IBPS PO Exam Analysis 2015: The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection will be conducting IBPS CWE PO Recruitment Examination for hiring Probationary Officers for various PSBs. First, IBPS PO Prelims will be conducted, followed by Mains and then Interview.
Here, we are providing IBPS PO Exam Analysis 2015, which is previous years exam review. For candidates who are appearing for the first time, it is a must read since this will introduce the newbies to the recruitment examination. But first, let us revisit the exam pattern.
IBPS PO Exam Pattern 2016
As per IBPS, the examination will be conducted online following a 3 tier selection process i.e Preliminary examination, Main examination and Interview. Candidates need to qualify at each level in order to move to the next round.
Tier I: IBPS PO Prelims 2016
Similar to SBI PO, the IBPS PO Prelims Examination is an Objective MCQ based paper with 3 sections – Reasoning Ability, Quantitative Aptitude and English Language.
| Name of the Section | No. of Questions | Max. Marks |
| English Language | 30 | 30 |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 35 | 35 |
| Reasoning Ability | 35 | 25 |
| Total | 100 | 100 |
The total time duration for all the three papers is 1 hour. Candidates have to qualify in each of the three tests by securing cut-off marks to be decided by IBPS. Shortlisted candidates for each category, meeting the specified requirements set by IBPS, will only be allowed to appear for the IBPS PO mains examination.
Tier II: IBPS PO Mains 2016
The pattern of Mains Examination will be Objective MCQ based. There will be 5 sections – Reasoning, English, Quantitative Aptitude, General Awareness and Computer Knowledge. This year, there is a major change in the IBPS PO exam pattern for mains paper. Each section will have separate time slots for each paper of the Mains examination. This change has been mentioned in the table below:
| Name of the Section | Questions | Marks | Time (mins.) |
| Reasoning Ability | 50 | 50 | 40 |
| English Language | 40 | 40 | 30 |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 50 | 50 | 40 |
| General Awareness | 40 | 40 | 20 |
| Computer Knowledge | 20 | 20 | 10 |
| Total | 200 | 200 | 140 |
Both preliminary and main examinations will have negative marking. For every wrong answer, there is a negative marking of 0.25 mark. The examination will be bilingual in nature- English and Hindi.
Recommended: IBPS PO Solved Papers 2010-2015
Candidates need to secure minimum cut off marks which will be decided by IBPS. Those who qualify will be called up for the final round viz Interview.
IBPS PO Exam Analysis 2015
The Written Examination was of moderate difficulty level with a mixed bag of questions comprising of medium to challenging questions. The Section-Wise Analysis of IBPS PO Prelims 2015 is as follows.
English Language (Level – Moderate)
- Reading Comprehension – 10 Questions
- Cloze Test – 5 Questions
- Fill in the blanks – 5 Questions
- Spotting the Error – 5 Questions
- Para jumbles – 5 Questions
Quantitative Aptitude (Level – Moderate)
- Number Series – 5 Questions
- Approximation – 5 Questions
- Data Interpretation (2 Sets) – 10 Questions (Line Graph, Missing DI)
- Quadratic Equation – 5 Questions
- Miscellaneous Questions – 10 Questions (Age, Mixture Allegation, Partnership, Profit Loss, Average, Boats & Stream, Compound/Simple Interest, Time & Work, etc.)
Reasoning Ability (Level – Easy)
- Syllogism – 5 Questions
- Inequality – 5 Questions
- Sitting Arrangement (Circular) – 5 Questions
- Linear Arrangement (North South) – 5 Questions
- Puzzle – 5 Questions
- Coding Decoding – 5 Questions
- Blood Relation – 3 Questions
- Miscellaneous Questions – 2 Questions (Ranking, Direction test, etc.)
We hope this IBPS PO Exam Analysis 2015 helps in understanding what the written examination was all about. Let us move towards another important aspect i.e. the cutoff marks for IBPS PO Prelims.
IBPS PO Prelims Cutoff 2015
Based on the difficulty level of the examination, number of aspirants and total vacancies, the IBPS PO Prelims Cutoff 2015 was as follows.
| Section Name | Cutoff Marks | |||
| UR | OBC | SC | ST | |
| Reasoning Ability | 11.25 | 7.75 | 7.75 | 7.75 |
| English Langugage | 7.5 | 4.75 | 4.75 | 4.75 |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 7.75 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Overall | 37.25 | 37.25 | 30.75 | 17.75 |
All the candidates who manage to secure above the cut-off were eligible to appear for the mains.
IBPS PO Mains Cutoff 2015
Before being called for the interview round, the cutoff for IBPS PO Mains 2015 was calculated and was as follows.
| Section Name | Cutoff Marks | |||
| UR | OBC | SC | ST | |
| Reasoning Ability | 10 | 7.25 | 7.25 | 3 |
| English Language | 12.5 | 9.5 | 9.5 | 5.25 |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 11 | 8.75 | 8.75 | 5.25 |
| Computer Knowledge | 12.25 | 11 | 11 | 8.75 |
| General Awareness | 13.75 | 10.25 | 10.25 | 5 |
| Overall | 76 | 76 | 50 | 47.75 |
The Exam was conducted for the 12000+ Posts in 2015 and this year approximately 8800+ post are out in 2016. Based of previous years papers as well as question trends, we expect the following number of minimum ‘accurate’ attempts in IBPS PO Prelims 2016 for advancing to IBPS Mains.
IBPS PO Prelims 2016: Safest Number of Accurate Attempts
| Section Name | Accurate Attempts | |||
| UR | OBC | SC | ST | |
| Reasoning Ability | 15-17 | 9-11 | 10-12 | 10-12 |
| English Language | 10-12 | 7-9 | 8-10 | 8-10 |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 10-12 | 8-10 | 8-10 | 8-10 |
| Overall | 55-60 | 55-50 | 50-55 | 40-45 |
We hope this article helps you all in getting a broader perspective about the upcoming written examination.
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