IBPS Clerk (Preliminary) 2016 exam flagged off on November 26, 2016. It is being held in four time slots. The exam will span over a period of one week, ending on December 04, 2016. A total of 100 questions had to be answered in 60 minutes. Each correct answer will fetch 1 mark while each incorrect answer will reduce the score by 0.25.
The detailed break up of IBPS Clerk (Prelims) Exam 2016 is as follows:
Section |
Total Questions |
Level of difficulty |
Good Attempts |
Good Score |
Approximate time taken (in minutes) |
English Language |
30 |
Easy-Moderate |
18-20 |
15-18 |
15 |
Reasoning Ability |
35 |
Easy-Moderate |
20-22 |
18-20 |
20 |
Numerical Ability |
35 |
Easy-Moderate |
19-22 |
18-20 |
25 |
Total |
100 |
Easy-Moderate |
58-65 |
55-62 |
60 |
Note: Section wise and overall Cut-offs are not uniform for all states.
Let’s glance through section-wise analysis of IBPS Clerk (Prelims) Exam 2016:
Topic |
Number of questions |
Level of difficulty |
Reading Comprehension (Forest story about tree and animal) |
10 |
Easy |
Error Spotting |
10 |
Moderate |
Cloze Test |
10 |
Easy |
The Reading Comprehension was based on a story of tress and animals. The questions were easy. There were no questions from Fill in the blanks and Para Jumbles. The overall difficulty level of this section was easy to moderate.
Topic |
Number of questions |
Level of Difficulty |
Circular Seating Arrangement |
5 |
Moderate |
Linear Seating Arrangement |
5 |
Moderate |
Linear Seating Arrangement |
5 |
Moderate |
Alpha-numeric Series |
5 |
Easy-Moderate |
Mathematical Inequalities |
5 |
Easy-Moderate |
Alphabet Coding |
5 |
Moderate |
Miscellaneous |
5 |
Moderate |
There were no questions from coding decoding and Syllogism. There were 3 sets on seating arrangement. 1 set each on circular sitting arrangement, linear seating, with 8 friends sitting in a line facing north and parallel seating arrangement in which 4 people were facing north and 4 were facing south. The overall difficulty level of this section was easy to moderate.
| Topic | Number of questions |
Level of Difficulty |
Data Interpretation |
5 |
Moderate |
Simplification/Approximation |
15 |
Easy- Moderate |
Number Series |
5 |
Moderate |
SI/CI |
1 |
Easy- Moderate |
Time, Speed and Distance |
1 |
Easy- Moderate |
Profit, Loss and Discount |
1 |
Easy- Moderate |
Time & Work |
1 |
Easy- Moderate |
Average |
1 |
Easy- Moderate |
Ages |
1 |
Easy- Moderate |
Percentage |
1 |
Easy- Moderate |
Miscellaneous (Quant Based) |
3 |
Easy- Moderate |
There was 1 set of Data Interpretation. Furthermore, the questions on Number Series were a little tricky. Questions based on Arithmetic were primarily from Time, Speed and Distance, Averages, SI & CI, Percentages, Ages, Profit, Loss & Discount, etc. The overall difficulty level of this section was easy to moderate.Â
Disclaimer: All information on cut-offs, analysis, answer key and scores are based on independent analysis and evaluation made by Career Launcher. We do not take responsibility for any decision that might be taken, based on this information.
All the best!
Team CL