Selection Process
SBI PO Selection Process 2026
State Bank of India: Probationary Officer
How selection works
SBI PO selection has three phases. Prelims is used for shortlisting, while the Main Examination and Phase III determine the final selection under SBI's prescribed scoring rules.
Stage-by-stage process
Phase I: Preliminary Examination
Candidates take the online preliminary exam with separately timed English Language, Quantitative Aptitude and Reasoning Ability sections. Prelims marks are used for shortlisting and are not carried into final merit.
Phase II: Main Examination
Shortlisted candidates take the Main Examination, which includes objective tests and a descriptive test as specified in the advertisement.
Phase III: Psychometric Test, Group Exercise and Interview
Candidates shortlisted from Mains proceed to the psychometric assessment, Group Exercise and Interview stage.
Final selection
Candidates must qualify Phase II and Phase III separately. SBI prepares the final merit list using the prescribed normalisation and weighting of the Main Examination and Phase III scores.
Official source
Source: State Bank of India Probationary Officer recruitment advertisement CRPD/PO/2026-27/09. Later notices or corrigenda should be checked before application. View the official SBI PO 2026 advertisement.
Frequently asked questions
What is the SBI PO selection process?
It runs to 4 stages, in this order: Phase I: Preliminary Examination, Phase II: Main Examination, Phase III: Psychometric Test, Group Exercise and Interview and Final selection. 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 SBI 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 SBI PO stage should I prepare for first?
Phase I: 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 23 free tests for SBI PO here to work on it with.
Can the SBI 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 SBI PO 2026 advertisement, 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.