Analysis of SBI Clerk 2021 Prelim Exam

The analysis of the SBI Clerk 2021 Prelim exam held on the 12th of July 2021 (Slot 2) has been presented below. The structure of this exam presented a sectional time limit, no navigability between any section, and each section time bound for 20 minutes.

Snapshot of the Exam:

Test Area No. of questions Duration
Numerical Ability 35 Questions 20 Mins
Reasoning Ability 35 Questions 20 Mins
English Language 30 Questions 20 Mins
Total no. of Questions 100 QS 60 Mins

No of choices per question – 5
Negative marking: 0.25 of the marks assigned to each question.

As per feedback received from our students who appeared for this exam, the exam can be rated as easy to moderate.

The section-wise analysis of the above-mentioned session, as reported by our students, is given below:

Quantitative Aptitude:

This section can be rated as 'Easy to Moderate'. No new question types/patterns of questions were asked in this slot of the exam.

There were no questions on Approximations, Data Sufficiency and Data Comparison.

There were ten questions on Data Interpretation – five questions each on 'Bar Graph and Caselet'. The questions based on 'Bar Graph' were easy to moderate and the questions based on 'Caselet' were moderate. There were five questions on Wrong number series which were easy to moderate to solve. There were ten questions on Simplifications, out of which seven were easy and three were moderate in nature.

Individual questions were ten in number. These were a combination of easy and moderate ones.

A student could, therefore, have solved around 20 - 21 questions in 20 minutes if he chose judiciously.

Topic No. of Questions
Data Interpretation (Bar Graph & Caselet) 10
Wrong No. Series 5
Simplifications 10
Individual Quant Questions 10

Reasoning:

This section has been given an 'Easy' tag.

There were eighteen questions on Puzzles (Linear Arrangement (eight persons all facing North), Circular Arrangement (eight persons all facing inside), Comparison of heights, and Floor Arrangement (two Persons, four flats) which were easy to solve. There were five questions each on Syllogism (only a few model) and sequence. These questions were easy to solve. The three questions on 'Blood Relations' were easy to solve.

About 29 to 30 questions could possibly be solved in 20 minutes. The topic-wise split, as reported by our students, is as given below.

Topic No of Qs
Puzzles (Linear Arrangement (eight persons all facing North), Circular Arrangement (eight persons all facing inside), Comparison of heights, and Floor Arrangement (two Persons, four flats) 18
Blood Relations 3
Sequence 5
Syllogism (Deductions) (Model: Only a few) 5
Miscellaneous (Meaningful word, Number Arrangement, how many such pairs of letters etc..) 4

English Language:

This section has been tagged as 'Easy' by our students

  • The lone Reading Comprehension passage was conventional in its presentation and comprised nine questions. Out of these nine questions, five were based on passage and two questions based on Synonym, one each on Antonym, Fill in the blank. The passage was based on 'Improvisation of employee skills.
  • There were five questions each on Error Identification, Sentence Rearrangement and Wrongly spelt/inappropriate usage. All these questions were easy to solve.
  • There were six questions on 'Cloze Passage'

Thus, about 25 - 26 questions could possibly be solved in 20 minutes in the English section. The break-up of the questions is as follows:

Topic No of Questions
Reading Comprehension 9
Sentence Rearrangement 5
Wrongly spelt / Inappropriate usage 5
Error Identification 5
Cloze Passage 6

Overall, the paper can be rated as easy to moderate.

Good Attempts:

Test Area Good Attempts
Quantitative Aptitude 20-21
Reasoning Ability 29-30
English Language 25-26
Overall 74-77

The analysis of the SBI Clerk 2021 Prelim exam held on the 12th of July 2021 (Slot 1) has been presented below. The structure of this exam presented a sectional time limit, no navigability between any section, and each section time bound for 20 minutes.

Snapshot of the Exam:

Test Area No. of questions Duration
Numerical Ability 35 Questions 20 Mins
Reasoning Ability 35 Questions 20 Mins
English Language 30 Questions 20 Mins
Total no. of Questions 100 QS 60 Mins

No of choices per question – 5

Negative marking: 0.25 of the marks assigned to each question.

As per feedback received from our students who appeared for this exam, the exam can be rated as easy to moderate.

The section-wise analysis of the above-mentioned session, as reported by our students, is given below:

Quantitative Aptitude:

This section can be rated as 'Easy to Moderate'. No new question types/patterns of questions were asked in this slot of the exam.

There were no questions on Approximations, Data Sufficiency and Data Comparison.

There were ten questions on Data Interpretation – five questions each on 'Line Graph and Caselet'. The questions based on 'Line Graph' were easy to moderate and the questions based on 'Caselet' were moderate. There were five questions on Wrong number series which were easy to solve. There were ten questions on Simplifications, out of which five were easy and five were moderate in nature.

Individual questions were ten in number. These were a combination of easy and moderate ones.

A student could, therefore, have solved around 22 - 23 questions in 20 minutes if he chose judiciously.

Topic No. of Questions
Data Interpretation (Line Graph & Caselet) 10
Wrong No. Series 5
Simplifications 10
Individual Quant Questions:
Ages 1
Profit & Loss 1
Partnership 1
Simple Interest 1
Boats & Streams 1
Trains 1
Mensuration 1
Pipes & Cisterns 1
Miscellaneous 1

Reasoning:

This section has been given an 'Easy' tag.

There were fifteen questions on Puzzles (Linear Arrangement (Two parallel rows, 6 persons facing North and 6 facing South), Month based puzzle (eight months), Floor Arrangement (two Persons, four flats) which were easy to solve. There were five questions on Syllogism (only a few model) and four questions each on Coding-Decoding, Word Arrangement and Symbols & Notations (inequalities). These questions were easy to solve. The three questions on 'Blood Relations' were easy to solve.

About 29 to 30 questions could possibly be solved in 20 minutes. The topic-wise split, as reported by our students, is as given below.

Topic No of Qs
Puzzles (Linear Arrangement (Two parallel rows, 6 persons facing North and 6 facing South), Month based puzzle (eight months), Floor Arrangement (two Persons, four flats) 15
Blood Relations 3
Symbols & Notations (Inequalities) 4
Word Arrangement 4
Syllogism (Deductions) (Model: Only a few) 5
Coding-Decoding 4

English Language:

This section has been tagged as 'Easy' by our students.

  • The lone Reading Comprehension passage was conventional in its presentation and comprised eight questions. Out of these eight questions, six were based on passage and two based on Synonym / Antonym. The passage was based on 'Lake – Migratory birds - Species.
  • There were six questions on Error Identification and four questions on Word usage (one word; three usages). All these questions were easy to solve.
  • There were five questions on 'Para Forming Questions (five sentences)', and six on 'Fill in the blanks (Single Blank).

Thus, about 24 - 25 questions could possibly be solved in 20 minutes in the English section. The break-up of the questions is as follows:

Topic No of Questions
Reading Comprehension 8
Para Forming Questions (five sentences) 5
Fill in the Blanks (Single Blank) 6
Error Identification 6
Word Usage (One word, three usages) 5

Overall, the paper can be rated as easy to moderate.

Good Attempts:

Test Area Good Attempts
Quantitative Aptitude 22-23
Reasoning Ability 29-30
English Language 24-25
Overall 75-78

The analysis of the SBI Clerk 2021 Prelim exam held on the 11th of July 2021 (Slot 3) has been presented below. The structure of this exam presented a sectional time limit, no navigability between any section, and each section time bound for 20 minutes.

Snapshot of the Exam:

Topic No. of questions
Data Interpretation (Table) 5
Quadratic Comparisons 5
Simplifications 10
Data Comparison 5
Individual Quant Questions 10

Reasoning:

This section has been given an 'Easy' tag.

There were twenty-one questions on Puzzles (Linear Arrangement (Unknown number of persons), Box Arrangement (eight boxes), Square arrangement (Middle persons facing Centre and corner persons facing away from the Centre), Comparisons and Floor Arrangement (eight persons and eight floors)) which were easy to solve. There were five questions on Set of numbers and three questions each on Direction Sense, Word Arrangement and Symbols & Notations (inequalities). These questions were easy to solve. The questions on Direction sense based on multiple points. Among the three questions, one question was based on the 'If condition'.

Topic No. of Questions
Puzzles (Linear Arrangement (Unknown number of persons), Box Arrangement (eight boxes), Square arrangement (Middle persons facing Centre and corner persons facing away from the Centre), Comparisons and Floor Arrangement (eight persons and eight floors)) 21
Direction Sense (Multiple points) 3
Symbols & Notations (Inequalities) 3
Word Arrangement 3
Set of numbers 5

English Language:

This section has been tagged as 'Easy' by our students.


  • The lone Reading Comprehension passage was conventional in its presentation and comprised seven questions. Out of these seven questions, five were based on passage and two based on Synonym / Antonym. The passage was based on 'New drug into for Depression by FDA).
  • There were five questions on Wrongly Spelt/Inappropriate usage. Three were based on Wrongly spelt and two were based on inappropriate usage. All these questions were easy to solve.
  • There were five questions each on 'Cloze Passage', 'Sentence Rearrangement' and 'Grammatically Correct Sentence'.
  • The three questions on Phrase Replacement were easy to solve.

Thus, about 24 - 25 questions could possibly be solved in 20 minutes in the English section. The break-up of the questions is as follows:

Topic No of Qs
Reading Comprehension 7
Sentence Rearrangement 5
Wrongly spelt/Inappropriate usage 5
Phrase Replacement 3
Grammatically Correct Sentence 5
Cloze Passage 5

Overall, the paper can be rated as easy to moderate.

Good Attempts:

Test Area Good Attempts
Quantitative Aptitude 24-25
Reasoning Ability 28 - 29
English Language 24 - 25
Overall 76 - 79