SBI Exam Pattern 2025 for various exams is prescribed by the State Bank of India. Exam pattern is different for different exams. The SBI Exam Pattern highlights the overall structure of the exam. Through the SBI Exam Pattern, candidates can find out the number of sections, total marks, marking scheme, different subjects for the exam, etc. It is important to understand the SBI exam pattern before beginning with the preparation. Thus, prior knowledge of SBI Exam Pattern 2025 is essential as it will give you a platform to start your efficient preparation for the exam. Let's have a look at the detailed Exam Pattern of SBI Exam for your preparation.
- SBI Exam Pattern 2025
- SBI Clerk Exam Pattern 2025
- SBI SO Exam Pattern 2025
- SBI Exam Pattern 2025 FAQs
SBI Exam Pattern 2025
See below exam pattern:
SBI Clerk Exam Pattern
SBI Clerk preliminary exam comprises three sections, English Language, Numerical Ability, and Reasoning Ability. Candidates need to answer 100 questions in one hour. Mains exam comprises questions from General/ Financial Awareness, General English, Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning Ability & Computer Aptitude. The paper consists of 190 questions. Duration of the test is 2 Hours 40 minutes.
SBI PO Exam Pattern
The exam covers three sections: English Language, Quantitative Aptitude, and Reasoning Ability. The paper comprises 100 objective type questions. The mains exam is a mix of objective and descriptive type tests. The objective section carries questions from Reasoning & Computer Aptitude, Data Analysis & Interpretation, General/ Economy/ Banking Awareness, and English Language. The subjective section comprises questions from English Language (Letter Writing & Essay). The exam carries a total of 157 questions and the marks in total are 250.
SBI SO Exam Pattern
Law Officer: The first section comprises Reasoning and English Language while the second section is Professional Knowledge. The total duration of the test is 135 minutes. The exam consists of 170 objective-type multiple-choice questions. The marks for the test are 220.
Systems, CA and Engineering Officers: The question paper of these posts carries questions from Reasoning, English Language, Quantitative Aptitude and Professional Knowledge. The test paper comprises 170 questions, and the marks of the exam are 220. Students will get 135 minutes to complete the paper.
Also Read: SBI Salary
Commonly asked questions
The number of papers in SBI exam are different for different posts. SBI Clerk prelims exam carries three papers and total marks allotted to the test are 100. SBI Clerk mains exam carries four papers and carries a total of 200 marks. SBI PO prelims exam carries three papers. The total marks allotted to the prelims exam are 100. SBI PO mains exam carries both objective and descriptive tests. The total marks allotted to the test are 250.
The duration of SBI exam is different for different stages of selection. The duration of the prelims exam is one hour for SBI PO and Clerk exam. The duration of the mains exam is two hours for SBI Clerk exam and 3 hours 30 minutes for mains exam. There are also sectional timings in SBI exam.
SBI Clerk Exam Pattern 2025
SBI Clerk exam pattern is divided into a preliminary and mains exam. There is no interview for the post of Clerical cadre. Candidates can check below the exam pattern for the preliminary and mains exam.
Preliminary exam
SBI Clerk preliminary exam comprises three sections, English Language, Numerical Ability, and Reasoning Ability. The exam comprises 100 questions and the total marks allotted for the exam are 100. Candidates need to answer the questions within one hour.
Mains exam
The mains exam comprises questions from General/ Financial Awareness, General English, Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning Ability & Computer Aptitude. The paper consists of 190 questions. The duration of the test is 2 Hours 40 minutes.
Test of Specified Opted Local Language
The provisionally selected candidates who did not study the specified opted local language in Class 10 and 12 are required to appear for this stage. Candidates who fail to qualify for this test will not be selected for an appointment.
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Commonly asked questions
SBI Clerk exam comprises prelims and Mains exams. Total marks allotted to test are 100. Total marks for the mains test are 200. Candidates qualifying the mains exam are also required to appear for LPT. Prelims marks are not counted for the final merit list.
The prelims and Mains exams of SBI Clerk are conducted online. The prelims exam is conducted in four shifts. The mains exam is held in two shifts. Total marks allotted to the prelims exam are 100. The mains exam carries 200 marks.
SBI SO Exam Pattern 2025
SBI SO exam pattern varies as per the posts. For some posts, online exams and interview are conducted while for other posts, the selection is done based on Interview only. The exam pattern for different posts is given below:
Law Officer: The exam pattern for the Law Officer will have two sections. The first section comprises Reasoning and English Language while the second section is Professional Knowledge. The total duration of the test is 135 minutes. The exam consists of 170 objective-type multiple-choice questions. The marks in total for the test are 220.
Systems, CA and Engineering Officers: The question paper of these posts carries questions from Reasoning, English Language, Quantitative Aptitude and Professional Knowledge. The test paper comprises 170 questions, and the marks for the exam are 220. Students will get 135 minutes to complete the paper.
Economist post: The exam comprises questions from Reasoning, English Language, Quantitative Aptitude, and Professional Knowledge. The marks for the exam are 220. The total duration of the test is 135 minutes.
For the posts of Senior Special Executive (Data Analyst) and Senior Executive (Statistics), Defence Banking Advisor (Navy & Air Force), Circle Defence Banking Advisor, HR Specialist (Recruitment), Manager (Data Scientist), Deputy Manager (Data Scientist), Deputy Manager (System Officer) shortlisting is done based on Interview.
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Commonly asked questions
The State Bank of India (SBI) conducts the Specialist Officer (SO) exam as online computer-based test. In the CBT mode, candidates are presented with questions on a computer screen and submit their answers electronically within the exam’s duration. For some positions, the selection process may include shortlisting based on qualifications and experience, then an interview, rather than an online test.
The State Bank of India conducts the Specialist Officer (SO) exam once a year. The SBI SO exam is part of the larger recruitment strategy, which includes positions such as Probationary Officers (PO) and Clerks.
SBI Exam Pattern 2025 FAQs
Candidates can read SBI Exam Pattern 2025 FAQs below.
Commonly asked questions
The marks obtained in the prelims exam are not counted for the final merit list. Final selection of candidates is done based on the Mains exam and group exercises and interview. The weightage of marks given to the Mains exam are 75 and 25 to Interview & Group Discussion.
SBI exam pattern is prescribed by the State Bank of India. SBI exam pattern is different for different posts. SBI Clerk exam pattern is such that it comprises prelims exam and mains exam. SBI PO exam pattern is such that it comprises prelims exam, mains exam, psychometric test, interview and group exercises. There is no interview for SBI Clerk posts.
SBI CBO Exam Pattern is divided into Computer Based Test (CBT), Descriptive Test and Interview. Candidates can check the detailed CBO Exam Pattern in the table below.
CBT Exam
Candidates can check SBI CBO Exam Pattern for CBT in the table below.
| Sections | No of Questions | Max Marks | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| English Language | 30 | 30 | 30 mins |
| Banking Knowledge | 40 | 40 | 40 mins |
| General Awareness/Economy | 30 | 30 | 30 mins |
| Computer Aptitude | 20 | 20 | 20 mins |
| Total | 120 | 120 | 2 hours |
Descriptive Test
Candidates can check SBI CBO Exam Pattern for Descriptive Test in the table below.
| Topics | No of Questions | Max Marks | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Letter Writing | 01 | 25 | 30 mins |
| Essay-250 words on banking related | 01 | 25 | |
| Total | 02 | 50 | 30 mins |
The level of SBI PO exam is usually difficult. The exam comprises prelims, mains and interview. The marks obtained in the prelims are not counted for the final merit list. Selection is done based on the mains exam and interview.
The preliminary exam of SBI PO comprises the English Language, Quantitative Aptitude and Reasoning Ability. Total marks allotted to the test are 100. The duration of the test is 60 minutes. The prelims exam is only conducted to screen candidates for the Mains exam. The marks obtained in this stage are not counted for the final merit list. Candidates qualifying the prelims exam are called for the mains exam. The structure of SBI PO prelims exam pattern is given below.
Subject | Number of Questions | Marks | Duration |
English Language | 40 |
100 | 20 Minutes |
Quantitative Aptitude | 30 | 20 Minutes | |
Reasoning Ability | 30 | 20 Minutes | |
Total | 100 | 1 Hour |
The minimum marks to crack the SBI SO exam isn't disclosed yet by the governing committee. It depends on the level of competition and the number of vacancies they have. Based on these, after the examination is over, the committee decides the cut-off level and sends notifications to the qualifying candidates informing them of further procedures. There are no sectional cut off marks in SBI SO exam. Candidates need to secure the overall cut off marks as per their categories in the exam. The marks of candidate are calculated as per the marking scheme. The marking scheme is given below:
- There is SBI SO negative marking for wrong answers, one-fourth of marks assigned to a particular question in the objective test are deducted as a penalty to arrive at the corrected scores.
- If a question is left blank, there will be no penalty for that question.
- For correct answers, candidates score one mark.
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