Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) conducts the online exam for selecting the candidates for clerical cadre post. The selected candidates get recruited as a clerk in various participating banks. The candidates looking to appear for this exam in the year 2021 should check the IBPS Clerk Exam Pattern 2021. The exam pattern will give the aspirants a better understanding of the question paper. The IBPS Clerk online exam will be conducted in two phases i.e. preliminary exam and main exam.
The applicants who will clear the preliminary exam will be shortlisted for the main exam. Both preliminary and main exam will be conducted only in online mode. The marks scored in the preliminary exam will not be considered at the time of preparing the final merit.
Important Highlights
Here are some important highlights of IBPS Clerk Exam pattern 2021 that the aspiring candidates should note.
- The exam consists of two rounds i.e. preliminary exam and main exam.
- A candidate can appear for the main exam only after clearing the pre-exam.
- The preliminary exam is qualifying in nature it means the marks scored by the candidate in pre-exam will not be considered in the final merit list.
- The duration of pre exam will be 1 hour. On the other hand, the duration of the main exam will be 2 hours and 40 minutes.
- Please note that in IBPS clerk exam, the subject-wise exam duration is applicable. For example, the time duration allotted for each subject in the pre exam is 20 minutes.
- Additionally, the candidates have to clear the subject-wise cutoffs along with the total marks cutoff in order to be declared successful.
Exam pattern for IBPS Clerk Preliminary Exam
The exam pattern of the IBPS clerk pre-exam is given below:
- Mode of Exam: Online (Computer Based Exam)
- Number of Questions: 100
- Type of Questions: Objective type multiple choice questions will be asked.
- Subjects – 3 (English Language, Number Ability, and Reasoning Ability)
- Duration of Exam: 1 hour (20 minutes for each subject)
- Maximum Marks: 100
- Language of Exam: English and Hindi (only English for English Language Test)
- Marking Pattern: Each Question will carry 1 Marks.
- Negative Marking: 1/4the. 0.25 marks will be deducted in case of an incorrect answer.
Subject-wise distribution of Question and Marks will be as follows:
| Subjects | Number of Questions | Maximum Marks |
| English Language | 30 | 30 |
| Reasoning Ability | 35 | 35 |
| Numerical Ability | 35 | 35 |
| Total | 100 Questions | 100 Marks |
IBPS Clerk Main Exam Pattern 2021
The candidates who will clear the preliminary exam will be allowed to participate in the main exam. The exam pattern of the main exam will be as follows:
- Mode of Examination: Online (Computer-based test)
- Types of Questions: Objective type MCQ.
- Number of Questions: 190
- Maximum Marks: 200
- Subjects: 4 (General/ Financial Awareness, General English, Reasoning Ability & Computer Aptitude, and Quantitative Aptitude)
- Language: English and Hindi (except for English language test)
- Duration of Exam: 2 hours and 40 minutes. The subject wise duration will be different as given below.
- General English: 35 Minutes
- General/ Financial Awareness: 35 Minutes
- Reasoning Ability & Computer Aptitude: 45 Minutes
- Quantitative Aptitude: 45 Minutes
- Negative marking: 1/4th of the marks allotted to a question will be deducted for a wrong answer.
| Subjects | Number of Questions | Marks |
| General English | 40 | 40 |
| General/ Financial Awareness | 50 | 50 |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 50 | 50 |
| Reasoning Ability and Computer Aptitude | 50 | 60 |
| Total | 190 Questions | 200 Marks |
Other Important Points
- No marks will be deducted in case a candidate does not attempt a question.
- Generally, the exam center will be allotted in the city selected by the candidate while submitting the application form. However, the IBPS can allot the center in other cities as well depending upon the situation.
- No candidate will be allowed to participate in the exam with a valid admit card, photo ID proof and photocopy of a photo ID proof.