Selection Process
IBPS PO Selection Process 2026
Institute of Banking Personnel Selection: Probationary Officer
How selection works
CRP PO/MT-XVI moves from two online examinations to a mandatory Personality Test, Common Interview and merit-cum-preference allotment. Clearing a stage is shortlisting, not a job offer.
Stage-by-stage process
Online Preliminary Examination
The 100-mark prelim is used for shortlisting. Candidates must clear the cut-off in each of the three separately timed tests. Preliminary marks do not form part of the final merit score.
Online Main Examination
Shortlisted candidates take the 200-mark objective test and 25-mark descriptive paper. Main-exam marks are used for shortlisting to the Personality Test and Interview and also contribute to final merit.
Mandatory Personality Test
Main-qualified candidates complete a self-report Personality Test. It is non-qualifying, but attendance is mandatory to remain eligible for the Interview. The personality profile is shared with the interview panel.
Common Interview
Participating Banks conduct the interview, coordinated by a Nodal Bank. Candidates must qualify both the Main examination and Interview. The notification sets a 40% interview minimum, or 35% for SC, ST, OBC and PwBD candidates.
Final score and provisional allotment
The combined final score gives 80% weight to the Online Main examination and 20% to the Interview. Subject to merit, preferences, reservation rules, actual vacancies and document checks, candidates may be provisionally allotted to a participating bank.
Final-score weight
What provisional allotment means
Allotment depends on actual vacancies reported by banks and is subject to eligibility and identity verification. It is not itself an appointment offer; joining terms are issued by the allotted participating bank.
Official source
Confirm every stage in the official CRP PO/MT-XVI notification.
Frequently asked questions
What is the IBPS PO selection process?
It runs to 5 stages, in this order: Online Preliminary Examination, Online Main Examination, Mandatory Personality Test, Common Interview and Final score and provisional allotment. Each is described on this page with what it involves and what clearing it requires. You reach a stage only by clearing the one before it, so the whole process is a funnel rather than a checklist you work through in parallel.
Do marks from every IBPS PO stage count towards the final merit?
Not necessarily, and it is worth checking rather than assuming. Multi-stage recruitments usually mix two kinds of stage: qualifying ones, which you must clear but whose marks are discarded afterwards, and merit-bearing ones, whose marks carry into the final ranking. Clearing a qualifying stage comfortably earns nothing beyond clearing it, so effort spent pushing that score higher is effort not spent on the stage that decides your rank. The stage descriptions on this page say which is which, and the notification is the authority on it.
Which IBPS PO stage should I prepare for first?
Online Preliminary Examination, because nobody sees stage two without it. It is also the stage with the most competition in it: every applicant sits it, and it exists to cut that field down. Preparing for a later stage before clearing the first is the commonest way candidates waste a cycle. There are 21 free tests for IBPS PO here to work on it with.
Can the IBPS PO selection process change between cycles?
Yes, and it does. Stages get added, merged or dropped, a qualifying paper becomes merit-bearing, or a skill test moves from one stage to another, and the change is announced in the notification for that cycle rather than separately. The sequence on this page is read from the official CRP PO/MT-XVI notification, cited and linked at the foot of the page, so check it against the current notification before assuming the process you prepared for last year is the one you will sit.