Syllabus & pattern at a glance
SBI Clerk is an online exam in two phases, both fully objective. Prelims is a screening test; the Main exam alone decides the final merit, and there is no interview — only a local language test for those who need it.
Prelims exam pattern
Three objective tests, each separately timed at 20 minutes. SBI prescribes no minimum qualifying marks in prelims — roughly 10 times the vacancies in each category are shortlisted for mains on aggregate marks, and prelims marks are not added to the final merit.
| Test | Questions | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| English Language | 30 | 30 |
| Numerical Ability | 35 | 35 |
| Reasoning Ability | 35 | 35 |
| Total | 100 | 100 |
Prelims syllabus, test by test
SBI publishes only the test names. Its prelims “Acquaint Yourself” booklet describes English as grammar, vocabulary, sentence completion, synonyms, antonyms and passage comprehension; Numerical Ability as computation, quantitative reasoning and reading tables and graphs; and Reasoning as a test of how well you think, including your aptitude for working with computers. Tap a test for the topics commonly tested under it — use them as a study checklist, not an official list.
Mains exam pattern
Four separately timed objective tests — 190 questions, 200 marks, 2 hours 40 minutes. You need the minimum aggregate percentage SBI decides (5% lower for SC/ST/OBC/PwBD/XS/DXS candidates); no minimum is prescribed for individual tests.
| Mains test | Questions | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| General / Financial Awareness | 50 | 50 |
| General English | 40 | 40 |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 50 | 50 |
| Reasoning Ability & Computer Aptitude | 50 | 60 |
| Total | 190 | 200 |
Mains syllabus, test by test
Mains goes deeper than prelims, adds a General / Financial Awareness test and pairs Reasoning with Computer Aptitude. Topic chips are commonly tested areas — SBI does not publish a topic list for any mains test.
How marks are split across tests
SBI does not publish topic-wise weightage. It does fix the marks for each test — in mains, Reasoning Ability & Computer Aptitude carries the most (60 of 200), while General / Financial Awareness packs 50 questions into 35 minutes.
Reasoning
Numerical Ability & Quant
General / Financial Awareness
English
Crack SBI Clerk with your own daily plan
Daily targets, PYQ practice sets & timed mocks — built around the SBI Clerk pattern.
Turn this syllabus into a daily plan
A topic list only helps once it’s sequenced. JobSafal breaks the SBI Clerk prelims and mains tests into short daily targets you can actually finish.
Syllabus as daily targets
Prelims and mains topics split into small daily targets, so you always know what to study next.
PYQ practice sets
Six timed SBI Clerk practice sets to test what you’ve covered against the clock.
Timed mocks
Practise in a timed test interface, with analysis after every attempt.
English & Hindi
Notes and practice in both languages — the English tests themselves are in English only.
