NICL AO Cut Off 2026: Previous Year Phase I and II

The NICL AO cut off 2026 will not be known until after the exams, so aspirants use earlier cycles as a benchmark. National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) is recruiting 321 Administrative Officers this year: the Phase I online exam is on 17 November 2026 and Phase II on 22 December 2026. NICL has not released any 2026 cut-off yet.

This page collects the most recent Phase I and Phase II cut-offs for the Generalist stream, explains how sectional and overall cut-offs work and shows how to turn the numbers into a target score. The cut-offs below were reported after the 2024 and 2025 cycles; verify them against the notices on the official NICL website when you can, and treat them as benchmarks rather than predictions.

Table of Contents

• NICL AO Cut Off at a Glance

• How NICL AO Cut-offs Work

• NICL AO Phase I Cut Off (Previous Years)

• NICL AO Phase I Sectional Cut Off

• NICL AO Phase II Cut Off (Previous Years)

• Specialist Cut-offs

• What Affects the Cut Off

• How to Set Your Target Score

NICL AO Cut Off at a Glance

Tentative: the 2025 and 2024 figures are as reported after those cycles. The 2025 Phase II cut-off is not included here because it could not be verified.

How NICL AO Cut-offs Work

NICL sets minimum scores at two levels in each phase. A candidate must clear both to move ahead.

• Sectional cut-off: a minimum score in each section, such as English Language or Reasoning Ability. A high total does not make up for a section below its minimum.

• Overall cut-off: a minimum total, set separately for each discipline and category.

• Shortlisting ratio: about 15 times the vacancies in each discipline and category are called for Phase II, subject to availability.

• Phase I is qualifying only: its marks do not count in the final merit list.

• Final merit: Phase II objective marks and Interview marks in an 80:20 ratio. The Descriptive Test is qualifying only.

The section-wise structure behind these numbers is on the NICL AO exam pattern page.

NICL AO Phase I Cut Off (Previous Years)

Phase I is out of 100 marks. The table shows the Generalist overall cut-offs as reported for the last two cycles.

The 2025 cut-off for the unreserved category fell by nearly nine marks from 2024. A fall of that size can point to a harder paper rather than weaker candidates, which is why the number should be read together with the difficulty of the exam. Also note that the 2024 cut-off was almost identical for UR, EWS and OBC, while 2025 shows a small gap between them.

NICL AO Phase I Sectional Cut Off

The Generalist sectional minimums reported for the last two cycles are below. They differ for reserved and unreserved groups. These figures come from a third-party compilation of NICL results, so treat them as indicative.

English has carried the highest sectional bar in both years: for the unreserved group it was above half the section's marks. Reasoning and Quant minimums were lower, but a candidate still needs them on top of the overall score.

NICL AO Phase II Cut Off (Previous Years)

Phase II is out of 250 for the objective paper. The Generalist figures reported for 2024 are below.

A UR cut-off of 141 means roughly 56 percent of the 250 marks. After negative marking of 0.25 per wrong answer, that needs high accuracy across five sections rather than a strong score in one. Phase II 2025 figures should be taken from the official result notice if you need them.

Specialist Cut-offs

Specialist cut-offs are lower than Generalist cut-offs in Phase I and vary widely by discipline, because the applicant pool for each stream is much smaller. In the 2024 Phase II, reported unreserved cut-offs for Legal, Finance and IT streams were close to 120 to 124 marks out of 250, against 141 for Generalists. These are indicative only. This year's Specialist streams include new disciplines (Risk Engineers, Company Secretaries and Agriculture) that have no earlier NICL cut-off, so no benchmark exists for them.

What Affects the Cut Off

• Paper difficulty: a harder Phase I pushes the cut-off down, as 2025 showed.

• Number of vacancies: this year has 321 tentative posts, which can be revised.

• Applicants who appear: a larger pool raises the competition at the shortlisting line.

• Category and discipline: cut-offs are set separately for each combination.

How to Set Your Target Score

Aim for a margin of at least 5 to 8 marks above the previous year's UR figure, not a bare pass. For Phase I that means a target near 78 to 85 out of 100 if you want a safe buffer over the higher 2024 mark. The steps below make the target usable.

1. Set a section-wise target: for example 20 in English, 24 in Reasoning and 24 in Quant, clearing each sectional minimum with room to spare.

2. Take a timed mock with the 20-minute section limits and note attempts, correct answers and wrong answers for each section.

3. Compare the net score (correct minus one-fourth of wrong) with your target. If accuracy is below 80 percent, cut attempts.

4. Repeat every two or three days and track the trend, not a single score