The IBPS Probationary Officer exam is one of the major entrance exams conducted by IBPS for recruitment in different PSU banks. Out of the 3 stages in this exam — Preliminary, Main and Personality — Preliminary is only of a qualifying nature. The 60-minute exam has a total of 100 questions to attempt. There are three sections in the exam: Quantitative Aptitude (35 questions), Reasoning Ability (35 Questions), and English Language (30 questions). This is a multiple-choice exam with 5 answer options, and a negative marking of 25%. Students need to qualify in each of the three sections here.
This year, there are 4,336 vacancies spread across the country. Every year, more than 8 lakh candidates apply for this exam to qualify for such vacancies in PSU Banks. The Prelims exam has been scheduled in two batches for 12 and 19 October, 2019, while the Main exam will be held on 30 November 2019. The interviews will be conducted in January/February 2020.
The IBPS Preliminary Examination 2019 commenced last week on 12 October and today is the second day of the exam.
The overall level of the exam in the first slot was moderate, similar to last week’s exam. However, a lot of changes have been observed in this slot of the exam. Below is a section- wise summary:
Below is the section- wise analysis of the exam in week 2:
{{/usCountry}}Below is the section- wise analysis of the exam in week 2:
{{/usCountry}}Quantitative Aptitude
This section (a maximum of 35 questions) was to be attempted in 20 minutes. The difficulty level of this section was high. This time, the questions asked were tricky and calculative, which is a notable change in the question pattern. An attempt above 22 can be considered good here. The section was as follows:
Reasoning
Students had to attempt 35 questions in 20 minutes. The difficulty level was moderate but the questions were time-consuming. The increase in the number of puzzle questions was a change this time. An attempt above 24 questions can be considered good. The section was as follows:
English Language
A maximum of 30 questions had to be done in 20 minutes. The level of difficulty ranged between easy and moderate. The addition of different question patterns was seen in the exam. An attempt above 22 can be considered good here. This is how the section was:
We, at Gradeup, believe that an overall attempt of 70 can be considered good. The below table shows the number of questions for a good attempt of the exam.
Keeping in mind that the Main exam is on 30 November, for which students are left with just 42 days of preparation time. We recommend that students start preparing for it right away. They need to be very particular about the General Awareness section, which many students tend to ignore while preparing for the Preliminary part as General Awareness section is not tested in the Preliminary.
(The author is Academic head banking at Gradeup)