About SBI PO Eligibility
| Age | Educational Qualifications | |
|---|---|---|
| SBI/SBI Associate Bank PO | 20-30 Years | Graduation in any discipline from a recognised university/Collage |
How to Apply
About SBI PO Exam Pattern
The SBI and Associate Banks of SBI conduct separate written test for the selection process of PO and do not consider the IBPS score. SBI has changed the selection process for recruitment of POs, from 2015 onwards. SBI has gone back to its old selection process where the selection was done in a three phase manner - Preliminary Examination (Phase I), Main Examination (Phase II) and GD Interview (Phase III).
Phase I - Preliminary Examination:
Preliminary Examination consisting of Objective Tests for 100 marks will be conducted online. This test would be of 1 hour duration consisting of 3 Sections as follows.
| SNo | No of tests | No of Ques | Max Marks | duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English Language | 30 | 30 | 1 Hour |
| 2 | Quantitative Aptitude | 35 | 35 | |
| 3 | Reasoning Ability | 35 | 35 | |
| Total | 100 | 100 |
Candidates have to qualify in each of the three tests by securing passing marks to be decided by the Bank. Adequate number of candidates in each category as decided by the Bank (approximately 20 times the numbers of vacancies subject to availability) will be short listed for the Main Examination
Phase II : Main Examination (Online Test):
This will consist of Objective Tests for 200 marks and Descriptive Test for 50 marks. Both the Objective and Descriptive Tests will be online. Candidates will have to answer Descriptive test by typing on the computer. Immediately after completion of Objective Test, Descriptive Test will be administered.
- Objective Test:
- Descriptive Test (Online):
The objective test of 3 hours duration consist of 4 Sections for total 200 marks. The objective test will have separate timing for every section. The candidates bare required to qualify in each of the Tests by securing passing marks, to be decided by the Bank.
| SNo | No of tests | No of Ques | Max Marks | duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reasoning & Computer Ability | 45 | 60 | 60 Minutes |
| 2 | Data Analysis & Interpretation | 35 | 60 | 45 Minutes |
| 3 | General Economy / Banking Awareness | 40 | 40 | 35 Minutes |
| 4 | English Language | 35 | 40 | 40 Minutes |
| Total | 155 | 200 | 3 Hours |
(a) Each test will have separate timing as mentioned above. (b) There will be negative marks (Prelim and Main Exams) for wrong answers in the Objective tests. 1/4th mark will be deducted for each wrong answer. The candidates are required to qualify in each of the Tests by securing passing marks, to be decided by the Bank.
The Descriptive Test of 30 minutes duration with 50 marks will be a Test of English Language (Letter Writing & Essay).
Note: Descriptive Test paper of only those candidates will be evaluated who have scored qualifying marks in the Objective Tests and are placed adequately high as per total marks in objective test.Phase III - Group Discussion (20 marks) & Interview (30 marks)
The marks obtained in the Preliminary Examination (Phase-I) will not be added for the selection and only the marks obtained in Main Examination (Phase-II) will be added to the marks obtained in GD & Interview (Phase-III) for preparation of the final merit list.
Cut Offs
SBI PO Cut Off 2016 for Prelims
Here is the official Cut Off for SBI PO Prelims 2016, both Overall as well as for each individual section.-
| Official Sectional Cut Off for SBI PO Prelims 2016 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Reasoning | Quantitative Aptitude | English Language | |
| Marks (for GEN) | 7.00 | 7.25 | 8.75 |
| Marks (for OBC/SC/ST/PwD) | 4.25 | 4.25 | 6.0 |
| Official Category-wise Cut Off for SBI PO Prelims 2016 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General | OBC | SC | ST | OH | VH | HI | |
| Marks | 47.50 | 44.50 | 38.75 | 29.25 | 36.00 | 37.00 | 15.75 |
SBI PO Cut Off 2016 for Mains
Here is the official Cut Off for SBI PO Mains 2016, both Overall as well as for each individual section
| Official Sectional Cut Off for SBI PO Mains 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reasoning | Data Analysis & Interpretation | General Awareness/Computers | English Language | |
| Total Marks | 60 | 60 | 40 | 40 |
| Cut off for General | 9 | 9 | 13 | 6 |
| Cut off for SC/ST/OBC/OH/VI/HI | 6 | 6 | 10 | 4 |
| Official Category-wise Overall Cut Off for SBI PO 2016 Mains | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General | OBC | SC | ST | OH | VH | HI | |
| Marks | 70 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 |
SBI PO Cut Off 2016 for GD and Interview
Following are the cut off marks for the Group Discussion and Interview. The group discussion was of 20 marks and interview was of 30 marks. Therefore, both together held 50 marks.
| Official Category-wise Overall Cut Off for SBI PO 2016 Mains | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Categories | General | OBC | SC | ST | OH | VH | HI |
| Cut off marks | 20 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 |
About SBI PO Syllabus
Pattern of the Preliminary Exam
- Reasoning Ability : 35 Questions
- Quantitative Aptitude : 35 Questions
- English : 30 Questions
1) Reasoning ability
Reasoning has always been the difficult section in SBI exam. But being the preliminary exam, we can expect that the difficulty level of SBI exam will be moderate and will include many important topics. We are providing the details in the following table:
| Syllogism |
| Input-Output |
| Coding-decoding/Misc. |
| Sitting Arrangement/Puzzle |
| Inequality |
| Data Sufficiency |
| Logical Reasoning |
2) Quantitative Aptitude
Quantitative aptitude used to be the toughest part because it included both time taking and calculative part and most of the questions was from Data interpretation and analysis. But in the preliminary section, we can hope questions from all the topics as this time SBI has written it as Quantitative Aptitude. We can expect the following topics that one can cover for Prelim exam.
| Number Series |
| Ratio Proportions |
| Problem on ages |
| Percentage and Averages |
| Profit and Loss |
| Mixtures and Allegations |
| Simple and Compound Interest |
| Time and Work |
| Time and Distance |
| Probability |
| Boats and Streams |
| Data Interpretation |
3) English Language
The syllabus for English section has always been same and is considered to be one of the scoring sections. This time we can expect that English will be of moderate level and everyone will be able to do it. The topic wise details are as follows.
| Reading and Comprehension |
| Spotting Errors |
| Fill in the Blanks |
| Cloze test |
| Parajumbles |
MAINS EXAMINATION
Now let’s talk about the most important part of the whole recruitment process i.e. the Mains examinations. This part will need more effort and time management skills. With the most of the reported instances, we can say that if you mange to do it in time, then you will be having an advantage over others. There is no hard and fast rule that you need to follow. I am showing you an example to divide your time that most of our readers can follow or you can make your own time division analysis: This Division of time helped a lot of students to clear their examination and get through all the recruitment processes of IBPS, RBI, NABARD, LIC, NIACL, NICL, GIC, etc. Now if you are thinking about number of questions to be attempted in the examination, then let it be clear that you need to attempt as many as possible and all the attempted questions should be correct. Now coming to the bifurcation of the questions from the mains exam, we would be providing you the detailed division that will definitely make your way towards clearing the exam. Mains Exam will include the following subjects and topics:
- Reasoning (High Level)
- Data Interpretation and Analysis
- General Awareness, Marketing, Computers
- English Language
This will be the real deal in the whole process and the topic wise details are as follows :
1) Reasoning (High Level)
| Number Series |
| Data Sufficiency |
| Logical Reasoning |
| Statement and argument |
| Blood Relation |
| Passage and conclusions |
| Puzzle |
| Sitting arrangement |
| Input Output |
| Coding-decoding |
| Order and ranking |
| Making judgment |
2) Data Interpretation and Analysis
This part is the one that most of the readers are curious about and wanted to know whether it will be typing or pen-paper test. It is clearly mentioned in the recruitment notice that will be typing. So start practicing the typing on the keyboard so that you can get well versed with. You can Practice typing by taking part in free typing test available online. Following are topics coerced in this section.
- Letter-Writing (Formal and Informal)
- Essay
- Precise Writing
| Table |
| Bar-Graph |
| Pie-Charts |
| Caselets |
| Blood Relation |
| Line Graph |
| Combined data set |
| Sitting arrangement |
| Probability/Series |
3) English Language
| Reading and Comprehension |
| Spotting Error |
| Parajumbles |
| Fill in the Blanks |
| Cloze test |
4) General Awareness, Marketing, Computers
General Awareness
| Current Affairs |
| Budget |
| Questions related to UN Headquarters |
| Recent Banking news |
Computers
| Basics |
| Hardware and Software |
| Operating System |
| MS Word and Excel |
| Internet |
| Short Forms (eg. PDF,MP3,JPEG) |
| Android and Apple related news |
Marketing
| Basics of Marketing |
| Developing stage of organization |
| P’s and C’s of Marketing |
| Marketing Strategies |
| Products Life Cycle |
| Marketing Mix |
