SBI PO Exam Pattern and Syllabus
Exam Pattern of SBI PO
SBI PO exam is the most awaited exam for the aspirants preparing for bank exam, so knowing the SBI PO exam pattern and syllabus is crucial to succeed in the exam. The selection process of SBI PO consists of 3 phases. SBI PO prelims exam, SBI PO mains exam, and Group Exercise/Interview. The candidates must qualify each of them to go on to the next phase. Apart from SBI PO syllabus and exam pattern we have covered other details like preparation strategies, eligibility, age, test centers, and other important aspects that one should know.
SBI Prelims Exam Pattern
The SBI PO prelims examination is of one-hour duration and is conducted online. It has 3 sections with 100 questions in total with a maximum score of 100 marks. There is a negative marking in the SBI PO prelims exam as 0.25 marks are deducted for every wrong answer. Aspirants have to know the SBI PO prelims syllabus to excel in the exam, check the SBI syllabus, which is given in the successive paragraphs. Candidates must clear the sectional cut-off to qualify for the SBI PO Mains exam. The section-wise details are given below:
S. No. | Name of Tests (Objective) | No. of Questions | Maximum Marks | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | English Language | 30 | 30 | Composite time of 1 Hour |
2 | Numerical Ability | 35 | 35 | |
3 | Reasoning Ability | 35 | 35 | |
Total | 100 | 100 | ||
SBI Mains Exam Pattern
Once the SBI PO prelims exam result is declared, all the successful aspirants will go to the next phase of the SBI PO Mains Examination, which consists of Objective Tests for 200 marks and Descriptive Test for 50 marks. Both the Objective and Descriptive Tests will be online. Candidates will have to answer the Descriptive test by typing on the computer. Immediately after completion of the Objective Test, a Descriptive Test will be administered.
I. Objective Test: The objective test of 3 hours duration consists of 4 Sections for a total of 200 marks. The objective test will have separate timing for every section. The candidates are required to qualify in each of the Tests by securing passing marks, to be decided by the Bank. Knowledge of the SBI mains syllabus plays a crucial role in clearing the mains exams, SBI PO mains syllabus is given in successive paragraphs, please check it.
S. No. | Name of Tests | No. of | Maximum | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Reasoning and | 45 | 60 | 60 |
2 | Data Analysis | 35 | 60 | 45 |
3 | General/Economy/ | 40 | 40 | 35 |
4 | English Language | 35 | 40 | 40 |
Total | 155 | 200 | 180 |
II. Descriptive Test: The Descriptive Test of 30 minutes duration with 50 marks will be a Test of English Language (Letter Writing & Essay). The candidates are required to qualify in the Descriptive Test by securing passing marks, to be decided by the Bank.
SBI PO Interview Process
Interview is the last phase in the SBI bank po recruitment process. The aggregate marks of candidates qualifying in both the Objective Tests and Descriptive Test will be arranged in descending order in each category. An adequate number of candidates in each category, as decided by the Bank will be called for Group Exercise and Interview. The qualifying marks in Group Exercise &Interview will be as decided by the Bank.
Candidates qualifying SBI PO exam for Group Exercises & Interview under the ‘OBC’ category would be required to submit an OBC certificate containing the ‘non-creamy layer’ clause. Candidates not submitting the OBC certificate containing the ‘non-creamy layer’ clause and requesting to be interviewed under the General category will not be entertained.
Penalty for Wrong Answers:
A penalty for every incorrect answer will be marked in the Objective Tests of both the SBI PO prelims exams as well as SBI PO Mains exams. Every wrong answer will be penalized by deducting 0.25 of the marks assigned to that question. There will be no penalty for leaving a question blank, i.e. in case, no answer is marked by the candidate. Aspirants should practice a lot of SBI PO Mock tests to avoid this negative marking, this can be done firstly by going through the SBI PO syllabus and secondly by practicing all the concepts.
Final Score Calculation for SBI PO Exam
There are certain important points on the basis of which the final score for the SBIPO exam is calculated:
- Marks scored in the SBI PO prelims result is not considered in the final score. These are only taken into account to qualify SBI PO Mains Exam.
Candidates need to qualify both the phases and GE/Interview individually to be eligible for the final worth.
The ratio of marks between the SBI PO Mains exam and the interview for the final merit list will be 80:20 respectively.
The candidates will have to qualify in both phases separately. Marks secured by the candidates in the Written Test (out of 250 marks) are converted to out of 75 and marks secured in Group Exercise & Interview (out of 50 marks) are converted to out of 25. - The final merit list of the SBI PO is arrived at after aggregating converted marks of the written test, and Group Exercises & Interview out of 100 for each category. The selection will be made from the top merit-ranked candidates in each category.
- Results of the candidates who have qualified for Group Exercise & Interview and the list of candidates finally selected in the SBI PO exam will be made available on the Bank’s website. The final select list will be published in Employment News/Rozgar Samachar and also on Bank’s website.
SBI PO Exam Syllabus
SBI Bank PO syllabus is much similar to that of any other bank exam. There are three major sections that a candidate needs to prepare to ace the SBI PO exam. These are SBI PO reasoning syllabus, SBI PO quantitative aptitude syllabus, and English Language. The sections have a wide range of topics on which questions are based.
SBI prelims syllabus
Syllabus of SBI PO comprises of Reasoning Ability, Quantitative Aptitude and English Language. Detailed SBI exam syllabus is enumerated below as per each section chapter-wise, this syllabus has to be practiced by aspirants, to annotate in the SBI PO result prelims.
Reasoning Ability | Quantitative Aptitude | English Language |
|---|---|---|
Logical Reasoning | Simplification | Reading Comprehension |
Alphanumeric Series | Profit & Loss | Cloze Test |
Ranking/Direction/ | Mixtures & Allegations | Para jumbles |
Data Sufficiency | Simple Interest & Compound | Multiple Meaning / Error Spotting |
Coded Inequalities | Work & Time | Fill in the blanks |
Seating Arrangement | Time & Distance | Miscellaneous |
Puzzle | Mensuration – Cylinder, Cone, Sphere | Paragraph Completion |
Tabulation | Data Interpretation | |
Syllogism | Ratio & Proportion, Percentage | |
Blood Relations | Number Systems | |
Input-Output | Sequence & Series | |
Coding-Decoding | Permutation, Combination & |
SBI PO Mains Exam Syllabus
The SBI PO Mains Exam consists of 5 sections: Reasoning & Computer, SBI PO English language, Data Analysis & Interpretation, General Awareness, and Descriptive Test (Letter Writing &Essay)
Reasoning | Data Analysis & interpretation | English | General | Computer |
Verbal Reasoning | Tabular Graph | Reading | Financial | Internet |
Syllogism | Line Graph | Grammar | Current Affairs | Memory |
Circular Seating | Pie Chart | Vocabulary | General | Keyboard |
Linear Seating | Bar Graph | Verbal Ability | Static Awareness | Computer |
Double Lineup | Radar Graph Caselet | Word Association | Banking and | Microsoft Office |
Scheduling | Missing DI | Sentence | Computer Hardware | |
Input Output | Caselet DI | Para Jumbles | Computer Software | |
Blood Relations | Data Sufficiency | Cloze Test | Operating System | |
Directions and | Probability | Error Spotting | Networking | |
Ordering and | Permutation and | Fill in the blanks | Computer – | |
Data Sufficiency | ||||
Coding and | ||||
Code Inequalities | ||||
Course of Action | ||||
Critical | ||||
Analytical and |
Other necessary information regarding SBI PO Exam
Aspirants preparing for SI PO exam should also know other necessary information regarding the career in SBI as well as other information necessary for preparing for exam.
Salary of SBI PO
The basic Pay of the SBI Probationary Officer is higher among other public sector banks. The entry-level basic pay is higher in SBI when contrasted with other nationalized banks. The beginning basic pay is Rs 27620 with four advance increments in the compensation size of
23700-980 (7) – 30560 – 1145 (2) – 32850 – 1310 (7) – 42020.
Number of Chances to write the SBI PO Exam
Category | Number of Chances |
General/ EWS | 4 |
General/ EWS (PWD) | 7 |
OBC/ OBC(PWD) | 7 |
SC/SC(PWD)/ST/ST(PWD) | No restriction |
Candidates who have already appeared for the maximum number of permissible chances of SBI Exam are not eligible to apply. The number of chances will be counted from the examination held on 18.04.2010. Appearing in SBI PO Prelims Exam will not be counted as a chance. Appearing in SBI PO Mains Exam will be counted as a chance. In the years in which only one written examination has been held (i.e. no Preliminary Examination has been held), appearing in this examination will be counted as a chance.
SBI PO Pre Exam Training
For the SC/ST/Religious Minority Community aspirants who appearing for SBI PO Exam pre-examination training is conducted at certain centers with the guidelines issued by the Government of India. Candidates belonging to the above categories who desire to avail themselves of such training at their own cost may indicate to that effect against the relevant column while applying on-line. An indicative list of SBI PO Pre exam training centers is given below:
The Bank may add additional centres or may delete some of the centres indicated for training. Candidates opting for pre-examination training should download their call letter for training by entering their registration number and password/ date of birth from (Tentative in April) onwards from Bank’s website. No hard copy of the call letter will be sent by post.
Candidates belonging to above-mentioned categories can undergo training by signifying the same against a relevant column, at the time of applying on-line.
The pre-exam training is free of cost with other expenses like travel, food and lodging expenses are incurred by the candidate. Generally, it is conducted five days before the exam and the dates are announced on the official website. Please find below an indicative list of training centres:
North India | South India | East India | West India |
|---|---|---|---|
Agra | Bengaluru | Agartala | Ahmedabad |
Allahabad | Chennai | Balasore | Aurangabad |
Amritsar | Coimbatore | Behrampur (Ganjam) | Bhopal |
Bareilly | Gulbarga | Bhubaneshwar | Indore |
Chandigarh | Hyderabad | Dhanbad | Jabalpur |
Dehradun | Kavaratti | Guwahati | Jaipur |
Gorakhpur | Kochi | Hubli | Jodhpur |
Jammu | Madurai | Kolkata | Mumbai |
Kanpur | Mangalore | Muzaffarpur | Nagpur |
Karnal | Mysore | Patna | Panaji (Goa) |
Lucknow | Port Blair | Ranchi | Pune |
Ludhiana | Puducherry | Sambalpur | Raipur |
New Delhi | Thiruchirapalli | Shillong | Rajkot |
Patiala | Thiruvananthapuram | Siliguri | Vadodara |
Rohtak | Vijaywada | Tirupati | |
Shimla | Vishakhapatnam | ||
Varanasi |
SBI PO Eligibility Criteria
Educational Qualification
Graduation Degree: The eligibility criteria for the SBI bank exam is a graduation degree in any of the streams such as BA, B. Com, BSc, B. Tech, etc., from a university recognized by the Government of India. A candidate who possesses the same qualification from the university recognized by the Central Government is also eligible to apply for this SBI bank po exam.
Candidates should have a valid Mark-sheet / Degree:
The certificate which supports that they are graduates on the day they were registered for the SBI PO exam.
The percentage of marks obtained in Graduation should be mentioned at the time of registration for the SBI PO examination.
Computer Literacy: Knowledge of computer operation is a must as SBI PO exam is conducted online.
Language Proficiency: Candidates should have verbal and written proficiency in the official language of the State/UT. The candidate should be able to read, write and speak the language.
Nationality / Citizenship of Applicants
Candidates applying for SBI PO Examination should be one of the following:
1. Citizen of India
2. Subject of Nepal or Bhutan
3. Tibetan Refugee who came to India before 1st January 1962 with the intention of permanent settlement
4. Person of Indian Origin (PIO) who has migrated from Burma, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam or East African countries of Zaire, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Ethiopia, Malawi, with the intention of permanent settlement in India
Candidates belonging to the categories 2, 3, and 4 must have a certificate of eligibility issued by the Govt of India in their favor.
SBI PO Age Criteria
Age eligibility of candidates applying for the SBI PO Examination:
Age Limit: Candidates applying for the SBI examination should be 21 years old but not more than 30 years old at the time of registration. Please visit the official site of IBPS to check the notification for exact dates mentioned to fulfill the age criteria. Besides this, there is age relaxation relevant to category-wise candidates as per the government rules:
Category | Age Relaxation |
Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) | 5 years |
Other Backward Classes (OBC Non-Creamy Layer) | 3 years |
Persons with Disabilities (PWD) | 10 years |
Ex-Servicemen (Army personnel) | 5 years |
Persons with Domicile of Jammu &Kashmir during the period of 1-1-1980 to 31-12-1989 | 5 years |
SBI PO Application fee
The category-wise SBI PO exam fee details are given below. Fee/Intimation charges once paid will NOT be refunded on any account nor can it be held in reserve for any other examination or selection. The application fee must be paid online. To know more please check the complete guide for SBI PO Application
Sr. No. | Category | Application Fee |
1 | SC/ST/PWD | Nil |
2 | General/ EWS/ OBC | Rs. 750/- |
SBI PO Exam Preparation Strategies
After knowing the syllabus and exam pattern of the SBI PO exam, it’s now important to know on how to prepare for the exam. We have listed below few effective strategies for the SBI PO exam preparation to help you maximize your performance in both the prelims and mains exams:
Understand the Exam Pattern and Syllabus
- Familiarize yourself with the SBI PO exam pattern and syllabus for both the prelims and mains stages, as well as the descriptive and interview sections.
- Focus on core subjects: Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning Ability, English Language, General Awareness, and Computer Aptitude.
- Knowing the weightage and types of questions for the SBI PO pre and mains exam helps you prioritize topics more effectively.
Create a Study Schedule
- Develop a study plan covering all subjects as per the syllabus recommended for SBI PO; cater extra time for difficult topics.
- Break down the SBI PO syllabus into daily or weekly targets to ensure consistent progress.
- Allocate more time to sections where you are weaker, and include time for revision and mock tests.
- Schedule your time to watch online SBI PO Course and revisit if you have doubts.
Build a Strong Foundation in Basics Concepts
- For Quantitative Aptitude, focus on basic concepts, formulas, and mental calculations. Practice data interpretation and arithmetic intensively, as these are scoring areas.
- Strengthen your reasoning skills by mastering puzzles, seating arrangements, blood relations, and syllogisms.
- Improve grammar, vocabulary, and reading skills to excel in the English Language section.
Practice with Mock Tests and Previous Year Papers
- Regularly take our SBI PO mock tests and analyze your performance. Focus on time management and try to complete each section within the designated time.
- For getting familiar with the SBI PO exam pattern, review and understand previous year papers that are provided in the mock test series to identify the level and type of questions asked.
- Identify your weak areas from mock test results and work specifically on those areas.
Focus on Speed and Accuracy
- Avoid guesswork to reduce negative marking, especially in sections like Quantitative Aptitude and Reasoning.
- Use shortcuts and tricks for calculations, and practice mental math for increased speed in numerical problems which is very important for SBI PO exam.
- For reasoning, focus on understanding patterns quickly and solving puzzles with minimum steps.
Revise General/Economic/Banking Awareness Regularly
- While preparing for SBI PO mains exam, for the General Awareness section, stay updated with current affairs, banking news, and economic updates.
- Use newspapers, monthly magazines, and reliable online resources to cover important topics.
- Keep a short notes book for quick revision, and focus on key topics like RBI policies, important government schemes, mergers, and financial terminology.
Prepare for the Descriptive Section (SBI PO Mains)
- Practice writing essays and letters on current topics and banking-related issues, as the SBI PO mains exam syllabus includes a descriptive writing section.
- Essay writing requires structured approach like starting with an introduction, body, and conclusion.
- For letters, learn formal and informal formats, and practice concise and clear writing.
Use of Flashcards and Short Notes
- For quick revisions of SBI PO syllabus, create flashcards or short notes on important formulas, vocabulary, current affairs, and key concepts.
- Use these for last-minute revisions and on days when you have limited study time.
Focus on Health and Manage Stress
- Take regular breaks during study sessions to avoid burnout, and make sure you get adequate sleep, especially before the exam day.
- Practice relaxation techniques like deep breathing or meditation to stay calm and improve concentration.
Plan for the SBI PO Interview Round
- If you clear the SBI PO prelims and mains, preparing for the final interview is crucial. Focus on developing clear communication skills and a basic understanding of banking and financial topics.
- Be ready to discuss current affairs and answer questions on banking, the economy, and your personal background confidently.
- Attend SBI PO Mock interviews online or at any reliable institute near you. This can be helpful to practice responses and improve confidence.
With consistent practice, a strategic approach, and thorough understanding of the SBI PO exam pattern and syllabus, you’ll improve both speed and accuracy, and ultimately increase your chances of success.
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