SBI PO Exam Pattern 2025: The State Bank of India is all set to conduct Prelims exam on August 2, 4, and 5 to fill 541 vacancies for Probationary Officers. Candidates planning to appear for the exam must review the selection process, exam pattern, and marking scheme before commencing the preparation. The SBI PO selection procedure is generally structured into three stages such as prelims, mains, and interview. Familiarity with the paper pattern and syllabus of each stage can help you build an exam-oriented strategy and improve your chances of success in the exam.
SBI PO prelims will be conducted for 100 marks, while the mains exam carries a total of 250 marks. There shall also be a penalty for wrong answers marked in the objective papers of both stages. Read on to find detailed information on the SBI PO Exam Pattern and Marking Scheme on this page.
SBI PO Exam Pattern 2025 Highlights
SBI have announced the exam pattern and marking scheme for Probationary Officers in the advertisement. Aspirants should first understand the exam requirements carefully and then select the books and other study resources for preparation. Here is the overview of the SBI PO 2025 tabulated below for reference purposes.
| Particulars | Details |
| Exam Conducting Body | State Bank of India |
| Post Name | Probationary Officers |
| Vacancies | 541 |
| Selection Process | Prelims, Mains, and Interview |
| Exam Date | August 2, 4, and 5, 2025 (Prelims) |
| Maximum Marks | Prelims: 100 Mains: 250 |
| Negative Marking | Yes |
SBI PO Exam Pattern 2025 for Prelims
The preliminary exam is the first stage of the SBI PO selection process. It is an online screening test, comprising 100 objective-type questions for 100 marks. The overall test duration shall be 1 hour, with separate timings for each section. There shall be a negative marking of 1/4th mark for each wrong answer in the prelims exam. No sectional cut-off will be there in the prelims exam. Applicants numbering 10 times (approx.) of the number of vacancies in each category will be shortlisted for the Main Examination. Check the detailed SBI PO Exam Pattern 2025 for the prelims exam shared below.
| Subject | No. of Questions | Maximum Marks | Duration |
| English Language | 40 | 100 | 20 minutes |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 30 | 20 minutes | |
| Reasoning Ability | 30 | 20 minutes | |
| Total | 100 | 1 hour |
SBI PO Exam Pattern 2025 for Mains
The mains exam is the second stage of the SBI PO selection process. The SBI PO main examination will be administered online, comprising both objective and descriptive papers. Objective tests will carry 200 marks, and the Descriptive test will be conducted for 50 marks. The Descriptive test will be held immediately after the Objective test is over, and the Descriptive test will require candidates to type their answers on the computer.
There shall be a negative marking of 1/4th mark for each wrong answer in the objective papers of the mains exam. Aspirants will have to achieve minimum qualifying marks in each subject, i.e. Test I, II, III, IV & Descriptive paper individually in the main exams. Aspirants numbering up to 3 times (approx.) of the category-wise vacancies will be called to appear for Phase-III. Check the detailed SBI PO Exam Pattern 2025 for the mains exam shared below.
| Test | Subject | No. of Questions | Max. Marks | Duration |
| Objective | Reasoning & Computer Aptitude | 40 | 60 | 50 minutes |
| Data Analysis & Interpretation | 30 | 60 | 45 minutes | |
| General Awareness / Economy/ Banking Knowledge | 60 | 60 | 45 minutes | |
| English Language | 40 | 20 | 40 minutes | |
| Total | 170 | 200 | 3 hours | |
| Descriptive Paper | Communication Skills: Emails, Reports, Situation Analysis & Precis Writing | 3 | 50 | 30 minutes |
SBI PO Interview 2025
The third phase of the SBI PO selection process includes a Psychometric test, Group Exercise and Personal Interview. The Bank will conduct a Psychometric test for personality profiling of all the main qualified candidates. The test result will be placed before the Interview panel to help them gain a broader perspective on the candidates. Given below are the weightages of components included in the SBI PO interview round.
| Test Structure | Maximum Marks |
| Group Exercise | 20 |
| Interview | 30 |
| Total | 50 |
SBI PO Final Selection 2025
Candidates will have to clear both Phase II and Phase III separately. The marks secured in the Main Examination (Phase-II) will be added to the marks secured in Phase-III for the final merit list preparation. The scores obtained in the prelims exam (Phase I) will not be counted in the final selection. The marks secured in Phase-II (Main Examination) and Phase-III (Group Exercise & Interview) will be normalised to 100 marks as given below.
| Test | Main Examination (written Test) (objective & descriptive) | Group Exercise & Interview | Total |
| Maximum Marks | 250 | 50 | 300 |
| Normalized Marks | 75 | 25 | 100 |
Note: The final merit list will be prepared after aggregating (out of 100) converted marks of Phase-II and Phase-III. Selection will be done from the top merit-ranked aspirants in each category.
SBI PO Marking Scheme 2025
The SBI PO 2025 exam follows a simple marking scheme. As per the official notification, there shall be negative marking for wrong answers in the objective papers of the prelims and mains exams. For every incorrect answer, a 1/4th mark will be deducted to arrive at the corrected score. There shall be no negative marking for unanswered questions. Check the detailed SBI PO Marking Scheme for the Prelims exam below.
| Subject | No. of Questions | Marks Per Correct Answer | Negative Marking for every wrong answer |
| English Language | 40 | +1 mark | -1/4th mark |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 30 | +1 mark | -1/4th mark |
| Reasoning Ability | 30 | +1 mark | -1/4th mark |
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