IB ACIO previous year paper guide for Tier 1 and Tier 2

How the ACIO papers are laid out now

The interview carries another 100 marks. Tier 2 also has a qualifying floor; the latest notice set it at 17 of the 50 marks. For the topic by topic list, open the IB ACIO syllabus.

Tier 1 as seen in a recent IB ACIO previous year paper

The 2025 Tier 1 ran from 16 to 18 September in three shifts a day. Candidate based reviews called it easy to moderate, with general studies the hardest part. One morning shift was reported like this:

• Reasoning: mathematical operations (4 or 5), coding (3 or 4), blood relation (3), statement and conclusion (2), address matching and a few simplification style items. Most candidates found it the easiest part.
• English: a long passage with 7 or 8 questions, synonyms, narration, active and passive voice, para jumbles, spelling, idioms and one word substitution.
• General studies and current affairs: polity gave 3 or 4 questions, with others on constitutional amendments, wetlands, the budget and GDP, national awards and an ocean research mission.
• Numerical aptitude: arithmetic and data based questions rated easy to moderate.

Good attempts were estimated around 74 to 82 out of 100, which tells you that accuracy, not finishing every question, is the target.

The IB ACIO tier 2 previous year question paper and what changed

Descriptive papers from the previous recruitment cycle gave 30 marks to the essay and 20 to a combined passage and precis task. The latest notice cut the essay to 20 marks, kept a 10 mark comprehension, removed the precis, and brought in a pair of analytical questions worth 10 apiece covering current events, economics and socio political themes.

So an older descriptive paper is still good for essay and passage practice, but it will not prepare you for the long answers. For those, build short notes on internal security, foreign relations, the economy and social policy, and practise writing a 10 mark answer of about 150 to 200 words in ten minutes.

A routine that covers both tiers

1. Three Tier 1 sets a week: sit each one in a strict 60 minute window, and count your net score after the quarter mark deduction.
2. Two writing sessions a week: an essay against a 25 minute clock and a single long answer in 10, by hand, because Tier 2 is answered on paper rather than a screen.
3. General studies repair: after each set, note every polity, geography or economy question you missed, and go back to the matching NCERT chapter of class 9, 10, 11 or 12.
4. Current affairs daily: a single notebook that feeds the objective paper, your written answers and the interview alike.

Practice items in the ACIO style

We composed this set to echo recent ACIO question styles; no item is copied from an Intelligence Bureau paper.

1. Coding: If TIGER is coded as UJHFS, how is LION coded? Answer: MJPO, since every letter shifts by +1.
2. Numerical aptitude: Money left at simple interest becomes twice itself after 8 years. Find the annual rate. Answer: 12.5%.
3. English, voice: Change to passive: "The officer checked the documents." Answer: The documents were checked by the officer.
4. Polity: The election of India's President is covered by which Article? Answer: Article 54.
5. Tier 2 long answer prompt: "Explain, within roughly 150 words, two changes digital payments have brought to rural households."

Where to get official IB ACIO material

IB ACIO recruitment notices, results and lists of shortlisted candidates are published through the Ministry of Home Affairs website, mha.gov.in, under its recruitment notices. The Intelligence Bureau does not release the question papers themselves, so any ib acio previous year question paper you come across is a reconstruction from candidate memory. Use such sets for practice, and follow the official notice for the pattern.

Scores that earlier candidates needed are compiled in the IB ACIO cut off guide.

Other papers worth adding

The ACIO Tier 1 topic list sits close to the graduate level SSC exams, so SSC CGL previous papers give useful extra sets in reasoning, maths and English. For the descriptive tier, editorial reading and essay practice of the kind used for civil services helps; the UPSC previous papers guide shows how written answers are judged. More central recruitment pages are grouped under SSC and central exams.