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 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 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 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 |
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:
Things we should keep in mind before jumping into the Exam Sections or SBI PO Syllabus:
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.
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 |
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.
Note: The Descriptive Paper of a candidate will be checked only after the candidate qualifies for the Objective test.
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.
To complete the final selection process, the top merit ranked aspirants of each category will be considered.
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.