IBPS SO Exam Analysis 2026 (August 29th): Check Paper Difficulty Level, Good Attempts and More

The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) has conducted the first shift of the IBPS SO Prelims Exam 2026 on August 29, 2026, from 10:00 AM to 11:20 AM. Candidates who appeared for Shift 1 and those who will be appearing for the next shifts can check the exam analysis to have a better understanding of what kind of questions were asked, what the level of difficulty was, and other important details. The IBPS SO 2025 exam included 100 questions of 125 marks, and the exam had to be completed within 80 minutes. Each section in the paper also had 20 minutes of sectional time.

IBPS SO Prelims Paper Analysis 2026 Shift 1

Shift 1 of the IBPS SO Prelims paper 2026 was conducted from 10:00 AM to 11:20 AM. The overall level of difficulty of the IBPS SO Prelims Shift 1 is given based on the initial feedback of the candidates who appeared for the exam. Given below is the IBPS SO Prelims paper analysis for 2026 with level of difficulty and number of good attempts:-

Also check, IBPS SO Syllabus 2026: Check the Latest Exam Pattern, Topic-Wise Syllabus for Prelims and Mains

Section-Wise Exam Analysis of IBPS SO Prelims Exam 2026

The total number of good attempts for the IBPS SO Prelims Exam 2026 is between 62-72 in Shift 1, based on the candidates' initial feedback. Given below is the section-wise exam analysis of the IBPS SO Prelims Exam 2026:-

• Reasoning Section:- The reasoning section of the IBPS SO Prelims Exam 2026 carried 25 marks with 25 marks and had a sectional timing of 20 minutes. In the paper, questions were asked from seating arrangement (around 5-10 questions), puzzle box (around 4-5 questions), pair formation (around 2-3 questions), syllogism (around 3-4 questions), alphanumeric ( 2-3 questions), and blood relation (around 3 questions).
• English Language:- The English language section of the exam included 25 questions of 25 marks and had to be completed within 20 minutes. Questions were asked from the topics of spotting errors, phrase replacement, sentence arrangement, connectors, reading comprehension, etc. 
• Quantitative Aptitude:- This section of the exam was for posts like IT Officer, Agriculture Field Officer, HR/Personnel Officer and Marketing Officer. This section consisted of 25 questions of 25 marks and again had to be completed within 20 minutes. The questions were asked from topics like DI Bar Graph, Wrong Number series, Approximation, Caselet DI, and Arithmetic.
• Professional Knowledge:- This is the most weighted section of the exam. It carries 25 questions of 50 marks and also has to be completed within 20 minutes.  The questions in this section were asked from topics like numerical, DNS Port Number, Page Replacement Numerical, KYC, RAID, AI (statement-wise), Java specifier, C++ Default, etc.