IBPS Clerk (CSA) 2026 Notification, Exam Pattern, Syllabus, Salary and Free Mock Tests

What this structure means in practice

• Objective accuracy is everything — with no interview to follow, there is no stage where personality or communication can recover a marginal written score.
• The state you choose matters — cutoffs vary by state and by category, and the choice is usually locked at application.
• Language proficiency is checked — candidates are generally expected to be proficient in the official language of the state applied for, verified at a later stage.
• Mains is the whole exam — prelims qualifies and is then discarded, exactly as in IBPS PO.

Qualification as on 21 August 2026

• Degree — A graduation in any discipline from a university recognised by the Government of India, or an equivalent qualification, with the mark sheet or degree certificate in hand at registration and the result declared on or before 21 August 2026.
• Local language — Proficiency in reading, writing, speaking and understanding the specified local language of the state or UT applied for, as listed against each state in the notification. Candidates who did not study it in class 10 or 12 take a Local Language Proficiency Test conducted by the bank before joining.
• Computer literacy — Mandatory — a certificate, diploma or degree in computer operations or language, or computer or IT studied as a subject at school or college.
• Ex-servicemen — Matriculate ex-servicemen who hold the Army Special Certificate of Education or its Navy or Air Force equivalent are eligible for the clerical post without a degree.

Other conditions

• Nationality — Indian citizens, and the other nationalities listed in the notification with a certificate of eligibility.
• Fee — ₹850 including GST, or ₹175 for SC, ST, PwBD, ESM and DESM candidates; online only, non-refundable.
• One state, one application — You may apply for the vacancies of one state or UT only and are examined in that state; the bank preference order is collected before allotment.

The IBPS Clerk process, from registration to allotment

1. Register once on ibps.in during the window Registration is a single online form for both the preliminary and main examinations, on the link that goes live on ibps.in on the opening day. You need a working e-mail address and mobile number that stay with you until provisional allotment, and scans made to the notification’s specification: a photograph (20–50 KB), signature (10–20 KB, not in capitals), left-thumb impression (20–50 KB) and a handwritten declaration (50–100 KB), all .jpeg. A live photograph is also captured through the webcam or phone camera at the time of application.
2. Choose the state, centre and — where it applies — the medium For the state-wise processes you apply against the vacancies of one state or union territory only and sit the examination there; for the PO process you choose preliminary and main examination centres. The medium of the objective tests, other than English, is English or Hindi and, for the state-wise processes, the regional languages listed for that state. Preferences for banks are collected later, before allotment.
3. Pay the fee ₹850 including GST, or ₹175 for SC, ST, PwBD, ESM and DESM candidates, paid online between 1 and 21 August 2026. The fee is not refunded or held over.
4. Edit window A two-day window opens after registration closes, notified on ibps.in, in which the form can be modified on payment of the edit charge. Nothing can be changed after it.
5. Pre-examination training, then the call letter Candidates from the SC, ST, OBC and minority communities (and, for some processes, ex-servicemen) who opt for it in the form may be offered online pre-examination training in the month before the preliminary examination. Call letters are released on ibps.in about a week to ten days before each examination; the preliminary call letter is stamped at the venue and must be kept for the main examination.
6. Preliminary examination A one-hour online paper with a separate timer on each section. You must clear the cut-off in each section as well as overall; the number shortlisted for the main examination is fixed by IBPS by category, and preliminary marks are then discarded.
7. Main examination A longer online paper, again with a separate timer per section, that the merit list is built from. Sectional cut-offs apply. Scores are normalised across sessions and released after the process is complete.
8. Results, scores and the next step Results appear as a login on ibps.in; scorecards follow. Where the process has an interview, the shortlist and interview call letters are issued through the same login and the interview is conducted by the participating banks under a nodal bank.
9. Provisional allotment IBPS builds a category-wise merit list on main examination marks within each state or UT and allots candidates provisionally to the participating banks by merit, bank preference and the vacancies the banks report. There is no interview. The allotment is valid for one year.
10. Local language test and joining The allotted bank tests proficiency in the state’s specified local language before joining for candidates who cannot show it on a class 10 or 12 certificate; failing the test forfeits the appointment. Document verification and a medical examination follow.

A four-month plan

1. Month 1: speed foundations Simplification, approximation, number series, quadratic comparisons and arithmetic to speed; the reasoning families (puzzles, seating, syllogism, inequality, coding, alphanumeric series); English grammar, vocabulary and reading. Begin a daily banking and financial awareness routine.
2. Month 2: sections on the timer Sectional tests every day on the 20-minute prelims timers, then on the mains timers. Data interpretation in all formats. Keep an error log by topic.
3. Month 3: full mocks A prelims mock every second day and a mains mock every week, each section on its own timer with 0.25 deducted per wrong answer. Start the state’s language practice if you will face the LLPT.
4. Month 4: revision and the examinations Revise from notes and the error log, keep current affairs going to the mains date, and taper mocks in the final ten days.

Where the mains marks are

• Reasoning: 60 marks in 35 minutes — The heaviest section; puzzles and seating arrangement dominate. Accuracy on the sets you attempt beats attempting every set.
• General and Financial Awareness: 50 marks in 20 minutes — Forty recall questions in 20 minutes — the fastest marks in the paper for a daily reader, and the cheapest to avoid guessing on.
• Quantitative Aptitude: 50 marks in 35 minutes — Arithmetic, DI and series; speed from recognising question types.
• General English: 40 marks in 35 minutes — Reading comprehension, cloze, error spotting, sentence rearrangement and vocabulary.

Official documents

Notification for CRP CSA-XVI (1 August 2026) Window notification for CRP CSA-XVI (31 July 2026) Tentative calendar of CRP online examinations 2026-27 (16 January 2026) IBPS CRP CSA page — results, call letters and notices IBPS CRP updates