Checked 25 September 2026. From SBI advertisements and the 2024-25 and 2026 prelims and Main booklets. Marks per question are our arithmetic from the official marks table.
“Negative marking of 0.25” is how most pages summarise SBI PO, and for the Main exam it is wrong. The advertisement deducts a quarter of the marks assigned to that question, and the Main tests give their questions different marks. A wrong answer therefore costs 0.375 in Reasoning & Computer Aptitude, 0.5 in Data Analysis & Interpretation, 0.25 in General Awareness and just 0.125 in English. This guide sets out the marks per question, the penalty in each test, SBI’s rounding rule and what it means for how many questions to attempt.
SBI advertisement 2026-27/09; prelims booklet 2026; our arithmetic.
Where other pages get this wrong
The penalty is a quarter of the marks assigned to the question — so it varies by Main test: 0.375, 0.5, 0.25 or 0.125.
Commonly published instead: A flat “0.25 negative marking” for every question.
SBI advertisement CRPD/PO/2026-27/09 (“1/4th of marks assigned to that question will be deducted”) and the Main marks table.
The Main objective test
| Test | Questions | Marks | Time | Marks per question | Wrong answer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I — Reasoning & Computer Aptitude | 40 | 60 | 50 min | 1.5 | −0.375 |
| II — Data Analysis & Interpretation | 30 | 60 | 45 min | 2 | −0.5 |
| III — General / Economy / Banking Awareness | 60 | 60 | 45 min | 1 | −0.25 |
| IV — English Language | 40 | 20 | 40 min | 0.5 | −0.125 |
| Total | 170 | 200 | 3 hours |
Questions, marks and time: SBI advertisement 2026-27/09 and 2026 Main booklet. Marks per question and penalties are our arithmetic (marks ÷ questions; a quarter of that) and assume every question in a test carries equal marks — SBI prints only the test totals. Tests I–III are bilingual; Test IV is in English.
Our arithmetic from the Main marks table.
The time per question differs just as much: 75 seconds in Test I, 90 in Test II, 45 in Test III and 60 in Test IV (our arithmetic). Data Analysis & Interpretation is the costliest place to be wrong but also the most valuable question per mark and the one with the most time — and in 2026-27 it is the only test with an in-built on-screen calculator. General Awareness is a fast, one-mark-per-question test where the answer is either known or not.
The rounding rule
The Main booklets add a rule the advertisements do not: “If the total of the penalty for test is in fraction, it will be rounded off to the nearest integer.” The penalty for each test is therefore totalled and rounded, not applied question by question. The rule appears in the 2024-25 and 2026 Main booklets; it does not appear in the prelims booklets. SBI does not say how a total of exactly .5 is rounded.
What that does to small numbers of wrong answers, on the same equal-marks assumption:
| Test | 1 wrong | 2 wrong | 3 wrong | 5 wrong |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IV — English (−0.125 each) | 0.125 → 0 | 0.25 → 0 | 0.375 → 0 | 0.625 → 1 |
| III — General Awareness (−0.25 each) | 0.25 → 0 | 0.5 → not stated | 0.75 → 1 | 1.25 → 1 |
| I — Reasoning (−0.375 each) | 0.375 → 0 | 0.75 → 1 | 1.125 → 1 | 1.875 → 2 |
| II — Data Analysis (−0.5 each) | 0.5 → not stated | 1 → 1 | 1.5 → not stated | 2.5 → not stated |
Face-value penalty totalled for the test, then rounded to the nearest integer as the Main booklet says. “Not stated”: SBI gives no rule for a total of exactly .5. The listed per-question costs elsewhere on this page are the face values before rounding.
The prelims
| Section | Questions | Time |
|---|---|---|
| English Language | 40 | 20 min |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 30 | 20 min |
| Reasoning Ability | 30 | 20 min |
| Total | 100 (100 marks) | 1 hour |
SBI advertisements 2024-25 to 2026-27 and prelims booklets. Section-wise marks are not printed — only “Total Maximum Marks 100”. English questions are in English only; the rest are bilingual.
SBI prints only a combined maximum of 100 for the prelims. With 100 questions that implies one mark each, and a penalty of 0.25 for a wrong answer — our inference, since no document states section marks. There is no sectional cut-off in the prelims: candidates are ranked on the total, and about ten times the vacancies go through to the Main.
Is a guess worth it?
With five options, a blind guess is right one time in five. At a penalty of a quarter of the question’s marks, the expected value of a blind guess is zero in every test: one-fifth of the marks gained against four-fifths of a quarter lost. Rule out one option and it turns positive; rule out two and it is clearly worth taking. Because the penalty is a fixed fraction of the question’s own marks, this is true in every test — but the size of the risk scales with the marks, so a wrong DA&I guess costs four times as much as a wrong English one.
Is a guess worth it? SBI PO Main, test by test
Pick the test and how many of the five options you can rule out. The penalty is a quarter of the question’s marks.
Marks per question are our arithmetic from the advertisement’s marks table (60 ÷ 40, 60 ÷ 30, 60 ÷ 60, 20 ÷ 40); the prelims figure assumes 1 mark each, which SBI does not print. Five options per question; a quarter of the question’s marks is deducted for a wrong answer; blanks cost nothing.
| Options ruled out | Chance right | Expected value (per mark of the question) |
|---|---|---|
| 0 (blind) | 20% | 0 |
| 1 | 25% | +0.0625 |
| 2 | 33% | +0.1667 |
| 3 | 50% | +0.375 |
Our arithmetic: EV = p × m − (1 − p) × m/4, shown per mark of the question.
The prelims: 20 minutes a section
The prelims give each section its own 20-minute clock: 40 English questions (30 seconds each), 30 Quantitative Aptitude questions (40 seconds) and 30 Reasoning questions (40 seconds) — our arithmetic from the advertisement. Because there is no sectional cut-off and candidates are ranked on the total, a strong section can make up for a weaker one, but the time cannot be moved between sections. With five options and a quarter-mark penalty (on our inference of one mark per question), the same attempt rule applies as in the Main: answer what you can narrow down, and leave pure guesses.
| Prelims section | Questions | Time | Seconds per question |
|---|---|---|---|
| English Language | 40 | 20 min | 30 |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 30 | 20 min | 40 |
| Reasoning Ability | 30 | 20 min | 40 |
SBI advertisement 2026-27/09; seconds per question our arithmetic.
The on-screen calculator in Data Analysis
The 2026 Main booklet adds a line the 2024-25 booklet did not have: “For test of Data Analysis & Interpretation, use of in-built calculator is permitted (which will be made available on the computer screen).” It applies to that test only, and physical calculators remain banned. It changes the practice more than the paper: the calculations in DA&I are unchanged, but a candidate who has only practised mental arithmetic will be slower with an on-screen keypad. Use an on-screen calculator in every DA&I practice set from now on, and keep mental approximation for the other tests, where no calculator is allowed. Whether the 2025-26 Main also allowed it could not be established — its booklet was not found.
Sectional minimums change the calculation
In the Main, the Bank sets a minimum score in each of the four objective tests and in the descriptive paper, and falling short of any one of them ends your candidature. That changes the attempt question: in a test where you are close to the minimum, a few careless wrong answers can cost more than their face value, because they can put the whole attempt below the line. SBI does not publish the minimums, so the safe approach is to aim for a comfortable score in every test rather than to maximise one.
The descriptive paper follows the objective test immediately and must be typed in English in 30 minutes — three pieces of writing (an email, a situation analysis and a report or précis) worth 10 marks each in 2026-27. There is no negative marking there, but it has its own minimum.
Practise it, don't just read it
Mark practice sets the way SBI does — a quarter of the question’s marks off for each wrong answer — and keep separate scores for each test, because each one has its own minimum in the Main.
The ProSyllabus SBI PO library has topic quizzes on simplification and approximation, reading comprehension and data-sufficiency caselets — the first quiz is free.
What is the negative marking in SBI PO?
A quarter of the marks assigned to the question: 0.375, 0.5, 0.25 or 0.125 depending on the Main test.
Is the SBI PO negative marking 0.25?
Only where a question is worth 1 mark — General Awareness in the Main and, by inference, the prelims.
How many marks is each SBI PO Main question?
1.5 in Reasoning & Computer Aptitude, 2 in Data Analysis & Interpretation, 1 in General Awareness and 0.5 in English (our arithmetic).
How many options does an SBI PO question have?
Five, with one correct.
Is there a sectional cut-off in SBI PO prelims?
No — candidates are ranked on the total.
Is there a sectional cut-off in SBI PO Main?
Yes — a minimum in each objective test and in the descriptive paper, set by the Bank.
How is the SBI PO penalty rounded?
The Main booklets say a fractional total penalty for a test is rounded to the nearest integer.
Should I guess in SBI PO?
A blind guess has zero expected value; ruling out at least one of the five options makes it positive.
How much time is there per SBI PO Main question?
75 seconds in Test I, 90 in Test II, 45 in Test III and 60 in Test IV (our arithmetic).
Is there negative marking in the descriptive paper?
No, but it has its own minimum qualifying score.
Are the SBI PO questions available in Hindi?
Yes, except the English Language tests; the descriptive paper is English only.
Can I use a calculator in SBI PO?
Only the in-built on-screen calculator for Data Analysis & Interpretation in the 2026-27 Main.
How much time is there per SBI PO prelims question?
About 30 seconds in English and 40 in Quant and Reasoning, with 20 minutes per section.
Does a blank answer cost marks in SBI PO?
No — only wrong answers are penalised.
Sources
- official — SBI — Detailed advertisement CRPD/PO/2026-27/09 (18.06.2026)
- official — SBI — Main exam “Acquaint Yourself” booklet 2026 (Main on 12.09.2026)
- official — SBI — Prelims “Acquaint Yourself” booklet 2026
- official — SBI — Main exam booklet 2024-25 (Main on 05.05.2025)
- official — SBI — Detailed advertisement CRPD/PO/2025-26/04 (23.06.2025)
- official — SBI — Detailed advertisement CRPD/PO/2024-25/22 (27.12.2024)
official = a document published by the conducting body. reported = a news or coaching site we could not check against an original. Where sources disagree this page says so rather than picking one.
