Today was the first day of the IBPS Clerk Preliminary Exam 2018. Spanning a period of one week (ending December 15, 2018), 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. This year there is sectional timing of 20 minutes.
The detailed break-up of IBPS Clerk Preliminary Exam 2018 is as follows:
Section |
Total Questions |
Level of difficulty |
Good Attempts |
Time taken (in minutes) |
English Language |
30 |
Easy- Moderate |
20- 23 |
20 |
Reasoning Ability |
35 |
Easy-Moderate |
28-30 |
20 |
Numerical Ability |
35 |
Easy-Moderate |
21-25 |
20 |
Total |
100 |
Easy-Moderate |
70-78 |
60 |
Note: Section wise and overall cut-offs are not uniform for all states.
Topic |
Number of questions |
Level of difficulty |
Reading Comprehension – based on impression of leaders in politics and society (There were two questions based on vocabulary.) |
7 |
Moderate |
Cloze Test (Bold words based) |
5 |
Easy-Moderate |
Fill in the blanks (Based on single FIB) |
5 |
Easy-Moderate |
Spot the Error – Statement based – find the wrong statement. |
5 |
Easy-Moderate |
Phrase Replacement |
3 |
Easy-Moderate |
Match the following (Sentence Completion) |
5 |
Moderate |
Questions from the RC passage were mainly factual. Two questions were from Vocabulary. The overall difficulty level of this section was easy to moderate.
Topic |
Number of questions |
Level of Difficulty |
AR (Data Arrangement – Floor based) |
5 |
Moderate |
AR (Linear Seating Arrangement - in 2 parallel rows facing North/South) |
5 |
Moderate |
AR (Data Arrangement – month based) |
5 |
Moderate |
AR (Data Arrangement) |
5 |
Moderate |
Blood Relation – set based |
2 |
Easy |
Number based - Set |
5 |
Easy |
Word based - Set |
5 |
Easy-Moderate |
Syllogism |
3 |
Easy-Moderate |
There were four sets of five questions each from Seating Arrangement and Data Arrangement. The overall difficulty level of this section was easy to moderate.
Topic |
Number of questions |
Level of Difficulty |
Data Interpretation (Bar Graph) |
5 |
Easy-Moderate |
Data Interpretation (Caselet – Distance based) |
5 |
Easy-Moderate |
Simplification/Approximation |
10 |
Easy |
Comparison of variables: Quadratic Equations |
5 |
Easy |
Age based |
1 |
Moderate |
Ratio and Proportion |
1 |
Moderate |
Average |
1 |
Moderate |
Time, Speed and Distance |
1 |
Moderate |
Time and work |
1 |
Moderate |
Profit, Loss and Discount |
1 |
Moderate |
Miscellaneous (Quant based) |
4 |
Moderate |
There were two sets of Data Interpretation. The overall difficulty level of this section was easy to moderate.
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