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 |
23–26 |
20 |
Reasoning Ability |
35 |
Easy |
27–30 |
20 |
Total |
100 |
Easy-Moderate |
75–83 |
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 Dreams) – There were 3 questions based on Synonym/Antonym. |
7 |
Moderate |
Para-jumbles/Sentence Rearrangement |
4 |
Easy |
Spot the Error - Grammar based (Old Pattern based) |
6 |
Easy-Moderate |
Spot the Error – 4 bold words based (Spelling Error) |
6 |
Easy-Moderate |
Cloze Test (Based on Pollution) |
7 |
Easy |
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 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 (Line Graph) – Number of books of two types A and B, 4 months March/April/May/June |
5 |
Moderate |
Comparison of Variables - Quadratic Equations |
5 |
Easy-Moderate |
Time, Speed and Distance |
1 |
Easy-Moderate |
Time, Speed and Distance – Boats and Streams |
1 |
Easy-Moderate |
Ages |
1 |
Easy-Moderate |
Simple Interest/Compound Interest |
1 |
Easy-Moderate |
Average |
1 |
Easy-Moderate |
Profit, Loss and Discount |
1 |
Easy-Moderate |
Mensuration -2D (Square/Circle based) |
1 |
Easy-Moderate |
Mixture and Alligation |
1 |
Easy-Moderate |
Ratio and Proportion |
1 |
Easy-Moderate |
Percentage |
1 |
Easy-Moderate |
There was one set of five questions from Data Interpretation (Line Graph based). The questions on Number Series were easy. The Arithmetic-based questions were primarily from Ratio and Proportion, SI & CI, Percentage, Ages, Profit, Loss & Discount, Time, Speed and Distance, Boat & Stream 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, facing North/South) |
5 |
Easy-Moderate |
AR (Data Arrangement –Box based) |
5 |
Easy-Moderate |
AR (Data Arrangement – 8 Floors based) |
5 |
Easy-Moderate |
AR (Data Arrangement – Height arrangement/numerical based) |
3 |
Easy-Moderate |
Alphabet/Number/Symbol based Series |
5 |
Easy |
Coding-Decoding |
5 |
Easy |
Direction based set |
5 |
Easy |
Odd One Out – Alphabet based |
1 |
Easy |
Alphabet based – No. of pairs of letters |
1 |
Easy |
There were four sets of Analytical Reasoning which are as: Two parallel rows seating arrangement, 8 Floors based data arrangement, Box based data arrangement and Height arrangement based. No syllogism questions were asked in this slot. 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