Syllabus & pattern at a glance
IBPS SO is an online exam in two phases, followed by a common interview. The tests you sit depend on your post: there are two versions of prelims and two of mains. In mains, only Professional Knowledge decides merit. Every other mains test is qualifying.
Prelims exam pattern
Four objective tests, each separately timed at 20 minutes, for 100 questions and 125 marks in 80 minutes. You must clear IBPS’s minimum cut-off in every one of the four tests. Prelims marks are not carried into the final merit.
IT Officer · Agricultural Field Officer · HR/Personnel Officer · Marketing Officer
| Test | Questions | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| English Language | 25 | 25 |
| Reasoning | 25 | 25 |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 25 | 25 |
| Professional Knowledge | 25 | 50 |
| Total | 100 | 125 |
Law Officer · Rajbhasha Adhikari
| Test | Questions | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| English Language | 25 | 25 |
| Reasoning | 25 | 25 |
| General Awareness with special reference to Banking Industry | 25 | 25 |
| Professional Knowledge | 25 | 50 |
| Total | 100 | 125 |
Prelims syllabus, test by test
IBPS publishes only the test names. Tap a test to see the topics commonly studied under it. Treat them as a study checklist, not an official list.
Mains exam pattern
Four separately timed objective tests (150 questions, 200 marks, 125 minutes), then a 30-minute descriptive paper worth 25 marks. That makes 225 marks in 155 minutes. Only the Professional Knowledge score is used for merit. You need IBPS’s minimum score in every other test.
IT Officer · Agricultural Field Officer · HR/Personnel Officer · Marketing Officer
| Mains test | Questions | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| English Language | 30 | 30 |
| Reasoning | 40 | 40 |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 30 | 30 |
| Professional Knowledge (Objective) | 50 | 100 |
| Descriptive Paper (English) | 2 | 25 |
| Total | 152 | 225 |
Law Officer · Rajbhasha Adhikari
| Mains test | Questions | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| English Language | 30 | 30 |
| Reasoning | 40 | 40 |
| General Awareness with special reference to Banking Industry | 30 | 30 |
| Professional Knowledge (Objective) | 50 | 100 |
| Law: Descriptive Paper (English) · Rajbhasha: Professional Knowledge (Descriptive Paper) | 2 | 25 |
| Total | 152 | 225 |
Mains syllabus, test by test
The general tests go a level deeper than in prelims. The Professional Knowledge lists below are areas commonly studied for each post. IBPS publishes no topic list for Professional Knowledge or for the descriptive paper.
How marks are split across tests
IBPS does not publish topic-wise weightage. It does fix the marks for each test. Professional Knowledge carries the most marks at both stages, and in mains it is the only test used for merit.
Professional Knowledge
Reasoning
Quant or Banking Awareness
English
Prep for IBPS SO with your own daily plan
Daily targets for Reasoning, English, Quant & banking awareness — the general tests in the IBPS SO exam.
Turn the general tests into a daily plan
Professional Knowledge is your own field, and JobSafal doesn’t teach post-specific Professional Knowledge. What it can help with is the general tests, which you have to clear at both stages. Your IBPS SO plan breaks Reasoning, English, Quant and banking awareness into short daily targets. JobSafal doesn’t have IBPS SO mock tests or PYQ sets yet.
General tests as daily targets
Reasoning, English, Quant and banking-awareness topics split into small daily targets, so you always know what to study next.
Reasoning & English
The two tests every IBPS SO candidate takes, whichever post you applied for.
Quant or banking awareness
Quant for IT, AFO, HR and Marketing Officers. Banking awareness for Law Officers and Rajbhasha Adhikaris.
English & Hindi
Study in either language. In the exam, the English Language test is in English only.
