SBI PO study guide
SBI PO · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The SBI PO (Probationary Officer) recruitment is State Bank of India's own hiring process for entry-level officer roles at the country's largest bank - an institution the bank describes as having "a glorious history of more than 200 years." It suits graduates who want a generalist banking career with structured onboarding, internal mobility and a benefits package the bank advertises as industry-best. Candidates are typically assessed across English language, reasoning ability, quantitative aptitude and data interpretation, general/economy/banking awareness, and a descriptive writing component built around letter writing and essay writing, with later stages announced in the official notification. The SBI PO study guide has 5 sections and about 1,587 words.
01English Language
The English section rewards precision over vocabulary display. Expect reading comprehension (often with an inference or tone question), cloze tests, error detection, sentence improvement, para jumbles, single and double fillers, word usage and odd-one-out, and paragraph completion.
315 words, about 2 min02Reasoning Ability
Puzzles and seating arrangement (floor, box, month, circular and square, linear with unknowns) dominate the section; then syllogism, inequality, coding-decoding, blood relations, direction sense, order-ranking, alphanumeric series, input-output, data sufficiency, and critical reasoning (assumption, course of action, cause-effect, statement-argument). Convert every clue into a compact symbol or table.
322 words, about 2 min03Quantitative Aptitude / Data Analysis & Interpretation
Simplification and approximation, number series (missing and wrong term), quadratic equations and comparison, and the arithmetic core: percentage, ratio and proportion, average, profit and loss, simple and compound interest, time-speed-distance including trains and boats, pipes and cisterns, mixtures and alligation, work, and mensuration. DI appears as tabular, bar, line, pie, caselet, radar and missing-value sets, with a few probability and permutation questions embedded.
300 words, about 2 min04General / Economy / Banking Awareness
Static banking plus roughly the last six months of national news. Static: RBI functions and monetary policy tools (repo, reverse repo, MSF, CRR, SLR, open market operations), the structure of Indian banking (scheduled and commercial banks, cooperative banks, RRBs, payment banks, small finance banks), account types, negotiable instruments, NPA classification and recovery laws such as SARFAESI and the IBC, Basel III, financial inclusion, and payment systems (NEFT, RTGS, IMPS, UPI, NPCI products).
331 words, about 2 min05Descriptive Writing (Letter and Essay)
Usually one letter (formal or semi-formal: complaint, request, application, or letter to the editor) and one essay on a banking, economic or social topic. Marks come from structure, relevance and correctness - not from ornate vocabulary.
319 words, about 2 min