IBPS PO 2013 Exam Pattern & Questions

With exactly a month to go for the IBPS PO 4 exam, lets re-look at the 2013 exam which saw a change in pattern and was the first time the exam was conducted online. Back then in Oct 2013, many students were surprised with the considerable shift in the difficulty level of the exam. The exam also did NOT have a few traditional topics such as Visual Reasoning and Simplification. Let’s look at the breakup of one of the slots – since it was an online exam conducted over multiple slots, there were minor variations is the number of questions of a topic. More details on the exam below. (To take a FREE Mock Test in the new IBPS Pattern, click here. )

Overall Pattern:-The overall paper was higher in difficulty and more time consuming than the 2012 paper. This took many students by surprise.

Here is a breakup by section:-

Reasoning:

Visual Reasoning questions were NOT asked for the first time. The section was dominated by questions from Analytical & Critical reasoning (inference, assumption, courses, cause-effect) while traditional questions such as Input-Output were made time consuming with increased number of steps provided. Even the Data Sufficiency saw 3 statement questions which was not what students were used to.

English Language:-

The Reading Comprehension portion with 2 passages of 10 questions each was tougher and more time consuming whereas the rest of the section was quite easy.

Numerical/Quantitative Ability:- 

Some of the easy topics such as Simplification has been removed and the Data Interpretation was very time consuming. The Data Interpretation section was the one that students struggled with the most as it had very time consuming (although not difficult) questions. This section was definitely a levels higher than previous examinations.

General Awareness:-

No surprises here as Banking Awareness topic dominated this section.

Computer Knowledge:- 

These questions were moderate and could have been attempted by anyone with basic computer knowledge. Topics included Databases, Microsoft Office-Word & Excel, Hardware, Networking