IBPS SO cut off is the minimum marks or rank that an aspirant must secure to qualify the exam and get recruited for individual special posts in various departments like Sales Officer, HR/Personnel or Management Officer, Field Officer, Marketing Officer, Law Officer, IT Officer, etc. in participating banks across India.
The cut off list will be available on the official IBPS website in PDF format. Upon its release, candidates can download the cut off list and check their scores. Candidates who qualify in all the stages of IBPS SO exam (Prelims, Mains and Interview) as per the cutoff will be offered recruitment amongst the 11 participating banks in India.
The IBPS SO cutoff marks will be released in both post-wise and category-wise format. In this article, Buddy4Study team has compiled the previous years’ IBPS SO cutoff marks along with the expected cut-offs for the year 2021.
Candidates seeking more information on IBPS SO cutoff must go through this article thoroughly.
IBPS SO Cut Off – Important Dates
Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) will release the IBPS SO cut off marks for the year 2019-20 once the exams are completed. The exam authority will release this year’s cutoff on the official IBPS website.
IBPS SO Cutoff Schedule 2021
| Events | Important Dates* |
| IBPS SO notification release | October 2021 |
| Starting of IBPS SO online application process | October 2021 |
| Last date to apply online | November 2021 |
| IBPS SO Prelims admit card | December 2021 |
| IBPS SO Mains admit card | January 2022 |
| IBPS SO exam date – Prelims | 18th December 2021 26th December 2021 |
| IBPS SO exam date – Mains | 30th January 2022 |
| IBPS SO Mains result date | February 2022 |
| Interview | February/ March 2021 |
| Provisional Allotment | April 2022 |
*Tentative Dates
Check the important dates for the IBPS SO 2020-21 exam. The exam is not over yet.
| IBPS SO 2020-21 Events | Dates |
| IBPS SO Mains Exam | 24th January 2021 |
| Mains Exam Result | 4th February 2021 |
| Conduct of Interview | February 2021 |
| IBPS SO 2020-21 Final Result | April 2021 |
Stages of IBPS SO Cut Off
As per the IBPS SO notification, there will be three stages of IBPS SO exam and selection, based on the marks of which (obtained) candidates can secure a post amongst the Selection Officer’s available positions.
A cut off list will be released after each of the following 3 stages of IBPS SO:
- IBPS SO – Prelims
- IBPS SO – Mains
- Interview Round
Participating Banks for IBPS SO 2021
This year (2021), 11 banks will be participating in the IBPS SO exam 2020-21.
- Canara Bank
- UCO Bank
- Bank of Maharashtra
- Punjab National Bank
- Bank of India
- Indian Overseas Bank
- Bank of Baroda
- Central Bank of India
- Union Bank of India
- Indian Bank
- Punjab & Sind Bank
Factors Determining IBPS SO Cutoff
Several factors determine the IBPS SO cutoff. A list of all such factors is given below.
- Number of vacancies released
- Number of candidates appearing in the exam
- Previous year’s cut off
- Difficulty level of exam
How to Check the IBPS SO Cut Off 2021?
To check the cut off marks for the IBPS Specialist Officer exam, candidates need to follow the below steps:
- Visit the official IBPS website (https://www.ibps.in/)
- Click on the “IBPS SO cut off” link displayed among a set of notifications at the top of the homepage
- Enter the login credentials that are sent to the candidate’s registered email address and contact number at the time of registration. Enter the exact Registration Number/Roll Number and Date of Birth/Password in the required fields
- The scorecard will be displayed on the screen which will include the obtained section-wise marks, overall cut off and the final marks scored
Note: The shortlisted candidates must keep the copy of the IBPS SO score card with them until the final list of shortlisted candidates is released.
IBPS SO Cut Off – Qualifying Marks in Interview
Candidates who qualify the IBPS SO Mains exam (as per the cutoff released) will be shortlisted for IBPS SO interview round. Candidates must know that IBPS SO prelims marks are not considered for the Interview round. IBPS announces the Interview Result for IBPS SO along with the Final Merit List.
Candidates will find below the required qualifying marks to get shortlisted in the interview round.
| Total marks allotted for IBPS SO Interview | 100 | |
| Minimum qualifying marks in Interview | For General category candidates | 40% i.e., 40 marks |
| (For SC/ST/OBC/PWD candidates | 35% i.e., 35 marks | |
How is IBPS SO Cut Off Calculated?
The IBPS exam authority calculates the cut off marks with the help of previous years’ IBPS SO exam results. At Buddy4Study, there are remarkable exam experts who keep track of the changing trends in topics asked in previous exams and their weightage and publish an expected cut off score that is exceptionally near the final cut off marks.
IBPS SO Cut Off – Score Calculation
RAW SCORE
The score in the IBPS SO Prelims exam is calculated based on the raw scores. Raw score is the marks obtained by the candidate in the primary stage. IBPS SO exam comprises questions carrying 1 mark each. For every wrong answer, 0.25 mark is deducted.
For example, a candidate attempts 80 questions in total in the Prelims exam. Among them, 12 are incorrect answers. In this case, the Raw Score will be calculated as:
80 – 12 – (1/4 * 12)
80 – 12 – 3 = 65
Here, 65 is the raw score.
FINAL SCORE
The final score is calculated as a combined score. The score calculation is based on the candidate’s score in Mains (out of 100 marks) and marks obtained in the Interview round (out of 100 marks). The weightage of marks given to the IBPS SO Mains and Interview is calculated following an 80:20 ratio.
The marks obtained by candidates in the Mains exam (out of 100) is converted to 80 marks. Similarly, the marks obtained in the Interview round is converted to 20 marks. Finally, IBPS SO cut off score for the provisional allotment is calculated out of a total of 100 marks (Mains score out of 80 + interview score out of 20) (80:20) and eliminating inter-se-merit (ties) based on the date of birth.
Formula – Total Score for Final Allotment = {[Marks Obtained in Mains Exam / 100] x 80} + {[Marks Obtained in Interview / 100] x 20}
For example – If a candidate has obtained 80 marks in the Mains exam (out of 100) and 70 marks in the interview (out of 100), the calculated allotment score will be:
[(80/100)x80] + [(70/100) x 20]
64 + 14 = 78
Here, 78 will be considered as the final allotment score.
IBPS SO Cut Off – Details on Scorecard
The IBPS SO scorecard contains sections, overall score and candidate’s qualifying status. Candidates need to cross-check and verify if all the below details are correctly present on the scorecard or not:
- Marks obtained in individual sections
- Maximum Aggregate Marks
- Cutoff Score for Provisional shortlisting
- Name of candidate
- Category
- Roll Number
- Registration Number
- Post Applied for (by the candidate)
IBPS SO Cut Off – Normalization of Scores
The difficulty level of IBPS SO question papers differs for each session. The exam conducting authority of IBPS follows a normalisation process to maintain fairness and equality among all the test takers. This procedure is established for comparing the score and merit of the test takers who have taken the test in different sessions.
The process of normalisation of marks:
- IBPS uses the equi-percentile technique to get the corrected scores secured by the candidates in the Prelims and Mains exam. This is done via the normalization process for calculating IBPS SO Result 2021.
- Scores up to two decimal points are usually taken to calculate the marks.
- The obtained score will be considered to shortlist candidates for next round (Mains and Interview).
- IBPS has adopted a prefixed formula to calculate the normalized marks. This formula is also known as Normalized Marks Calculator.
For example –
- A candidate gets 142 marks in the 1st shift.
- The Average marks of top 0.1% candidates in all sessions = 191
- Sum of Mean and SD (cut-off) for all sessions = 131
- Average marks of top 0.1% candidates in that day’s 1st shift = 185
- Sum of Mean and SD (which is basically a cut-off) for that particular day’s 1st session = 129
- Normalization marks = (60/56) (13) + 129 = 142.92
Expected IBPS SO Cut Off 2021
Team Buddy4Study has dedicated hours to accumulate and create an expected IBPS SO cut off 2021 marks based on the marks of IBPS SO cut off 2020-21 session.
Provisional Allotment 2020
Reserve List 2020-21
IBPS SO Prelims Cut Off 2021 (expected)
| Sections | Expected Cut off marks | Maximum Marks |
| English | 93.5 – 11 | 25 |
| General Awareness | 13 – 15 | 50 |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 12 – 13 | 50 |
| Logical Reasoning | 12 – 13 | 50 |
IBPS SO Cutoff – Post wise and Category-wise (Previous Years’)
To know the cutoff estimate in 2021, candidates must check the previous years’ cut off trends. We have mentioned the cutoff marks of 2019 and 2018 in the table below:
IBPS SO Cut off 2019 Prelims (Category Wise)
| Category | Cutoff Marks |
| General (Gen) | 81.50 |
| Other Backward Classes (OBC) | 79.50 |
| Scheduled Cast (SC) | 73.25 |
| Orthopaedically Challenged (OC) | 71.25 |
| Scheduled Tribe (ST) | 64.50 |
| Visually Impaired (VI) | 57.38 |
| Intellectual Disability (ID) | 45.38 |
| Hearing Impaired (HI) | 28.13 |
IBPS SO Cutoff 2019 for Prelims (Sectional Cutoffs)
| Section | Maximum Marks | General | SC/ST/OBC/PWD |
| Reasoning | 50 | 13.50 | 8.75 |
| General Awareness/Quantitative Aptitude | 50 | 11.50 | 7.50 |
| English | 25 | 9.50 | 6.75 |
IBPS SO Cutoff 2019 for Prelims (Post-Wise)
| Officers
(Scale-I) |
Name of the Test | Maximum Marks | Cut Off Scores | |
| EWS/General | EWS/General | |||
| Agriculture Field Officer | Professional Knowledge | 60 | 21.75 | 25.50 |
| Rajbhasha Adhikari | Professional Knowledge (Objective) | 60 | 21.25 | 24.75 |
| Professional Knowledge (Descriptive) | ||||
| Marketing Officer | Professional Knowledge | 60 | 19.75 | 22.75 |
| HR/Personnel Officer | Professional Knowledge | 60 | 15.75 | 20.00 |
| Law Officer | Professional Knowledge | 60 | 15.25 | 19.25 |
| I.T. Officer | Professional Knowledge | 60 | 9.25 | 13.25 |
IBPS SO Cut Off Marks 2019 – Mains
| IBPS SO Posts (Scale I) | Category Wise Cut Offs | |
| SC/ST/OBC/PWD | EWS/General | |
| I.T. Officer | 9.25 | 13.25 |
| Agriculture Field Officer | 21.75 | 25.50 |
| Rajbhasha Adhikari | 21.25 | 24.75 |
| HR/Personnel Officer | 15.75 | 20.00 |
| Marketing Officer | 19.75 | 22.75 |
| Law Officers | 15.25 | 19.25 |
IBPS SO Final Cutoff for Provisional Allotment 2019
| Post Scale 1 | SC | ST | OBC | EWS | UR | HI | OC | VI | ID |
| Agricultural Officer | 70.33 | 65.80 | 76.53 | 68.67 | 82.00 | 74.00 | 64.67 | 62.33 | NA |
| Rajbhasa Adhikari | 63.67 | 55.40 | 62.40 | 58.33 | 70.00 | NA | 41.67 | 57.27 | 40.27 |
| Marketing Officer | 63.40 | 60.40 | 71.87 | 59.00 | 72.13 | 49.33 | 58.67 | 55.00 | 41.53 |
| HR/Personnel Officer | 61.67 | 57.67 | 63.67 | 66.00 | 77.27 | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Law Officer | 61.27 | 49.00 | 57.67 | 55.33 | 75.00 | NA | 54.33 | 45.00 | NA |
| IT Officer | 57.67 | 55.00 | 49.00 | 47.07 | 64.07 | 43.67 | 45.53 | 49.00 | 37.33 |
Minimum Scores Secured by Candidates from Different Categories 2019
| Post Scale 1 | SC | ST | OBC | EWS | UR | HI | OC | VI | ID |
| IT officer | NA | NA | NA | NA | 34.13 | 23.33 | NA | NA | NA |
| Agricultural Field officer | 55.93 | 53.00 | 63.67 | 62.27 | 63.80 | 54.33 | 54.33 | 50.80 | NA |
| Rajbhasha Adhikari | 49.60 | 40.60 | 55.60 | 55.60 | 57.20 | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Law officer | 44.00 | 35.93 | 45.67 | 45.67 | 53.13 | NA | 35.33 | NA | NA |
| HR/Personnel Officer | 34.33 | NA | 43.00 | 49.07 | 58.60 | NA | 37.27 | 40.67 | NA |
| Marketing officer | NA | NA | NA | NA | 50.73 | NA | 40.00 | NA | NA |
IBPS SO Cutoffs 2018
Candidates will find below the cut offs for IBPS SO Prelims, Mains and Provisional Allotment Scores.
IBPS SO Prelims Cut offs 2018
| IBPS SO Prelims Subjects | General | SC/ST/OBC/PwD |
| General Awareness / Quantitative Aptitude | 16.75 | 11.50 |
| Reasoning | 15.25 | 10 |
| English | 4.75 | 2.50 |
IBPS SO Mains Cut offs 2018 (Category Wise)
| Category | Cutoff Marks |
| General (Gen) | 89.88 |
| Other Backward Classes (OBC) | 87.50 |
| Orthopaedically Challenged (OC) | 83.38 |
| Scheduled Cast (SC) | 81.25 |
| Scheduled Tribe (ST) | 70 |
| Visually Impaired (VI) | 70 |
| Intellectual Disability (ID) | 48.25 |
| Hearing Impaired (HI) | 49 |
IBPS SO Provisional Allotment Scores 2018
| IBPS SO Posts | UR | OBC | SC | ST | VI | OC | HI |
| I.T. Officer (Scale – I) | 60.00 | NA | 52.53 | NA | 55.67 | NA | NA |
| Agriculture Field Officer (Scale -I) | NA | NA | NA | 41.53 | NA | NA | NA |
| Rajbhasha Adhikari (Scale -I) | 59.33 | 61.00 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Law Officer (Scale -I) | NA | NA | 53.47 | 52.13 | NA | NA | NA |
| H.R/Personnel Officer (Scale -I) | 65.13 | NA | 57.33 | NA | NA | 53.33 | NA |
| Marketing Officer (Scale -I) | 59.33 | 54.27 | 51.60 | 46.73 | NA | NA | NA |
IBPS SO Cut Off – FAQs
Are there any fixed number of attempts for IBPS SO exam?
No. A candidate can apply for as long as he/she is eligible for the exam.
Is the IBPS SO cut off the same every year?
No. IBPS SO cut off varies as per the difficulty level of the exam and the number of appeared candidates.
Where will the IBPS SO cut off be announced?
IBPS SO cut off will be announced on the official IBPS website. Candidates have to click on the scorecard link available on the homepage. After being redirected to the login page, candidates have to enter their credentials to finally check the cutoff list.
Is there a sectional cut off for IBPS SO exam?
Yes. Only the candidates who manage to score equal or more than the minimum qualifying marks overall and section-wise shall qualify the examination.
What are the educational qualifications to apply for the IBPS SO exam?
The educational qualification for IBPS SO exam varies for different posts. Candidates can check the IBPS SO Eligibility Criteria (exam.buddy4study.com/ibps-so-eligibility-criteria) to know the required educational qualification.
