IBPS RRB Officer Scale I Prelims Exam: Overall Analysis & Expected Cut Off

Dear Aspirants,

All the four slots of today’s IBPS RRB Officer Scale-I Prelims have finally concluded. The exam is being conducted in 4 slots on various shifts i.e 9:45 am, 12.00 pm, 2:15 pm, 4.30 pm. Most of you have appeared for the same. The overall level of today’s exam was of the Moderate to Difficult level. 

IBPS RRB Overall Exam Analysis 2017 (Officer Scale-I)

We will  now present the review of IBPS RRB Officer Scale-I exam based on several parameters given below:

1. Pattern of the Exam

• The paper has total 80 questions spread over two sections - Reasoning Ability & Quantitative Aptitude. Each section in the 80 mark exam consists of 40 questions. The duration of the exam is 45 minutes.

  

2. Topic-wise breakup of Questions of both Sections

Reasoning Ability

Details of Topics asked and their Difficulty Level

1. Syllogism - 5 Qs 

• Level of Questions: Easy -
• Pattern - 2/3 Statement & 2 Conclusion
• Questions were easy to attempt based on the old pattern. There were no possibility based questions

2. Inequality - 5 Qs 

• Level of Questions: Easy
• Pattern - Statement & 2 Conclusion 
• Direct inequality based questions were asked. There were no questions from coded inequality. 

3. Puzzles & Seating Arrangement - 20 Qs

i. Circular Arrangement: 8 people facing the centre and some facing outside. - 5 Qs - Level Moderate - doable 

ii. Linear Arrangement: 12 people, 6 people each sitting in two rows. Some people facing north and some facing south.  - 5 Qs - Moderate - doable

iii. Scheduling puzzle: Month based puzzle with 7 people. -July to December - people born in different months - 5Qs - Easy - doable 

iv. Box based puzzle - 8 box Top to bottom - 5 Qs - Moderate to tough - Tricky puzzle. 

4. Miscellaneous Problems - 2 Qs

• Level of Questions: Easy to Moderate
• The questions from this section were mostly order and ranking based.
• There were questions where a word was provided and one had to answer the maximum number of words that can be framed from it. 

5. Alphabet Series - 1 Qs 

• Level of Questions: Easy
• A simple set of alphabets was provided and the questions were easy to attempt. 

6. Coding-Decoding - 5 Qs  - old pattern 

• Level of Questions: Easy
• Questions were asked from sentence coding and were easy to attempt. 

7. Number arrangement - 2 Qs 

• Level of Questions: Easy
• A simple set of the number was provided and the questions were easy to attempt. 

Quantitative Aptitude

Details of Topics asked and their Difficulty Level

1. Number Series - 5 Qs -Level - Moderate

• Find the missing number - 3 Questions were easy and doable rest 2 questions was of moderate and tricky level. 

2. Simplification/ Approximation - 5 Qs - Level - Moderate

• Questions were not very calculative and could be attempted easily. 

3. Quadratic Equation - 5 Qs - Level - Easy

• Questions were mostly factorization based, and easy to attempt.

4. Data Interpretation - 15 Qs Level -  Moderate to Tough

1. Line Graph -Population  -  The question based on Line Graph was tricky and calculative.

2. Pie Chart - The Pie chart D.I. was easy and doable. 

3. Tabular graph - Tabular D.I. question was tricky and calculative. 

 5. Miscellaneous Problems- 10 Qs - Level - Easy to Moderate

• This section comprised of questions from topics like: - Percentages, Profit & Loss, Time and Work, Probability, Partnership, Time, Speed & Distance etc.

Some of the Questions asked in Reasoning Ability Section

1. Puzzles and Seating Arrangement
First, a quick glance at the questions that were asked in this section:

Linear Arrangement - 

Twelve people are sitting in two parallel rows containing six people each row. In row 1, M, G, L, N, E and H are seated and all of them are facing south. In row 2, J, O, Q, V, W and X are seated and all of them are facing north. Each member in row 1 is facing another member of row 2. 
H sits third to the right of L. Either H or L sits at an extreme end of line. The one who faces L sits second to the right of X. There are two persons between J and V and neither is at an extreme end of line. The Immediate neighbour of J faces the person who sits third to the left of G. N and M are immediate neighbours. Q sits second to the left of O. M does not face the immediate neighbour of W.

Circular Arrangement - 

P, Q, R, S, T, U, V and X are sitting around a circular table. Three of them are facing outside and the rest of them are facing inside. 
Q sits third to the right of P and faces outside. R sits to the opposite of Q and facing inside. U sits to the immediate left of R and is facing in the same direction as R. V sits third to the right of U. Q and V faces in the same direction. The one sitting between them is facing the direction opposite to them. X sits immediate left of S who is facing inside. The immediate neighbors of Q are facing in the opposite direction.

Scheduling Arrangement - 

Seven person A, B, C, D, E, F and G born in 8 diff month Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, June, Aug ,and Oct. A born in the month of less than 31 days but not in april. There are 3 person born b/w A and C. B born one of the day after D. No person born b/w B and D. E born one of the day before G. E not born in maximum number of days. No person born b/w G and E.

Box Puzzle - 

Eight boxes D, E, G, H, I, J, M and N are placed in eight different racks but not in same order.

Four boxes are there between G and E. N is placed immediately below J and one box is there between J and M. As many persons between H and M is there between N and I. Only two boxes are there between H and I. H is placed above I and G but not on topmost rack.

Syllogism - Questions from this topic were direct. There were no indirect or possibility based scenarios in these questions and 3-4 questions were easily doable.

Sample Qs - 

1. Statements: 
All guns are cannons. 
All cannons are flutes. 
Some cannons are bows. 
Conclusions: 
I. Some guns are bows. 
II. Some flutes are bows.

2. Statements: 
All computers are printers. 
All printers are staplers. 
All staplers are scanners. 
Conclusions: 
I. All printers are scanners. 
II. Some staplers are computers.

3. Inequality
There were no questions from coded inequality. Questions asked were direct and almost all of them were easily doable.

i. Statements: A > B ≥ C ≤ D; B ≥ C > F 
Conclusion: 
I. D > F 
II. B ≥ D 

ii. Statement: A < B ≤ C > D ≤ E; X > Y = D
Conclusion:
I. B ≤ D 
II. C > E

4. Coding - Decoding - Old pattern coding questions were asked. If practised well, one could easily attempt all the questions of this topic.

Qs - In a certain code language “bu ma pa du” means‘ you give study notes’, “ra pa ya wu” means‘ you score maximum marks’, “ya gu ma wu “means “study score the marks” and “wu bu fa gu” means “marks of the notes”. 

5. Miscellaneous Questions - This included questions from alphabet test and order based questions. For example, meaningful words that can be made from the particular letters of the given word. Again 3-4 questions under this segment were easily doable.

Qs - If '2' is subtracted from each even digit and '1' is added to each odd digit in the number 8567284. Which of the following will be the sum of the third digit from the left and the second digit from the right of new number thus formed?

Qs - If two is subtracted from each odd digit and if two is added to each even digit in the number 9275436, what will be the difference between the digits which are third from the right and second from the left of the new number thus formed?

Some of the Questions asked in Quantitative Aptitude Section 

Simplification/ Approximation - Questions from this topic involved a simple application of BODMAS rules and approximate calculations. One could easily attempt 3-4 questions from this topic.

Sample Qs - 

1. ?=199.09 * 300.87 ÷ 500.53

2. X= 999.01 * 848.93 + 647.89

Quadratic Equations - Questions from this topic were quite easy and could be solved simply with the use of factorization. Almost all the questions were doable here.

1. I. x² - 9x +18 =0 
II. 2y² - 5y = 3

2. I. x² + x = 56 
II. y² – 18y+ 72 = 0

Number Series - This topic varied for the 4 shifts. However, a thorough practice could come in handy here. Questions were based on the combination of arithmetic operations, prime number addition based, double step operation based etc. 3-4 questions were doable from this topic.

1. 131, 67, 35, 19, 11, ?  

Sol –

131 – 64 = 67

67 – 32 = 35

35 – 16 = 19

19 – 8 = 11

11 – 4 = 7

Ans- 7

2. 25, 28, 22, 31, 19, ?

Sol –

25 +3 = 28

28 – 6 = 22

22 + 9 = 31

31 – 12 =19

19 + 15 = 34

Ans- 34

 3. 7, 4.5, 6, 11, ?

7 x 0.5 + 1 = 4.5

4.5 x 1 + 1.5 = 6

6 x 1.5 + 2 = 11

11 x2 + 2.5 = 24.5

Ans: 24.5

4. 1, 4, 9, 18, 35, ?

1 + 3 = 4

4 + 5 = 9

9 + 9 = 18

18 + 17 = 35

Again we have to check here -

3 +2 = 5

5+4 = 9

9+8=17

17 + 16 = 33

We will add 33 in 35 = 68

Ans: 68

5. 3.5, 4, 8, 27, ?, 767

3.5 x 2 – 3 = 4

4 x 3 – 4 = 8

8 x 4 – 5 = 27

27 x 5 – 6 = 129

129x6 – 7 = 767

Ans: 129

Data Interpretation - Students in the last 2 slots faced difficulty in this topic. 3 sets of DI were asked based on Pie chart, Line Chart and Tabular Chart. Some of the questions were calculative and hence time-consuming. 10-12 questions were doable from this topic.

Qs - The following table shows the number of students who appeared and of them, the percentage of students who passed, in respect of physics and chemistry exams during various years.

Study the following graph and answer the given questions:

The line graph shows the number of male and female passengers flying on six different days

Qs - The pie chart shows the percentage distribution of the number of employees among various departments in the company ‘RST’

Miscellaneous Questions -The level of these questions was moderate. Questions were asked from Mixture & Alligation, Age based problems. Partnership, Time & Work, Simple & Compound Interest, Profit & Loss, Percentage, Train based problems etc. These questions were comparatively time-consuming and 5-6 were easily doable.

4. Trend Analysis of IBPS RRB Officer Scale-I (2016 Vs. 2017) & Major Changes

There were slight variations in the topics asked in the 2 sections in 2016 and 2017 exams of IBPS RRB Officer Scale-I. The overall level of IBPS RRB Officer Scale-I exam was comparatively difficult as that of last year.

Reasoning Ability

Here is a comparative Analysis of the number of questions asked in 2016 and 2017 from this section

Quantitative Aptitude

Go through the comparative analysis of the questions asked in these 2 years from the quantitative aptitude section below-

5. IBPS RRB Officer Scale-I Prelims Expected Cut Off

The cut off of IBPS RRB Officer Scale I is released state-wise. However, based on the questions asked and their difficulty level, we have shared a range in which the cut off of IBPS RRB Officer Scale-I preliminary exam may vary. The individual cut-offs of different states, however, may be more or less than this number. 

Before we proceed with it, fill out the google form below and share your number of attempts in this exam with us. We will share the state-wise expected cut off soon.

IBPS RRB Officer Scale-I Pre Exam, Share your Attempts here!

Also, for state-wise cutoff of IBPS RRB Officer Scale-I, check out the previous year cutoff, which will help you figure out a reference number. 

Note: The actual cut offs may be less than this number for different states. Here, we have shared the maximum range in which cutoff may vary. So, don't dishearten yourself over your attempts!

You can take our IBPS RRB Officer Scale 1 test series to practice for the upcoming exam.

All the best to the candidates appearing for upcoming slots!

Team gradeup!