State Bank of India Clerk Preliminary Exam (June 23, 2019): Analysis - Slot I



Today was the second day of the SBI Clerk Preliminary Exam 2019. The exam is being conducted in four time slots: 2 each in the 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. There is sectional timing of 20 minutes.


The detailed break-up of SBI Clerk Preliminary Exam 2019 is as follows:

SectionTotal QuestionsLevel of DifficultyGood AttemptsTime Taken (In Minutes)
English Language 30 Easy19–22 20
Numerical Ability 35 Easy-Moderate23–26 20
Reasoning Ability 35 Easy-Moderate26–29 20
Total 100 Easy-Moderate7580 60

Note:Section wise and overall cut-offs are not uniform for all states.


English Language:

Topic Number of Questions Level of Difficulty
Reading Comprehension (Based on Job Prospects After Graduation) – There were 3 questions based on Synonym/Antonym. 10 Easy-Moderate
Para-jumbles/Sentence Rearrangement 5 Easy
Spot the Error - Grammar based 4 Easy
Sentence Improvement 4 Easy
Cloze Test 7 Easy

The English Language section was more or less along the same lines as the old pattern. Questions on Spot the Error were based on fundamentals of grammar. Questions from the RC passage were mainly factual. Three questions were from Vocabulary (Synonym and Antonym based). Overall, the level of difficulty of this section was easy.


Numerical Ability:

Topic Number of Questions Level of Difficulty
Number Series (Odd One Out Series)5Easy
Approximation/Simplification10Easy
Data Interpretation (Table) 5Moderate
Data Interpretation (Caselet – Venn Diagram based)5Moderate
Miscellaneous - Quant based word problems - (Time, Speed and Distance – Trains, Boats and Streams, Time and Work, Mensuration, Partnership, Ratio and Proportion, Simple Interest & Compound Interest, Percentage, Age, Mixtures & Allegation, Profit, Loss and Discount, Average etc.)10Easy-Moderate

There were two sets of five questions each from Data Interpretation. DI was based on Table and Caselet. The questions on Number Series were easy. The Arithmetic-based questions were primarily from Ratio and Proportion, SI & CI, Percentages, Ages, Profit, Loss & Discount, Time and Work, Time, Speed and Distance etc. The overall difficulty level of this section was easy-to-moderate.


Reasoning Ability:

Topic Number of Questions Level of Difficulty
AR (Linear Seating Arrangement – single row – uncertain number of people) 5Easy-Moderate
AR (Square Seating Arrangement – 4 People facing inside and 4 people facing outside) 5Easy-Moderate
AR (Data Arrangement – day based) 3Easy-Moderate
AR (Circular Seating Arrangement – 8 persons based) 5Easy-Moderate
Mathematical Inequalities 5Easy
Direction based set 3Easy-Moderate
Alphabet based 1Easy
Syllogism 5Easy-Moderate
Miscellaneous 3Moderate

There were four sets of Data Arrangement and Seating Arrangement which are as follows: Single row seating arrangement, Circular seating arrangement, Square seating arrangement and Data arrangement (day based). There were 5 questions based on syllogism. The overall difficulty level of this section was easy to 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