Checked 29 September 2026. From the CSA-XVI notification (01.08.2026) and the CSA-XV Prelims and Mains information handouts. The CSA-XVI handouts were not published as of 29 September 2026 and may add detail.
The CSA-XVI notification changed one test in the IBPS Clerk Mains. Quantitative Aptitude now has 40 questions in 35 minutes, up from 35 questions in 30 minutes, and is still worth 50 marks. The whole Mains therefore becomes 160 questions for 200 marks in 125 minutes, against 155 questions in 120 minutes last year. The Prelims is unchanged. This guide lays out both papers, explains the two-mark questions and the penalty that follows from them, and gives a calculator for the new pattern.
IBPS CSA-XVI notification; CSA-XV notification and Mains handout; IBPS calendar 2026-27.
Where other pages get this wrong
The Mains test is called “Reasoning Ability”. It has no Computer Aptitude section.
Commonly published instead: “Reasoning Ability & Computer Aptitude, 40 questions, 60 marks” in the IBPS Clerk Mains table.
Both the CSA-XV and CSA-XVI notifications, and the CSA-XV Mains handout, name the test “Reasoning Ability”. “Reasoning Ability & Computer Aptitude” is the name of a test in SBI’s Junior Associate Main (SBI advertisement CRPD/CR/2026-27/17), a different exam. Computer literacy is an eligibility condition for IBPS Clerk, not a separately named section. Note, though, that the CSA-XV Mains handout describes the Reasoning test as judging “aptitude/ knowledge for working with computer”, so computer-based questions are not ruled out.
Mains: CSA-XV against CSA-XVI
| Test | CSA-XV (Q / marks / time) | CSA-XVI (Q / marks / time) | Share of 200 marks (ours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| General/Financial Awareness | 40 / 50 / 20 min | 40 / 50 / 20 min | 25% |
| General English | 40 / 40 / 35 min | 40 / 40 / 35 min | 20% |
| Reasoning Ability | 40 / 60 / 35 min | 40 / 60 / 35 min | 30% |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 35 / 50 / 30 min | 40 / 50 / 35 min | 25% |
| Total | 155 / 200 / 120 min | 160 / 200 / 125 min | 100% |
Each test is separately timed: when a test’s time ends, the next one opens, and unused minutes do not carry over. The notification lists the tests as “not by sequence”, so the order on the day may differ. General English is set in English only; the other three tests are available in English, Hindi and the languages listed for your State/UT.
At the venue, the CSA-XVI notification says to expect about three hours or more for the 125-minute Mains, including verification and instructions. The same notification says candidates called for the Mains must bring the authenticated/stamped Prelims call letter and a stamped copy of their ID proof, as well as the Mains call letter and the original photo ID. Follow the CSA-XVI Mains call letter if it adds anything.
Two-mark and one-mark questions
Three of the four Mains tests carry more marks than questions, which means some questions are worth two marks. The CSA-XV Mains handout printed the split as Section A (two marks each) and Section B (one mark each). The CSA-XVI notification prints only the totals for each test. Unless the CSA-XVI handout says otherwise, the splits below are the ones to expect for General Awareness and Reasoning.
| Test | CSA-XV split (handout) | CSA-XVI |
|---|---|---|
| General/Financial Awareness | 10 × 2 + 30 × 1 = 50 | 40 Q / 50 marks; split not yet printed |
| General English | 40 × 1 = 40 | 40 Q / 40 marks |
| Reasoning Ability | 20 × 2 + 20 × 1 = 60 | 40 Q / 60 marks; split not yet printed |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 15 × 2 + 20 × 1 = 50 | 40 Q / 50 marks; split not yet printed (if only 1- and 2-mark questions: 10 × 2 + 30 × 1, our inference) |
The Quant inference is simple arithmetic. If every question is worth either one or two marks, 40 questions totalling 50 marks means 10 two-mark questions and 30 one-mark questions; no other 1-and-2 combination adds up. If IBPS instead gives every Quant question the same weight, each would be worth 1.25 marks, and other structures are possible too. The calculator below lets you switch between the first two. If IBPS keeps a 1-mark/2-mark structure, Quant would have 10 two-mark questions against 15 in CSA-XV, and the marks would be spread more thinly across more questions; if it uses equal weights or another structure, that comparison does not apply.
The penalty is a quarter of the question’s marks
The notification says that for each wrong answer “one fourth or 0.25 of the marks assigned to that question” is deducted. Read that carefully: the penalty follows the question’s value. A wrong answer on a two-mark question costs 0.50, not 0.25. A blank answer costs nothing. The CSA-XV handouts say every question has five options.
| Question worth | Right | Wrong | Blind guess, 5 options (our arithmetic) | One option ruled out |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 mark | +1 | −0.25 | 0 on average | +0.06 on average |
| 2 marks | +2 | −0.50 | 0 on average | +0.13 on average |
| 1.25 marks (if Quant is unsplit) | +1.25 | −0.3125 | 0 on average | +0.08 on average |
With five options and a quarter-mark penalty, a pure guess is worth exactly nothing on average: a one-in-five chance of the full marks against a four-in-five chance of losing a quarter of them (our arithmetic). Ruling out even one option tips the average slightly positive. That is not an instruction to guess; it is why the penalty is not a reason to leave a question you can narrow down.
Minimum in every test, and a minimum total
IBPS requires “a minimum score in each test of Online Main Examination and also a minimum total score”. You cannot write off General/Financial Awareness and make it up in Reasoning. The minimums are set by IBPS after the exam and are not published in advance. Only the Mains counts for merit: the Prelims is a qualifying step, and the Mains total out of 200 is converted to a score out of 100 for allotment. There is no interview.
Scores are normalised when the exam runs in more than one session, using the equi-percentile method, and IBPS keeps two decimal places. IBPS has also published “normated standards” for flagging non-genuine scores.
IBPS Clerk Mains 2026: net score estimator (CSA-XV weights)
Provisional: IBPS has not yet printed the per-question weights for CSA-XVI, so this uses CSA-XV’s splits for General Awareness, English and Reasoning, and lets you pick one for Quant. Replace with the official split when the CSA-XVI Mains handout appears. Enter right and wrong answers for each test. A wrong answer costs a quarter of that question’s marks: 0.25 on a one-mark question, 0.50 on a two-mark question. Blank answers cost nothing. For Quant, the two-mark count is an input because IBPS has not yet printed the CSA-XVI split.
Pattern: CSA-XVI notification (160 questions, 200 marks, 125 minutes). Two-mark/one-mark splits for GFA and Reasoning, and English at one mark a question, are from the CSA-XV Mains handout; IBPS may change them in the XVI handout. The Quant split is our inference. IBPS normalises scores across sessions, sets a minimum in each test and a minimum total, and converts the total to a score out of 100 for allotment. This shows raw marks only.
Time per question: what the extra five minutes buys
| Test | CSA-XV seconds per question (ours) | CSA-XVI seconds per question (ours) |
|---|---|---|
| General/Financial Awareness | 30 | 30 |
| General English | 52.5 | 52.5 |
| Reasoning Ability | 52.5 | 52.5 |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 51.4 | 52.5 |
Quant gets five extra questions and five extra minutes, so the time per question barely moves: from about 51.4 seconds to 52.5 (our arithmetic). What changes is endurance. The Quant test is now as long as English and Reasoning, and the total paper is five minutes longer. General Awareness is still the fastest test at 30 seconds a question, which suits recall but punishes hesitation.
The Prelims, for comparison
| Test | Questions | Marks | Time | Seconds per question (ours) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language | 30 | 30 | 20 min | 40 |
| Numerical Ability | 35 | 35 | 20 min | 34.3 |
| Reasoning Ability | 35 | 35 | 20 min | 34.3 |
| Total | 100 | 100 | 60 min | 36 |
Candidates must clear a cut-off in each of the three Prelims tests, set by IBPS; an adequate number in each category, as IBPS decides, is shortlisted for the Mains. The Prelims is on 10 and 11 October 2026 and IBPS says to expect about two hours or more at the venue.
Planning from Prelims to Mains
| Stage | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Prelims | 10 and 11 October 2026 | IBPS calendar 2026-27 |
| Prelims result | November 2026 (tentative) | Notification |
| Mains call letters | November 2026 (tentative) | Notification |
| Mains | 27 December 2026 | IBPS calendar 2026-27 |
| Provisional allotment | March 2027 (tentative) | Notification |
The Mains is about eleven weeks after the Prelims (our arithmetic). General/Financial Awareness is tested only in the Mains, which is why many candidates start it late; it is also the test with the least time per question, so it rewards material you have already revised rather than worked out on the day. The planner below splits your hours by each test’s share of the 200 marks.
Hours to the IBPS Clerk Mains, split by marks
Choose your likely exam day and how many hours a week you can study. The planner counts the weeks left from today and splits your total hours across the paper.
If you want the whole syllabus in one place for revision, ProSyllabus also has an IBPS Clerk 2026 revision kit covering the Prelims and Mains; its page lists what is inside.
Practise it, don't just read it
In CSA-XV every Mains English question was worth one mark and cost a quarter-mark when wrong; CSA-XVI keeps 40 questions for 40 marks. Reading comprehension rewards accuracy, because every wrong answer is penalised.
The ProSyllabus IBPS Clerk library is small so far: one live quiz, Reading Comprehension Passages Fundamentals (English, 10 questions), which is free to try.
What is the IBPS Clerk Mains exam pattern for 2026?
Four tests, 160 questions, 200 marks, 125 minutes: General/Financial Awareness 40/50/20 min, General English 40/40/35 min, Reasoning Ability 40/60/35 min, Quantitative Aptitude 40/50/35 min.
What changed in the IBPS Clerk Mains 2026?
Quantitative Aptitude went from 35 questions in 30 minutes to 40 questions in 35 minutes, still for 50 marks. The total became 160 questions in 125 minutes.
Is there Computer Aptitude in the IBPS Clerk Mains?
Not as a named section. The test is called Reasoning Ability; Reasoning Ability & Computer Aptitude is an SBI Junior Associate test. The CSA-XV handout does say the Reasoning test also judges aptitude or knowledge for working with computers.
What is the negative marking in IBPS Clerk?
A quarter of the marks assigned to the question: 0.25 for a one-mark question, 0.50 for a two-mark question. Blank answers are not penalised.
How many two-mark questions are in the IBPS Clerk Mains Quant?
The CSA-XVI split is not printed yet. If every question is worth either 1 or 2 marks, the only possible split of 40 questions and 50 marks is 10 two-mark and 30 one-mark (our inference). Last year it was 15 and 20.
Is there a sectional cut-off in the IBPS Clerk Mains?
Yes. IBPS requires a minimum score in each test and a minimum total.
Do Prelims marks count in the final merit?
No. Only the Mains counts, converted to a score out of 100.
Is there an interview for IBPS Clerk?
No. Allotment is on the Mains score; a local language test follows for those who need it.
When is the IBPS Clerk Mains 2026?
27 December 2026, according to the IBPS calendar; the notification says December 2026.
How many options does each question have?
Five, according to the CSA-XV handouts.
Has the Prelims pattern changed?
No. It is still 100 questions in 60 minutes: English 30, Numerical Ability 35 and Reasoning Ability 35, 20 minutes each.
More in this series
- IBPS Clerk 2026 vacancies: 11,663 and will they grow?
- Mains scores that got an IBPS Clerk seat, by state
- IBPS Clerk reserve list: how it works, state by state
- IBPS Clerk: choosing your state and the language rule
- IBPS Clerk vs SBI Clerk 2026
- IBPS Clerk notice board — official updates
- SBI Clerk 2026-27: two notifications
Sources
- official — IBPS — CRP CSA-XVI detailed notification (vacancies of 2027-28)
- official — IBPS — CRP CSA-XV detailed notification (re-issued 12.9.2025)
- official — IBPS — CSA-XV Mains information handout, revised (2025)
- official — IBPS — CSA-XV Prelims information handout (2025)
- official — IBPS — Tentative calendar of online examinations 2026-27
- official — IBPS — Normated standards for flagged cases of non-genuine scores (17.11.2025)
- official — IBPS — CSA-XVI corrigendum: registration extended to 28.08.2026
- official — SBI — Junior Associates detailed advertisement CRPD/CR/2026-27/17 (11.08.2026)
- reported — Career Power — IBPS Clerk page (reported; see the correction on section names)
official = a document published by the conducting body. reported = a news or coaching site we could not check against an original. Where sources disagree this page says so rather than picking one.
