IBPS Clerk Prelims Paper Analysis, Check 4 Year Trends and Difficulty Level

IBPS Clerk Paper Analysis: The IBPS Clerk exam is a competitive examination for recruiting candidates to clerical positions in public sector banks. The selection process consists of two phases: the Preliminary exam and the Main exam. The Preliminary exam will be conducted on October 4th, 5th, and 11th, 2025. If you are interested and eligible for this exam, you can start your preparation by reviewing past year papers to understand the trends and difficulty levels. In this article, we provide a comprehensive analysis of the IBPS Clerk exam over the past four years (2021–2024). This analysis focuses on exam patterns, difficulty levels, topic-wise weightage, and key takeaways to help aspirants prepare for the 2025 exam cycle.

Overview of IBPS Clerk Prelims Exam Pattern

The IBPS Clerk Preliminary Exam is a computer-based test of 100 multiple‑choice questions (MCQs), divided into three sections, each of which contains 20 minutes.

• English Language – 30 questions (30 marks)
• Numerical Ability – 35 questions (35 marks)
• Reasoning Ability – 35 questions (35 marks)

Total duration: 60 minutes, with a negative marking of 0.25 marks per wrong answer. Candidates must clear both sectional cut‑offs as well as the overall cut‑off to qualify for the Mains exam.

IBPS Clerk Past Year Exam Trends: 2021–2024 (4 years)

The last year trends of the last 4 years (2021-24) show consistent patterns in Reasoning, Numerical Ability, and English Language topics. Key trends:

Reasoning Ability

• The Puzzles & Seating Arrangements is a most scoring topic that contains 15–20 marks each year, making it the highest-weight topic.
• Syllogism appeared in the range of 2–5 questions, recurring each year.
• Blood Relation, Inequality, Alphanumeric Series, Order & Ranking, Coding-Decoding, and Direction & Distance appeared moderately (1–5 questions each).

Quantitative Ability

• Data Interpretation (DI) appeared every year with 5–10 questions.
• Simplification consistently contributed the largest share: 10–15 questions.
• Arithmetic Word Problems (e.g. profit-loss, age, mixtures) made up 8–15 questions.
• Number Series and Quadratic Equations occasionally appeared, usually low frequency.

English Language

• Reading Comprehension dominated with 8–13 questions.
• Cloze Test appeared consistently: 4–7 questions.
• Error Detection, Phrase Replacement, Fillers, Para Jumbles, Word Usage/Spelling appeared but in fewer numbers (typically 2–6 questions each).

4‑Year Trend Summary 

As per the analysis, the IBPS Clerk Prelims exam has consistently maintained an Easy to Moderate difficulty level across all shifts, so we expect this year’s paper to be easy to moderate level. This trend highlights the importance of mastering recurring topics to maximise scores.

IBPS Clerk Topic-Wise Weightage For the last 4 Years

This table shows the topic-wise weightage from the last 4 years for Reasoning, Quantitative Aptitude, and English Language sections. Candidates can check topic-wise detailed weightage in the section below.

 IBPS Clerk Prelims Topic Wise Weightage – Reasoning

IBPS Clerk Prelims Topic Wise Weightage – Quantitative Aptitude

IBPS Clerk Prelims Topic Wise Weightage – English Language

Preparation Strategies Based on Trends

1. Master High-Weightage Topics:
   • Puzzles and Seating Arrangements: Candidates practice with a variety of questions for puzzles and seating arrangements because they contain more weigthage so that you can improve your speed and accuracy. Focus on multi-variable puzzles for Mains.
   • Data Interpretation: Solve tabular, pie chart, and caselet-based DI sets. Practice quick calculations to handle time constraints.
   • Reading Comprehension: Read editorials from newspapers like The Hindu to improve comprehension and vocabulary.
   • Current Affairs: Follow daily news updates (last 6–8 months) and banking-specific news from sources like RBI’s website and Business Standard.
2. Time Management:
   • Practice sectional mock tests and full-length mock tests under timed conditions to adapt to the 20-minute limit per section in the Prelims exam.
3. Use Previous Year Papers:

Candidates must solve the previous year’s question paper to know the difficulty level and analyse their weak areas so that you can work on them.

4. Mock Tests and Analysis:
   • Take full-length mock tests to maximise your accuracy. Aim for 75+ in the Prelims examination for the IBPS Clerk 2025 exam.
   • Review mock test performance to identify time-consuming sections and adjust your strategy.
5. Stay Updated:
   • Follow our blogs and telegram channel to know all competitive examination information.

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