(Tips) How to prepare for SBI PO Exam with New Pattern
(Tips) How to prepare for SBI PO Exam with New Pattern
State Bank of India has recently notified the posts of Probationary officers. Government has made some changes in the selection process for this years recruitment. Like previous years exam will be conducted in two phases. Candidates who will qualify in preliminary examination and short listed will have to appear for main examination and short listed candidates in the main examination will subsequently be called for a Group Discussion & Interview.
Preliminary examination process is still the same, there are no changes in the preliminary examination process. Preliminary exam would be online and marks optained in preliminary exam will not be counted in final selection. Scheme of the preliminary examination is given below.
Phase-I: Preliminary Examination:
Preliminary Examination consisting of Objective Tests for 100 marks will be conducted online. Each question in the paper would consist of one mark. This test would be of 1 hour duration consisting of 3 sections as follows:
| S. L. | Name of Test | No. of Questions | Marks | Duration |
| 1 | English Language | 30 | 30 | Composite Time of 1 hour |
| 2 | Quantitative Aptitude | 35 | 35 | |
| 3 | Reasoning Ability | 35 | 35 | |
|
Total |
100 | 100 |
Candidates have to qualify in each of the three tests by securing passing marks to be decided by the Bank. Adequate number of candidates in each category as decided by the Bank (approximately 20 times the numbers of vacancies subject to availability) will be shortlisted for the Main Examination.
Many changes has been introduced in the examination pattern of the Main examination for SBI PO. This year main exam duration is extended to three hours. There is also section wise time limit. Main examination will be computer based examination. Detailed plan for this years main examination is given below:
Phase – II: Main Examination:
Main Examination will consist of Objective Tests for 200 marks and Descriptive Test for 50 marks. Both the Objective and Descriptive Tests will be online. Candidates will have to answer Descriptive Test by typing on the computer.
The Objective Test of 3 hours duration consists of 4 sections for total 200 marks. The Objective Test will have separate timing for every section. The candidates are required to qualify in each of the tests by securing passing marks.
| Test | Name of test | No. of Questions | Max. Marks | Duration |
| I | Reasoning & Computer Aptitude | 45 | 60 | 60 minutes |
| II | Data Analysis & Interpretation | 35 | 60 | 45 minutes |
| III | General/Economy/ Banking Awareness | 40 | 40 | 35 minutes |
| IV | English Language | 35 | 40 | 40 minutes |
| Total | 155 | 200 | 3 hours |
Immediately after completion of Objective Test, Descriptive Test of 30 minutes duration with 50 marks will be administered. It will be a Test of English Language judging candidates letter writing as well as essay writing skills. This year descriptive test will also be computer based examination.
The candidates are required to qualify in the Descriptive Test by securing passing marks. Descriptive Test paper of only those candidates will be evaluated who have scored qualifying marks in the Objective Tests and are placed adequately high as per total marks in Objective Test.
Phase – III: Group Discussion (20 marks) & Interview (30 marks)
After calculating the aggregate marks of candidates in mains Objective Tests as well as the descriptive Test, adequate number of candidates in each category will be called for Group Discussion and Interview. Candidates will have to participate in Group discussion which will be of 20 marks and also give a personal interview which carries the value of 30 marks.
The marks obtained in the Preliminary Examination (Phase-I) will not be added for the selection and only the marks obtained in Main Examination (Phase-II), both in Objective Test and Descriptive Test, will be added to the marks obtained in GD & Interview (Phase-III) for preparation of the final merit list. The candidates will have to qualify both in Phase-II and Phase-III separately. 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. The final merit list is arrived at after aggregating converted marks of Written Test and Group Discussion &Interview out of 100 for each category.
