The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) conducted Online Preliminary Examination for the recruitment of Specialist Officers across the country on December 30, 2018.
There were 150 questions in the paper, which had to be answered in 120 minutes. There were three sections in all - English Language, Reasoning and Quantitative Aptitude. All the other sections except English Language section were available bilingually, that is, in both English and Hindi. Each question had 5 options. There was negative marking of one-fourth of the marks assigned to that question for all the sections. This year there is sectional timing of 40 minutes.
The detailed break-up of IBPS SO Preliminary Exam 2018 is as follows:
| Section | Total Questions | Max. Marks | Level of Difficulty | Good Attempts | Time Taken (In Minutes) |
| English Language | 50 | 25 | Easy-Moderate | 33 – 38 | 40 |
| Reasoning | 50 | 50 | Moderate | 28 – 33 | 40 |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 50 | 50 | Moderate | 27 – 32 | 40 |
| Total | 150 | 125 | Moderate | 90 – 105 | 120 |
| Topic | Number of questions | Level of difficulty |
| Reading Comprehension (Based on NBFCs – there were two questions based on vocabulary.) | 5 | Moderate |
| Reading Comprehension (Based on Block Chain Technology - there were two questions based on vocabulary.) | 7 | Moderate |
| Parajumbles/Rearrangement to form a paragraph | 5 | Moderate |
| Cloze Test | 5 | Easy – Moderate |
| Phrase Replacement | 5 | Easy-Moderate |
| Spot the Error | 5 | Moderate |
| Fill in the Blanks (Double FIB) | 5 | Moderate |
| Match the statements (Column I / Column II) | 5 | Easy-Moderate |
| Sentence Connection - Connectors | 5 | Moderate |
| Miscellaneous | 3 | Moderate |
The questions in this section were moderate in nature. Therefore, a candidate should have attempted around 33 questions with good accuracy to stay safe.
| Topic | Number of questions | Level of difficulty |
| AR (Circular Seating Arrangement) | 5 | Moderate |
| AR (Data Arrangement – People/Things based) | 5 | Moderate |
| AR (Data Arrangement – Floor based) | 5 | Moderate |
| AR (Data Arrangement) | 5 | Moderate |
| Mathematical Inequalities | 5 | Easy |
| Coding-Decoding | 5 | Easy- Moderate |
| Directions | 2 | Easy |
| Blood Relation | 4 | Easy |
| Data Sufficiency | 3 | Easy-Moderate |
| Alphabet based | 2 | Easy |
| Logical Reasoning | 5 | Easy-Moderate |
| Syllogism | 4 | Moderate |
This section primarily saw questions which were easy to moderate in nature. Some of the questions were time consuming. Still, a candidate could have easily attempted at least 28 questions with good accuracy.
| Topic | Number of questions | Level of difficulty |
| Comparison of variables: Quadratic Equations | 5 | Moderate |
| Data Interpretation (Missing Table) | 5 | Moderate |
| Data Interpretation (Pie Chart) | 5 | Moderate |
| Data Interpretation (Line Graph) | 5 | Moderate |
| Data Sufficiency | 5 | Easy-Moderate |
| Number Series | 5 | Easy-Moderate |
| Simplification/Approximation | 5 | Easy- Moderate |
| Miscellaneous (Quant based word problems) | 15 | Easy- Moderate |
The difficulty level of questions in this section was moderate because most of the questions were conventional in nature. A candidate could have easily attempted at least 27 questions with good accuracy.
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
