The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) conducts the IBPS Clerk examination every year to recruit candidates for the post of clerical cadre in various public sector banks across India. The selection process is divided into two stages: the Preliminary Examination and the Main Examination. The prelims exam has remained structurally stable:
🧠 Sections:
🔍 Major Trends Over 10 Years
1. Shift Toward Speed + Accuracy
- Earlier (2015–2017): Moderate difficulty, more direct questions
- Recent years (2019–2025):
- More calculation-heavy DI
- Tricky reasoning puzzles
- English includes inference-based questions
2. Puzzle & DI Dominance
- Reasoning: 15–20 questions → puzzles/seating
- Quant: 10–15 questions → DI (caselet, tabular, missing)
👉 These two areas alone can cover ~40–50% of the paper
3. English Became Inference-Based
- Cloze test → replaced by reading comprehension + error spotting + fillers
- Grammar is still important, but applied, not rule-based
4. Increasing Role of Simplification & Approximation
- Easy scoring but time-sensitive
- Usually 10–15 questions
5. Mixed Difficulty Pattern
- Paper now has:
- 40% easy
- 40% moderate
- 20% tricky
👉 Smart selection matters more than attempting everything
Top 5 Highest Weightage Topics (Based on Recent Papers)
1. 🧩 Puzzles & Seating Arrangement (Reasoning)
- Weightage: 15–20 questions
- Types:
- Circular seating
- Linear arrangement
- Floor/flat puzzles
- Box-based puzzles
👉 Make or break section
2. 📊 Data Interpretation (Quant)
- Weightage: 10–15 questions
- Types:
- Tabular DI
- Bar graph
- Caselet DI
- Missing DI
3. ➗ Simplification & Approximation (Quant)
- Weightage: 10–15 questions
- Topics:
- BODMAS
- Squares/cubes
- Approximation
👉 Highest scoring + least time
4. 📖 Reading Comprehension (English)
- Weightage: 8–12 questions
- Focus:
- Inference
- Tone
- Vocabulary
5. 🔤 Error Detection / Fillers (English)
- Weightage: 8–10 questions
- Includes:
- Error spotting
- Sentence improvement
- Fillers
🧠 Strategy Used by Successful Candidates
After analyzing toppers’ approaches, these patterns are common:
✅ 1. Sectional Targeting Strategy
- Attempt:
- Reasoning: 25–30
- Quant: 25–30
- English: 22–26
👉 Focus on cutoff clearing + accuracy
✅ 2. “Skip Smart” Approach
- Don’t get stuck in:
- Tough puzzles
- Lengthy DI
👉 First solve easy + moderate
✅ 3. Daily Mock Practice (MOST IMPORTANT)
- 1 full mock daily (last 30 days)
- Analyze:
- Time spent per question
- Weak areas
✅ 4. Strong Basics + Speed Maths
- Memorize:
- Tables (up to 25)
- Squares (up to 30)
- Cubes (up to 20)
✅ 5. English Improvement Routine
- Daily:
- 1 RC passage
- 10–15 error questions
- Editorial reading
📅 60-Day IBPS Clerk Prelims Preparation Plan
🔵 Phase 1 (Day 1–20): Build Foundation
Daily Plan:
- Quant:
- Simplification (20 Q)
- Basic arithmetic (ratio, percentage)
- Reasoning:
- Inequality, syllogism
- 1 easy puzzle daily
- English:
- Grammar basics
- 1 RC passage
👉 Focus: Concept clarity
🟡 Phase 2 (Day 21–40): Strength + Practice
Daily Plan:
- Quant:
- DI sets (2 daily)
- Speed math practice
- Reasoning:
- 2–3 puzzles daily
- English:
- RC + fillers + error detection
👉 Start: Alternate-day mock tests
🔴 Phase 3 (Day 41–60): Mock + Optimization
Daily Plan:
- 1 full mock test DAILY
- 2 sectional tests
- Analyze mistakes (VERY IMPORTANT)
🎯 Final Tips
- Accuracy > attempts
- Don’t chase all 100 questions
- Master:
- Puzzle + DI = selection key
- Mock analysis is more important than mock itself