Analysis of IBPS PO 2017 Prelim Exam held on 7th Oct 2017 (Slot 1)

The IBPS PO 2017 Prelim examination, which started today, was slightly different from the same exam that was held in 2016. The changes were reflected in Quant and English sections. Questions on Quadratic Comparisons, Cloze test and Para Jumbles which usually find a place in almost all bank exams, were missing in this exam.

The analysis of the 1st slot of exam held on 7th Oct 2017, as reported by our students, is presented below. We hope that these analysis will be of help to students who will be appearing for the exam in other slots.

Snapshot of the Exam:

Duration of Exam 60 Minutes
Quantitative Aptitude 35 Questions
Reasoning Ability 35 Questions
English Language 30 Questions
Total Questionss 100
  • No of choices per question – 5
  • Each question carries one mark.
  • Negative Marking – 0.25 of the marks assigned to that question.

The analyses of the individual sections are given below.

Quantitative Aptitude:

  • This section can be rated as moderate and was calculation based.
  • No question was asked from Quadratic Comparisons
  • The 5 questions on Approximations were of moderate difficulty level .
  • There were 10 questions on Data Interpretation, and almost all of them involved a lot of calculations.
  • The other 5 questions on Number series were between easy and moderate.
  • The Individual questions in this section were 15 in number. These were a combination of easy, moderate and difficult ones.

    • A student could therefore, have solved around 17 - 19 questions in approximately 20 minutes (recommended), if he chose judiciously.

    Topic No.of Questions
    Data Interpretation (Line graph and Table) 10
    Number Series (Missing number) 5
    Approximations 5
    Individual Questions (Ages, Time & Work, Time & Distance, Mensuration, Averages, Mixtures & Alligation, Profit & Loss, Partnership, Ratio, Simple & Compound Interest) 15

    Reasoning:

    • This section has been given a 'Moderate' tag.
    • There were 5 questions on Deductions (Regular Model) and all of these were doable.
    • Symbol-Notation based conclusions were 5 in number and were easy to solve.
    • There were 20 questions on puzzles (Linear, Days and Colour based, Floor etc..), which ranged between moderate and difficult.
    • The five questions on Direction Sense, Blood Relations and Ranking were easy to moderate.

    About 15-17 questions could possibly be solved in 25 minutes (recommended). The topic -wise split, as reported by our students, is as given below.

    Topic No of Qs
    Puzzles (Linear, Days and Colour based, Floor etc..) 20
    Deductions (Syllogism) 5
    Symbol-Notation based conclusions 5
    Miscellaneous (Blood Relations, Direction Sense, Ranking etc..) 5

    English Language :

    • This section has been given a 'Moderate – Difficult' tag.
    • Cloze test passage and PFQs were missing from this section.
    • There was a lone RC passage based on 'Economy', with a total of ten questions. The questions framed from the passage were not easy. There were few Synonym/Antonym based questions as well.
    • There were 20 questions on Grammar, 10 each from Error Identification (Identify the part(s) which has 'NO' error) and Phrase Replacement.

    Thus, about 12-14 questions could possibly be solved in 15 minutes (recommended) in the English section. The break-up of the questions is as follows:

    Topic No of Questions
    Reading Comprehension 10
    Error Identification(Identify the part(s) which has 'NO' error) 10
    Phrase Replacement 10

    Over all, the paper was a combination of easy, moderate and difficult questions across all the three sections and can hence be rated as 'Moderate'