SBI PO 2026 Mains Exam Analysis OUT: Check Student Review, Difficulty Level & Good Attempts

State Bank of India Probationary Officer Exam 2026 ( SBI PO )

Shikha
Shikha Goyal
Assistant Manager
Updated on Sep 16, 2026 12:00 IST
SBI PO 2026 mains exam is conducted on September 12. SBI PO mains exam analysis 2026 will be provided on this page. SBI PO 2026 mains exam is expected to be moderate in terms of difficulty level. Read here for more details, including good attempts, expected cut off, etc.

SBI PO 2026 mains exam was conducted on September 12. SBI PO mains exam analysis 2026 is provided on this page as per the feedback received from the students'. Scroll down to read more details on SBI PO 2026 mains exam analysis.

SBI PO Mains Exam Analysis 2026

SBI PO Mains Exam Analysis 2026

SBI PO 2026 Mains Exam Analysis: State Bank of India (SBI) successfully conducted the SBI PO 2026 mains exam on September 12 at various centres across the country. SBI PO 2026 Mains exam analysis is given on this page as per the feedback received from the students'. The overall difficutly lavel of the exam was moderate to difficult according to the students'. Candidates who appeared for the exam should check the in-depth SBI PO exam analysis 2026 to analyse their performance.

The exam analysis helps candidates to know the topics for each section, good attempts, student review, etc. SBI PO 2026 mains exam is divided into objective and descriptive tests. Questions in the objective tests are asked from Reasoning and Computer Aptitude, English Language, Data Analysis and Interpretation, General Awareness / Economy/ Banking Knowledge. SBI PO exam pattern for the mains exam is such that the paper contains both objective and subjective questions for a total of 230 marks

The marks obtained in SBI PO mains exam are taken into consideration for final merit list. Candidates upto three times the category-wise number of vacancies will be shortlisted for the Phase 3 exam. Read below for more details on SBI PO 2026 mains exam analysis.

Also Read:

SBI PO 2026 Cut off

Table of contents
  • SBI PO 2026 Overall Exam Analysis
  • SBI PO Section-Wise Difficulty Level
  • SBI PO Mains Exam Pattern 2026

SBI PO 2026 Overall Exam Analysis

The overall difficulty level of SBI PO 2026 mains exam will be available soon. SBI PO 2026 mains exam analysis is given below.

Sections

Difficulty Level

Reasoning & Computer Aptitude

Moderate to Difficult

Data Analysis & Interpretation

Moderate to Difficult

General/Economy/Banking Awareness

Moderate

English

Moderate

Overall

Moderate to Difficult

Q&A Icon
Commonly asked questions
Q:   How to Prepare the Descriptive paper for SBI PO exam?
A: 

SBI PO descriptive paper is part of Mains phase of examination. Descriptive paper is online test of 30 minutes and comprises questions from Essay Writing and Letter Writing. To prepare for SBI PO descriptive paper, you should know basic grammar, build vocabulary. Read newspapers and magazines to improve writing skills and practice essay writing based on recent events. 

Q:   What are the key topics for General Awareness in SBI PO?
A: 
Questions in General Awareness are asked from Financial Awareness, Current Affairs Static Awareness, etc. The General Awareness section appears in the Mains exam. Candidates must read the Current Affairs topics of last six months. Candidates must make a habit of reading newspapers daily.
Q:   Is SBI PO normalisation is grace marks?
A: 

SBI PO normalisation is not grace marks. The normalisation of marks is done to adjust the difficulty level of the question papers across various sessions. This process is followed since the exam is conducted in multiple shifts. The difficulty levels of the question papers are different.

Q:   How to prepare for SBI PO GK section?
A: 
To prepare the GK section of SBI PO candidates should read newspapers to keep themselves updated with the Current Affairs topics of last one year or six months. Candidates should also be familiar with the banking terminologies, government schemes related to finance, etc. The General Awareness section comprises Current Affairs and Static GK. General/Economy/Banking Awareness carries the maximum marks (60 marks). If candidates mark a wrong answer, 1/4th or 0.25 marks of the total marks assigned to a particular question are deducted to arrive at a corrected score. If candidates leave a question blank, no penalty is marked. Candidates can refer to the books such as Pratiyogita Darpan, Manorama Yearbook, etc.

SBI PO Section-Wise Difficulty Level

The section-wise difficulty level of SBI PO 2026 is given below.

SBI PO Mains Exam Analysis 2026 for English Language

As per the feedback of the candidates', the English section was Moderate in difficulty level. One candidate attempted around 27–28 questions in the English section. Questions from grammar were asked from conjunctions, prepositions, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, tenses and non-finite verbs. Column based questions were also asked in the examination. These questions were from sentence flow, contextual, grammar, collocation, elimination, etc. From reading comprehensions some questions asked were direct, some were indirect, context-based questions, tone-based questions, vocabulary based questions, fillers and also some of the questions involved highlighted words.

Topics No. of Questions
RC-1 (Fillers, Highlighted words) 7
RC-2 7
Replace 6
Cloze Test -
Match the Column 2-3
Parajumble -1 (7 sentences) 1
Sentence Arrangement -

SBI PO Mains Exam Analysis 2026 for Quant

According to the feedback of the students, Quant section was tough.

Topics No. of Questions
Bar Grapg +Line Graph DI 4
Probability Based DI -
Caselet DI (Girls & Boys) 3
Quadratic Equation 3
Donut Chart (About a Match) 3
Number Series -
Arithmetic -

SBI PO Mains Exam Analysis 2026 for Reasoning

According to the feedback of the students' reasoning section was Moderate in difficulty level.

Topics No. of Questions
Linear Seating (8 persons) (North) 1
Seating Arrangement (inside) (8 persons) + Blood Relation 5
Row and column-based with Condition 4
Certain Number of Persons + Variable (North) 4
Month+ Variable (Company) 4
Inference 1
Data Sufficiency – 2 statements (Floor-based, Parallel Row, Direction distance) 3
Decision Making 1
Conclusion based 1
Cause & Effect 1
Meaningful word puzzle based (Praised) 1
Machine Input-word based 4
New Pattern coding 4

SBI PO Mains Exam Analysis 2026 General Awareness

Asper the feedback received from the students', this section was Moderate in difficulty level.

SBI PO Mains Exam Analysis 2026 Descriptive Test

This section tests candidates' written communication skills. Email-writing question was asked in which candidate need to write an email to the HR Manager declining a job offer.
Then a question on situational analysis was also there in which a farmer took a loan of INR 8 lakh from the bank 6 years ago but has not been paying the EMIs. He requested the moratorium, but the bank rejected his request. He then came bank with several villagers. What should you do in this situation as a bank officer.
Precis writing: A passage related to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites was given for precis writing.

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SBI PO Mains Exam Pattern 2026

SBI PO exam pattern for the mains exam is such that the paper contains both objective and subjective questions for a total of 230 marks. The test paper carries a total of 170+ descriptive questions. The duration of the test is 3.5 hours.

Subject

Number of Questions

Marks

Duration

Objective Test

Reasoning & Computer Aptitude

40

60

50 Minutes

Data Analysis & Interpretation

30

60

45 Minutes

General/ Economy/ Banking Awareness

60

60

45 Minutes

English Language

40

20

40 Minutes

Subjective/ Descriptive Test

English Language (Letter Writing & Essay)

3

30

30 Minutes

Total

170+ descriptive

230

3.5 Hours

Also Read: SBI PO 2026 Result

About the Author
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Shikha Goyal
Assistant Manager

Role: Editorial Domain

Education: Mass Com & Journalism, MSC Mathematics

Expertise: Sarkari Exam Expert

About

Shikha Goyal is a double post graduate with more than 12 years of experience in education domain, journal

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