IBPS PO | 2025
IBPS PO Mains 2025: topic weightage and difficulty analysis
155 questions across 4 sections. Overall difficulty: hard.
The mains paper is where the selection is actually decided, because mains and interview marks are the only ones that count towards the final merit list. The four objective sections, their marks and their sectional timings are as published by IBPS. The topic counts are our compilation from candidate reports; IBPS does not release a topic breakdown, and no question text is reproduced here. Note that the mains marking is not one mark per question, so the number of questions and the marks available in a section are different numbers.
Where the questions came from
Sorted by weightage, so the topics worth the most preparation time are at the top of each section.
Reasoning and Computer Aptitude
Reasoning Ability
A realistic target for a strong candidate: 20 to 25 attempts. This is our own guidance, not an official figure.
| Topic | Questions | Share of the section |
|---|---|---|
| Puzzles and seating arrangement Mains puzzles carry more variables than prelims: three-parameter puzzles, uncertain arrangements and comparison-based puzzles are standard. | 44%20 Hard | |
| Critical reasoning and statement based questions Course of action, cause and effect, inference and assumption. This is the block that separates mains from prelims reasoning. | 18%8 Hard | |
| Machine input and output | 11%5 Hard | |
| Computer aptitude Fundamentals, abbreviations, memory, networking and MS Office. Cheap marks that many candidates neglect entirely. | 11%5 Easy | |
| Data sufficiency | 9%4 Moderate | |
| Coding and decoding | 7%3 Moderate |
General, Economy and Banking Awareness
Banking Awareness
A realistic target for a strong candidate: 26 to 30 attempts. This is our own guidance, not an official figure.
| Topic | Questions | Share of the section |
|---|---|---|
| Current affairs of the last six months Weighted heavily towards banking, finance and government schemes rather than general news. | 50%20 Moderate | |
| Banking and financial awareness RBI functions and policy rates, monetary policy instruments, types of accounts, negotiable instruments, priority sector lending, and regulatory bodies. | 28%11 Moderate | |
| Static awareness Headquarters, capitals and currencies, dams, national parks, and important days. | 13%5 Easy | |
| Economy and budget | 10%4 Moderate |
English Language
English Language
A realistic target for a strong candidate: 18 to 22 attempts. This is our own guidance, not an official figure.
| Topic | Questions | Share of the section |
|---|---|---|
| Reading comprehension Two passages, usually longer and more argumentative than in prelims, drawn from editorial-style writing. | 37%13 Hard | |
| Cloze test | 14%5 Moderate | |
| Sentence rearrangement and connectors | 14%5 Moderate | |
| Error detection and sentence correction | 14%5 Hard | |
| Vocabulary in context | 11%4 Moderate | |
| Paragraph completion and inference | 9%3 Hard |
Data Analysis and Interpretation
Quantitative Aptitude
A realistic target for a strong candidate: 15 to 20 attempts. This is our own guidance, not an official figure.
| Topic | Questions | Share of the section |
|---|---|---|
| Data interpretation sets Four or five sets, including caselet form and missing-data tables. Calculation volume per question is much higher than in prelims. | 57%20 Hard | |
| Data sufficiency | 14%5 Moderate | |
| Arithmetic word problems | 14%5 Hard | |
| Quantity comparison | 9%3 Moderate | |
| Probability and permutation | 6%2 Hard |
What this means for your preparation
Mains and interview marks alone decide the final merit list, so this is the paper to optimise. Prelims only has to be cleared.
General, economy and banking awareness is the highest-yield section per hour of study. Forty questions with no calculation, answerable in fifteen minutes, and almost entirely predictable from six months of current affairs.
Data analysis has the heaviest calculation load of any section in the exam and only forty-five minutes. Selecting which sets to attempt matters more than solving fast.
The descriptive paper carries twenty-five marks over thirty minutes and is evaluated only if you clear the objective cutoffs. A prepared letter and essay structure is worth practising, because it is easy marks that many candidates walk into unprepared.
Computer aptitude questions inside the reasoning section are the easiest marks in the whole mains paper and are routinely skipped by candidates who ran out of time in the puzzles.
Sectional cutoffs apply. A very high score in three sections cannot rescue a failure to clear the fourth.
See the real paper, officially
- IBPS official website
Question paper viewing, recorded responses and the provisional answer key are published here during the objection window after the exam.
- IBPS online application and candidate portal
Mains scorecards, including sectional marks, are released here after the result.
Common questions
- Can I download the IBPS PO Main Examination 2025 question paper?
- Not from this site. In India an exam question paper is a copyright work owned by the conducting body, and reproducing it commercially is infringement. What you can do is view your own paper and responses through the official portal during the objection window after the exam, and the links to do that are on this page.
- Are these topic counts exact?
- No, and we would rather say so. The exam runs across multiple shifts with a different paper in each, and the conducting body does not publish a topic-wise breakdown. The section structure, marks and timing are official. The topic counts are our compilation from candidate reports and describe the typical shape of the paper.
- How should I use a weightage analysis?
- To decide what to study next and what to skip. If one block is a third of a section, practising it has several times the payoff of a topic that carries two questions. It also tells you which questions to leave in the exam itself, which matters more than most candidates think.