Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) today, December 26, 2021, conducted the Specialist Officer (SO) Recruitment 2021 Shift 1 exam. This exam was part of the recruitment drive to fulfill a total of 1,828 vacancies spread across 11 public sector banks. So, indeed, the competition was tough and candidates had to be on their ‘A’ game to give their best attempt.As per popular census, the Shift 1 paper was moderate in terms of level of difficulty.
In the IBPS SO Preliminary Exam Shift 1, candidates were tested in terms of three subjects – 1. English Language, 2. Reasoning Ability and 3. Quantitative Ability. Both their conceptual clarity and knowledge base were tested throughout the exam. So, looking at the paper, one can safely assume that around 88-97 questions were easy to solve out of the total 125.
The English Language section comprised of 50 questions out of which 23-26 were easy to solve. The remaining were tricky and time-consuming. Questions were asked from Reading Comprehension, Word Swap, Error Detection, Phase Replacement and Match the Following. So, this section was of moderate level in terms of difficulty.
| Topics | No. of Questions asked | Difficulty Level |
| Error Detection | 05 | Easy |
| Phrase Replacement | 05 | Moderate |
| Match the following | 05 | Moderate |
| Word swap | 05 | Moderate |
| RC | 20 | Easy |
| Total | 50 | Easy to Moderate |
A similar level of questions were asked in the Reasoning Ability (RA) and Quantitative Ability (QA) sections. In case of RA, candidates could easily solve 32-35 questions while the remaining required some time to think and solve. Questions were asked from Sitting Arrangement and Puzzles, Data Insufficiency, Direction Sense, Blood Relations, Inequality, Machine Input, Syllogs, Logical Reasoning, Alphabetical and Number Series. Students found Logical Reasoning to be the toughest while puzzles were time-consuming and lengthy.
| Topics | No. of Questions asked | Difficulty Level |
| Puzzles | 20 | Easy |
| Blood Relation | 03 | Moderate |
| Data Insufficiency | 05 | Moderate |
| Direction | 03 | Moderate |
| Inequality | 04 | Moderate |
| Logical reasoning | 04 | Easy |
| Syllogism (only a few type) | 04 | Easy |
| Machine input | 05 | Difficult |
| Number series | 01 | Moderate |
| Alphabetical Series | 01 | Moderate |
| Total | 50 | Moderate |
Unsurprisingly, while all sections of the paper were moderate in terms of difficulty level, some students found QA to be the toughest. Based on level of preparation, candidates could easily solve around 33-36 questions. Rest were either difficult or required a lengthy process to arrive at the answer.
In the QA section, questions were asked from Data Interpretation, Missing Number Series, Approximation, Caselet and Arithmetic. Within Data Interpretation, candidates had to attempt 3 types of questions – Tabular DI, Pie Chart and Line Graph.
| Topics | No. of Questions asked | Difficulty Level |
| Missing no. series | 05 | Easy |
| Approximation | 05 | Easy |
| Misc. | 10 | Moderate |
| Caselet DI | 05 | Moderate |
| Age-based | 01 | Easy |
| Time & work | 04 | Moderate |
| DI (3 DIs) | 15 | Moderate |
| Total | 50 | Moderate |
In simple terms, today’s IBPS SO Shift 1 paper wasn’t an easy nut to crack. Candidates who had thoroughly prepared for the exam stand a chance to qualify for the next round. The next stage is a Mains exam scheduled on January 30, 2022. Those who qualify the preliminary exam will have to appear for the mains exam to be inducted for filling one of the 1,828 vacancies.
