Education

What is the difference between SBI PO Prelims and Mains Syllabus??

  • March 2, 2022
  • 4 min read
What is the difference between SBI PO Prelims and Mains Syllabus??

The State Bank of India (SBI) conducts the SBI PO Exam to hire the best candidates for the post of Probationary Officers (PO). All Indian citizens who fall under the age group of 21 years to 30 years and who fulfil the eligibility criteria provided by SBI can undertake this exam. The applicants preparing for the exam should have good analytical and reasoning skills. They also need to have a good knowledge of the English language.

The SBI PO syllabus is the foremost thing that a candidate needs to know while beginning their preparation for the exam. There is a slight difference between the syllabus fo the SBI PO Prelims and Mains exam. Let us know the syllabus of both Prelims and Mains exam for SBI PO. 

SBI PO Selection Process 

The SBI PO Exam is divided mainly into 4 stages:

  1. Prelims 
  2. Mains
  3. Group Discussion 
  4. Interview

The applicants need to qualify for the online written exam for Prelims, and then they qualify for the Mains online written Exam. Once the applicant qualifies for both the Prelims and Mains Exam, they have to clear the Group Discussion and Interview. 

SBI PO Prelims Exam Pattern

The SBI PO Prelims Exam is the first stage that the applicant needs to clear. The pattern of the exam is designed to test the Quantitative aptitude, Reasoning Ability and knowledge of the English Language. The pattern can be better understood by the following table. 

Alternatively, you can visit BYJU’S Exam Prep to get a comprehensive understanding of the syllabus as well as get study materials to prepare for the exam. 

SubjectNumber of QuestionsMarksDuration
Quantitative Aptitude353520 minutes
Reasoning Ability353520 minutes
English Language303020 minutes

SBI PO Prelims Exam Syllabus

The SBI PO Prelims Exam syllabus is divided into 3 categories:

  1. Quantitative Aptitude
  2. Reasoning Ability
  3. English Language 

The syllabus is quite similar to the syllabus of other Public Sector Bank (PSU). The applicants need to have in-depth knowledge of these subjects. Some of the topics covered are:

SubjectTopic covered
Quantitative AptitudePermutation, Combination and Probability; Work and time; Simple interest and compound etc. 
Reasoning AbilityLogical Reasoning, Seating Arrangement, Coding-Decoding, etc.
English LanguageReading Comprehension, Vocabulary, Fill in the Blanks, etc. 

SBI PO Mains Exam Pattern

Once the applicant clears the SBI PO Prelims Exams, the next step is to clear the SBI PO Mains Exam, which is also an online written exam. The exam is divided into 4 sections. The pattern of the exam is designed to test the applicant’s knowledge relating to reasoning ability, data analysis, etc. The exam pattern can be better understood through the following table:

SubjectNumber of questionsMarksDuration
Data Analysis & Analysis 356045 minutes
Reasoning Ability456060 minutes
General Banking Awareness404035 minutes
English (Descriptive test)25030 minutes

The SBI PO Mains Exam contains both objective type as well as descriptive questions. The applicant needs to prepare one letter and one essay for the descriptive test. 

SBI PO Mains Exam Syllabus

The SBI Mains Exam Syllabus is divided mainly into 4 categories:

  1. Data Analysis and Interpretation
  2. Reasoning Ability
  3. General Banking Awareness
  4. English

The syllabus of the exam is not tough but can be rated as moderate to tough. The applicants need to get qualifying marks in the descriptive and objective-type questions. Some of the topics covered in the syllabus are as follows:

SubjectTopics Covered
Data Analysis and InterpretationTabular Graph, Line Graph, Data sufficiency, etc.
Reasoning AbilityVerbal Reasoning, Double Lineup, Scheduling, etc.
General Banking AwarenessCurrent Affairs, Financial Affairs, etc.
English Reading Comprehension, Essay, Letter, etc.

Difference between SBI PO Prelims and Mains Syllabus

  1. The syllabi for SBI PO Prelims and Mains are not very different from one another. A key difference between both the syllabi is that the applicant needs to pay more attention to descriptive study while preparing for the SBI PO Mains exams. Both the exams have multiple-choice questions (MCQs), but the Mains exam also has 2 questions in the English Language section, which are descriptive in nature.
  2. Another difference is that the Prelims exam has only 3 subjects whereas the Mains exam has 4 subjects. 

The State Bank of India (SBI) is one of the most desired workplaces in India. Every year thousands of applicants fill out the form for the SBI PO Exam. The applicants who are interested in making a career with SBI must be prepared to face a lot of competition. To achieve this, one needs to carefully choose the books and learning materials and for this BYJU’S Exam Prep is an excellent choice. 

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