SBI Clerk Local Language Test: Who Takes It, Exemption and Pattern

Every SBI Junior Associate must be able to read, write, speak and understand the local language of the state they are posted to — and for many candidates the local language proficiency test (LLPT) is the last hurdle between a final result and a job. It comes after provisional selection and before joining, and failing it means no appointment. But a large share of candidates never sit it, because SBI exempts anyone who studied the language in Class 10 or 12. This guide explains who must take it, what it contains and what SBI leaves unsaid.

SBI advertisements 2025-26 and 2026-27.

At the time of application a candidate opts for one of the languages listed for the state applied for. After the Main, provisionally selected candidates who did not study that language in Class 10 or 12 take the test; those who did are exempt on producing the document. Every SBI selection and wait list is expressly “subject to qualifying the proficiency test in local language(s)”. Candidates can sit the written exams at any centre, but the language test is in the state applied for, at the candidate’s own expense.

The non-verbal test works on written passages — understanding them (objective) and responding in writing (subjective). SBI names the third unit “Verbal Test” (20 marks) and says nothing about its format; that it is spoken is our guess from the name, as is the reading of the first two as written comprehension and written response. What SBI does not publish is as important as what it does: there is no pass mark, no schedule and no description of the verbal test, so preparation should aim at genuine basic proficiency rather than a target score.

Two lists in the advertisement look alike and are easy to confuse. The medium is the language the prelims and Main questions are offered in. The local language is the one you must prove you can work in. They overlap but are not the same: a Mizoram candidate takes the exam in English or Hindi but needs Mizo for the job, and Bodo, Nepali, Kokborok, Garo, Khasi, Ladakhi/Bhoti and Santhali are local-language options that are not exam mediums at all. Writing the Main in Hindi or Urdu does not exempt anyone from the language test — only a Class 10 or 12 document does.

Eleven of the 24 states with 2026-27 regular seats list two or three languages, and a candidate opts for one at application. The advertisement words the exemption in two slightly different ways. Its opening paragraph exempts those who studied “the specified opted local language” in Class 10 or 12. Its selection section says the test is for candidates “not having studied (in class 10th or 12th) any of the specified local language of the State applied”. For most people the two agree. They could diverge for someone who studied one listed language at school but opted for another — so the safe choice, on our reading, is to opt for the language that is on your Class 10 or 12 mark sheet.

English is itself a listed local language in six places: the only one for Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, and an option in Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Andaman & Nicobar. On the rule’s plain words, a candidate there who opted for English and studied English in Class 10 or 12 would be exempt — our reading; SBI does not address the case directly.

The SC/ST/OBC special drive (CRPD/CR/SPLDRIVE/2026-27/16) prints the same exemption and the identical three-part pattern — non-verbal objective 15, non-verbal subjective 15, verbal 20 — with a minimum in each test “as decided by the Bank”. Its 1,538 seats include states absent from the regular advertisement, so the language list reaches further: Punjabi or Hindi for Punjab and Chandigarh, Hindi or Santhali for Jharkhand, Hindi or Urdu for Bihar, Telugu or Urdu for Andhra Pradesh, and Hindi for Delhi.

For candidates applying in their home state, the test is usually a formality — most studied the state language at school and are exempt. It matters for candidates applying to another state, which is common when the home state has few or no seats (as in 2026-27 for Bihar, Delhi, Kerala and others). Such candidates should start learning the language well before the Main result: SBI gives no date for the test, and failing it means no appointment.