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SBI PO syllabus and exam pattern (2026 cycle)
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The SBI PO exam has three phases. Phase I is a 100-question prelims for 100 marks in one hour (English 40 questions, Quantitative Aptitude 30, Reasoning 30). Phase II is a mains with 170 objective questions for 200 marks plus a 30-mark typed descriptive test. Phase III is a psychometric test, a group exercise and an interview. In the final merit list the mains counts for 75 and the group exercise plus interview for 25; prelims marks are not counted at all.
This page follows SBI's 2026-27 advertisement (CRPD/PO/2026-27/09, dated 18 June 2026) and its corrigendum of 1 July 2026. The 2026 advertisement has a different prelims split and descriptive test from older guides, so any guide that still says "Letter and Essay" or "English 30, Quant 35, Reasoning 35" is out of date. For the wider bank-exam picture, start from the bank exams guide.
SBI PO 2026 at a glance
| Item | SBI PO (2026-27 advertisement) |
|---|---|
| Conducting body | State Bank of India, Central Recruitment & Promotion Department (CRPD), Mumbai |
| Post | Probationary Officer, Junior Management Grade Scale I (JMGS-I) |
| Phase I | Prelims: 100 questions, 100 marks, 60 minutes |
| Phase II | Mains: 170 objective questions (200 marks, 3 hours) plus descriptive (30 marks, 30 minutes) |
| Phase III | Psychometric test, group exercise (20 marks) and interview (30 marks) |
| Final merit | Mains scaled to 75 plus group exercise and interview scaled to 25 |
| Negative marking | One-fourth of the marks assigned to a question, in prelims and mains |
| Application fee (2026) | ₹750 for General, EWS and OBC; nil for SC, ST and PwBD |
| Schedule in the advertisement | Prelims August, mains September, Phase III October to November 2026 (tentative) |
Phase I: the prelims
Each section has its own 20-minute timer, so you cannot carry spare minutes from one section to another.
| Section | Questions | Time |
|---|---|---|
| English Language | 40 | 20 minutes |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 30 | 20 minutes |
| Reasoning Ability | 30 | 20 minutes |
| Total | 100 (100 marks) | 60 minutes |
Three things to know about this phase:
- No sectional cut-off. The 2026 advertisement does not set a minimum for each section. Roughly ten times the number of vacancies in each category are shortlisted for the mains on the aggregate prelims score. A weak section can be offset by a strong one, but only if you still attempt every section properly.
- The split differs from older guides. English has 40 questions here, against 30 in older guides, while Quant and Reasoning have 30 each. English is 40% of the paper, so reading speed and grammar accuracy matter more than they did.
- Marks per section are not published. The advertisement states only the 100-mark total. Plan around the question counts.
The prelims is a screening round. Because its marks do not enter the final merit, the only job is to get through the shortlist with a comfortable margin.
Phase II: the mains
The objective mains has four tests and 170 questions for 200 marks. Marks are not equal across sections, which is why the time you give each one should not be equal either.
| Section | Questions | Marks | Time | Avg marks per question | Marks per minute |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reasoning & Computer Aptitude | 40 | 60 | 50 minutes | 1.5 | 1.2 |
| Data Analysis & Interpretation | 30 | 60 | 45 minutes | 2.0 | 1.3 |
| General Awareness, Economy and Banking Knowledge | 60 | 60 | 45 minutes | 1.0 | 1.3 |
| English Language | 40 | 20 | 40 minutes | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Objective total | 170 | 200 | 3 hours |
The last two columns are our arithmetic, not SBI's. The advertisement gives section totals, so read them as averages. They still show something useful: English is the section with the most questions per mark and the lowest return per minute, while Data Analysis & Interpretation pays about two marks a question. Treat English as an accuracy section you finish quickly, and spend your thinking time on reasoning and DI.
The descriptive test: Communication Skills
Right after the objective test you type three answers in 30 minutes for 30 marks:
| Question | What you do |
|---|---|
| Write one email, chosen from two scenarios | |
| Situation analysis | Analyse one situation, chosen from two |
| Report or précis | Write either a report or a précis (one of two options) |
The old Letter and Essay test, worth 50 marks, is gone. Formats, structures and practice outlines are in the descriptive writing guide.
How the mains is scored
- Sectional qualifying score. You must clear a minimum in each test, including the descriptive, and then the aggregate. Roughly three times the vacancies are shortlisted for Phase III on the aggregate.
- Negative marking. A wrong answer costs one-fourth of that question's marks, so a wrong answer in DI, where questions average two marks, costs more than one in general awareness, where they average one.
- 230 marks in total. The 200 objective marks and 30 descriptive marks together are the mains score that gets scaled to 75.
Phase III and the final merit list
The psychometric test profiles your personality, and SBI places the findings before the interview panel. The group exercise carries 20 marks and the interview 30, so 50 in all. You must qualify in Phase II and Phase III separately.
Final merit uses only two numbers: the mains (out of 230) scaled to 75, and the group exercise plus interview (out of 50) scaled to 25.
| Example candidate | Raw marks | Scaled |
|---|---|---|
| Mains | 140 of 230 | 45.65 of 75 |
| Group exercise + interview | 36 of 50 | 18.00 of 25 |
| Final merit score | 63.65 of 100 |
The example assumes simple proportional scaling; SBI calls its method normalisation, so the real conversion is SBI's. It does show the weighting. Ten extra mains marks add about 3.3 to your final score, while ten extra marks in the group exercise and interview add 5. How to prepare for that last stage is in the bank PO interview guide.
Topic-level syllabus
SBI publishes section names, not topic lists. The topics below are the ones that consistently appear in sample questions and prep material; treat them as commonly tested areas, not an official syllabus.
| Section | Commonly tested topics |
|---|---|
| Reasoning (prelims and mains) | Seating arrangement (linear, circular, box), puzzles, syllogism, inequalities, blood relations, direction sense, coding-decoding, order and ranking; mains adds input-output, data sufficiency and logical reasoning such as assumptions and inferences |
| Computer aptitude (mains) | Computer fundamentals, hardware and software, operating systems, MS Office, networking, internet, security |
| Quantitative Aptitude (prelims) | Simplification and approximation, number series, quadratic equations, data interpretation, arithmetic (percentage, ratio, average, profit and loss, SI and CI, time and work, speed-distance, mixtures, ages, mensuration, probability) |
| Data Analysis & Interpretation (mains) | Table, bar, line and pie sets, mixed graphs, caselets, missing-data DI, data sufficiency, quantity comparison |
| English (prelims and mains) | Reading comprehension, cloze test, error spotting, sentence improvement, para jumbles, fillers, vocabulary |
| General Awareness, Economy, Banking (mains) | Current affairs of the last four to six months, banking terms, RBI and monetary policy, financial awareness, Union Budget and Economic Survey, government schemes, static GK |
Section-by-section preparation is on the reasoning, English, data interpretation, banking awareness and computer aptitude pages. Keep computer aptitude on your list: it is still a scored part of SBI's mains, unlike in the IBPS PO mains.
Eligibility in brief
| Point | SBI PO 2026 |
|---|---|
| Age | 21 to 30 years as on 1 April 2026 (born between 2 April 1996 and 1 April 2005) |
| Relaxation | OBC 3 years, SC/ST 5 years, PwBD 10 / 13 / 15 years (General-EWS / OBC / SC-ST), ex-servicemen and commissioned officers with 5 years' service 5 years; relaxations are not cumulative |
| Education | Graduation in any discipline by 30 September 2026; final-year or final-semester students can apply provisionally |
| Attempts | 6 for General and EWS; 9 for OBC and for PwBD in General, EWS and OBC; no limit for SC and ST. Only a mains appearance counts as an attempt |
| Credit history | The CIBIL clause was removed by the corrigendum of 1 July 2026 |
SBI's minimum age is 21, a year higher than IBPS PO, and its attempt limits are the main eligibility difference. The full comparison is on the bank exam eligibility page.
Pay for the 2026 cycle starts at a basic of ₹48,480 plus four advance increments, in a JMGS-I scale. The advertisement quotes an approximate cost-to-company of ₹21.97 lakh at Mumbai, and there is a service bond of ₹2 lakh for three years with two years of probation. Check the current advertisement for these figures each cycle.
Using the syllabus with PrepMatic
PrepMatic's free assessment (about 15 multiple-choice questions, no timer) shows your weakest and strongest subjects across Quant, Reasoning and English. The study plan then spreads the syllabus across your exam date, daily hours and study days. You can build custom mocks by choosing subjects, number of questions, duration and difficulty, for instance 30 questions in 20 minutes to rehearse a sectional timer, and focus them on your weak subjects. PrepMatic's practice is objective: it does not evaluate descriptive answers, so email and report practice needs a different method.
Frequently asked questions
What is the SBI PO prelims pattern for 2026?
The prelims has 100 questions for 100 marks in 60 minutes: English 40, Quantitative Aptitude 30 and Reasoning 30, each timed for 20 minutes. Wrong answers lose one-fourth of the marks assigned to the question.
Is there a sectional cut-off in SBI PO prelims?
The 2026 advertisement does not set one. Candidates are shortlisted on the aggregate score, at roughly ten times the vacancies per category. The mains does have sectional qualifying scores.
Does the prelims score count in the final SBI PO selection?
No. Final merit uses the mains score scaled to 75 and the group exercise plus interview scaled to 25. The prelims only decides who reaches the mains.
Is the SBI PO descriptive test typed or handwritten?
It is typed on the computer, right after the objective mains test. It has three questions for 30 marks in 30 minutes: an email, a situation analysis, and a report or précis.
Do final-year students qualify to apply for SBI PO?
Yes. The 2026 advertisement allows final-year and final-semester students to apply provisionally, provided they show proof of passing the degree by 30 September 2026. IBPS PO is stricter and needs you to be a graduate on the registration date.
How many attempts does SBI PO allow?
General and EWS candidates get 6 attempts, OBC candidates and PwBD candidates in the General, EWS and OBC categories get 9, and SC and ST candidates have no limit. Appearing only in the prelims does not use up an attempt.
Official sources
- SBI careers: current openings: the live advertisement, notices and call letters.
- SBI PO 2026-27 detailed advertisement (18 June 2026): pattern, eligibility, pay and schedule.
- SBI PO 2026 corrigendum (1 July 2026): removal of the CIBIL clause.
SBI can change the pattern between cycles. Confirm every detail in the latest advertisement before you rely on this page.
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Start free assessment →Free forever plan · No credit card · 2-minute setupRelated guides
- SBI PO preparation strategyHow to prepare for SBI PO: what differs from IBPS PO, a 24-week plan, mains-level DI and reasoning, the new descriptive test, and interview prep.
- Descriptive writingDescriptive writing for bank exams: SBI PO's email, situation analysis, report or précis and IBPS PO's essay, with structures, outlines and typing practice.
- Bank PO interviewBank PO interview guide: IBPS and SBI marks and weightage, the Personality Test and Group Exercise, question themes, documents and a three-week plan.
- IBPS PO syllabusIBPS PO syllabus and pattern for the 2026 cycle: prelims and mains tables, descriptive test, Personality Test, interview weightage and commonly tested topics.
- Bank exam eligibilityBank exam eligibility for IBPS, SBI and RBI: age limits and relaxations, graduation rules for final-year students, attempt limits and local-language tests.
- Reasoning abilityReasoning for bank exams: marks and time in IBPS, SBI, RRB and RBI papers, commonly tested topics, step-by-step methods with checked worked examples.