IBPS SO | 2024
IBPS SO Prelims 2024: topic weightage and difficulty analysis
150 questions across 3 sections. Overall difficulty: moderate.
IBPS conducts the SO preliminary examination across shifts, with a different paper in each. The structure below is from the official notification and is the same in every shift for the IT, Agriculture Field, Marketing and HR Officer posts: 150 questions for 125 marks in 120 minutes, with a separate 40-minute clock for English Language, Reasoning and Quantitative Aptitude, and one fourth of a mark deducted per wrong answer. The Law Officer and Rajbhasha Adhikari posts replace Quantitative Aptitude with General Awareness (banking). The topic counts below are our own compilation from candidate reports across shifts, not official data, and no question text is reproduced anywhere on this page.
Where the questions came from
Sorted by weightage, so the topics worth the most preparation time are at the top of each section.
English Language
English Language
A realistic target for a strong candidate: 30 to 36 attempts. This is our own guidance, not an official figure.
| Topic | Questions | Share of the section |
|---|---|---|
| Reading comprehension Two passages, often on economics or business, with a few vocabulary questions attached. | 24%12 Moderate | |
| Cloze test | 12%6 Moderate | |
| Error detection | 12%6 Moderate | |
| Word usage and word swap New-pattern vocabulary questions that reward reading over rote synonyms. | 12%6 Moderate | |
| Sentence improvement and phrase replacement | 10%5 Moderate | |
| Para jumbles | 10%5 Moderate | |
| Fillers: single and double | 10%5 Easy | |
| Sentence completion and connectors | 10%5 Moderate |
Reasoning
Reasoning Ability
A realistic target for a strong candidate: 30 to 36 attempts. This is our own guidance, not an official figure.
| Topic | Questions | Share of the section |
|---|---|---|
| Puzzles and seating arrangement Four to five sets and almost half the section. The ability to pick the solvable sets and leave the rest decides the score more than raw speed. | 40%20 Hard | |
| Data sufficiency and miscellaneous | 12%6 Moderate | |
| Inequality | 8%4 Easy | |
| Syllogism | 8%4 Easy | |
| Coding and decoding | 8%4 Moderate | |
| Blood relations | 6%3 Easy | |
| Direction sense | 6%3 Easy | |
| Order and ranking | 6%3 Easy | |
| Alphanumeric series | 6%3 Easy |
Quantitative Aptitude
Quantitative Aptitude
A realistic target for a strong candidate: 28 to 34 attempts. This is our own guidance, not an official figure.
| Topic | Questions | Share of the section |
|---|---|---|
| Data interpretation Three or four sets, the largest and most rewarding block to drill. | 30%15 Moderate | |
| Arithmetic word problems Percentage, profit and loss, ratio, ages, time and work, and interest. | 24%12 Moderate | |
| Simplification and approximation | 12%6 Easy | |
| Number series | 10%5 Easy | |
| Quadratic equations | 10%5 Easy | |
| Data sufficiency | 8%4 Moderate | |
| Quantity comparison and miscellaneous | 6%3 Moderate |
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What this means for your preparation
The prelims is only a screen for the Professional Knowledge mains; its marks do not enter the final merit. Clear each section's cut-off with margin, then move real effort to the mains, which is where a specialist post is won.
Note the mark weighting: English has 50 questions but only 25 marks, so each English question is worth half a Reasoning or Quantitative one. Do not spend disproportionate time chasing English accuracy.
There is a separate 40-minute clock for each section with no return, so a strong section cannot subsidise a weak one. Practise each as an isolated 40-minute drill.
Reasoning is decided by puzzles and seating arrangement, which are nearly half the section. Choosing which two sets to solve and which to leave is the core skill.
Data interpretation is the largest quantitative block. Two sets a day against a clock moves the score more than another arithmetic chapter.
The penalty is a quarter mark per wrong answer, so guess only after eliminating two options, especially in the low-mark English section where over-attempting returns little.
See the real paper, officially
- IBPS official website
During the objection window after each stage, IBPS publishes a link to view your own question paper, recorded responses and the answer key. The window is open for only a few days, so check it as soon as it opens.
- IBPS online application and candidate portal
Scorecards and response sheets are accessed with your registration number and password or date of birth.
Common questions
- Can I download the IBPS SO Preliminary Examination (IT, Agriculture, Marketing and HR posts) 2024 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.