Today was the third day of the SBI Clerk Preliminary Exam 2018. Spanning a period of one week (ending June 30, 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.| Section | Total Questions | Level of Difficulty | Good Attempts | Good Score | Time Taken (In Minutes) |
| English Language | 30 | Easy-Moderate | 21–24 | 18–20 | 20 |
| Numerical Ability | 35 | Moderate | 20–22 | 18–20 | 20 |
| Reasoning Ability | 35 | Easy-Moderate | 21–24 | 18–20 | 20 |
| Total | 100 | Easy-Moderate | 70–75 | 60–65 | 60 |
Note: Section wise and overall cut-offs are not uniform for all states.
| Topic | Number of Questions | Level of Difficulty |
| Reading Comprehension (Deterioration of Indian economy) | 5 | Easy-Moderate |
| Para-jumbles | 5 | Easy |
| Spot the Error (Conventional pattern) | 5 | Easy-Moderate |
| Spot the Error (word based: 4 highlighted words given. Candidate has to find out the incorrect word) | 5 | Easy-Moderate |
| Phrase Replacement | 5 | Easy-Moderate |
| Sentence Improvement | 5 | Easy-Moderate |
The English Language section was more or less along the same lines as the old pattern. Questions on Spot the Error was word based: 4 highlighted words given. The candidate has to find out the incorrect word. Questions from the RC passage were mainly factual. Two questions were from Vocabulary (1 Synonym and 1 Antonym). 5 questions came from Sentence improvement which tested the candidate’s fundamental concept of grammar. Overall, the level of difficulty of this section was easy-to-moderate.
Topic |
Number of Questions |
Level of Difficulty |
Number Series (Completion of Series) |
5 |
Moderate |
Approximation |
5 |
Easy |
Simplification |
5 |
Easy |
Data Interpretation (Bar Graph based) |
5 |
Easy-Moderate |
Comparison of variables (Quadratic equations) |
5 |
Easy-Moderate |
Time, Speed and Distance |
2 |
Easy-Moderate |
Time and Work |
1 |
Easy-Moderate |
Mixtures & Allegations |
1 |
Moderate |
Ratio and Proportion |
1 |
Easy |
Numbers |
1 |
Easy-Moderate |
Profit, Loss and Discount |
1 |
Easy-Moderate |
Miscellaneous (Quant based) |
3 |
Easy-Moderate |
There was 1 set of five questions from Data Interpretation (Bar Graph based). The questions on Number Series were moderate. The Arithmetic-based questions were primarily from Time and Work, Ratio, Profit, Loss & Discount, Time, Speed and Distance, etc. The overall difficulty level of this section was easy to moderate.
Topic |
Number of Questions |
Level of Difficulty |
AR (Data Arrangement- Person/Age based) |
5 |
Moderate |
AR (Data Arrangement) |
5 |
Easy-Moderate |
AR (Circular Seating Arrangement) |
5 |
Moderate |
Coding-Decoding |
5 |
Easy-Moderate |
Blood Relation - Set based |
2 |
Easy-Moderate |
Directions - Set based |
2 |
Easy-Moderate |
Alphabet based |
1 |
Easy |
Mathematical Inequalities |
5 |
Easy-Moderate |
Input-Output |
5 |
Easy |
There were three sets of five questions each from circular seating arrangement, data arrangement (Person/Age based) and data arrangement. No syllogism questions were asked this year. 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