IBPS PO Exam 2014 Question Paper Analysis, Trends and Cutoff Marks

IBPS is conducting its fourth PO exam for recruitment of Probationary Officers/Management Trainee in participating public sector banks. The exam is starting from 11^th of October 2014 during weekends. Unlike the previous sessions of IBPS exams, now it’s difficult to get the questions asked in the examination. IBPS is not going to share question paper on RTI also. So, it’s getting difficult to
analyze the trend of questions asked in IBPS PO/MT exam for the next year’s candidates. Questions based on memory are only help for the next year’s IBPS aspirants. One of our readers has sent us a detailed analysis of IBPS PO exam held on 11^th October afternoon session. Hope this will help your preparation.

Let’s start the trend analysis of questions asked in IBPS PO exam on 11-10-2014 in subject-wise manner.

Reasoning:

In one word, reasoning section was tough. Level of questions asked in this section was really high. Questions from Syllogism, Inequality, Direction Sense, Sitting Arrangement (Circular Arrangement and Linear Arrangement), Machine Input/Output, Data Sufficiency, Cause and Effect, Statement and Assumption, Inference and Logical Puzzle were asked. Level of difficulty was higher compared to other similar exams like SBI PO. There were 4 and 5 statement Syllogism questions which are not seen in SBI PO exam. From question papers of SBI PO and previous IBPS PO exams, we see a trend of asking questions on 3-statement Syllogism, but IBPS PO exam 2014 has decided to bring it to a higher level. Similarly, Arrangement questions, Data Sufficiency, Logical Puzzle etc. questions were also a bit tougher if compared to previous question papers of IBPS PO exam.

 Quantitative Aptitude:

If I have to grade this section, I will call it really very tough. After coming out of the examination hall, I heard same words from other candidates also. If anyone could solve all the 50 questions in Quantitative Aptitude section, he’s nothing but an absolute genius. I could solve only 18 questions in this section. There were 4 sets of Data Interpretation questions, one Bar graph, One Pie chart, one Data Table and a Line graph. There were questions on Partnership, Percentage, Mixture and Allegation, Pipes and Cistern, Quadratic Equations, Area and Perimeter, Simple and Compound Interest, Speed, Time and Distance, Problems based on Ages etc. Also there were five Number series questions which were very difficult to solve. This section was truly time consuming.

English Language:

English section was comparatively solvable to other sections. Level of difficulty was moderate. English section comprised of questions from:

·         Two blanks in a sentence to be filled in with appropriate words.

·         A long passage trailing with 7-8 questions

·         Jumbled sentences (6 sentences) to be arranged in proper order and questions based on that order.

·         Fill in the blanks with appropriate words in a paragraph.

·         Sentence Improvement with another word.

General Awareness:

General Awareness section of IBPS PO exam question paper was a bit easy. If you are in constant touch with newspapers and competitive magazines then you are surely going to get this section easier than the other sections. Current Affairs, Banking and a few general knowledge questions were asked in General Awareness section. Last 3 month’s current affairs and banking related news are enough for current affairs section. Questions on Persons in News, Capital of country, Head of state/organization, winner of sports event etc. are important. Some of the questions asked in IBPS PO exam 2014 General Awareness section are as follows:

1.       Name of the machine that banks use to read code on cheque : MICR

2.       RBI set the age limit of CEO/MD’s of private sector banks to : 70 years

3.       Teaser Loan rate – Introductory loan rate which increases after certain time

4.       Capital of UAE – Abu Dhabi

5.       Which gas is most responsible for Global Warming: Carbon Dioxide

6.       In NECS, what is the letter S stands for-Service (National electronic Clearing Service)

7.       According to Census 2011, which state has most population Density – Bihar

8.       Name of Governor of Maharashtra : Chennamaneni Vidyasagar Rao

9.       Which one is Credit Information Bureau: CIBIL

10.   UK prime minister David Cameroon went to Scotland to appeal : no to split from UK

11.   According to CAG report 46% poor in which 3 states: Bihar, Maharashtra, UP

12.   Interest on saving account of schedule banks is calculated on: Daily basis

13.   Nikkei is index of: Tokyo Stock exchange

14.   Ebola outrage caused maximum harm in which region: West Africa

15.   India’s first talkie film:

16.   Author of the book The Lives of Others: Neel Mukherjee

17.   DMRC and Master card to launch a uniform card with which bank: ICICI bank

18.   ICICI bank launched cardless transactions which need a : registered Mobile number

19.   Multicurrency card by SBI in tie up with: Master Card

20.   Which city is among the 10 cities that RBI is in trial of plastic currency of Rs. 10 : Kochi

21.   Ravi Shankar Associated with which musical instrument: Sitar

22.   Who won the US open Men’s singles – Marin Cilic

Computer Knowledge:

Computer Knowledge section of IBPS PO exam 2014 was a bit easier, but I will grade the level of difficulty to be moderate. If you are not a student of computer or related stream, questions in this section may be not much familiar to you. But for candidates who studied at least basics of computer in their school/college, this section is just a piece of cake. Some of the questions I remember from this section are:

1.       Speed of CPU is measured in: Gigahartz

2.       Which one is not an input device: Scanner

3.       Full form of DOS: Disk Operating System

4.       Questions on Microsoft Excel

5.       Which File Manager is there in Windows: Windows Explorer

6.       Some questions on shortcut of Microsoft Office

7.       EULA full form: End User License Agreement

This is all about the question paper of IBPS PO 2014 held on 11^th October, afternoon session.

Cutoff Marks:

Predicting cutoff marks for any exam is not easy. We cannot presume that xyz will be the minimum cutoff to get selected in the exam. But, analyzing the trend and previous year’s cutoff marks of IBPS PO exam, we can predict to some extent. Following re the cutoff marks of IBPS PO exam in 2013 and 2012.

IBPS PO Written Exam 2013 cutoff Marks:

Sectional cutoff Marks:

Section	Maximum Marks	General	OBC/SC/ST/PWD
Reasoning	50	10	6
English Language	40	6	3
Quantitative Aptitude	50	6	4
General Awareness	40	8	6
Computer Knowledge	20	7	5

Overall cutoff Marks(Category-wise)

Category	Minimum Marks
SC	50
ST	26
OBC	60
GEN	61
PH: Hearing	26
PH: Ortho	47
PH: Visual	27

IBPS PO Written Exam 2012 cutoff Marks:

Sectional cutoff Marks:

Section	Maximum Marks	General	OBC/SC/ST/PWD
Reasoning	50	10	8
English Language	40	6	12
Quantitative Aptitude	50	6	8
General Awareness	40	8	15
Computer Knowledge	20	7	15

Overall cutoff Marks(Category-wise)

Category	Minimum Marks
SC	50
ST	26
OBC	60
GEN	61
PH: Hearing	26
PH: Ortho	47
PH: Visual	27

This time we can assume if you score 70-80 marks in IBPS PO exam, you are in the safe zone and you can prepare for the interview. Good luck.