Bank · SBI and IBPS
The bank preliminary papers are short, timed and sectional. Here is what each section tests, from SBI's and IBPS's own notifications, and how practice that starts with understanding helps.
SBI Probationary Officers
A one-hour preliminary paper in English, quantitative aptitude and reasoning, then a main exam that includes a descriptive English paper.
SBI Junior Associates (Clerk)
A one-hour preliminary paper in English, numerical ability and reasoning, then a main exam.
IBPS PO/MT (CRP PO/MT)
A one-hour preliminary paper with a minimum score required in each of English, quantitative aptitude and reasoning.
IBPS Clerk (CRP CSA)
A one-hour preliminary paper in English, numerical ability and reasoning, with a minimum score in each test.
Reasoning sets, seating puzzles and data interpretation look like separate topics. They share one demand: break the information into parts and see how they connect. In the language teachers use, that is analysing, and it can be practised step by step.
Take a data-interpretation table. A remember question asks you to read one value. An analyse question asks which year grew fastest, and why the biggest number is not the answer. Practising both, in that order, is how speed comes.
English rewards close reading and, in the SBI PO main exam, clear writing. Banking and general awareness is mostly recall.
The preliminary exams for SBI and IBPS posts are short, separately timed papers in English, quantitative aptitude and reasoning. IBPS also requires a minimum score in each test. That rewards balance, and it rewards one particular skill above all: seeing which method a question needs. A long reasoning puzzle or a data-interpretation set is an analyse question in disguise. Understanding-first practice builds that skill; memorised shortcuts rarely survive a new question type.
Recruitment of Probationary Officers 2026 (CRPD/PO/2026-27/09)
100 marks, 1 hour, separately timed sections; negative marking 1/4; no sectional cut-off in prelims
| Section | Questions |
|---|---|
| English Language | 40 |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 30 |
| Reasoning Ability | 30 |
Junior Associates (Customer Support & Sales) 2026 (CRPD/CR/2026-27/17)
100 questions, 100 marks, 1 hour, separately timed; negative marking 1/4; prelims in September 2026
| Section | Questions | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| English Language | 30 | 30 |
| Numerical Ability | 35 | 35 |
| Reasoning Ability | 35 | 35 |
CRP PO/MT-XVI (vacancies of 2027-28)
100 questions, 100 marks, 60 minutes, separately timed; candidates must clear the cut-off in each of the three tests
| Section | Questions | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| English Language | 30 | 30 |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 35 | 30 |
| Reasoning Ability | 35 | 40 |
CRP CSA-XVI (vacancies of 2027-28), notification dated 01.08.2026
100 questions, 100 marks, 60 minutes, separately timed; cut-off in each test
| Section | Questions | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| English Language | 30 | 30 |
| Numerical Ability | 35 | 35 |
| Reasoning Ability | 35 | 35 |
The same loop SelfEnabler uses for school subjects, applied to exam topics.
Check first
A short check finds which kind of question you can already answer in a topic, and which you cannot yet.
Understand the gap
Explanations start from the exact step you missed.
Practise up the ladder
Questions climb from reading a value to comparing, then to solving under time.
Balance the sections
A record by topic and kind of thinking shows which section needs the next hour, which matters when every test has a minimum score.
Each notification gives its own schedule, and IBPS marks its calendar as tentative. Check ibps.in and SBI's careers pages; we link the current notifications on this page rather than copying dates that may change.
The preliminary exam schemes in SBI's Probationary Officers 2026 and Junior Associates 2026 advertisements and IBPS's CRP PO/MT-XVI and CRP CSA-XVI notifications, checked on 2 October 2026.
In the IBPS preliminary exams, yes: candidates must clear the cut-off in each of the three tests. The SBI PO 2026 advertisement says there is no sectional cut-off in its preliminary exam.
SBI and IBPS publish the sections, questions, marks and time, but not topic lists. Any topic list you see elsewhere is someone's reading of past papers.
SelfEnabler can be used in English and Hindi. Ask in your free demo which practice material is available in Hindi for your exam.
In a free demo we run a short check on one topic and show you what it finds.
