SBI PO Previous Year Question Papers (Prelims & Mains) PDF Download
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Updated: Aug 19, 2026
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Mastering the SBI PO Exam with Previous Year Question Papers
The State Bank of India conducts one of the most competitive banking recruitment exams in the country. With a remarkable 1500 vacancies announced for the SBI PO recruitment, candidates must leverage every resource available to secure a selection. Solving memory-based and actual previous year question papers is widely acknowledged as the most reliable way to familiarize yourself with the question pattern, section-wise difficulty, and recurring topics.
To help you navigate your preparation smoothly, we have compiled comprehensive archives of SBI PO Prelims and Mains question papers in PDF format, complete with exam structures, difficulty breakdowns, and performance checklists.
SBI PO Exam Structure & Pattern Overview
Understanding the weightage and section timing is critical for managing your performance under exam conditions. Both Prelims and Mains feature a negative marking of 0.25 marks applied to every incorrect answer in objective sections.
Prelims Exam Pattern
The SBI PO Prelims exam features 100 objective-type questions and serves as a qualifying stage:
Section
Questions
Marks
Duration
English Language
40
40
20 Minutes
Quantitative Aptitude
30
30
20 Minutes
Reasoning Ability
30
30
20 Minutes
Total
100
100
60 Minutes
Mains Exam Pattern
The SBI PO Mains exam comprises an Objective Test of 200 marks and a Descriptive Test of 30 marks:
Section
Questions
Marks
Duration
Reasoning & Computer Aptitude
40
60
50 Minutes
Data Analysis & Interpretation
30
60
45 Minutes
General/Economy/Banking Awareness
60
60
45 Minutes
English Language
40
20
40 Minutes
Objective Test Total
170
200
180 Minutes (3 Hours)
Descriptive Test (Letter & Essay Writing)
3
30
30 Minutes
Grand Total
173
230
210 Minutes (3 Hours 30 Minutes)
Sectional Difficulty Analysis
Aspirants should prepare according to standard sectional difficulty levels:
Section
Difficulty Level
English Language
Easy to Moderate
Quantitative Aptitude
Moderate to Difficult
Reasoning Ability
Moderate to Difficult
Data Analysis & Interpretation (Mains)
Difficult
General/Economy/Banking Awareness (Mains)
Moderate
Descriptive Test (Mains)
Moderate
Top Scoring Areas in SBI PO Exam
Reasoning: Puzzles, Seating Arrangements and Syllogism.
Quantitative Aptitude: Data Interpretation, Simplification, inequalities, etc. carry the highest weightage.
English Language: Reading Comprehension is the most important topic in English.
General Awareness: Current Affairs and Banking Awareness are crucial to the Mains exam.
Download SBI PO Previous Year Question Papers (PDF Archives)
Access year-wise shifts and memory-based papers below:
Yes, solving previous year papers is one of the most reliable ways to understand SBI's actual question pattern, section-wise difficulty, and recurring topics before the 2026 exam.
All year-wise Prelims and Mains PDFs (2016–2025, English and Hindi) are available for free download in the tables above.
Overall moderate to difficult, with Quant and Reasoning typically rated tougher than English in both Prelims and Mains.
Time yourself under exam conditions, review every incorrect answer to understand the concept gap, and track recurring mistakes across multiple papers to know which topics need more work.
At least the last 5 years for a reliable sense of current trends; serious aspirants often go back 5-6 years to also cover topics that resurface periodically.
Yes, 0.25 marks are deducted for each wrong answer in both the Prelims and the Mains objective papers.
Yes, since SBI doesn't release official papers, these memory-based reconstructions (compiled from candidate recall) closely mirror the real exam's structure, difficulty, and topic distribution.
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