NICL AO Difficulty Level 2025: Know the Level of the Question Paper

Do you want to know the common mistakes that aspirants make while picking up the important topics for the NICL AO Exam? Usually, students pick those topics that are repetitive in previous year exams, but you should focus on those topics that are scoring. Topics that can gain you marks because ultimately, you need to score to get your desired job. 

Overview of NICL AO 2025 Exam

National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) is a public sector insurance company that the Government of India manages under the Ministry of Finance. It conducts administrative-level exams for various posts under two categories, i.e., Generalists and Specialists. The exam is conducted in two stages, prelims and mains, along with a descriptive test, which is qualifying. If the candidate clears both these stages, then he or she can go for the interview round. 

In this blog, we are going to discuss key areas where you need to focus to crack the exam and get yourself posted as an NICL AO. But before going ahead, we suggest you take a free mock test so that you can analyse your weaker points and get yourself prepared accordingly. 

NICL AO 2025: Overview

Aspects	Details
Governing Body	National Insurance Company Limited (NICL)
Exam name	NICL AO
Vacancies	266
Mode of Application	Online
Age Limit	21 to 30 years as on 01.05.25 (Category-wise relaxation applicable)
Educational Qualification	Bachelor’s Degree/Professional Qualification (varies by post)
Mode of Exam	Online (CBT)
Official website	www.nationalinsurance.nic.co.in

NICL AO 2025 Exam Pattern

Prelims Pattern

S.no	Name of Test/Section (Not in Sequence)	Type of test	No. of Questions	Maximum Marks	Duration for each test/section (Separately timed	Medium of Exam
1.	English Language	Objective	30	30	20 minutes	English
2.	Reasoning Ability	Objective	35	35	20 minutes	English/ Hindi
3.	Quantitative Aptitude	Objective	35	35	20 minutes	English/ Hindi
	Total		100	100

Mains Pattern

The Main Examination will consist of Objective Tests (Multiple Choice type Questions) for 250 marks and a Descriptive Test for 30 Marks. Both the Objective and Descriptive Tests will be conducted online. Candidates will have to answer the Descriptive Test by typing on the computer. Immediately after the completion of the Objective Test, the Descriptive Test will be administered. (i) Objective Test: The Objective Test will be of 3 Hours duration, consisting of five & six sections for Generalists & Specialists, respectively, for a total of 250 Marks:

For Generalists:

S. No	Name of Test/Section (Not in sequence)	Type of test	No. of Questions	Maximum Marks	Medium of Exam	Duration for each test/section (Separately timed)
1.	Test of Reasoning	Objective	50	50	English / Hindi	40 min
2.	Test of English Language	Objective	50	50	English	40 min
3.	Test of General Awareness	Objective	50	50	English / Hindi	30 min
4.	Test of Computer Knowledge	Objective	50	50	English / Hindi	30 min
5.	Test of Quantitative Aptitude	Objective	50	50	English / Hindi	40min
	Total		250	250

For Specialists:

S. No	Name of Test/Section (Not in sequence)	Type of test	No. of Questions	Maximum Marks	Medium of Exam	Duration for each test/section (Separately timed
1.	Reasoning	Objective	40	40	English / Hindi	35
2.	English Language	Objective	40	40	English	30
3.	General Awareness	Objective	40	40	English / Hindi	20
4.	Computer Knowledge	Objective	40	40	English / Hindi	25
5.	Quantitative Aptitude	Objective	40	40	English / Hindi	35
6.	In the Specialist stream, an additional test to assess technical& professional knowledge in the relevant discipline	Objective	50	50	English / Hindi	35
	Total		250	250

(ii) Descriptive Test: The descriptive Test of 30 Minutes duration with 30 marks will be a Test of English Language (Essay – 10 Marks, Précis – 10 & Comprehension – 10 marks). The descriptive test will be in English and will be conducted in online mode. 

The descriptive test will be qualifying in nature, and the marks scored in the Descriptive test will not be counted towards shortlisting for interview or final selection.

Marking Scheme and Sectional Timing

The marking scheme and cut-off marks are detailed below-

• One has to qualify the minimum cut-off criteria determined by NICL itself.
• As per previous year trends, approximately 15 times more of the total number of vacancy candidates are shortlisted to participate in the mains exam.
• There is a penalty of 0.25 marks for each wrong answer.
• No marks will be deducted for unattempted questions.

NICL AO 2025 Difficulty Level Analysis

The difficulty level of the NICL AO is somewhat moderate to difficult. The pattern that we have observed by analysing previous year papers is that it asked straightforward questions in English but somewhat tricky questions in quants and reasoning sections, mainly because it contains questions based on puzzles and data interpretation. To tackle this effectively and efficiently, you need to make smart attempts rather than a larger number of attempts, and for this, you need to master certain key areas that we mentioned below after analysing previous year trends. 

Section-Wise Difficulty

To score and qualify each level, we are giving major important topics in each section. These are suggested after analysing the previous year’s trends.

Reasoning Ability

Here is the table below, which contains topics that must be covered so that you can score the required minimum marks, that is, 25 out of a maximum marks i.e. 35. 

Topics to be covered	Weightage according to previous year trends
Seating arrangements or puzzles	Approximately 20 marks
Inequality	~2 to 3 marks
Coding- Decoding	~2 to 3 marks
Syllogism	~2 to 3 marks
Blood relations	~2 to 3 marks
Direction and distance	~2 to 3 marks
Alphanumeric series	~2 to 3 marks
Coded inequalities	~2 to 3 marks
Data sufficiency	~2 to 3 marks

Quantitative Aptitude

• If you have gone through the previous year’s papers, then you must have observed that the maximum weightage is carried by arithmetic, followed by data interpretation.
• Last year, in 2024, they asked questions on quadratic equations and simplification and left the number series, but if you go through other pyqs, you will get the idea that they shuffle around number series and simplification, and quadratic equations.
• Focus more on DI as this contains maximum weightage every year.

Topics to be covered	Weightage according to the previous year’s trend
simplification/approximation	5 marks
Data interpretation	10 marks
Quadratic Equations	5 marks
Number Series	——-
Caselet D.I	3 marks
Arithmetic	12 marks

English Language

To score decently in the English section, you need to attempt at least 20-22 questions, and below is a list of topics to be covered based on the previous year’s trends. 

Topics to be covered	Weightage according to the previous year’s trend
Reading comprehension(cloze test, spelling checks, improving sentences and parajumble)	12-15 marks
Parts of speech, articles, prepositions	5-7 marks
Error detection	5-7 marks

Good Attempts Based on Difficulty

Based on the previous year, students who have attempted around 65-75 questions are considered better strategy. 

• In English, based on the difficulty level, most students were able to attempt 22-26 questions.
• In Quants, based on the difficulty level, most students were able to attempt 20-25 questions, mostly of straightforward simplification, and DI sets are a smart move.
• In the Reasoning section, based on difficulty level, most attempts were of 25-28 questions.

NICL AO 2024 Exam Cutoff

By analysing the previous year’s cutoff based on category, phases, and sections, you can get a better idea of the exam difficulty. 

NICL AO Prelims 2024 Exam: category wise cutoff 

Post	SC	ST	OBC	EWS	UR	PwBD(A)	PwBD (B)	PwBD (C)
Doctors	15	13.25	13.5	20.75	20.75	–	—	—-
Legal	37.25	26.25	37.25	37.25	37.25	–	—	—-
Finance	59	43.75	65.75	65.75	65.75	—	—	—-
Actuarial	–	–	65.5	65.5	65.5	21.75	34	29
IT	61	55.5	63.75	61.75	63.75	—	—-	—-
Automobile	21	19.25	21	19.5	21	—	—-	—-
Generalist	74.5	66.75	79.5	79.5	79.5	69.75	37.25	61.25

NICL AO Prelims 2024 Exam: Subject-Wise Cutoff 

Below is the list of subject-wise cutoffs for the year 2024. 

Post	CATEGORY	English (Out of 30)	Reasoning (Out of 35)	Quantitative Aptitude (Out of 35)
Generalist	SC, ST, OBC & PwBD	12.75	5.25	4.25
	EWS & UR	16.00	10.50	8.25
Actuarial	OBC & PwBD	12.75	5.25	4.25
	SC, ST, EWS & UR	16.00	10.50	8.25
Doctors (MBBS)	SC, ST, OBC, PwBD	7.75	1.00	1.00
	EWS, UR	11.00	2.75	2.50

NICL AO 2024 Mains Cut Off

 We have provided a table below which shows the Mains cut off out of 250 marks.   

Post	SC	ST	OBC	EWS	UR	PwBD (A)	PwBD (B)	PwBD (C)	PwBD (D & E)
Hindi	89.5	50.5	90	90	90	–	–	–	–
Generalist	128.25	116.25	141	138	141	157.5	96.25	120.75	87.25
Finance	103.75	99.5	120.5	118	120.5	–	–	–	–
Legal	109	91	123	109.75	123	–	–	–	–
Doctors	59.75	58	56.75	–	65	–	–	–	–
IT	109.5	90.75	122	120	124	–	–	–	–
Actuarial	–	–	90.25	–	90.25	71.25	–	88	115
Automobile	96.5	75	96.5	94.5	96.5	–	–	–	–

Preparation Strategy based on Difficulty Level

Based on the weightage and cutoff, one needs to prepare for the NICL AO exam accordingly. 

• You need to manage time for each section, as quants and reasoning require 2 hours of daily practice for each section.
• During the foundation of your basics, you need to focus on accuracy, and later on, once your basic level knowledge gets stronger, you need to focus on speed.
• During the final stages, you need to practice as much as possible mock tests and pyqs for better performance.

Conclusion

In this article, we have covered all the major points regarding the difficulty level and cut off, weightage of each topic, and preparation strategy for the same. After analysing all these or for better understanding, start practising mock tests. You can visit our website for a better understanding of the subjects by practising mock tests. Also,o we provide one free mock test to get an idea. 

NICL AO Difficulty Level 2025: FAQs