IBPS Clerk Exam Pattern 2026 Revised, Prelims and Mains Marking Scheme, Final Selection

The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) conducts the IBPS Clerk recruitment in two stages: the Preliminary Examination and the Mains Examination. Candidates must qualify the Prelims to appear for the Mains, while the final merit list is prepared based only on Mains marks.

There is no interview or descriptive paper in the selection process, and shortlisted candidates must also qualify the Language Proficiency Test (LPT). Understanding the IBPS Clerk Exam Pattern 2026, marking scheme, and time duration of each stage is essential for effective preparation.

IBPS Clerk Exam Pattern 2026 Revised

The IBPS Clerk 2026 Exam Pattern is set by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection. Understanding the subjects, marking scheme, and sectional time limits helps candidates plan an effective preparation strategy. This year, few changes have been made to Mains exam pattern.

Since each section carries a fixed weightage and the exam is time-bound, familiarity with the pattern is essential. The stage-wise exam pattern is provided below.

Prelims Exam Pattern

To qualify for the IBPS Clerk Mains Examination, candidates must achieve the minimum sectional cut-off marks prescribed by IBPS in each of the three sections of the Preliminary Exam. Based on these cut-offs and the recruitment requirements, IBPS will shortlist a sufficient number of candidates from each category for the Online Mains Examination.

1. The prelims exam is the only qualifying paper.
2. There are 3 subjects as mentioned below, and candidates have to finish the section in the given duration.
3. The total marks are 100, and each section carries a different number of questions and marks.
4. There is a negative marking of 0.25 for each wrong answer.

Mains Exam Pattern (Revised)

Candidates who qualify the Prelims by clearing the sectional, as well as the overall cut-off, are called for the IBPS Mains exam, which is both a qualifying as well as a scoring exam. For this year’s examination, the Mains pattern have been slightly changed and candidates can check the section-wise marks and questions in the table below. Like Prelims, there is a sectional timing and negative marking of 0.25 mark for each wrong answer.

Negative Marking in Prelims and Mains

Penalty for Wrong Answers (Applicable to both – Online Preliminary and Online Main examinations). There will be a penalty for wrong answers marked in the Objective Type Tests. For each question for which a wrong answer has been given by the candidate fourth or 0.25 of the marks assigned to that question will be deducted as a penalty to arrive at the corrected score. If a question is left blank, i.e. no answer is marked by the candidate, there will be no penalty for that question.

IBPS Clerk Language Proficiency Test

IBPS Clerk Language Proficiency Test (LPT) is the final stage of the selection process. Candidates who are provisionally selected after the Mains exam must appear for this test. The LPT is conducted to ensure that the candidate is proficient in the official language of the state or UT they have applied for.

The test may involve reading, writing, and understanding tasks in the local language. Failing to qualify in the Language Proficiency Test may lead to disqualification, even if the candidate has cleared all other stages. So, it is important to be familiar with the regional language of the state you are applying from.

Final Selection

Selection under the IBPS Clerk recruitment process requires candidates to clear both the Preliminary and Mains examinations. While the Preliminary Exam is conducted only to shortlist candidates for the Mains and its marks are not included in the final merit list, the Mains Exam determines the final selection. The final merit list is prepared by normalising the Mains scores and calculating them out of 100 marks.

What is the Difficulty level of IBPS Clerk exam?

The exam is generally considered to be of easy to moderate difficulty. The Prelims exam is mostly easy to moderate and tests candidates’ speed and accuracy, while the Mains exam is moderate due to its wider syllabus and higher competition.