Bank Exam Syllabus and Exam Pattern 2025 For IBPS, SBI, RBI Exams

Bank exams like IBPS, SBI, NABARD and RBI are highly competitive and serve as gateways to prestigious careers in the banking sector. As aspirants gear up for the 2025 exams, understanding the syllabus and exam pattern is the first step toward effective preparation. These exams typically consist of three stages: Prelims, Mains and Interviews, each designed to test candidates’ aptitude, reasoning, and banking knowledge. The syllabus covers key areas such as Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning Ability, English Language, General Awareness and Computer Knowledge, with slight variations across different exams. Familiarity with the exam pattern, including the number of questions, marking scheme, and time limits, is crucial for strategizing and maximizing performance.

Bank Exam Syllabus 2025

The competitive exam in the banking sector is generally conducted for two positions i.e. Clerk & Scale I Officer (Probationary Officer/Specialist Officer).  The former is a two-tier process (pre + main) while the latter is a three-tier process (Pre + Main + Interview). Some of the prominent banking exams are IBPS PO, IBPS Clerk, IBPS RRB Clerk, IBPS RRB Officer Scale I, Officer Scale-II, RBI Grade B, RBI Assistant, SBI Clerk, SBI PO, etc. Today, in this article we will provide the entire bank exams syllabus 2025, along with the pattern of the examination which will help you in acing up your performance for the upcoming examination.

Bank Exam Pattern 2025

The first step towards the banking exam preparation journey is to have a detailed analysis of the syllabus and examination pattern. The examination pattern of most of the banking exams is similar. The first stage of banking exams i.e. preliminary stage consists of the following sections:

• Quantitative Aptitude
• Reasoning Ability
• English Language

Bank Prelims Exam Pattern

The preliminary exam pattern of most of the banking exams for the post of clerical cadre and Probationary Officers is the same. The difference arises in the difficulty level of the questions asked in the exam. The pattern of the prelims exam is as follows:

Bank Mains Exam Pattern

The main examination includes an advanced level of Data Interpretation & Analysis, English Language, and Reasoning Ability in addition to General Awareness in the form of current affairs/banking affairs/financial awareness, etc.

For Clerk Post

The exam pattern of the mains exam for the recruitment of clerical cadre is as follows:

For the Probationary Officer(PO) post

The PO main exam pattern consists of an objective paper as well as descriptive paper. The main exam pattern is as follows:

The descriptive paper of the main exam consists of  English Language( Letter writing and essay section). There are 2 questions from this section for which 30 minutes is allotted and it can fetch you 25 maximum marks.

After qualifying the prelims and mains examination successfully candidates have to go for an interview session. When cleared all these three sections a candidate is qualified for the post of Probationary Officer.

Bank Exam Pattern For SO

Prelims Exam Pattern For SO

> For the Post of IT Officer, Agriculture Field Officer, HR/Personnel Officer and Marketing Officer

Syllabus for Bank Exams 2025

Before starting the preparation for the examination, the wise thing to do is to know what exactly you have to study. Many a time students work hard, give ample amount of time but still fail to grab the selection. One of the reasons that we can figure out is that students generally don’t stick to the syllabus. They spend so much time solving a higher level of question that they forget that the first stage is prelims and the questions asked in it are of foundation to moderate level while in mains the level of questions is moderate to high. The majority of the students can’t qualify for the first stage because they don’t have the speed.

You shouldn’t give a mock test of a high difficulty level because it will serve no purpose for you. Knowing the syllabus and sticking to it is one of the golden rules that students need to learn and understand to ace the banking sector exams.

Generally, the syllabus of all the major banking exams remains the same. The direct links to view the syllabus of all the major exams conducted by IBPS are mentioned below: