IBPS PO Preliminary Exam (October 14, 2018): Analysis - Slot I

Today was the second day of the IBPS PO Preliminary Exam 2018. The exam is being conducted in four time slots: 2 each in 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.

The detailed break-up of IBPS PO Prelims 2018 exam is as follows

Section Total Questions Level of difficulty Good Attempts Time taken (in minutes)
English Language 30 Easy-Moderate 18-21 20
Quantitative Aptitude 35 Moderate 18-20 20
Reasoning Ability 35 Moderate   21-22 20
Total 100 Easy-Moderate 57-63 60

Sectional and overall expected cut-off of IBPS PO Preliminary Exam 2018

Subject General SC/ST/OBC
English Language (Out of 30) 5-7.5 3-5
Quantitative Aptitude (Out of 35) 7.5-9.5 5-7
Reasoning Ability (Out of 35) 10-12.5 7-9
Overall Objective Test (Out of 100) 48.5-51.5 OBC: 47.5-50.5
SC: 38-42
ST: 31.5-33.5

English Language

Topic Number of Questions Level  of Difficulty
Reading Comprehension (Economy based) 6 Moderate
Spot the Error 4 Easy-Moderate
Phrase/Word Replacement 4 Easy-Moderate
Fill in the blanks 5 Moderate
Sentence Rearrangement 4 Moderate
Sentence Correction 4 Moderate
Match the statements from column 1 and column 2 3 Easy- Moderate

The English Language section comprised of questions based on Reading Comprehension, Spot the Error, Sentence Rearrangement, Fill in the blanks, Match the statements etc. The Reading Comprehension was based on economy. The overall difficulty level of this section was easy to moderate.

Quantitative Aptitude

Topic Number of Questions Level  of Difficulty
Number Series (Series Completion) 5 Moderate
Data Interpretation (Line Graph and Table) 6 Moderate
Data Interpretation(Table) 5 Moderate
Data Interpretation  (Caselet based) 5 Moderate
Simplification/Approximation 5 Easy-Moderate
Data Sufficiency 3 Moderate
Miscellaneous (Quant based – PLD, Ages, SI/CI etc.) 6 Moderate

There were three sets of Data Interpretation. This year one data interpretation set has both line graph and table. The overall difficulty level of this section was moderate, and most of the questions were calculative.

Reasoning Ability

Topic Number of Questions Level  of Difficulty
AR (Linear Seating Arrangement – 2 parallel rows – 6 persons each – north/south) 6 Moderate
AR (Data Arrangement – 10 Boxes based) 5 Moderate
AR (Data Arrangement – Month based - January to August) 5 Moderate
AR (Data Arrangement – Ages based) 5 Moderate
Direction – set based 4 Moderate
Blood Relation – set based 2 Easy-Moderate
Data Sufficiency 3 Moderate
Puzzles – Alphabet based 2 Easy-Moderate
Syllogism 3 Easy-Moderate

The Reasoning Ability section was dominated by questions based on Analytical Reasoning. There were four different sets of Analytical Reasoning based on various kinds of Seating Arrangement and Data Arrangement. Directions based set was moderate. Three questions based on Syllogism were there in the exam. The overall difficulty level of this section was 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