SBI PO Exam Pattern 2025 - State Bank of India prescribed the SBI PO exam pattern 2025 in the official notification at sbi.co.in. According to SBI PO exam pattern, there will be three phases of recruitment process - Prelims, Mains and Psychometric tests. Aspirants preparing for SBI PO exam must go through the exam pattern in detail before starting their preparation.
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Apart from exam pattern, candidates must also be aware of the SBI PO Syllabus. The SBI PO exam pattern helps aspirants know about the scheme and mode of exam, the structure of SBI PO question paper, and the weightage of topics. SBI PO full form is State bank of India Probationary Officers. The SBI PO recruitment 2025 exam is one of the India's most competitive exams in India as it is based on graduation level. Read this article till the end to know all about the exam pattern of SBI PO 2025.
The SBI PO exam is conducted in 3 phases - Prelims, Mains and Psychometric tests. The prelims and mains stage is conducted in online (CBT) mode. In order to start the preparation and to crack the exam, aspirants must understand the exam pattern of SBI recruitment 2025, stick to the syllabus and only refer to the selected few books. We have shared all the important information related to the SBI PO exam pattern 2025 here in detail.
Key Highlights of SBI PO Exam Pattern 2025
Exam name | State Bank of India - Probationary Officer (SBI PO) | ||
Official Website | sbi.co.in | ||
Exam Language | English and Hindi (Except for the English test) | ||
Stages of the SBI PO exam | Stage 1: Preliminary | Stage 2: Mains | Stage 3: Group Exercise & Interview |
SBI PO exam Duration | 1 hour | 3 hours 30 minutes | - |
Mode of SBI PO Exam | Online | Online (Objective + Descriptive) | Offline |
SBI PO total marks | 100 | 250 (200+50) | 50(20+30) |
SBI PO negative marking | 1/4th for wrong answers | - | |
Going by the SBI PO 2025 exam pattern, the Phase 1 - preliminary exam consists of 3 sections. The SBI PO total marks allotted for prelims is 100 marks. The prelims test of SBI PO is held in online mode.
Exam pattern of SBI PO 2025 - Prelims
Sections | Number of questions | Duration | Total Marks |
Reasoning Ability | 30 | 20 minutes | 100 marks |
English Language | 40 | 20 minutes | |
Quantitative Aptitude | 30 | 20 minutes | |
Total | 100 | 1 hour |
After the prelims exam, comes the Phase 2 which is the mains exam which consists of an objective type test for 200 marks and a descriptive test of 50 marks. Both the tests as per the SBI PO 2025 exam pattern will be conducted in online mode. The objective test comprises 4 sections with separate time duration for each section. According to exam pattern of SBI PO 2025, the descriptive test is conducted for 30 minutes duration of 50 marks. Candidates will have to write a letter and an essay in English in the descriptive test of SBI PO.
SBI PO exam pattern 2025 - Mains
Online Objective Test | |||
Name of the test | No. of question | Marks | Duration |
Data analysis and interpretation | 30 | 60 | 45 minutes |
Reasoning & Computer aptitude | 40 | 50 | 60 minutes |
English Language | 40 | 20 | 40 minutes |
General/Economy/Banking Awareness | 60 | 60 | 45 minutes |
Total | 155 | 200 | 3 hours |
Online Descriptive Test | 2 | 50 | 30 minutes |
SBI PO exam 2025 Mains - Important points
Candidates qualifying for the mains exam will have to undergo a group exercise and interview. The group exercise and interview will be conducted for 20 and 30 marks respectively. Marks secured in the preliminary exam will not be added for the preparation of final merit list. The final selection in 2025 SBI PO will be done on the basis of marks obtained by candidates in mains examination and group exercises & interview.
Candidates will have to qualify both in Phase-II and Phase-III of SBI PO separately. The marks obtained in SBI PO Main exam (Phase-II), both in the Objective Test and the Descriptive Test, will be added to the marks obtained in Phase-III for preparing the final merit list. Candidates note that the marks obtained in the SBI PO prelims exam (Phase-I) will not be added to preparing the final merit list for selection. The marks obtained by the candidates in mains exam (Phase-II) both Objective & Descriptive Tests) and Phase-III (Group Exercise & Interview) will be normalised to 100 marks.
| Test | Main exam | Group discussion & Interview | Total |
| Maximum marks | 250 | 50 | 300 |
| Minimum marks | 75 | 25 | 100 |
As per the exam pattern, aspirants must score equal to or more than the SBI PO 2025 cut off to qualify for the next phase. The preliminary stage consists of questions about English Language, Reasoning Ability, and Quantitative Aptitude. There are 100 questions with 100 marks. One-fourth of marks will be deducted as SBI PO negative marks for wrong answers.
The second phase of SBI PO is objective + descriptive level. The objective test consists of four sections of 200 marks according to SBI PO exam pattern 2025. Those who qualify the objective sections will qualify to appear for the descriptive test. The descriptive test evaluates a candidate’s ability in letter writing and essay writing. The total marks for the descriptive section is 50.
Calculation of Marks: Total weighted score = Scores obtained in ( Reasoning & computer aptitude+data interpretation+general/ economy/banking awareness + English language)
Group Exercise/Personal Interview Phase: After both the stages successfully aspirants will be called for group discussions and interview. This phase will be evaluated on the basis of group discussion and interview. Group discussion is of 20 marks and interview of 30 marks.
Candidates will be shortlisted finally and called for recruitment in various branches of State Bank of India all over India after qualifying all the stages of the SBI PO exam.
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Along with the exam pattern, aspirants must also know about the syllabus of 2025 SBI PO. The syllabus consists of the topics and sections for both phases of the exam. SBI PO syllabus 2025 contains the topics from where the questions will be asked in the prelims and mains.
Sections | SBI PO Syllabus (Prelims) |
Reasoning Ability |
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English Language |
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Quantitative Aptitude |
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Sections | SBI PO Syllabus (Mains) |
Data analysis and interpretation |
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Computer aptitude |
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Reasoning |
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General/Economy/Banking Awareness |
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There are a lot of books available in the market to prepare for the SBI PO 2025 exam. It is mandatory to stick to the best and selected few books. From the following table, we have shared a list of the best books for 2025 SBI PO preparation which can help candidates start their preparation for the exam effectively.
Best Books for SBI PO 2025
Topics | Books | Author |
Quantitative Aptitude | Quantum CAT | Sarvesh Verma |
Quantitative Aptitude | RS Aggarwal | |
Reasoning | Reasoning | MK Pandey |
Verbal- Non Verbal Reasoning | R.S. Aggrawal | |
English | English | SP Bakshi |
English Language | Wren & Martin | |
General Awareness | Guide to Banking General Awareness | R.Gupta |
Banking Awareness | Arihant Publication | |
Computer | Objective Computer Knowledge & Literacy | Kiran Publication |
Computer Awareness | Arihant Publication | |
Data Analysis and Interpretation | Data interpretation for CAT | Arun Sharma |
CAT Data Interpretation | Nishit Sinha |
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
No. 60% in graduation is not necessary to become a PO in SBI.
Definitely. B.Tech graduates are eligible to be a PO.
The recruitment process, as per the exam pattern of SBI PO is three phased, prelims, mains and group exercise and interview.
B.Sc. graduates are eligible to apply for SBI PO 2024 provided the graduation is done from a recognized university.
There are three stages in the SBI PO exam 2024 - preliminary, mains and personality test.
Yes there is negative marking in the SBI PO exam preliminary as well as mains stage for objective type questions.
On Question asked by student community
A Master's degree is not mandatory to become an SBI PO or get promoted to a bank manager role. However, it can enhance your profile and potentially give you an edge in the competitive selection process.
An MBA can be a good choice as it equips you with valuable skills
Dear aspirant !!
Hope you are doing well !
The SBI PO candidates must not be below 21 years of age and must not be above 30 years of age to be eligible for SBI PO 2024. The SBI PO qualification for the candidates is to have passed Graduation in
Hello aspirant,
Candidates must be between the ages of 21 and 30 to be eligible for the SBI PO test; however, reserved candidates are exempt from this age requirement. Applicants must have graduated from an accredited university or passed an equivalent test.
So as you will be 21 years old
Hello aspirant,
Having the correct documents is must for any examination. Even if your father's name differ by just one letter, it can put you in problem. So the first thing I would suggest you is to try to rectify these documents so that your father's name match in every
Hello hello !!
I am hoping that you are absolutely fine and well. As per your mentioned query, i would like to tell you that SBI PO is the very popular exam. It is highly reputable job. Now come to the salary SBI bank PO salary of Rs, 42000-44000, while
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