The State Bank of India Probationary Officer examination is the flagship management-cadre recruitment cycle conducted annually by SBI CRPD for entry into Junior Management Grade Scale-I (JMGS-I) at India's largest commercial bank. SBI is a Fortune Global 500 institution holding roughly 24% market share of Indian banking assets, operating approximately 22,500 branches and 65,000+ ATMs and serving over 50 crore customers — the SBI PO is therefore the largest single-employer officer recruitment in Indian banking. The bank traces its lineage to the Bank of Calcutta (1806), reconstituted as the Imperial Bank of India in 1921 and nationalised as the State Bank of India through the SBI Act 1955 following a Reserve Bank recommendation.

SBI PO is widely considered the gold standard of Indian public-sector bank officer exams. The exam is qualitatively harder than IBPS PO — particularly in Mains Data Analysis & Interpretation, descriptive English and General/Banking/Economy Awareness — and the selection process culminates in a Group Exercise and Personal Interview that other PO exams do not weight as heavily. SBI POs are placed on a 2-year probation, after which they are confirmed as Assistant Managers and rotated across branch operations, credit, retail, corporate, treasury and HR. Career progression runs through Manager (MMGS-II), Chief Manager (MMGS-III), AGM, DGM, GM and beyond, with internal promotion to General Manager and DMD possible for top performers.

Selection is a three-stage funnel: Preliminary Examination (objective, screening only), Main Examination (objective + descriptive English, merit-deciding), and Group Exercise and Interview (50 marks). Crucially, the Prelims score does NOT carry forward into the final merit list — Mains (250 marks) and GE+Interview (50 marks) are normalised to 100 marks and combined in a 75:25 weight. Cutoffs vary year to year and section-wise cutoffs apply at both Prelims and Mains. Initial JMGS-I basic pay is Rs 48,480 in the 12th Bipartite Settlement scale (effective 1 November 2022, signed 8 March 2024) of 48480-2000/7-62480-2340/2-67160-2680/7-85920, with DA, HRA, CCA, special allowance and learning allowance taking gross emoluments to roughly Rs 80,000 to Rs 1,00,000 in a Tier-I metro, plus leased accommodation, medical, LFC, NPS and lease vehicle on confirmation.

Conducted by: State Bank of India Central Recruitment & Promotion Department (CRPD), Corporate Centre, Mumbai. Recruitment is governed by SBI's autonomous board and is independent of the IBPS framework that staffs other public-sector banks.

Eligibility

General eligibility

Age:: 21 to 30 years as on the cut-off date specified in the notification (typically 1 April of the recruitment year). Age relaxation: SC/ST +5 years, OBC (non-creamy layer) +3 years, PwBD (General/EWS) +10 years, PwBD (OBC) +13 years, PwBD (SC/ST) +15 years, Ex-Servicemen / Commissioned Officers including ECOs/SSCOs +5 years (subject to ceiling), J&K domicile 1980-89 +5 years, 1984 anti-Sikh riots victims +5 years. EWS candidates receive NO age relaxation.
Education:: Graduation in any discipline from a recognised university, or any equivalent qualification recognised by Government of India. Integrated dual-degree (IDD) candidates must have passed by the cut-off date. Final-year/semester candidates may apply provisionally but must produce mark-sheet and degree certificate by the date specified in the offer letter. Chartered Accountants holding ICAI membership are also eligible. No minimum percentage is prescribed by SBI for SBI PO (distinct from SBI SO streams which often require 60%+).
Nationality:: Citizen of India, or subject of Nepal or Bhutan, or Tibetan refugee who came to India before 1 January 1962 with intent to permanently settle, or person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia and Vietnam to permanently settle in India. Candidates other than Indian citizens must produce an eligibility certificate from the Government of India.
Attempts:: General/EWS: 4 attempts. OBC: 7 attempts. SC/ST/PwBD: no limit till the upper age limit (with relaxation). Appearing in Prelims counts as one attempt; non-appearance does NOT count. Application fee is typically Rs 750 for General/EWS/OBC and NIL for SC/ST/PwBD candidates.

Exam Pattern

Stage-by-stage breakdown of the recruitment process.

Preliminary Examination (Phase I — qualifying / screening only)

Mode: Online objective test conducted at IBPS/SBI test centres across India
Sections: English Language (30 Q, 30 marks, 20 min) · Quantitative Aptitude (35 Q, 35 marks, 20 min) · Reasoning Ability (35 Q, 35 marks, 20 min)
Questions: 100 multiple-choice questions
Marks: 100 marks total
Duration: 60 minutes total (sectional timing of 20 minutes per section — strictly enforced)
Negative marking: 0.25 marks deducted per wrong answer; no deduction for unattempted or review-only items

Prelims is purely a SCREENING test. Sectional cutoffs apply individually to each of the three sections AND an overall category cutoff applies. Approximately 10x the notified vacancy is shortlisted for Mains. Prelims marks are NOT carried forward into the final merit list — this is a critical structural difference from many state PSC exams.

Main Examination (Phase II — merit-deciding objective + descriptive)

Mode: Online objective test followed immediately by descriptive English (typed in the same exam window)
Sections: Objective: Reasoning & Computer Aptitude (40 Q, 50 marks, 50 min) · Data Analysis & Interpretation (30 Q, 50 marks, 45 min) · General / Banking / Economy Awareness (50 Q, 60 marks, 45 min) · English Language (35 Q, 40 marks, 40 min). Descriptive: Letter writing + Essay (2 questions, 50 marks, 30 minutes, typed in the test window)
Questions: 155 objective questions + 2 descriptive questions
Marks: 200 objective + 50 descriptive = 250 total Mains marks
Duration: 3 hours 30 minutes total (3 hours objective + 30 minutes descriptive)
Negative marking: 0.25 marks deducted per wrong objective answer; descriptive is evaluated subjectively (no negative marking)

Sectional cutoffs apply in Mains for each objective section AND for descriptive English. Candidates clearing the Mains cutoff are shortlisted (typically ~3x vacancy) for Phase III. Mains is the most demanding stage — Data Analysis & Interpretation in particular is the single biggest score-swing section.

Phase III — Group Exercise (GE) and Personal Interview (PI)

Mode: Offline at SBI Local Head Office / Administrative Office centres
Sections: Group Exercise: 20 marks (case-discussion or group-task format) · Personal Interview: 30 marks (panel of senior SBI officers)
Questions: Not applicable — discussion + structured interview
Marks: 50 marks total
Duration: Group exercise approximately 30 minutes per group; interview approximately 15-25 minutes per candidate
Negative marking: Not applicable

Final merit list = Mains (250 marks scaled to 75) + GE+PI (50 marks scaled to 25), totalling 100. Prelims does NOT contribute to the final score. Candidates who skip GE or PI are disqualified. Pre-Examination Training (PET) is offered free of cost to SC/ST/OBC/Religious Minority candidates by SBI at designated centres before Prelims.

Syllabus

Tap any section to see the full list of subtopics.

English Language (Prelims + Mains)9 topics

Reading Comprehension — Mains-level passages on monetary policy, BASEL III/IV, financial inclusion, fintech regulation, IBC, CBDC, ESG investing, climate finance (350-500 words)
Cloze test (single and double cloze formats) on banking and economic themes
Para jumble / parajumble / sentence rearrangement (6-7 sentences with strong opener-closer logic)
Error spotting — subtle subject-verb agreement, parallel structure, conditionals, modifier placement
Sentence improvement and sentence connectors (linkers, contrast, cause-effect)
Fill in the blanks (single, double and triple blank formats)
Vocabulary in context — synonym/antonym, one-word substitution, idioms and phrases
Word usage / word swap / phrase replacement
Descriptive English (Mains only) — formal letter writing (complaint, request, regulatory) + essay (300 words on banking/economy/social-policy themes)

Quantitative Aptitude (Prelims)12 topics

Number system — divisibility, HCF/LCM, surds, indices, simplification, approximation
Percentages, profit-loss-discount, partnership, average
Ratio and proportion, mixture and alligation (including replacement)
Simple interest and compound interest (mixed, half-yearly compounding, instalment)
Time and work, pipes and cisterns, time-speed-distance (boats, trains, relative speed)
Ages, problems on ratio of ages and successive change
Permutation, combination and probability (basics)
Quadratic equations (factor method and comparison of two quadratics)
Mensuration — area and volume of 2D and 3D figures (triangle, circle, cylinder, cone, sphere)
Data Interpretation — bar, line, pie, table (Prelims-level — 1-2 sets)
Number series (missing number and wrong number)
Simplification and approximation drills

Data Analysis & Interpretation (Mains — the section that decides merit)10 topics

Caselet DI — 4-5 sentence banking-context scenarios with 5 sub-questions per set (deposits, NPAs, CASA, PSL, branches, employees)
Missing-data DI — table or bar chart with one or more missing cells, derivable through constraints
Mixed DI — bar + line, table + pie, bar + table chart combinations
Pie chart DI — single and multi-level pies, percent and absolute conversions
Radar / spider / hexagonal chart DI — multi-KPI comparisons across banks or branches
Table-based DI with multiple constraints (averages, ratios, percent change)
Data sufficiency (single statement, two statements, three statements)
Quadratic comparison (find relation between x and y; including 'cannot be determined')
Probability and permutation-combination (1-2 standalone Q)
Letter and symbol series, age and average problems set in banking contexts

Reasoning Ability (Prelims) and Reasoning + Computer Aptitude (Mains)12 topics

Puzzles — floor-based (5-12 floors), day-based, month-based, year-based, hybrid floor+flat
Seating arrangement — linear, parallel rows facing each other, circular facing centre/outward, square (2-per-side)
Blood relations (including coded relations using @/#/$/&)
Syllogisms (three statements, only-some, possibility cases)
Statement and assumptions, statement and conclusions, course of action, cause and effect
Coded inequalities (mathematical with =, ≥, ≤) and direct inequalities
Direction and distance (multi-turn with back-tracking)
Coding-decoding (single-letter, double-letter, banking-context word-based)
Alphanumeric series and number-letter analogy
Input-output machine (alternating sort, word-number hybrid)
Data sufficiency in reasoning context
Computer Aptitude (Mains only) — generations of computers, hardware/software, MS Office basics, internet/networking fundamentals, programming language types, DBMS basics, security (firewall, antivirus, phishing), abbreviations

General / Banking / Economy Awareness (Mains — highest mark weight)17 topics

RBI Act 1934 — specific sections (Sec 22 currency issuance, Sec 42 CRR, Sec 17 RBI functions)
Banking Regulation Act 1949 — Sec 22 licensing, Sec 35A directions, Sec 45 moratorium/amalgamation
Negotiable Instruments Act 1881 — Sec 138 cheque dishonour, crossing, endorsements
SARFAESI Act 2002, IBC 2016 (CIRP 270-day + 330-day cap, Sec 53 waterfall, pre-pack for MSMEs)
BASEL III norms — CET1, AT1, Tier 1, Tier 2, CCB 2.5%, leverage ratio, LCR, NSFR
RBI monetary policy — repo, reverse repo, SDF, MSF, CRR, SLR, OMO, MPC composition (4±2% CPI target)
Priority Sector Lending — 40% target with sub-targets (Agri 18%, Weaker Sections 12%, Micro Ent 7.5%, SMF 10%)
PSL Certificates (PSLCs — General, Agri, SF&MF, Micro Enterprises)
Financial inclusion schemes — PMJDY, PMSBY, PMJJBY, APY, PM Vishwakarma, PM Vidyalaxmi, MUDRA, Stand-Up India
Payment systems — UPI, NEFT, RTGS, IMPS, BBPS, NETC FASTag, AePS, BHIM, account aggregator (NBFC-AA)
CBDC (e-rupee) — wholesale pilot (Nov 2022), retail pilot (Dec 2022), token-based two-tier model
Indian financial regulators — RBI, SEBI, IRDAI, PFRDA, IFSCA, IBBI, FSDC architecture
Banking history — bank nationalisations 1969/1980, SBI Act 1955, RBI Act 1934, merger of associate banks (2017), 10 PSB consolidation (2019-20)
Recent Union Budget banking sector announcements and Economic Survey themes
International — IMF, World Bank, BIS, FATF (Mutual Evaluation 2024), WTO, ADB, AIIB, NDB
Current affairs (last 4-6 months) — RBI MPC decisions, regulatory circulars, fintech announcements, awards, sports, books, defence, science, government schemes
Static GK — capitals, currencies, dams, national parks, stadiums, important dates, RBI Governors chronology

Preparation Strategy

Build a 10-12 month structured plan ending one month before the Prelims notification. SBI PO Prelims tests speed and accuracy under hard sectional timing — 20 minutes flat for 35 Quant or 35 Reasoning Q forces a sustained attempt rate of 1.5-2 Q per minute. Foundation phase (months 1-4): NCERT Class 6-10 Maths, Wren & Martin English grammar, RS Aggarwal Quantitative Aptitude and Verbal/Non-Verbal Reasoning. Practice phase (months 5-8): topic-wise drills with sectional mocks. Mock phase (months 9-12): two full Prelims mocks/week ramping to four/week in the last 6 weeks.

Mains preparation must run in parallel from month 4 onwards, not after Prelims. Mains Data Analysis & Interpretation, banking awareness depth and descriptive English cannot be built in the 30-45 days between Prelims result and Mains. Lock in a banking awareness routine from day one — daily 30 minutes of Hindu BusinessLine or Mint banking-sector coverage, weekly RBI Bulletin (Monetary Policy Statement chapter), monthly Yojana and Kurukshetra for scheme-level depth, and the Banking & Finance chapter of the Economic Survey.

Data Analysis & Interpretation is the single biggest score-swing section in Mains and the differentiator between selected and rejected candidates with similar Prelims scores. Solve 5-6 DI sets per day from the start: 2 caselet, 1 missing-data, 1 mixed chart, 1 pie/radar. Time each set strictly to 6-8 minutes. Maintain a running 'mistake notebook' categorising every DI error by type (calculation, constraint misread, time mismanagement, ratio confusion) and review weekly.

English Mains has two parts. Objective English is straightforward for committed readers — 35 minutes daily of editorial reading (Indian Express op-eds, Hindu lead articles, Mint banking column) for 6 months yields fluency. Descriptive English requires deliberate practice — write 2 letters and 1 essay per week from month 6 onwards, use the structure Intro-Body-Conclusion with 250-300 word essay and 150-200 word letter limits, and get peer or coaching review. Common Mains essay themes: financial inclusion, climate finance, digital banking risks, MSME credit, regulatory sandbox.

Reasoning Mains differs from Prelims Reasoning in two ways — fused with Computer Aptitude (40 Q in 50 min for 50 marks) and far harder puzzles. Practice machine input-output, banking-context decision-making, complex blood relations (3-generation coded) and 12-floor multi-criteria puzzles. Use Banking Chronicle, Adda247 Mains-specific PDFs and Oliveboard's PO Mains Reasoning sets. Computer Aptitude carries 6-8 Q in Mains — 2 weeks of focused revision is enough.

Group Exercise and Personal Interview (50 marks) decide 25% of final merit. Start mock GD-PI 30 days before the Mains result. SBI specifically tests banking awareness depth, ethical scenarios, branch-banking situational judgement and willingness to relocate anywhere in India. Common GE themes: digital banking adoption, MSME credit gap, climate finance, regulatory sandbox, women entrepreneurship. Prepare a 2-minute self-introduction, 5 strengths with one supporting incident each, 3 weaknesses with mitigation, and a clear answer to 'Why banking and why SBI?'.

Mock test analysis is more valuable than the mock itself. Allocate 2-3x the test time to analysis: classify every wrong answer as (a) knowledge gap, (b) calculation error, (c) time pressure, (d) silly mistake, (e) negative-marking strategy error. Pick ONE test series — Oliveboard, PracticeMock, Adda247 or Career Power — and stick. Do not jump between series. Aim for 70+ percentile in 10 consecutive full Mains mocks before the actual exam.

Recent Changes to Know

SBI PO Mains has progressively moved away from generic GK toward banking-specific awareness — recent papers carried 35-40 banking/economy items out of 50 in the Awareness section. RBI circulars, MPC decisions, BASEL technicalities and financial-inclusion scheme parameters now dominate.
Data Analysis & Interpretation difficulty has risen sharply since 2022 — caselet DI on RWA/CRAR/PSL achievement, mixed bar+line on GNPA-ROA trends, and missing-data tables with three-variable constraints are now standard. Aspirants reporting comfort with IBPS PO DI have struggled with SBI PO Mains DI.
Descriptive English continues to use the typed-in-the-test-window format (no scanned handwritten sheets). Letter is typically 150 words and essay 250-300 words with a strict 30-minute combined limit. Topics in recent cycles included CBDC adoption, climate finance, MSME credit gap and AI risks in banking.
Pre-Examination Training (PET) is offered free of cost by SBI at designated centres in major cities for SC/ST/OBC/Religious Minority candidates ahead of Prelims — opting in is recommended for first-time aspirants.
Group Exercise (GE) format has stabilised as a 30-minute case discussion rather than a free-for-all GD. Panels evaluate analytical depth, communication clarity, listening, and ability to build on peers' points. Interview panels weight banking awareness depth and ethical decision-making heavily.

Important Dates

Notification: SBI PO notification is typically released by SBI CRPD in September or November on sbi.co.in/careers. The application window stays open for approximately 3 weeks. Application fee is paid online (typically Rs 750 General/EWS/OBC, NIL for SC/ST/PwBD).
Exam: Prelims: typically held in October-November or in March, depending on the notification cycle (some years SBI runs the cycle Oct-Nov, other years Nov-Mar). Mains: approximately 4-6 weeks after Prelims result. Group Exercise and Interview: typically 6-8 weeks after Mains result, conducted at SBI Local Head Office centres.
Results: Prelims result: approximately 2-3 weeks after Prelims exam. Mains result: approximately 3-4 weeks after Mains. Final result with allocation: approximately 8-10 weeks after Phase III, with joining instructions following thereafter.

Dates shift across cycles depending on Vacancy Notification timing and SBI's recruitment calendar. Always confirm against the official sbi.co.in/careers Current Openings page and the candidate dashboard on the IBPS-aligned online portal that SBI uses to host its CRPD application form.

SBI Careers — Current Openings (recruitment notifications)State Bank of India — Corporate Website Reserve Bank of India — for banking-awareness reference Indian Banks' Association (IBA) — sector reference

Widely-Used Reference Books

Popular books many aspirants use — pick what fits your level.

Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Examinations — RS Aggarwal (S. Chand)
A Modern Approach to Verbal & Non-Verbal Reasoning — RS Aggarwal
Objective General English — SP Bakshi (Arihant)
Word Power Made Easy — Norman Lewis (vocabulary base)
Data Interpretation for Banking & SSC — Arun Sharma or Disha DI for SBI PO Mains
Banking Awareness Handbook — Arihant or Adda247 monthly Banking Capsule (compact)
Manorama Yearbook (latest edition) for static general awareness
Banking Chronicle / Banking Affairs monthly magazines for Mains awareness depth
RBI Bulletin and Economic Survey (Banking & Finance chapter) — free PDFs from rbi.org.in and indiabudget.gov.in

SBI PO (Probationary Officer) mock test — frequently asked questions

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How many questions are there in the SBI PO (Probationary Officer) mock test?

Quick Practice gives you a focused 10-question, ~10-minute test on a single topic. Full Mock is a longer paper of up to 100 questions built to match the SBI PO (Probationary Officer) exam pattern and timing.

Which subjects and topics are covered for SBI PO (Probationary Officer)?

5 topics are covered for SBI PO (Probationary Officer), including Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning Ability, English Language and more. Each topic can be practised on its own as a quick test or combined into a full-length mock.

Are the SBI PO (Probationary Officer) questions reliable and up to date with the latest syllabus?

Quick Practice questions are hand-curated and kept aligned with the current official SBI PO (Probationary Officer) syllabus, each with a short explanation. When the exam body revises the syllabus, the question bank is updated so you are not practising removed or out-of-syllabus topics.

Do I get the correct answers and explanations for SBI PO (Probationary Officer)?

Yes. After you submit the test, every question shows the correct option along with a short explanation, so you can review and fix weak areas immediately.

Will the SBI PO (Probationary Officer) mock test work on a low-end phone or slow connection?

Yes. Kamiyab runs in any modern mobile browser with no app install. The timer, scoring and explanations all work on basic Android phones and on slow networks.

How should I use Kamiyab to prepare for SBI PO (Probationary Officer)?

Use Quick Practice daily for topic-wise revision, then take a Full Mock to simulate the real SBI PO (Probationary Officer) timer and pressure. Read the explanations after every test and re-practise the topics where you score low.

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