IBPS CWE PO/ MT (Officer Scale 1) 2014 Exam Analysis

IBPS CWE PO/ MT (Officer Scale 1) 2014 Exam Analysis

The much-awaited examination of Probationary Officers (PO) conducted by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) started from October 11, 2014. As usual it was an online examination.

We would like to mention that this time too, IBPS lived up to its expectation of having a surprise element or in other words “something new” in the pattern of the examination. Most of the students found the questions in the examination to be more of indirect than direct.

Let us understand the pattern first.

Paper Pattern:

Number of questions: 200 questions

Time: 2 hours

Sections: Five

Marking Pattern:  (a) 1 mark for every correct answer (b)  -0.25 for every incorrect answer

Our Analysis:
As per the feedback that we got from various sources, our own inputs and after having a detailed discussion with the student fraternity, we present a crisp and clear analysis.

Section	Total Questions	Max. Marks	Level of Difficulty	Good Attempts	Good Score
Reasoning	50	50	Moderate-Easy	27-31	23-27
English Language	40	40	Moderate-Easy	28-31	23-27
Maths	50	50	Moderate – High	20-23	17-19
General Awareness	40	40	Easy	22-25	18-20
Computer Knowledge	20	20	Very Easy	13-15	11-12
Total	200	200		110-125	92-105

Sectional Cutoff  (Expected) -

Subject	General	OBC	SC	ST
Reasoning	10-13	6-9	6-9	6-9
English Language	6-9	3-6	3-6	3-6
Maths	6-9	4-6	4-6	4-6
General Awareness	8-11	6-8	6-8	6-8
Computer Knowledge	7-10	5-7	5-7	5-7
Overall cutoff on total score	61-70	60-68	59-64	32-38

Analysis of the questions asked in different sections:

Reasoning  
The questions in this section were relatively easy.

There were many questions from Critical Reasoning area. As usual, the questions on Sitting Arrangements  (linear – one of the set was related to arrangement on floors) were in good number too.

Questions from Syllogism and Inequalities formed another important area.

Questions from Directions, Input-Output and Statement-Conclusions were also found.

English Language
Again a relatively easy section.

Max Weightage: Reading Comprehension (20 questions – 2 sets – 10 questions from each set)

Important Areas:

Cloze Test: 10 questions  - Easy

Parajumbles: 5-10 questions – Easy to Moderate

Other questions: Vocabulary based questions, Sentence Correction questions were also found.

Maths

This section can be classified as difficult to moderate.

Questions from Data Interpretation (DI) were seen in good numbers in some of the examination slots. Even the questions which followed DI were mostly indirect. There were 3-4 sets in most of the examination slots. Each set had approximately 5 questions. DI was in the form of Tables, Pie-charts and Bar charts, amongst others.

Other questions were from Data Sufficiency, Percentage, Time, Speed & Distance, Geometry, Mensuration, Number Series (Odd One Out), Simple and Compound Interest and Linear Equations.

General Awareness
Unlike most of the previous IBPS examination wherein most of the questions were from Banking, this year surprisingly saw many questions based on current affairs.

Questions from Banking were found too.

Most of the questions were manageable if a student has read newspaper regularly.

Computer Knowledge
The questions in this section were relatively easy. Questions Hardware, Networking and Software were asked. Many questions were related to MS Office, particularly MS Excel and shortcuts in MS Excel.

Concluding..

Overall, the paper can be rated to be of moderate difficulty level. An overall score of 70 (for general category) should be good enough to get a call for the interviews.

Disclaimer: All information on cut-offs, analysis, answer key and scores are based on independent analysis and evaluation made by us on the basis of inputs received by us and our own discretion. We do not take responsibility for any decision that might be taken, based on this information. 

Keep growing!

Paridhi Trivedi Parikh | Hardik K. Parikh