SBI PO | 2026
SBI PO Prelims 2026: topic weightage and difficulty analysis
100 questions across 3 sections. Overall difficulty: moderate.
SBI held the PO Preliminary examination on 1 and 2 August 2026 in four shifts each day, with a different paper in each shift and a normalisation applied across them. The section structure below (30 English, 35 Quantitative Aptitude and 35 Reasoning for 100 marks in 60 minutes, with a separate 20-minute clock per section) is taken from the official advertisement and is identical in every shift. The topic-level counts are our own compilation from candidate reports across shifts, not official data, so read them as the typical shape of the paper rather than a record of one sitting. No question text is reproduced anywhere on this page.
Where the questions came from
Sorted by weightage, so the topics worth the most preparation time are at the top of each section.
English Language
English Language
A realistic target for a strong candidate: 22 to 26 attempts. This is our own guidance, not an official figure.
| Topic | Questions | Share of the section |
|---|---|---|
| Reading comprehension Usually one passage on an economic or business theme with two vocabulary questions drawn from it. Reported as the most manageable it has been in recent SBI papers, which is why English was widely called the most scoring section this cycle. | 27%8 Moderate | |
| Cloze test | 17%5 Easy | |
| Error detection and sentence correction New-pattern questions testing a phrase rather than a single underlined word continue to dominate over the old format. | 17%5 Moderate | |
| Para jumbles | 13%4 Moderate | |
| Sentence and phrase fillers | 13%4 Easy | |
| Word usage, word swap and vocabulary Word swap and word usage have almost entirely displaced plain synonym and antonym questions. | 13%4 Easy |
Quantitative Aptitude
Quantitative Aptitude
A realistic target for a strong candidate: 18 to 22 attempts. This is our own guidance, not an official figure.
| Topic | Questions | Share of the section |
|---|---|---|
| Data interpretation Two or three sets, typically a table plus a bar or line graph and sometimes a caselet. The single largest block and the one that decided the section's timing this cycle. | 34%12 Moderate | |
| Arithmetic word problems Spread across percentage, profit and loss, ratio, ages, time and work, time speed and distance, interest and mixtures. SBI leans on this block more heavily than IBPS. | 29%10 Moderate | |
| Simplification and approximation Pure calculation speed and the cheapest marks in the section. | 17%6 Easy | |
| Number series Missing or wrong number series. | 11%4 Easy | |
| Quadratic equations or quantity comparison | 9%3 Moderate |
Reasoning Ability
Reasoning Ability
A realistic target for a strong candidate: 22 to 26 attempts. This is our own guidance, not an official figure.
| Topic | Questions | Share of the section |
|---|---|---|
| Puzzles and seating arrangement Three or four sets, usually a linear arrangement, a circular arrangement, a box or floor puzzle and a scheduling puzzle. Nearly half the section and where the section is decided. | 46%16 Moderate | |
| Inequality | 11%4 Easy | |
| Coding and decoding | 11%4 Moderate | |
| Syllogism | 9%3 Easy | |
| Blood relations | 9%3 Easy | |
| Order, ranking and direction sense | 9%3 Easy | |
| Alphanumeric series and miscellaneous | 6%2 Easy |
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What this means for your preparation
Candidates across shifts read the paper as easy to moderate, with English the most accessible section and Quantitative Aptitude and Reasoning a shade heavier because of calculation-heavy data interpretation and the puzzle load. A safe overall attempt landed roughly between 58 and 70 with high accuracy.
Reasoning is the most attemptable section for most candidates and the one to bank marks in. Roughly sixteen of its thirty-five questions are puzzles and seating, so choosing the two solvable sets and leaving the third matters more than raw speed.
Data interpretation is a third of the quantitative section. Two data interpretation sets a day against a clock move the score more than another arithmetic chapter.
The sectional clock is twenty minutes with no return once it closes, so a badly chosen puzzle cannot be rescued later. Budget time before you start each section.
There is a quarter-mark penalty, so a blind guess between four options loses on average. Guess only after eliminating two.
Prelims is only a screen. Marks here do not enter the final merit list, and candidates are shortlisted for the Main examination at about ten times the vacancies, category-wise, so the goal is to qualify with margin rather than to maximise.
See the real paper, officially
- SBI careers portal
Call letters, results and the candidate login for each phase are published here. SBI shows your Preliminary result as qualified or not; category-wise cut-off marks are released later in the process rather than with the Preliminary result.
Common questions
- Can I download the SBI PO Preliminary Examination 2026 question paper?
- Not from this site. In India an exam question paper is a copyright work owned by the conducting body, and reproducing it commercially is infringement. What you can do is view your own paper and responses through the official portal during the objection window after the exam, and the links to do that are on this page.
- Are these topic counts exact?
- No, and we would rather say so. The exam runs across multiple shifts with a different paper in each, and the conducting body does not publish a topic-wise breakdown. The section structure, marks and timing are official. The topic counts are our compilation from candidate reports and describe the typical shape of the paper.
- How should I use a weightage analysis?
- To decide what to study next and what to skip. If one block is a third of a section, practising it has several times the payoff of a topic that carries two questions. It also tells you which questions to leave in the exam itself, which matters more than most candidates think.