Everything below comes from the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection's detailed notification for CRP PO/MT-XVI (vacancies of 2027-28), dated 1 July 2026, the IBPS tentative calendar for 2026-27, and the updated vacancy annexure of 27 August 2026. This is the newest notified cycle as of 13 November 2026. IBPS calls its schedule tentative, so check ibps.in for changes. Our own comments and arithmetic are labelled.
Stages at a glance
| Stage | Mode | What it decides |
|---|---|---|
| Online Preliminary Examination | Computer-based, objective, 3 tests | Shortlisting for the Main Examination only |
| Online Main Examination | Computer-based, 4 objective tests and 1 descriptive paper | Shortlisting for the personality test and interview, and 80% of the final score |
| Personality Test | Self-report test, in proctored mode or at centres | Non-qualifying, but appearing is mandatory |
| Common Interview | Conducted by the participating banks, coordinated by a nodal bank | 100 marks, 20% of the final score |
| Provisional Allotment | By IBPS, on merit-cum-preference | The bank you are allotted to |
Dates (per IBPS): online registration and fee payment ran from 1 to 21 July 2026, with an edit window of 2 days after registration closed. The notification gives months, not days: pre-examination training and Prelims in August 2026, Prelims result in September, Mains in October, Mains result in November, personality test in November, interviews in November or December 2026 and provisional allotment in January 2027. The IBPS calendar published on 16 January 2026 gives the days: Prelims on 22 and 23 August 2026 and Mains on 4 October 2026. On 13 November 2026 the IBPS page for this cycle listed no result or interview notice that we could open, so we cannot confirm from a document how far the later stages have moved.
Post, pay and eligibility
| Item | CRP PO/MT-XVI (per notification) |
|---|---|
| Post | Probationary Officer / Management Trainee in 11 participating public sector banks |
| Pay scale | Basic Rs 48,480-2000/7-62,480-2340/2-67,160-2680/7-85,920, plus allowances under the allotted bank's rules |
| Vacancies | 6,715 indicative in the notification; 7,565 in the updated annexure as on 27.08.2026 |
| Age | 20 to 30 years as on 01.07.2026 (born from 02.07.1996 to 01.07.2006, both inclusive) |
| Education | A degree in any discipline from a recognised university, with the result declared on or before 21.07.2026 |
| Fee | Rs 175 for SC/ST/PwBD; Rs 850 for all others (inclusive of GST) |
- Participating banks: Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, Canara Bank, Central Bank of India, Indian Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Punjab National Bank, Punjab & Sind Bank, UCO Bank and Union Bank of India.
- Age relaxation: 5 years for SC/ST, 3 years for OBC (non-creamy layer), 10 years for persons with benchmark disabilities and 5 years for the ex-servicemen described in the notification. The upper limit of 30 applies to General and EWS candidates.
- Bank preference is filled in the online application and cannot be changed later.
- The notification describes the post as an all-India cadre: an allotted candidate may be posted anywhere in India or outside it, at the bank's discretion.
Preliminary Examination
| Test | Questions | Maximum marks | Medium | Time (separately timed) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language | 30 | 30 | English | 20 minutes |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 35 | 30 | English and Hindi | 20 minutes |
| Reasoning Ability | 35 | 40 | English and Hindi | 20 minutes |
| Total | 100 | 100 | 60 minutes |
- You must qualify in each of the three tests by securing the minimum cut-off marks that IBPS decides. IBPS then shortlists an "adequate number" of candidates in each category for Mains. The notification gives no fixed percentage for either.
- Questions and marks are not equal in two tests. On average a Quantitative Aptitude question is worth about 0.86 marks and a Reasoning question about 1.14 marks (arithmetic from the table; the notification does not say whether every question in a test carries the same marks).
- The examination lasts 1 hour, but the notification asks candidates to expect about 2 hours or more at the venue for verification and instructions.
- The same three-test Prelims table appears in the previous notification, CRP PO/MT-XV.
Main Examination
| Test (not by sequence) | Questions | Maximum marks | Medium | Time (separately timed) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reasoning | 40 | 60 | English and Hindi | 45 minutes |
| General / Economy / Banking Awareness / Digital / Financial Awareness including RBI circulars | 50 | 60 | English and Hindi | 35 minutes |
| English Language | 40 | 20 | English | 35 minutes |
| Data Analysis and Interpretation | 40 | 60 | English and Hindi | 45 minutes |
| Objective total | 170 | 200 | 160 minutes | |
| Descriptive Paper (Essay and Comprehension) | 2 | 25 | English | 30 minutes |
- The whole sitting is 3 hours 10 minutes; the notification asks candidates to expect about 4 hours or more at the venue.
- The descriptive paper "may be broadly based on" economic and social issues, emerging trends in banking and technology, current events and ethics. IBPS says it may be evaluated by an automated scoring mechanism for writing proficiency.
- You need a minimum score in each test of the Main Examination and a minimum total score to be considered for the personality test and interview. Cut-offs depend on the vacancies available.
- This table differs from the previous cycle. The CRP PO/MT-XV notification had 145 objective questions for the same 200 marks and 160 minutes (Reasoning 40 questions, 60 marks, 50 minutes; Awareness 35, 50, 25; English 35, 40, 40; Data Analysis 35, 50, 45). In CRP-XVI the Awareness test is larger (50 questions, 60 marks) and English carries 20 marks. If you are using older material, check it against the table above.
Penalty for wrong answers
The rule is the same for the objective tests of Prelims and Mains: for each wrong answer, one fourth (0.25) of the marks assigned to that question is deducted. A question left blank has no penalty. The penalty is therefore proportional to the question's marks, not a flat 0.25.
Scores and normalisation
- If a stage is held in more than one session, the corrected scores are normalised using the equi-percentile method.
- Scores up to two decimal places are used for calculations.
- Scores obtained in the Main Examination are not shared with shortlisted candidates before the interview process is complete.
Personality test and interview
- Personality test: a self-report test for candidates who qualify in Mains. It is non-qualifying, but appearing is mandatory to be eligible for the interview. It may be held in proctored mode or at examination centres. In the previous cycle, IBPS's notice of 11 December 2025 scheduled it online in remote proctored mode on 12 December 2025.
- Interview: 100 marks. The minimum qualifying marks "will not be less than" 40%, or 35% for SC/ST/OBC/PwBD candidates.
- Weightage: Main Examination and interview are combined in the ratio 80:20. The notification does not spell out, in the part we read, how the 200 objective marks and the 25 descriptive marks are scaled inside the 80, so we do not state a conversion.
- Candidates serving in government, PSUs or banks need a No Objection Certificate from the employer at the interview.
How the final merit and allotment work
According to the notification:
- Only Main Examination marks count for shortlisting for the personality test and interview, and for final merit listing. Prelims is a screening stage.
- You must qualify in both the Main Examination and the interview and be high enough in merit to be considered for provisional allotment.
- Allotment is on merit-cum-preference, on the actual vacancies the banks report. Once made, it is final; a request for change leads to cancellation of candidature.
- A reserved-category candidate selected on General-category norms is treated as a General candidate for allotment and is not adjusted against a reserved post.
- Tie-break: when two or more candidates have the same score, the candidate senior in age is placed higher.
- A reserve list of approximately 20% of the vacancies under each category may be kept. It expires one year after the provisional allotment or when a fresh allotment is made, whichever is earlier.
Facilities for candidates with disabilities, and pre-examination training
- Candidates eligible for a scribe get compensatory time of 20 minutes for every hour of the examination. The same applies to the other groups listed in the notification, such as visually impaired candidates and candidates with locomotor disability affecting the writing hand.
- Pre-examination training may be arranged in online mode for a limited number of SC, ST, OBC and minority-community candidates who opt for it in the application.
What this means for your attempt strategy
These are arithmetic consequences of the scheme and our reading, not IBPS advice.
- Time per question, Prelims: 40 seconds in English (20 minutes for 30 questions) and about 34 seconds in Quantitative Aptitude and in Reasoning (20 minutes for 35 questions).
- Time per question, Mains: 67.5 seconds in Reasoning and in Data Analysis, 42 seconds in Awareness and 52.5 seconds in English.
- Guessing: with a quarter of the question's marks deducted, a guess breaks even when your chance of being right is 1 in 5. Above that it gains on average; below it, it loses.
- Sectional timers mean time saved in one test cannot be carried to another. Each test has to be planned on its own.
- In Mains, Reasoning, Awareness and Data Analysis carry 60 marks each and English carries 20. See preparation strategy.
Practise in this format: a free 10-question mini-mock is available to try. Full Prelims-pattern mocks with sectional timers and topic practice are Pro, under the banking test series.
What this page does not have
- Day-wise dates for the Prelims result, Mains result, personality test and interview of CRP PO/MT-XVI. The notification gives months only, and we found no later notice on the IBPS page for this cycle.
- Any cut-off. See cut-offs for what IBPS has and has not published.
- The number of options per question and the marks of individual questions. The notification leaves these to the Information Handout issued with the call letter, which we could not open.
- How the descriptive paper's 25 marks enter the 80:20 final score.
- Union Bank of India's vacancies, which are shown as "NR" (not reported) in the 27.08.2026 annexure.
Related: Syllabus · Cut-offs · Preparation strategy