IBPS SO Exam Pattern 2025 is the very first blueprint every IT Officer, HR, Law Officer, Agriculture or Marketing aspirant must decode. This ultimate guide explains the prelims and mains paper structure, section-wise strategy and realistic cut-offs—so you can plan smarter and clear the Specialist Officer exam on the very first attempt.
IBPS SO Exam Pattern 2025 – Quick Overview
- Exam Mode: Online (CBT)
- Stages: Prelims → Mains → Interview
- Negative Marking: 0.25 per wrong answer
- Medium: English & Hindi (English section only in English)
| IBPS SO Prelims Exam Pattern 2025 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Post | Subjects | Total Questions | Total Marks |
| IT Officer, HR, Marketing, Agriculture | Reasoning, English, Quant | 150 | 125 |
| Law Officer, Rajbhasha Adhikari | Reasoning, English, General Awareness (Banking) | 150 | 125 |
| IBPS SO Mains Exam Pattern 2025 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Post | Paper Type | Subjects | Total Marks |
| IT / HR / Marketing / Agriculture / Law | Objective | Professional Knowledge | 60 |
| Rajbhasha Adhikari | Objective + Descriptive | Professional Knowledge (Hindi & Translation) | 60 |
Selection Process: Prelims (qualifying) → Mains (scored) → Interview (20 % weight). Final merit = 80 % Mains + 20 % Interview.
Exam Duration: Prelims – 120 mins (40 mins × 3 sections) • Mains – 45 to 60 mins, post-wise.
IBPS SO Exam Pattern 2025 – Safe Attempts (Prelims)
- Reasoning (40 min): Aim 35 + with 90 % accuracy.
- English (40 min): Aim 27 +; master RC & vocab.
- Quant / GA (40 min): Quant posts: 30 + | GA posts: 28 +.
High-Yield Topics for IBPS SO Mains 2025
- IT Officer – OSI/TCP-IP layers, DBMS, Cloud basics
- HR Officer – HRM theories, IR Acts, Labour Laws
- Agriculture – Crop science, Soil & Agro-ecology
- Law Officer – Contract, Banking Regulations Act
- Rajbhasha – अनुवाद, संधि, समास, ग्रामर रूल्स
Difficulty Level & Expected Cut-Off – IBPS SO Exam Pattern 2025
- Trend: Moderate over last 2 years; speed + accuracy decisive.
- General Safe Score: 58 – 62 / 125 (IT/HR/Agri/Marketing) • 54 – 58 (Law/Raj).
- OBC ~ 3 marks lower • SC/ST ~ 7 marks lower.
- Target 5 marks above last year cut-off for buffer.
| Topic-Wise Weightage – Memory Based (IBPS SO 2024) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Section | Hot Topics | Qs | Priority |
| Reasoning | Puzzles, Syllogism, Inequality | 25-30 | 🔥🔥🔥 |
| English | RC, Cloze, Para-jumbles | 22-25 | 🔥🔥 |
| Quant | DI, Arithmetic, Series | 28-32 | 🔥🔥🔥 |
| GA (Banking) | Current Banking, RBI circulars | 28-30 | 🔥🔥 |
👉 For official notification visit IBPS website. 👉 Also read our detailed IBPS SO Syllabus 2025 to align study with the exam pattern.
