SBI PO Prelims Exam Analysis 2026: Shift 1 Moderate, Shift 2 Easy to Moderate — Good Attempts 67-73, Puzzles Dominate Reasoning

The State Bank of India concluded the first two shifts of the SBI PO Prelims 2026 on August 1, and the paper has settled into a familiar SBI signature — no single question designed to break a candidate, but a puzzle load in Reasoning and an arithmetic load in Quant that punished anyone weak on speed. Candidates emerging from centres across the country rated the overall difficulty level as Moderate, with English Language sitting at Easy to Moderate and functioning as the section that decided attempt counts.

The examination is being conducted under recruitment notification CRPD/PO/2026-27/09 for the post of Probationary Officer, across four shifts each on August 1 and August 2, 2026. This page carries the complete shift-wise SBI PO Prelims Exam Analysis 2026 — topic-wise question distribution, good attempts, memory-based question trends, student reactions and expert review.

SBI PO Prelims Shift 1 Analysis 2026: Overall Difficulty Level

Verified candidate feedback collected after the shift closed places the paper firmly in moderate territory. Candidates repeatedly stressed that concept clarity plus speed, not advanced problem-solving, was what cleared the paper.

• Overall Difficulty Level: Moderate
• English Language: Easy to Moderate
• Quantitative Aptitude: Moderate
• Reasoning Ability: Moderate

Time management, rather than question difficulty, emerged as the real constraint. With a 20-minute sectional clock and five separate puzzle sets in Reasoning, candidates who spent more than four minutes on any one arrangement lost the section.

SBI PO Prelims Shift 1 Good Attempts 2026

Section | Questions | Difficulty Level | Good Attempts
English Language | 30 | Easy to Moderate | 22 – 25
Quantitative Aptitude | 35 | Moderate | 21 – 24
Reasoning Ability | 35 | Moderate | 23 – 26
Total | 100 | Moderate | 66 – 73

Reasoning Ability delivered the highest attempt count at 23-26, despite being puzzle-heavy — a direct result of the puzzles being standard-format rather than experimental. English at 22-25 out of 30 gave candidates the cleanest strike rate of the paper.

SBI PO Prelims Shift 1: English Language — Topic-Wise Questions Asked

English was the most predictable section of the shift and the one where prepared candidates banked their score.

Topic / Question Type | Number of Questions
Reading Comprehension | 10
Spotting Errors | 6
Para Jumbles | 5
Idioms and Phrases | 5
Sentence Rearrangement | 3
Word Swap | 2

The Reading Comprehension passage carried 10 questions — a full third of the section — with vocabulary and synonym-based questions attached. Candidates reported the passage was narrative and readable on a single pass. Idioms and Phrases at 5 questions is the notable trend here: SBI has been steadily raising vocabulary weightage, and rote-learned idiom lists paid off directly.

SBI PO Prelims Shift 1: Reasoning Ability — Topic-Wise Questions Asked

Reasoning was built almost entirely around puzzles and seating arrangements — five distinct sets accounting for 25 of the 35 questions.

Topic / Question Type | Number of Questions
Circular Seating Arrangement | 5
Floor and Flat Puzzle | 5
Designation-Based Puzzle | 5
Tabular / Category Puzzle | 5
Month-Based Scheduling | 5
Order and Ranking | 3
Pair Counting | 2

What is missing matters as much as what appeared. Syllogism, inequality and coding-decoding did not feature — the three topics aspirants traditionally use to bank 8-10 quick marks before entering puzzles. Their absence forced candidates straight into the puzzle block from the first minute, and that is precisely where the section separated the prepared from the under-practised.

SBI PO Prelims Shift 1: Quantitative Aptitude — Topic-Wise Questions Asked

Quant was arithmetic-dominant and calculation-intensive, with three separate Data Interpretation sets.

Topic / Question Type | Number of Questions
Arithmetic Word Problems | 12
Tabular DI | 5
Table + Bar Graph DI | 5
Caselet DI | 5
Quadratic Equations | 3

Arithmetic at 12 questions was the single heaviest block in the entire paper. Candidates reported questions from ages, profit and loss, mixture and alligation, and missing number series. The Caselet DI set was flagged as the most time-consuming item on the paper — dense, paragraph-form data with no visual aid. Several candidates said skipping the Caselet entirely and redirecting those minutes to arithmetic was the correct strategic call.

SBI PO Prelims Shift 2 Analysis 2026 (August 1)

Shift 2 ran marginally lighter than the opening shift, rated Easy to Moderate overall. In an inversion of Shift 1, candidates found Quantitative Aptitude easier than Reasoning Ability.

Section | Difficulty Level | Reported Trend
English Language | Easy to Moderate | Highest scoring section
Quantitative Aptitude | Easy to Moderate | Easier than Reasoning
Reasoning Ability | Moderate | Puzzle-dominated

Reasoning Ability, Shift 2: roughly 25 of the questions came from puzzles alone, supported by blood relation, number-based and month-based questions. As in Shift 1, syllogism and inequalities were absent.

Quantitative Aptitude, Shift 2: ages, missing number series, profit and loss, and mixture and alligation. The lighter DI load is what pulled the section below Reasoning in difficulty.

SBI PO Prelims 2026: Section Sequence Changed Between Shifts

Candidates yet to appear should note this carefully — the section order was not fixed.

• Shift 1 sequence: English Language → Reasoning Ability → Quantitative Aptitude
• Shift 2 sequence: English Language → Quantitative Aptitude → Reasoning Ability

Do not walk into the hall with a rehearsed section-order strategy. Build a plan that works regardless of which section appears second.

SBI PO Prelims 2026 Student Reactions: What Candidates Said

Consolidated feedback from test centres on August 1:

• The paper was moderate, not difficult. Almost no candidate described any single question as unfair or out of syllabus.
• Quantitative Aptitude was calculation-intensive. Three DI sets plus 12 arithmetic problems in a 20-minute window left no margin for a slow start.
• Reasoning puzzles were standard but voluminous. Five sets meant candidates had to solve rather than skip — there was nowhere else to earn marks.
• English was the rescue section. A readable RC and predictable grammar topics let most candidates bank 22-25 attempts inside 12-14 minutes and carry the buffer forward.
• The absence of syllogism and inequalities was the most-discussed surprise across both shifts.
• Overall experience: candidates who had drilled mixed puzzle sets under timed conditions cleared 70-plus attempts comfortably. Those relying on topic-selection strategies capped out near 62-65.

SBI PO Prelims 2026 Expert Review

Measured against previous SBI PO preliminary papers, three shifts in this cycle stand out:

Comparison with previous SBI PO papers. The puzzle concentration in Reasoning is higher than the recent norm. Where earlier prelims papers balanced roughly 15-18 puzzle questions against a spread of miscellaneous topics, this paper pushed 25 questions into puzzle and arrangement formats. That is a structural shift, not a one-shift anomaly, since it repeated in Shift 2.

Difficulty of each section. English is the outlier at Easy to Moderate; Quant and Reasoning sit at Moderate with different pressure points — Quant on calculation volume, Reasoning on set-solving time.

Expected impact on cut off. The moderate difficulty combined with a 66-73 good-attempt band suggests the cut off will land in line with, or marginally above, the previous cycle. A calculation-heavy Quant section typically drags sectional cut offs down slightly, while a soft English section pushes overall cut offs up. The two effects broadly offset each other.

Preparation strategy for candidates yet to appear. Open with English and finish it in under 14 minutes. Enter Quant with a pre-committed decision to skip one DI set if it reads as a Caselet. In Reasoning, scan all five puzzle sets in the first 90 seconds and attempt them in order of readability, not order of appearance.

SBI PO Prelims 2026 Expected Cut Off (Indicative)

Based on moderate difficulty and the 66-73 good-attempt range, the following bands are indicative for mains qualification. These are estimates derived from candidate feedback and difficulty benchmarking only — the official SBI PO Prelims cut off 2026 will be released by the State Bank of India along with the result, and normalisation will be applied across all eight shifts.

• Safe zone: 68-75 accurate attempts
• Borderline zone: 60-67 attempts
• Accuracy to target: 85 percent and above, given 0.25 negative marking

Because SBI normalises scores across shifts spread over two days, raw attempt counts alone do not determine selection. A 68-attempt score in a tougher shift can outrank a 72-attempt score in an easier one.

SBI PO Prelims 2026 Exam Pattern

Section | Questions | Marks | Duration
English Language | 30 | 30 | 20 minutes
Quantitative Aptitude | 35 | 35 | 20 minutes
Reasoning Ability | 35 | 35 | 20 minutes
Total | 100 | 100 | 60 minutes

Each section carries a separate 20-minute sectional time limit; candidates cannot return to a completed section. A penalty of one-fourth of the marks assigned to a question applies for every incorrect answer. Prelims marks are qualifying in nature and are not carried into the final merit list.

SBI PO Prelims 2026 Shift Timings and Reporting Time

Shift | Reporting Time | Exam Timing
Shift 1 | 8:00 AM | 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
Shift 2 | 10:30 AM | 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Shift 3 | 1:00 PM | 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Shift 4 | 3:30 PM | 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM

Exam duration is 60 minutes. Candidates must reach the centre well before the reporting time — entry after the gate closes is not permitted under any circumstances.

SBI PO Prelims 2026: Documents to Carry

• Printed copy of the SBI PO Prelims 2026 admit card
• Original photo identity proof — Aadhaar Card, PAN Card, Passport, Voter ID or Driving Licence
• Photocopy of the same ID proof, where instructed
• Recent passport-size photographs, if specified in the admit card instructions

SBI PO Prelims 2026 Exam Day Instructions

• Verify the exact centre address a day in advance
• Reach before the reporting time; gates close strictly on schedule
• Carry only permitted documents into the hall
• Occupy only the allotted seat
• Follow all invigilator and centre supervisor instructions
• Electronic gadgets, smartwatches, calculators, study material and written notes are strictly prohibited
• Do not leave the hall before completion of the full 60-minute duration

SBI PO Prelims 2026 Memory-Based Questions

Memory-based questions from each shift are compiled from candidate responses recorded immediately after the exam and indicate the priority topics SBI is testing in this cycle. Based on Shift 1 and Shift 2 feedback, the highest-recurrence areas are: circular seating arrangement, floor and flat puzzles, designation-based puzzles, month-based scheduling, arithmetic word problems on ages and profit and loss, missing number series, Caselet DI, Reading Comprehension with vocabulary, and idioms and phrases.

What Happens Next

Shift 3 on August 1 ran from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM, followed by Shift 4 from 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM. Four further shifts follow on August 2, 2026. The SBI PO Prelims answer key and result will be published by the State Bank of India on its official careers portal. Shortlisted candidates proceed to the SBI PO Mains examination, comprising objective and descriptive papers, followed by the Psychometric Test, Group Exercise and Interview.