The pattern of the Staff Selection Commission CPO (SI & ASI) Examination conducted on March 20, 2016 was similar to the one conducted last year though the difficulty level of the paper has increased marginally. The morning slot (10:00 a.m. to 12 noon) had a single unique question paper with multiple sets. Overall, the paper was on the same pattern as last year.
The pattern of the test was as follows:
| Section |
Total Questions |
Level of difficulty |
Good Attempts |
Good
|
Approximate time taken
|
|
General Intelligence and Reasoning |
50 |
Easy-Moderate |
40-42 |
35-38 |
35 |
|
GK and General Awareness |
50 |
Difficult |
20-25 |
15-17 |
20 |
|
Quantitative Aptitude |
50 |
Moderate |
30-32 |
28-30 |
40 |
|
English Comprehension |
50 |
Easy |
35-36 |
32- 35 |
25 |
|
Total |
200 |
|
125-135 |
110-120 |
120 |
|
UR (General) |
OBC |
SC |
ST |
|
|
Male |
86-90 |
72-76 |
66-70 |
64-67 |
|
Female |
81-85 |
68-72 |
60-64 |
58-64 |
In this section, questions were from an array of topics and most of them had an easy to moderate level of difficulty. One question of Statement Conclusion (Quant based) was completely new. A student could have easily attempted approximately 35 questions in this section.
The details of the section are as given below-
| Topic |
Number of questions |
Level of difficulty |
|
Analogy |
6 |
Easy-Moderate |
|
Blood relation |
1 |
Easy |
|
Coding-decoding |
2 |
Easy |
|
Cubes |
1 |
Easy |
|
Dice |
1 |
Easy |
|
Directions |
2 |
Easy |
|
Matrix based |
2 |
Easy |
|
Meaningful order |
1 |
Easy |
|
Missing number |
4 |
Moderate-difficult |
|
Odd one out |
6 |
Moderate-difficult |
|
Series |
5 |
Easy |
|
Statement-conclusion |
1 |
Easy |
|
Statement-conclusion (Quant Based) |
1 |
Moderate |
|
Venn diagram |
3 |
Easy-Moderate |
|
Visual Reasoning |
8 |
Moderate |
|
Word formation |
2 |
Easy |
|
Age |
1 |
Easy |
|
Comparison |
1 |
Easy |
|
Puzzles |
2 |
Moderate-difficult |
This section was difficult and was definitely NOT on expected lines. As usual, maximum questions were from Science section (17 in all), which were of high level of difficulty. Polity, Economics and Current Affairs were quantitatively second in number, having 8 questions. History was third with 7 questions. Rest of the sections were as usual in nature. Overall, the paper was on a higher level of difficulty having some very tricky questions especially in Science and Economics section. A score in the range of 15 to 20 should be treated as ‘Good’, in this section.
The split-up of questions, section wise, is as follows:
| Topic |
Number of Questions |
Level of Difficulty |
|
History |
7 |
Easy |
|
Geography |
1 |
Moderate-Difficult |
|
Polity |
8 |
Easy-Moderate |
|
Economics |
8 |
Easy-Moderate |
|
Biology |
6 |
Difficult |
|
Chemistry |
5 |
Difficult |
|
Physics |
4 |
Difficult |
|
Computer |
2 |
Moderate-Difficult |
|
Books & Authors |
1 |
Difficult |
|
Current Affairs |
8 |
Easy |
There were almost equal number of questions from Arithmetic, Algebra, Number System, Geometry and Data Interpretation. Most of the questions were of easy-moderate difficulty level. However, a few questions from Geometry and Algebra can be termed as difficult. There were few questions which were time consuming and required some rigorous calculation but could have been easily solved had they been worked out through options. A student could have easily attempted approximately 30-32 questions in this section.
The details of the section are as given below-
|
Topic |
Number of Questions |
Level of Difficulty |
|
Number System |
1 |
Easy |
|
Percentages |
2 |
Easy |
|
SI/CI |
2 |
Easy |
|
Profit, Loss and Discount |
4 |
Easy-Moderate |
|
Ratio and Proportion |
1 |
Easy |
|
Averages |
2 |
Easy |
|
Mixture & Alligation |
1 |
Moderate |
|
Work & Time, Pipes & Cisterns |
2 |
Easy-Moderate |
|
Time, Speed and Distance |
2 |
Moderate |
|
Algebra |
9 |
Moderate |
|
Geometry - Triangles |
2 |
Easy-Moderate |
|
Geometry - Circles |
3 |
Moderate |
|
Geometry - Quadrilaterals |
1 |
Difficult |
|
Mensuration |
4 |
Easy-Moderate |
|
Trigonometry |
4 |
Moderate |
|
Heights & Distances |
1 |
Easy-Moderate |
|
Data Interpretation - Table |
5 |
Easy-Moderate |
|
Data Interpretation - Bar Graph |
4 |
Easy |
A majority of the questions in this section can be categorised under Vocabulary and Grammar. In Vocabulary, there were questions on Antonyms, Synonyms and One word Substitution. In Grammar, there were questions on Sentence Improvement, Spot the Error and Fill in the Blanks. There were 2 Reading Comprehension Passages with 5 questions each. A student could have easily attempted 35-36 questions in this section.
The details of the section are as given below-
| Topic |
Number of Questions |
Level of Difficulty |
|
Spelling |
5 |
Easy |
|
Reading Comprehension |
10 |
Easy |
|
Sentence Improvement |
5 |
Easy |
|
Spot the error |
5 |
Easy-Moderate |
|
Synonyms and Antonyms |
10 |
Easy |
|
1 word substitution |
5 |
Easy |
|
Idiom/Phrase |
5 |
Easy-Moderate |
|
Fill in the blanks |
5 |
Easy |
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