IBPS PO Cut Offs From the Last Five Years: The Safe Score to Target in Prelims and Mains

Every year, banking aspirants ask the same question in the weeks after the IBPS PO prelims: what will the cut off be this time? It is an understandable question, but it is the wrong one to build a preparation plan around. A cut off is only the score of the last candidate called to the next stage. It is published after the exam, when nothing can be changed. What you can use, long before you sit for the paper, is the range in which cut offs have actually moved over recent years, and a training target set safely above that range.

What the last five years show

As reported by PracticeMock, the 2025 IBPS PO prelims cut off for the general category was 49.21, and across the last five years the prelims cut off for the general category has moved inside a fairly narrow band, roughly 46.75 to 54.25. That narrow band carries two useful lessons. First, the exam is consistently competitive: the cut off never collapses to a low level, even in a difficult year. Second, the difference between selection and rejection is usually a handful of marks. A small improvement in accuracy, repeated across sections, is often what moves a candidate from just below the line to safely above it.

Why the cut off itself is the wrong target

Cut offs move because the paper, the number of vacancies and the performance of lakhs of candidates move. Your exam also runs in multiple shifts, and scores are normalised across those shifts, so the raw marks you score are not the final marks you are judged on. If you prepare to reach only the expected cut off, you leave yourself no margin for a tough shift, a weak section or a bad ten minutes. Candidates who clear prelims comfortably are rarely the ones who aimed at the line. They aimed well past it, and the line took care of itself.

The safe score to train for

A practical rule is to set your training target above the top of the five year band, not above its average. If general category cut offs have peaked at 54.25 in five years, your mock test scores should sit clearly above that level before you walk into the exam hall, with a buffer of several marks for normalisation and nerves. Build that buffer the boring way:

• Take full mock tests in one sitting, at the same time of day as your real exam slot.
• Keep an error log and separate silly mistakes from concept gaps; they need different fixes.
• Value accuracy over raw attempts, because a smaller number of correct answers beats a larger number of guesses.
• Revise your weakest section every week instead of repeating the section you already enjoy.

Do not forget the mains descriptive paper

Prelims only decides who reaches the mains. The mains decides merit, and its descriptive paper rewards a skill that objective practice never builds: writing a clear, structured essay under time pressure. This is where an essay library earns its place in a banking aspirant's routine. ZidPrep holds original study essays in English, Hindi and Bengali, written topic by topic. Reading and imitating well built essays trains exactly what the descriptive paper marks: a clean introduction, ordered arguments and a conclusion that actually concludes. Twenty minutes of essay practice a day, sustained over months, is a quiet advantage most candidates never give themselves.

Cut offs will keep moving inside their band, and nobody can tell you this year's number in advance. What you control is the score you train for. Aim above the band, protect your accuracy, and keep writing. The cut off then becomes a formality, not a fear.