In our earlier posts, we have already covered SBI PO notification, SBI PO Syllabus, and SBI PO paper pattern. In this post we will describe in detail the complete SBI PO Selection Process.

Do you have questions like –

Will the SBI PO preliminary paper be online?

Will the SBI PO objective and descriptive paper (main exams) be on the same date?

Will the preliminary paper marks be counted in the final merit list?

Will the SBI PO descriptive paper be conducted online?

and so on…

Then you have come to the right place. A wise padhaku has said, that you should know the way to the place you want to reach.

So we have written this post to provide you complete details on SBI PO selection process and recruitment procedure 😀

State Bank of India, has come out with a new exam pattern for SBI PO recruitment. Now candidates will have clear through a 3 phase exam to become a SBI PO.

Phase 1 and Phase 2 will have written examinations, while Phase 3 will have Group Discussion and Personal interview.

SBI PO Selection Process Phase I – Preliminary Examination

Mode of exam – Online

Type of exam – Objective questions

Total Marks – 100

Total sections – 3, (English Language, Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning Ability)

Total Questions – 100 (English Language -30, Quantitative Aptitude – 35, Reasoning Ability – 35)

Time limit – 1 hour

Rules to clear SBI PO preliminary exam

You need to clear each of the three sections individually, to proceed to the next level. The cut offs will be as announced by SBI.

In its notification, SBI says that “approximately 20 times the numbers of vacancies” will be shortlisted for the Main Examination.

This means, about 120,000 candidates will be shortlisted for the mains examination. Just for your information, it is widely reported that about 20 lac students had appeared for the SBI PO exam last year.

SBI PO Selection Process Phase II – Main Examination

Mode of exam – Online

Type of exam – Objective test followed by a descriptive test (continuous, no time gap).

Total Marks – 200 marks (Objective test) + 50 marks (Descriptive test)

Objective Test

Total sections in Objective test – 4, (English Language; General Awareness, Marketing & Computers; Data Analysis & Interpretation; Reasoning – High Level)

Breakup of Objective test – 50 marks from each section, it is expected that this means there would 50 questions from each section.

Time limit for Objective test – 2 hours

Descriptive Test

Total sections in Descriptive test – 2, (Letter writing, essay writing)

Total time for descriptive test – 1 hour

Rules to clear SBI PO mains exam

Descriptive Test paper of only those candidates will be evaluated who have scored qualifying marks in the Objective Tests. Descriptive paper will also have its own cut off marks. The cut offs for the objective test will be as announced by SBI.

Those candidates who have qualified both objective and descriptive paper in the Phase 2 main exam, will be arranged in descending order in each category (general, SC, ST, OBC etc.).

After this SBI will shortlist these candidates for Phase 3. So to proceed further, you should be able to get high enough rank in the Phase 2 merit list, as per your category.

SBI PO Selection Process Phase III – Group discussion & Interview

As the name suggests, this round will have a group discussion and an interview. SBI will further announce cutoff marks for Phase 3.

Total marks for Group discussion – 20

Total marks for Interview – 30

We will be coming out with detailed posts soon to help you prepare for group discussion and interview for SBI PO exam.

Final SBI PO Selection Process

Only those candidates who successfully clear the Phase 3 SBI PO exam will be considered.

SBI will prepare a merit list after taking into account the total marks obtained by candidates in Phase 2 and Phase 3 exams. Phase 1 exam will not be counted for making the final merit list.

Marks secured by the candidates in the Written Test (out of 250 marks) are converted to out of 75 and marks secured in Group Discussion & Interview (out of 50 marks) are converted to out of 25. These marks will be added to prepare candidates final scores.

After this candidates will be arranged in descending order of their final scores (highest to lowest) in all categories. As per the available vacancies, only the top candidates in the merit list will be selected.

Now that you know the complete SBI PO selection procedure, you make like to read about SBI PO paper pattern or best books for SBI PO.