Banking · Government Exams

IBPS PO Exam Pattern

Every figure here is from the CRP PO/MT-XVI notification of 1 July 2026 — what each stage asks, how the sectional timers run, what a wrong answer costs and which marks build the merit list.

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IBPS PO · checked 19 September 2026

The dates, vacancies and rules below are read on the conducting body’s own site and rewritten as each notice appears. The guide beneath carries the full pattern, syllabus, cut-offs and free mock tests.

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19September 2026

Checked 19 September 2026

IBPS PO: the facts that matter now

01
Notification 1 July 2026; registration 1–21 July; prelims August, mains October, interview November–December 2026; allotment January 2027
2026 cycle
02
Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) — CRP PO/MT-XVI for the 2027-28 vacancies of 11 public sector banks
Conducted by
03
Probationary Officer / Management Trainee, Junior Management Grade Scale I
Post
04
6,715 indicative — Bank of Baroda 1,900, Canara 1,500, Bank of Maharashtra 1,100, IOB 550, PNB 504, BoI 500, Central Bank 500, P&SB 161
Vacancies

Pattern

IBPS PO — IBPS PO exam pattern 2026: prelims, mains, descriptive paper and interview

IBPS PO has three scored stages: an online preliminary examination that only qualifies, an online main examination with an objective and a descriptive part that builds the merit list, and an interview conducted by the banks, with a personality test in between from 2026. The defining feature of both written stages is sectional timing — each section opens and closes on its own clock — and a uniform 0.25 deduction per wrong answer.

IBPS PO preliminary examination 2026. Objective, five options per question; sections separately timed; sectional and overall cut-offs; 0.25 marks deducted per wrong answer.
Section	Questions	Marks	Medium	Time
English Language	30	30	English	20 minutes
Quantitative Aptitude	35	30	English and Hindi	20 minutes
Reasoning Ability	35	40	English and Hindi	20 minutes
Total	100	100		60 minutes

The preliminary examination is a gate. A candidate must reach the cut-off in each of the three sections, and IBPS then shortlists an adequate number per category — decided by requirement — for the main examination on total marks. Nothing from the preliminary examination is carried forward. With 35 quantitative questions for 30 marks in 20 minutes, the paper is a selection exercise: the candidates who clear it comfortably attempt around 20 well-chosen questions per section with high accuracy rather than racing through all 35.

IBPS PO main examination 2026 — objective. Sections not in this sequence on the day; each separately timed; sectional and total cut-offs; 0.25 marks deducted per wrong answer.
Section	Questions	Marks	Medium	Time
Reasoning	40	60	English and Hindi	45 minutes
General / Economy / Banking Awareness, Digital and Financial Awareness including RBI circulars	50	60	English and Hindi	35 minutes
English Language	40	20	English	35 minutes
Data Analysis and Interpretation	40	60	English and Hindi	45 minutes
Total	170	200		160 minutes

IBPS PO main examination 2026 — descriptive paper, taken immediately after the objective paper.
Item	Detail
Questions	Two — an essay and a comprehension task
Marks and time	25 marks, 30 minutes, typed in English
Themes	Economic and social issues, emerging trends in banking and technology, current events, ethics
Evaluation	May be evaluated by an automated scoring mechanism for features related to writing quality

How the main examination is scored

Sectional cut-offs in each of the four tests — Plus a total cut-off; both are set by IBPS according to vacancies. Failing one section ends the attempt regardless of the total.
Mains scores are withheld until the interview process is complete — The notification states that main examination scores are not shared with candidates shortlisted for the personality test and interview until the process ends.
Marks per question vary by section — Reasoning and Data Analysis are 1.5 marks a question, General Awareness 1.2, English 0.5 — so a wrong Reasoning answer costs 0.375 while a wrong English answer costs 0.125.
Normalisation — Where a paper is held in more than one session, scores are normalised by the equi-percentile method and carried to two decimal places before cut-offs and merit are worked out.

Personality test, interview and final merit.
Stage	Detail
Personality test	Arranged by IBPS for candidates shortlisted on main examination marks, before the interview; introduced in the 2026 notification
Interview	100 marks, conducted by the participating banks under a nodal bank in each state; minimum 40 per cent (35 for SC, ST, OBC and PwBD)
Final score	Main examination 80 : interview 20
Allotment	By merit and bank preference against reported vacancies; valid for one year

What the pattern means for how you attempt the paper

Prelims: pick, do not plough — Twenty minutes a section with a sectional cut-off; attempt the questions you can finish in under a minute, leave the rest, and never guess across five options.
Mains Reasoning and DI: accuracy over coverage — Sixty marks each in 45 minutes. A clean 25 questions beats a scrappy 35 once the 0.375 deduction is applied.
Mains General Awareness: the cheapest 60 marks — Fifty questions in 35 minutes for a candidate who has read banking and economy news daily; skip what you do not know.
Descriptive: structure first — Introduction, three points, conclusion, typed cleanly in 30 minutes. Automated scoring rewards organisation, length within limits and error-free English.

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