This page sets out what State Bank of India has said, in writing, about what the Probationary Officer examination tests. It is based on advertisement CRPD/PO/2026-27/09 of 18 June 2026, which is the newest notified cycle as of 13 November 2026, and on the two "Acquaint Yourself" booklets SBI issued for the Preliminary and Main examinations of that cycle.
One thing should be clear at the start. SBI does not publish a topic-wise syllabus. The advertisement gives the names of the tests, the number of questions, the marks and the time. The booklets add a short description of each test and a set of sample questions. Anything more detailed than that, including the topic list further down this page, is a working list and not an official document. We have kept the two apart.
Syllabus at a glance
| Stage | Tests | Where SBI describes it |
|---|---|---|
| Phase I: Preliminary Examination | English Language, Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning Ability | Advertisement para 8; Prelims booklet |
| Phase II: Main Examination (objective) | Reasoning and Computer Aptitude; Data Analysis and Interpretation; General Awareness / Economy / Banking Knowledge; English Language | Advertisement para 8; Mains booklet |
| Phase II: Main Examination (descriptive) | Communication Skills: email, situation analysis, and a report or a precis | Advertisement para 8; Mains booklet |
| Phase III | Psychometric test, group exercise, personal interview | Advertisement para 8 |
Questions, marks, timings and the penalty for wrong answers are on the exam pattern page.
Preliminary Examination: what SBI says about each test
The Prelims booklet says every question has five options, and that the questions in the actual examination may be of a higher difficulty level than the samples and may include types the booklet does not show.
English Language (40 questions)
SBI's description: a test of how well you know English, through questions on grammar, vocabulary, sentence completion, synonyms, antonyms and comprehension of a passage, "etc.". The sample questions in the booklet are of these kinds:
- picking the most appropriate word to complete a sentence
- finding the part of a sentence that has a grammatical error, with "No error" as the fifth option
- choosing the word nearest in meaning to a given word
- choosing the word most opposite in meaning to a given word
- questions on a passage, which the booklet mentions but does not sample
Quantitative Aptitude (30 questions)
SBI's description: a test of how fast and accurate you are in dealing with numbers, namely computation, quantitative reasoning, and interpretation of tables and graphs, "etc.". The samples are:
- a set of questions on one table of data (candidates classified by written and interview marks)
- short arithmetical reasoning questions, for example a cost calculation, a divisibility check and a profit question
- a second table set, on percentages of a group of 700 employees
In the samples the fifth option is often "Other than those given as options", which means you cannot always work backwards from the choices.
Reasoning Ability (30 questions)
SBI's description: a test of how well you can think, and also of your aptitude or knowledge for working with a computer. The samples are:
- finding the odd one out among five words or letter groups
- analogies of the form A : B :: C : ?
- rearranging the letters of a word to a rule
- deciding which inference definitely follows from given statements
- symbol-coded arithmetic operations
- deciding which further information is needed to answer a question (data sufficiency)
- two statements followed by two conclusions (syllogism)
A working topic list for Prelims (ours, not SBI's)
Because SBI's description stops at the level above, candidates need something more specific to study from. The list below is our reading of what those descriptions cover. It is study guidance from Pareeksha, not a list SBI has issued, and SBI's own caution applies: the paper can contain types that no list mentions.
- English Language: reading comprehension; cloze passages; error spotting and sentence correction; fill in the blanks with one or two words; sentence rearrangement; vocabulary in context (synonyms, antonyms, word usage).
- Quantitative Aptitude: simplification and approximation; number series; quadratic comparisons; percentages, ratio, averages, profit and loss, interest; time and work, time and distance, mixtures; mensuration; data interpretation from tables, bar and line graphs and pie charts.
- Reasoning Ability: seating arrangements and puzzles; syllogism; inequalities; coding and decoding; blood relations; direction and distance; order and ranking; alphanumeric series; data sufficiency.
Treat the first two items in each line as the ones most directly supported by SBI's own wording (comprehension and grammar; computation and tables; inference and classification).
Main Examination: the four objective tests
The Mains booklet repeats the same caution about samples. Its descriptions are:
- Test I, Reasoning and Computer Aptitude (40 questions, 60 marks). The same description as Prelims reasoning: how well you can think, and your aptitude or knowledge for working with a computer. The samples are the same seven types listed above. SBI does not list computer topics separately.
- Test II, Data Analysis and Interpretation (30 questions, 60 marks). Computation, quantitative reasoning and interpretation of tables and graphs. The booklet says an in-built calculator on the screen is permitted for this test.
- Test III, General Awareness / Economy / Banking Knowledge (60 questions, 60 marks). SBI's description: "an index of your awareness of people and events past and present in different walks of life". The five samples are about Know Your Customer and the regulator behind it, which sector contributes most to state income growth, poverty across states, a person associated with Operation Flood, and what monetary policy is concerned with. So the test mixes banking and regulation, the Indian economy, and general current awareness.
- Test IV, English Language (40 questions, 20 marks). The same description and the same sample types as the Prelims English test.
Our reading, labelled as ours: Test III is the only part of the whole written examination that cannot be prepared from aptitude practice alone. It needs a steady habit of reading banking and economic news, plus the basics of how banks, the Reserve Bank of India and financial markets work.
Main Examination: the descriptive test
The advertisement calls this paper Communication Skills. It has three tasks, each chosen from two options:
- an email
- a situation analysis
- either a report or a precis
The Mains booklet gives 10 marks to each task, 30 marks in all, in 30 minutes. It is typed on the computer, in English only, and the booklet says no spellcheck facility is available.
Phase III: psychometric test, group exercise and interview
The advertisement does not give a syllabus for Phase III. It says:
- the psychometric test is for personality profiling, all its questions are mandatory, and its findings are placed before the interview panel
- the group exercise carries 20 marks and the personal interview 30 marks
For the 2026 cycle SBI held the psychometric test online in remote proctored mode on 31 October 2026, and its notice says only candidates who appear in it will be allowed into the group exercise and interview. What a group exercise will consist of is not described in any SBI document we could open.
What changed from the 2025 advertisement
Comparing the two advertisements side by side:
- The tests are the same in Prelims and in the Mains objective paper, with the same question counts.
- The descriptive test is 30 marks in 2026. The 2025 advertisement set it at 50 marks.
- The three descriptive tasks in 2026 (email, situation analysis, report or precis) match the position SBI reached for 2025 through its corrigendum of 4 September 2025.
If you are using older material, check it against the 2026 figures on the exam pattern page.
How to use this page
- Start with SBI's own descriptions and sample types. They are short, and they are the only official statement of scope.
- Use the working topic list to plan study, and let previous papers tell you which topics recur.
- Begin General Awareness, Economy and Banking early even though it is a Mains test, because it is built by daily reading and cannot be rushed.
- Practise the descriptive tasks by typing them, not by writing on paper, because that is how they are taken.
A study plan built on the marks and timers is on the preparation page. To see the format, try the 10-question mini-mock, which is free.
What this page does not have
- An official topic-wise syllabus. SBI does not publish one; the topic list above is ours and is labelled so.
- A list of computer topics for Mains Test I. SBI names the test but does not break it down.
- The period of current affairs that General Awareness will cover. No SBI document states a cut-off month.
- The format of the group exercise and the contents of the psychometric test. SBI states their purpose and marks only.
- Topic-wise weightage from past papers. SBI does not release question papers or official weightage, so we do not print percentages here.
Related: Exam pattern · Cut-off · Preparation strategy