Banking · State Bank of India (SBI)
SBI PO — State Bank of India — Probationary Officer recruitment
The complete SBI PO blueprint: tier-wise pattern, topic weightage from previous-year analyses, and free chapter-by-chapter study material.
5 subjects230 Mains marks (200 objective + 30 descriptive)4 stages: Prelims · Mains · Group Exercise & Interview Free · tutor-verified
SBI PO at a glance
Conducted byState Bank of India (SBI)
CycleOnce a year — exact notification/exam months shift cycle to cycle; check sbi.co.in/web/careers for the current cycle's dates
ModeOnline CBT — Prelims + Mains objective + Mains descriptive (typed, English only), followed by an in-person Group Exercise & Interview
EligibilityBachelor's degree in any discipline; age 21–30 as of the cycle's cut-off date (upper age relaxation for reserved categories)
LanguagesEnglish & Hindi in every objective section except the English Language paper
Pay bandJMGS Scale-I — basic ₹48,480/month (4 advance increments for a fresh graduate); gross CTC approx. ₹21.97 lakh/year with DA, HRA, CCA and other allowances
Posts you can get
Probationary Officer → Assistant Manager (JMGS Scale-I)State Bank of India — India's largest public-sector bank by branch network and assetsSingle-employer exam — every selected candidate joins SBI itself, unlike IBPS PO's 11-bank pool~1,500 vacancies in a typical annual cycle (regular + backlog combined)
⚡ What changed recently
- SBI PO's descriptive test is structured differently from IBPS PO's: 3 tasks — Email Writing (10 marks), Situation Analysis (10 marks), and a choice of Report Writing OR Precis Writing (10 marks) — for 30 marks total in 30 minutes, versus IBPS PO's simpler 25-mark Essay + Comprehension.
- Phase III is more than a plain interview: a Psychometric Test, a Group Exercise (20 marks — group discussion/analysis on a given topic, judged by an observer panel) and an Interview (30 marks) together make up the 50 Phase III marks.
- Final selection uses NORMALISED scores, not a raw sum: Mains' 230 raw marks convert to 75 points and Phase III's 50 raw marks convert to 25 points, for a final score out of 100 — a materially different formula from IBPS PO's straight 80%/20% split of raw marks.
- SBI PO's Prelims is widely regarded as the toughest among banking prelims — more complex puzzle sets, heavier calculation-driven DI and subtler English than IBPS PO's Prelims, even though both share the same 100-question, 3-section, sectional-locked format.
How SBI PO selection works
Know what each stage is for before you spend a single hour preparing.
QUALIFYING SCREEN
Prelims
100 questions · 100 marks · 60 min with 20-min sectional locks (English 30, Reasoning 35, Quantitative Aptitude 35). Clear each section's cut-off AND the overall cut-off to reach Mains — these marks are then discarded, not carried forward.
CONVERTS TO 75 OF THE FINAL 100 POINTS
Mains — Objective + Descriptive
170 objective questions (200 marks, 3 hours across 4 sectional-locked sections) plus a 30-mark, 30-minute descriptive test (Email, Situation Analysis, Report/Precis). The combined 230 raw marks are normalised to 75 points of the final score.
CONVERTS TO THE REMAINING 25 POINTS
Phase III — Psychometric Test, Group Exercise & Interview
Mains-qualified candidates sit a Psychometric Test (non-scoring, used as an input), a Group Exercise (20 marks) and an Interview (30 marks). The 50 raw Phase III marks are normalised to 25 points, combined with Mains' 75 for a final score out of 100.
The exam pattern, tier by tier
Marks, timing and negative marking exactly as per the official notification.
Preliminary Exam (Phase 1)
Qualifying only100 marks · 100 Q
60 min (20 min per section, locked) · −0.25 per wrong answer
| Section | Questions | Marks | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| English Language | 30 | 30 | 20 min |
| Reasoning Ability | 35 | 35 | 20 min |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 35 | 35 | 20 min |
💡 Each of the three sections is a separate 20-minute sprint with no time borrowing between them. Considered the hardest banking Prelims paper by difficulty, even though the format matches IBPS PO's.
Main Exam — Objective (Phase 2)
Merit — feeds the 75-point normalised Mains score200 marks · 170 Q
3 hours (each section separately timed) · −0.25 per wrong answer
| Section | Questions | Marks | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reasoning & Computer Aptitude | 40 | 60 | 50 min |
| Data Analysis & Interpretation | 30 | 60 | 45 min |
| General/Economy/Banking Awareness | 60 | 60 | 45 min |
| English Language | 40 | 20 | 40 min |
💡 Reasoning & Computer Aptitude, Data Analysis & Interpretation and General/Economy/Banking Awareness are each worth 60 marks — 90% of the objective paper; English objective is down-weighted to 20.
Main Exam — Descriptive Test (Phase 2)
Merit — the remaining 30 Mains marks30 marks · 3 tasks Q
30 min (typed, English only) · No negative marking
Official syllabus units
- Email Writing (10 marks) — a professional email on a given banking/workplace scenario
- Situation Analysis (10 marks) — analyse a short scenario and propose a structured response
- Report Writing OR Precis Writing (10 marks, candidate's choice) — summarise or structure a longer passage of information
- Marked on content, structure, grammar and word limit, exactly like IBPS PO's descriptive test, but across 3 shorter tasks rather than 2 longer ones
💡 30 marks feed straight into the same 230-mark Mains total that converts to 75 of the final 100 points — a task many candidates under-prepare relative to its actual weight.
Phase III — Psychometric Test, Group Exercise & Interview
Merit — normalised to 25 of the final 100 points50 marks · — Q
Psychometric test + ~15-20 min Group Exercise + ~15-20 min Interview · No minimum sectional qualifying score published; SBI sets its own overall Phase III threshold
Official syllabus units
- Group Exercise (20 marks) — 8-12 candidates discuss and analyse a given topic (often current-affairs or banking-related) for 15-20 minutes, judged by an observer panel on initiative, clarity and teamwork
- Interview (30 marks) — banking/financial awareness, motivation for a banking career, academic and work background, and a general personality/situational-judgement round
- Psychometric Test — a non-scoring input used alongside the interview panel's assessment, not a pass/fail hurdle on its own
💡 Final score = (Mains 230 marks normalised to 75) + (Phase III 50 marks normalised to 25), out of 100 — a materially different formula from IBPS PO's straight 80/20 raw-marks split.
Where your final SBI PO score comes from
SBI PO Prelims is qualifying only — clear the cut-offs and its marks are then discarded. Mains (170 objective questions for 200 marks + a 30-mark descriptive test) and Phase III (a Group Exercise + Interview worth 50 marks) are each normalised onto a fixed scale and combined: Mains contributes 75 of the final 100 points, Phase III the remaining 25. Here is how the 230 Mains marks split — click any block to open its chapters:
Reasoning & Computer Aptitude60 marks · 26%
40 questions, 50 minutes. Puzzles & seating carry the heaviest single share, exactly as in IBPS PO, but SBI PO's puzzles run noticeably more complex.
Data Analysis & Interpretation60 marks · 26%
30 questions in 45 minutes — fewer questions than IBPS PO's DI section but the same 60 marks, meaning each question is worth more and typically demands heavier calculation.
General/Economy/Banking Awareness60 marks · 26%
60 questions in 45 minutes — the largest single question count on the paper, and zero-calculation recall exactly like IBPS PO's equivalent section.
English (objective 20 + descriptive 30)50 marks · 22%
Objective English is down-weighted to 20, but the 30-mark descriptive test (Email, Situation Analysis, Report/Precis) keeps overall English worth 50 of the 230 Mains marks.
Subjects in SBI PO
Chapter-by-chapter study material built to the exam's own blueprint.
Topic-wise weightage — what to study first
Question counts per topic, distilled from previous-year paper analyses. Click any topic with a link to open its full chapter.
| Topic | Prelims Q | Mains Q | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Puzzles & Seating Arrangement (linear, circular, floor, box, scheduling) | 18–22 | Very high | |
| Syllogism | 3–4 | High | |
| Inequality (direct & coded) | 3–4 | High | |
| Coding–Decoding | 4–5 | High | |
| Blood Relations | 2–3 | Medium | |
| Direction & Distance | 2–3 | Medium | |
| Order & Ranking | 2–3 | Medium | |
| Alphanumeric / Alphabet Series | 2–3 | Medium | |
| Data Sufficiency | 2–3 | High | |
| Input–Output (machine, Mains) | 0–5 | Medium | |
| Logical / Verbal Reasoning (Mains) | 0–5 | Medium | |
| Computer Aptitude (in Reasoning, Mains) | 0–5 | Medium |
🎯 Puzzles and seating arrangement carry the single heaviest share of every SBI PO reasoning paper, and SBI's own puzzles are consistently rated more layered than IBPS PO's — multiple linked conditions, floor/box puzzles with extra variables, and scheduling puzzles that combine two constraint types at once. The rest of the section — syllogism, coded inequality, coding-decoding, blood relations, direction sense, data sufficiency and (at Mains) input-output and computer aptitude — uses the identical technique set taught for IBPS PO, just under tighter time pressure per question.
| Topic | Prelims Q | Mains Q | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data Interpretation (table, bar, line, pie, caselet) | 8–10 | Very high | |
| Arithmetic — Percentage, Profit & Loss, Interest | 7–9 | Very high | |
| Simplification & Approximation | 4–6 | High | |
| Number Series | 4–5 | High | |
| Quadratic Equations | 3–4 | Medium | |
| Time, Speed, Distance & Work | 3–4 | High | |
| Data Sufficiency (quant) | 2–3 | Medium | |
| Ratio, Proportion, Ages & Partnership | 1–3 | Medium | |
| Average, Mixture & Alligation | 1–3 | Medium | |
| Permutation, Combination & Probability | 0–2 | Low | |
| Mensuration | 0–2 | Low | |
| Quantity Comparison (I vs II, Mains) | 0–3 | Low |
🎯 Data Interpretation and Arithmetic word problems (percentage, profit & loss, interest) together carry roughly half the section's weight, and SBI PO's DI sets lean more calculation-heavy than IBPS PO's — fewer questions but each worth more marks at Mains, so estimation shortcuts matter even more. Simplification & Approximation and Number Series are the fastest, most reliable marks; Quadratic Equations and Data Sufficiency add a moderate layer; Ratio/Partnership, Average/Mixture/Alligation, Permutation & Combination and Mensuration round out the syllabus at lower individual weight but still appear regularly.
| Topic | Prelims Q | Mains Q | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reading Comprehension | 6–8 | Very high | |
| Cloze Test | 4–5 | High | |
| Error Spotting / Sentence Correction | 3–4 | High | |
| Para Jumbles / Sentence Rearrangement | 3–4 | High | |
| Sentence / Double Fillers | 3–4 | High | |
| Sentence Improvement / Phrase Replacement | 2–3 | Medium | |
| Word Swap / Word Usage / Word Rearrangement | 2–3 | Medium | |
| Vocabulary (synonyms, antonyms, idioms) | 1–2 | Medium | |
| Column-based / Connectors / Match the Following | 1–2 | Medium | |
| Descriptive — Email, Situation Analysis, Report/Precis | 30 marks | Very high |
🎯 Reading Comprehension anchors the section at roughly a quarter of its weight, rewarding a genuine reading habit over rote grammar drilling. Cloze Test, Error Spotting, Sentence Improvement and Para Jumbles are finite, fully learnable grammar patterns; Fill in the Blanks and Word Usage/Vocabulary round out the objective paper. Do not neglect the descriptive test — Email Writing, Situation Analysis and Report/Precis Writing are 30 clean, learnable marks that a large share of candidates under-prepare relative to their actual weight in the Mains total.
| Topic | Prelims Q | Mains Q | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current Affairs (last 4–6 months, national & international) | 18–22 | Very high | |
| Banking & Financial Awareness (RBI, rates, terms, schemes, digital banking) | 14–18 | Very high | |
| Static Banking & Economy (CRR/SLR/Repo, apex bodies, HQs, taglines) | 8–10 | High | |
| Budget & Economic Survey | 3–5 | High | |
| Static GK (awards, sports, books, days, capitals & currencies) | 6–8 | Medium |
🎯 At 60 questions, this is the single largest question count on the SBI PO Mains paper, and every question takes seconds once known — the highest marks-per-minute block available. Roughly 60-70% is current affairs and banking developments from the preceding 4-6 months; the rest is static banking (rates, apex bodies, headquarters, schemes) and general static GK. It also directly feeds the Group Exercise and Interview, so revising it in daily loops through the whole prep window pays off twice.
| Topic | Prelims Q | Mains Q | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Computer fundamentals, generations & hardware | 1–2 | High | |
| MS Office & keyboard shortcuts | 1–2 | High | |
| Networking, internet & security | 1–2 | Medium | |
| Abbreviations, memory & number systems | 0–1 | Low |
🎯 Shallow, finite syllabus shared identically with IBPS PO — computer generations & fundamentals, hardware, MS Office & shortcuts, networking & internet, and common abbreviations. A single focused weekend covers all of it; treat these as close to guaranteed marks once revised.
SBI PO resources
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FAQs
Frequently asked questions
No. Prelims is qualifying only — clear the sectional and overall cut-offs to reach Mains, but the marks themselves are not carried forward. The final score combines Mains (normalised to 75 points) and Phase III (normalised to 25 points), out of 100.
SBI PO's descriptive test has 3 tasks — Email Writing (10 marks), Situation Analysis (10 marks), and a choice of Report Writing or Precis Writing (10 marks) — for 30 marks in 30 minutes. IBPS PO's is simpler: 2 tasks (Essay + Comprehension) for 25 marks.
A Psychometric Test (a non-scoring input), a Group Exercise (20 marks — group discussion/analysis judged by an observer panel) and an Interview (30 marks). Together these 50 raw marks are normalised to 25 points of the final 100-point score.
The topics and techniques taught are essentially identical — the same puzzle types, the same DI/arithmetic toolkit, the same grammar patterns — since both exams draw on the same standard banking-exam syllabus. What differs is difficulty (SBI PO's Prelims is widely rated the toughest banking prelims) and the descriptive/interview stage structure.
A bachelor's degree in any discipline, age 21-30 (with relaxation for reserved categories). Selected candidates join as Probationary Officers in JMGS Scale-I, basic pay ₹48,480/month, with a gross CTC of roughly ₹21.97 lakh/year including DA, HRA and other allowances.
No — SBI PO is a single-employer exam. Every selected candidate joins the State Bank of India itself, unlike IBPS PO's pool of 11 participating public-sector banks.
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