This year, the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection, IBPS, has introduced some major changes in the exam pattern of the IBPS Mains Exam 2026. The official notification has been released on the official website of the IBPS bank. The registration for the IBPS PO and MT vacancies has started from July 1, 2026 and will end on July 21, 2026. The IBPS PO prelims exam 2026 is expected to be conducted in August 2026, whereas the IBPS PO Mains Exam 2026 is expected to be conducted in October.
This article will draw a comparison between the previous year's IBPS PO Mains exam and this year’s exam, and other important details.
IBPS PO Exam 2026 Overview
The IBPS PO Exam Prelims and Mains are expected to be conducted in August and October 2026. Given below are some important dates and information for the interested candidates:-
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Events
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Highlights
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Registration Start Date
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July 1, 2026
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Registration Close Date
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July 21, 2026
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Number of Vacancies
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6715
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Selection Process
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List of Participating Banks
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IBPS PO Exam 2026 New Mains Exam Pattern
This year, IBPS has introduced some big changes in the exam pattern of the IBPS PO/MT Mains as compared to last year’s exam pattern. This year, the general awareness section of the IBPS PO Mains Exam will have 50 questions of 60 marks. In last year’s paper, this section had 35 questions of 50 marks. Along with the number of questions, the sectional timings have also changed. Given below is the difference between the new Mains exam pattern and the last year's exam pattern:-
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Name of Subject
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Other Details
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Mains Exam Pattern 2025
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Mains Exam Pattern 2026
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Reasoning
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Number of questions
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40 Questions
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40 Questions
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Maximum Marks
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60 Marks
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60 Marks
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Time allotted
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50 Minutes
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45 Minutes
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English Language
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Number of questions
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35 Questions
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40 Questions
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Maximum Marks
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40 Marks
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20 Marks
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Time allotted
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40 Minutes
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35 Minutes
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Data Interpretation and Analysis
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Number of questions
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35 Questions
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40 Questions
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Maximum Marks
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50 Marks
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60 Marks
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Time allotted
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45 Minutes
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45 Minutes
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General, Economy, Banking Awareness, Financial Awareness, including the RBI Circulars
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Number of questions
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35 Questions
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50 Questions
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Maximum Marks
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50 Marks
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60 Marks
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Time allotted
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25 Minutes
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35 Minutes
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In the table given above, there are no major changes in the reasoning section of the paper, apart from a change in the sectional timing. The number of questions and marks asked in the English language, general awareness, and data interpretation has been increased.
IBPS PO Exam 2026 Other Big Changes
The new changes in the IBPS PO Exam 2026 have not only been introduced in the exam pattern, but in other areas as well. Like in previous years, the candidates were not given an option for the correction window, but this time the Institute has introduced the option of a correction window. This year, the candidates will have a 2-day edit window to correct any information, incorrectly filled. Given below are the other big changes introduced in the IBPS PO Exam 2026:-
- In the IBPS PO Mains Exam 2025, the total number of questions was 145, whereas in the IBPS PO Mains Exam 2026, the total number of questions asked will be 170.
- In the IBPS PO Exam 2025, the PwBD candidates had to use only basic disability certificate verification, whereas in IBPS PO Exam 2026, the candidates will have to show the UDID and go through the Aadhhar verification and medical reassessment.
- The descriptive paper of the IBPS PO Exam 2026 may be evaluated using an automated scoring mechanism, which might identify the features related to writing proficiency.