The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) conducted the Main Examination, for the recruitment of Probationary Officers/Management Trainee across the country on November 30, 2019.
There were 155 questions, which had to be answered in 180 minutes. There were four sections, namely, Reasoning & Computer Aptitude, General/Economy/Banking Awareness, English Language and Data Analysis & Interpretation. All the sections except the section on English Language were available bilingually, that is, both in English and in Hindi. Each question had 5 options. One-fourth or 0.25 marks will be deducted for every incorrect answer.
The detailed break-up of IBPS PO Main Exam 2019 is as follows:
| Sections | Number of questions |
Maximum marks |
Level of difficulty |
Good attempts |
Time allotted for each section |
Reasoning & Computer Aptitude |
45 |
60 |
Difficult |
18-20 |
60 minutes |
General/Economy/Banking Awareness |
40 |
40 |
Moderate |
24-26 |
35 minutes |
English Language |
35 |
40 |
Moderate-Difficult |
20-22 |
40 minutes |
Data Analysis & Interpretation |
35 |
60 |
Difficult |
10-12 |
45 minutes |
Total |
155 |
200 |
Difficult & Lengthy |
74-80 |
180 |
| Topics | Number of Questions |
Level of Difficulty |
AR (Data Arrangement - Floor based - 10 People and 40 story building) |
5 |
Difficult |
AR (Linear Seating Arrangement - Single row - 11 houses from west to east/3 houses were vacant - Arrangement of 8 people/their ages) |
5 |
Difficult |
AR (Data Arrangement - Designation based - Males/Females - 3 cities - Delhi, Hyderabad and Pune) |
3 |
Difficult |
AR (Data Arrangement - 13 Boxes/13 Colors/ No. of Chocolates based) |
3 |
Difficult |
AR (Circular Seating Arrangement - Arrangement of 7 People according to their water consumption - facing the center - ) |
3 |
Difficult |
AR (Linear Seating Arrangement - Single row - North facing) |
5 |
Difficult |
Blood Relation - Coded based |
2 |
Moderate |
Machine Input Output - Coding based with 3 steps |
4 |
Moderate |
Machine Input Output -with 4 steps |
4 |
Moderate |
Direction - Coding-Decoding based |
3 |
Moderate-Difficult |
Mathematical Inequalities |
2 |
Moderate |
Alphabet based |
1 |
Moderate |
Reverse Syllogism |
2 |
Moderate |
Logical Reasoning |
3 |
Difficult |
Questions featured in the Reasoning section were difficult in terms of difficulty level. There were no questions asked from Computer Aptitude. The reasoning part saw questions from Seating Arrangements & Puzzles, Directions, Blood Relation, Machine Input-Output and Logical Reasoning.
In general, the difficulty level of this section was moderate. This section saw a mix of questions from Current Affairs and News of last 5-6 months (mostly from Sep 2019 to Nov 2019) and Banking. Some questions were from Static Part.
Topic |
Number of questions |
Level of difficu lty |
Reading Comprehension - (4 + 4 + 4 + 2 + 2) |
16 |
Difficult |
Sentence Rearrangement - 4 sentences were given jumbles form/had to arrange in meaningful sentence. |
5 |
Moderate-Difficult |
Spot the Error |
5 |
Difficult |
Spot the error - Four bold words were given in a sentence. Find the incorrect word. |
4 |
Difficult |
Spot the Error - Two sentences with 4/4 bold words were given. Interchange the bold words in these 2 sentences to meaningful sentences. |
5 |
Difficult |
The overall difficulty level of the English Language section was moderate to difficult. There were 5 RC passages in this section.
Topic |
Number of questions |
Level of difficulty |
Data Interpretation (Double Bar graph - 3 companies X, Y and Z based) |
5 |
Difficult |
Data Interpretation (Line graph - Percentage based - orders delivered and cancelled based) |
5 |
Difficult |
Data Interpretation (Pie Chart - Z1, Z2, Z3, Z4, 4 segments - voters based ) |
5 |
Difficult |
Data Interpretation (Caselet - Time and work based - based on X and Y value) |
3 |
Difficult |
Data Interpretation (Caselet - Population based) |
5 |
Difficult |
Probability based |
3 |
Difficult |
Data Interpretation (Double Table - missing values based - A, B, C, D and E - No. of applicants valid and invalid were given.) |
4 |
Difficult |
Data Interpretation (Caselet - 3 batteries based) |
4 |
Difficult |
Number Series - wrong number based. |
1 |
Moderate |
Questions in the Data Analysis & Interpretation section were difficult and calculation intensive. In this section, there were 34 questions on Data Interpretation and 1 question was based on wrong number series. There were 25 questions of 2 marks and 10 questions of 1 mark each.
Descriptive Part:
There were two writing tasks (for 25 marks) to be completed in 30 minutes.
Topics (Memory based) - candidates had to choose any one topic:
1. FDI in retail sector
2. Ethical Banking
3. Impact of Social Media
4. Four day working in a week
5. Contribution of unorganized sector in Indian Economy
Topics (Memory based) - candidates had to choose any one topic:
1. Write a letter to your bank’s branch manager - refund of extra EMI based
2. Write a letter to the editor of a newspaper - providing facilities to old age people based
3. Write a letter to your cousin - part time job based
4. Write a letter to road transport authority - LED lights based
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