SBI PO Exam Pattern 2021- Prelims, Mains and Interview
Updated On -
Feb 26, 2021
The official announcement of SBI PO exam 2021 will be released by the State Bank Of India on their official website: https://bank.sbi/careers. or https://www.sbi.co.in/careers. SBI PO (Probationary Officer) 2021 Exams have three stages: SBI PO Prelims, SBI PO Mains, and SBI PO Interview. To be precise, the SBI PO Prelims exam is held for shortlisting the aspirants for the SBI PO Mains exam, whereas the final merit list is depending upon the marks in Mains and interview stages.
Before starting the preparation, it is important to have complete knowledge about the type of questions and topics that are frequently asked in the exam. SBI PO Exam Pattern helps the aspirants to understand about the scheme, mode of exam, weightage of each topic etc. Even though the SBI PO exam pattern is similar to the other banking exams, it focuses more on Quantitative Ability Section and Computer Aptitude. Preparing according to the pattern of the exam will help candidates to score good marks in the exam.
For Previous year question paper, click here
SBI PO Exam Pattern 2021 Highlights
| SBI PO 2021 Stages of Exam | Prelims, Mains and Interview |
| Mode of SBI PO 2021 | Prelims- CBT (Objective type) Mains- CBT (Objective type and descriptive type) *CBT -Computer Based Test |
| Number of Sections | Prelims- 3 Mains- 4 |
| Duration of Exam | Prelims- 1 hour Mains- 3 hours 30 minutes |
| Number of Questions | Prelims- 100 questions Mains- 156 questions |
| Value of Each Question | 1 mark |
| Penalty For the Wrong Answer | -0.25 |
| Medium of Paper | English and Hindi |
| Sectional Time Limit | Prelims: 20 minutes for each section Mains: 60+45+35+40+30 minutes |
SBI PO 2021 Exam Pattern – Prelims (Phase I)
SBI PO Preliminary exam is the primary stage for the process of recruiting Probationary Officers. The test is conducted in online mode and consists of 3 sections- English Language, Quantitative Aptitude, and Reasoning Ability. Candidates after qualifying for SBI PO Preliminary will be able to appear for SBI Main. The marks secured in the first phase will not be considered for final selection or in total marks. During the Exam, Candidates appearing for SBI PO Recruitment Exam will be given a desktop per head, where all the instructions and guidelines will be given that need to be followed by them.
- The aspirants will get 1 mark for every correct answer, while for every incorrect answer, the candidates will be deducted 0.25 marks.
- They have to answer them one by one. For the English section, candidates have to answer in English Language only, whereas, for the Quants and Reasoning Section, the Paper will be set in English and Hindi.
- There is no provision of sectional cut off. A candidate need not clear the minimum qualifying marks in each section of the test, but overall cut off to get selected for the subsequent rounds. Click here for previous year prelims question papers of SBI PO.
Sectional Value in SBI PO Prelims
The following tabular is about what every section of SBI PO Prelims 2021 contains how many marks and the duration of the exam:
| Section Name | No. of Questions | Total Marks | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| English Language | 30 | 30 | 20 minutes |
| Quantitative Ability | 35 | 35 | 20 minutes |
| Reasoning Ability | 35 | 35 | 20 minutes |
| Total | 100 | 100 | 1 Hour |
SBI PO Exam Pattern– Main (Phase II)
Only if the candidate qualifies for the SBI PO Prelims, can appear for SBI PO Main Exams. This exam has 2 levels which are held on the same day as declared on their official website:
- Objective test
- Descriptive test
Things we should keep in mind before jumping into the Exam Sections or SBI PO Syllabus:
- Both objective and Descriptive Test will be Online.
- SBI, the conducting body of SBI PO has specified a time to attempt each section in the Main exam.
- After SBI PO Main Exam 2021, the Merit List will be released on their official website https://bank.sbi/careers. or https://www.sbi.co.in/careers.
- Candidates with a higher score will be given priority for GD and Interview Round as well. Click here for cutoff trends of past few years.
The Exam pattern of the objective Part is quite easy to understand. There are a total of 4 sections, namely Reasoning & Computer Aptitude, Data Analysis & Interpretation, General Awareness about Economy & Banking, and English Language.
Value and Weightage of SBI PO Main (Objective test)
The following tabular is about what every section of the Objective test of SBI PO 2021 Mains contains how many marks for which section and the duration of the exam:
| Section | Number of Questions | Total Marks of Each Section | Duration of Section |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reasoning & Computer Aptitude | 45 | 60 marks | 60 minutes |
| Data Analysis & Interpretation | 35 | 60 marks | 45 minutes |
| General Awareness (Economy & Banking) | 40 | 40 marks | 35 minutes |
| English Language | 35 | 40 marks | 40 minutes |
| Total | 155 Questions | 200 Marks | 3 hours |
Value and Weightage of SBI PO Main (Descriptive Test)
In SBI PO Main Exam, the second level is the Descriptive Test. It will be taken immediately after the Objective test. The mode of the exam is online.
- Candidates will be allotted one Computer system where the candidates write down answers as per their choice.
- Candidates are given 30 minutes to complete a descriptive paper
- There are a total of 2 questions in this section namely Letter writing and Essay Writing.
- Each question is of 25 marks.
Note: The Descriptive Paper of a candidate will be checked only after the candidate qualifies for the Objective test.
SBI PO Personal Interview Pattern – (Phase III)
Candidates who will qualify for both the Objective test and Description Test of SBI PO will be eligible to appear for Group Exercise and Personal Interview. – Group Discussions consists of 20 marks.
- The Personal Interview is of 30 marks.
- The final score will be the sum of SBI PO Main and Group Discussion and Interview.
- The OBC aspirants, who will qualify the Group Exercise and interview under the ‘OBC’ category, will need to submit the OBC certificate, containing the ‘Non Creamy Layer’ clause. Check eligibility criteria for OBC category.
- The result will be published on SBI official website https://www.sbi.co.in/careers.
SBI PO Final Selection Process 2021
- The exam conducting authorities will not consider the obtainable scores in the SBI PO Prelims exam to prepare the final SBI PO Merit list.
- For preparing the final merit list, the scores obtained from the SBI PO Mains exam (both in the objective and descriptive test) and in Group Exercise and Interview will be included.
- Nonetheless, the aspirants have to qualify both the SBI PO Prelims and SBI PO Mains exam separately.
- 75% weightage marks of the SBI PO Mains exam (out of 250 marks) and 25% weightage marks of Group Exercise and Interview (out of 50 marks) will be considered. To compile the final merit list the aggregate scores (out of 100) will be calculated.
To complete the final selection process, the top merit ranked aspirants of each category will be considered.
SBI PO FAQs
Ques. Is the SBI PO Exam Bilingual?
Ans. Except for the Descriptive Test for the English Language, all the other tests are bilingual, i.e. available in both English and Hindi.
Ques. Is there a Negative Marking in SBI PO Exam?
Ans. Yes, there is negative marking for the wrong answers in the objective tests of both Preliminary and Mains Exam of SBI PO 2021. One-fourth of the total marks allotted for that question will be deducted for marking a wrong answer.
Ques. Are there fixed timings for different sections?
Ans. Yes, the conducting body has limited the duration for each section of both SBI PO Prelims and Main.
Ques. How many marks have been allotted for PI and GD?
Ans. The maximum marks for Group Discussions (GD) and Personal Interview (PI) are 50 marks.
Ques. Is there a sectional cut-off in the SBI PO exam?
Ans. No, it has been removed and only overall cut-off marks will be considered to select the candidates.
*The article might have information for the previous academic years, please refer to the official website of the exam.
*The article might have information for the previous academic years, please refer the official website of the exam.