both Preliminary and Main exam.1st and 2nd monthMake a section-wise list of all the topics from which questions may be asked. Start with the ones you find the toughest or have never heard of before. Devote one hour on each section. In case of Banking Awareness and GK, and Computer Awareness, half an hour a day is enough. Refer only school textbooks and normal exercise books to learn the fundamental concepts.3rd and 4th monthBy now you would have gone through every topic on your list. Now you need to begin focused preparation. Buy a preparation book for bank exams and start solving questions topic-wise. Again an hour a day should be enough. You should follow preparation books because the questions asked in the exam are a tad bit different than the ones which are mentioned in school textbooks. Also focus on learning shortcut tricks for solving lengthy problems.5th and 6th monthIn the last two months, I suggest you sign up for online speed test and solve at least one paper in a day. Don't just solve preliminary speed test but also speed tests designed for Main exam. Solving speed tests would help you identify your problem areas and you can work on them. Speed tests would also get in the gear for online exam and benefit you on the exam day.This schedule (even with a little variation) would allow you to cover every topic including revision and give you an edge over other candidates appearing in the exam.Books for Banking ExamFor IBPS PO i am giving you a small sum of books that will help you for upcoming exams.QUANT:Paramount By Neetu singh (both vol 1 and vol 2).DI: Arhihant + BSC magazine problem.Reasoning:Buy arhihant publication book for general practice.BSC Publication Magazine problems for practice.For Puzzle- Magical Book on PUZZLES by K Kundan.ENGLISH:Reading Reading and Reading, no book will help you unless you start reading and make summary that will help in descriptiveVocab building and revise them regularly.Hindu paper/Indian express/TOINote: No need of book for english. News paper enough.General Awareness:Bankers Adda/Gk today daily affairs don’t read them write them in your daily notes.For quick reading leadthecompetition.comFor quiz App: Daily GKIf you are done with these above three areas, you are done with GA. No need to go for GK tornedo, Capsule, Injection, Golden points etc. BANKING:RBI FAQ ( Frequently Asked Questions)Dhankar publication book for general banking.Make notes from History of banking, years of establishment, Acts, Nationalization, recent developments, committees.Previous exam questions of banking.COMPUTER:Lucent + Arhihant book read them twice will take 15 days to read both twice.Mock Tests:Start with Bankersadda and then after getting proper level join Practice mock and Oliveboard.TIPS:Join Facebook groups to understand pattern and competitionPractice as much as mock u can don’t wait for syllabus to complete.Keep cut off,Types of questions in mind.Don’t Mug up things understanding things well that will help you in life.Don’t compare ever, stay positive, confident, happy.Dont go for bulk materials, books follow the above things these are quite enough to crack u dont need to do phd in quanta/reso. We are here to crack exam. Thats all