Today was the first day of the SBI Clerk Preliminary Exam 2019. The exam is being conducted in four time slots: 2 each in the morning and evening. A total of 100 questions had to be answered in 60 minutes. All the sections, except English Language, were available in both English and Hindi. Every correct answer will fetch 1 mark, while every incorrect answer will reduce the score by 0.25. There is sectional timing of 20 minutes.
The detailed break-up of SBI Clerk Preliminary Exam 2019 is as follows:
| Section | Total Questions | Level of Difficulty | Good Attempts | Time Taken (In Minutes) |
| English Language | 30 | Easy | 21–24 | 20 |
| Numerical Ability | 35 | Easy-Moderate | 22–25 | 20 |
| Reasoning Ability | 35 | Easy | 27–30 | 20 |
| Total | 100 | Easy-Moderate | 75–80 | 60 |
Note: Section wise and overall cut-offs are not uniform for all states.
English Language:
Topic |
Number of Questions |
Level of Difficulty |
Reading Comprehension (Based on Cloud Computing Technology) – There were 3-4 questions based on Synonym/Antonym. |
8 |
Easy-Moderate |
Para-jumbles/Sentence Rearrangement |
5 |
Easy |
Spot the Error - Grammar based (Old Pattern based) |
7 |
Easy |
Spot the Error – Spelling based |
5 |
Easy |
Fill in the Blanks (Single FIB) |
5 |
Easy-Moderate |
The English Language section was more or less along the same lines as the old pattern. Questions on Spot the Error were based on fundamentals of grammar. Questions from the RC passage were mainly factual. Three/Four questions were from Vocabulary (Synonym and Antonym based). Overall, the level of difficulty of this section was easy.
Numerical Ability:
Topic |
Number of Questions |
Level of Difficulty |
Number Series (Series Completion) |
5 |
Easy |
Approximation/Simplification |
10 |
Easy |
Data Interpretation (Bar Graph) – Four people/Number of books/Two years 2005/2006 |
5 |
Moderate |
Comparison of Variables - Quadratic Equations |
5 |
Easy-Moderate |
Miscellaneous - Quant based word problems - (Time, Speed and Distance – Trains, Boats and Streams, Time and Work, Mensuration, Partnership, Ratio and Proportion, Simple Interest & Compound Interest, Percentage, Age, Mixtures & Allegation, Profit, Loss and Discount, Average etc.) |
10 |
Easy-Moderate |
There was one set of five questions from Data Interpretation (Bar Graph based). The questions on Number Series were easy. The Arithmetic-based questions were primarily from Ratio and Proportion, SI & CI, Percentages, Ages, Profit, Loss & Discount, Time and Work, Time, Speed and Distance etc. The overall difficulty level of this section was easy-to-moderate.
Reasoning Ability:
Topic |
Number of Questions |
Level of Difficulty |
AR (Linear Seating Arrangement – 2 parallel rows – 10 persons – facing North/South) |
5 |
Easy-Moderate |
AR (Linear Seating Arrangement – single row – uncertain number of people) |
4 |
Easy-Moderate |
AR (Data Arrangement – 7 persons based) |
5 |
Easy-Moderate |
AR (Circular Seating Arrangement – 8 persons based) |
5 |
Easy-Moderate |
Alpha-numeric/Symbol based series |
5 |
Easy-Moderate |
Mathematical Inequalities |
3 |
Easy |
Direction based set |
3 |
Easy-Moderate |
Alphabet based |
1 |
Easy |
Syllogism |
4 |
Easy |
There were four sets of Data Arrangement and Seating Arrangement which are as follows: Two parallel rows seating arrangement, Single row seating arrangement, Circular seating arrangement and Data arrangement (7 persons based). There were 4 questions based on syllogism. The overall difficulty level of this section was easy.
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