The SBI PO psychometric test is on 31 October 2026, per the SBI notice for advertisement CRPD/PO/2026-27/09, and it opens Phase III. The advertisement says exactly what it is for: "The Bank will conduct Psychometric test for personality profiling, of those candidates who will be shortlisted for Phase-III process. Findings of the test will be placed before the Interview panel to have a thorough perspective on the candidates." It carries no marks in the Phase III table (Group Exercise 20, Interview 30), it "may be conducted through proctored mode or at identified examination centres", and "all the questions in Psychometric Test are mandatory". That is the whole of what SBI has published. This page separates what SBI says from what psychometric tests in general contain, gives you a method for answering consistently, and tells you what to do with the result when you sit in front of the panel from 18 November.
- Date: 31 October 2026 (tentative, per the SBI notice). Call letter with exact time "shortly".
- Purpose: personality profiling; findings go to the interview panel (advertisement).
- Marks: none listed. Phase III marks are GE 20 + Interview 30 = 50.
- Mode: proctored online or identified centres, as the Bank decides. All questions mandatory.
- Not published by SBI: item count, duration, item types, scoring, any sample.
- What wins: honesty and consistency, then the ability to talk about your own traits with examples.
What SBI says it is, and what it does not say
Candidates search for "psychometric test questions SBI PO" and find pages full of invented items. Start instead with the two lines SBI has written. The advertisement, under "Phase-III: comprise of Psychometric Test, Group Exercise & Personal Interview", says:
The advertisement, quoted
"PSYCHOMETRIC TEST: The Bank will conduct Psychometric test for personality profiling, of those candidates who will be shortlisted for Phase-III process. Findings of the test will be placed before the Interview panel to have a thorough perspective on the candidates. Psychometric tests may be conducted through proctored mode or at identified examination centres, as decided by the Bank. All the questions in Psychometric Test are mandatory for candidates to assess the candidates' profiling."
Four facts, then, from SBI: it is for personality profiling; its findings reach the panel; it may be online under proctoring or at a centre; every question must be answered. The notice of October 2026 adds the date. The main examination result PDF, dated 14 October 2026, describes the roll numbers it lists as "shortlisted for Phase-III (Psychometric test)", which tells you the test is the first thing every shortlisted candidate attends.
What SBI does not say is just as useful. There is no item count, no duration, no list of traits, no scoring rule and no sample paper anywhere on the SBI careers site. The advertisement does not use the word "qualifying" for the psychometric test, while it does set qualifying marks "as decided by the Bank" for the Group Exercise and Interview. Any page that gives you a number of questions or a pass mark for the SBI test is quoting a candidate's memory or guessing.
Is it scored? Can you fail it?
On the published evidence, the test produces a profile, not a mark. The Phase III marks table in the advertisement has two rows, Group Exercise (20) and Interview (30), and a total of 50. The final-selection clause normalises those 50 marks to 25; there is no third input. So the psychometric test does not add to or subtract from your score in the way most candidates fear.
That does not make it harmless. Its findings are in front of the panel for the 30-mark interview. A profile that says "avoids responsibility" or shows contradictory answers is a question waiting to be asked. And "all the questions ... are mandatory" means an incomplete test is a risk nobody should take: the IBPS notification, for its equivalent personality test, says appearing is "mandatory for being eligible for appearing for the Interview process", and SBI's own result PDF frames the shortlist as being for the psychometric test. Attend it, complete it, and treat it as the first page of your interview file rather than as an exam.
The date, the mode and the call letter
| Item | What is known | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Date | 31 October 2026, tentative | SBI notice, October 2026 |
| Time and session | On the call letter, to be released "shortly" | SBI notice |
| Mode | Proctored mode or identified examination centres, as the Bank decides | Advertisement, Phase III |
| Call letter | Downloaded with registration number and password or date of birth from the Bank's website; no hard copy by post | Advertisement, clause 14 |
| Reporting time | Late arrival after the time on the call letter means no entry "under any circumstances" | Advertisement, instruction 43 |
| Identity | Photo ID with a self-attested photocopy; biometric capture possible at any stage | Advertisement, sections 15 and 16 |
The call letter will be linked from the SBI current openings page under the PO 2026-27 block; it was not up when we checked on 20 October 2026. If your call letter says proctored mode, test your laptop camera, microphone and connection two days before, keep the room empty and lit, and keep your ID beside you. If it says a centre, treat it as an exam day: travel early, carry the call letter and ID, and carry the same photographs you pasted on earlier call letters.
What psychometric items look like in general
Everything in this section is general to personality inventories used in recruitment. SBI does not publish its instrument, and the items below were written by TalkDrill to show formats, not content. Recruitment psychometrics usually mix four item types.
1. Agreement scales
A statement and a scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The same trait recurs in different words, sometimes reversed.
Sample items written by TalkDrill
"I prefer to finish one task before starting another." "I find it easy to start a conversation with a stranger." "I get irritated when plans change at short notice." "I would rather follow a proven method than try a new one." Each of these has a mirror item elsewhere, such as "I often work on several tasks at once", so an answer given to impress is caught when the mirror appears later in the test.
2. Forced choice
Two or four statements, all reasonable, and you pick the one most like you and the one least like you. There is no neutral option, which is the point. Example, written by TalkDrill: "Most like me / least like me: (a) I double-check figures before I send them. (b) I speak up early in a group. (c) I stay calm when a customer is angry. (d) I take on extra work when the team is short."
3. Situational judgement
A short workplace scene and four responses to rank or rate. Example, written by TalkDrill: "A customer insists on a cash withdrawal above the counter limit and is raising his voice. You would: (a) explain the limit and offer the alternatives available today; (b) call the branch manager immediately; (c) process it to avoid a scene; (d) ask him to come back tomorrow." Items like this test judgement rather than personality, and the "correct" ranking usually follows procedure first, customer outcome second.
4. Self-description and interests
Choose adjectives that describe you, or rank activities you enjoy. These feed the profile summary the panel reads.
None of these formats needs revision. What they need is attention for the full length of the test, because fatigue is what produces the inconsistency that profiles flag.
How to attempt it consistently
The goal is a profile that is true, consistent and easy to talk about. Here is the method we recommend, built for a test whose length you will not know until you start.
- Decide who you are before you log in. Write five sentences about how you actually work: how you handle deadlines, conflict, new people, rules and mistakes. Keep them honest. This is your anchor; every item is answered from it.
- Answer at a steady pace. Most inventories are untimed or generous. Read each item once, answer from the anchor, move on. Do not go back to "fix" earlier answers; that produces the contradictions you are trying to avoid.
- Use the ends of the scale when they are true. A profile of all "neutral" or all "agree" reads as evasive. If you really do double-check figures, say strongly agree.
- Do not play the ideal banker. Inventories include social-desirability checks: items almost nobody can truthfully agree with ("I have never told a lie"). Agreeing with several of them marks the whole profile as unreliable, and the panel is told.
- In situational items, procedure first, customer second, self last. That ordering matches how a bank wants an officer to think, and it is also the honest answer for most people who want this job.
- Finish every item. The advertisement says all questions are mandatory. Leave nothing blank; if the system allows review, use it only to check for skipped items.
- Afterwards, write down what you said. The same evening, note the traits you reported strongly: organised, calm, outgoing, cautious, whatever was true. You will need an example for each by 18 November.
Hindi-medium candidates: the items are short and the vocabulary is everyday. If a statement is unclear, read it twice, decide whether it is about you, and answer. Do not translate word by word; decide the meaning of the whole sentence. Our Hindi speakers' page has a short list of English words that commonly trip readers in such tests (reluctant, seldom, tend to, rarely).
How the panel may use your profile
The advertisement's wording is that the findings are placed before the panel "to have a thorough perspective on the candidates". In the interview, that tends to show up in three ways, all of which you can prepare for.
| How it shows up | What it sounds like | How to be ready |
|---|---|---|
| A trait probe | "Your profile suggests you prefer working alone. A branch is a team. Tell us about that." | Have one real example of the trait working well and one of you managing its downside. |
| A consistency check | "You described yourself as calm under pressure. Tell us about the last time you lost your temper." | Answer with a real incident and what you did next. Denying you ever lose your temper fails the check. |
| A situational follow-up | "You said you would escalate a shouting customer. Why not handle it yourself?" | Explain the sequence: try to resolve within your authority, escalate when the limit or the safety of the counter is at stake. |
Written by TalkDrill: turning a weak trait into a good answer
Panel: "The profile says you are cautious. Banks need officers who can decide." Candidate: "That is fair, sir. I am cautious with other people's money, and I think that is the right place to be cautious. When I ran the accounts for my college fest, I refused to release the second vendor payment until the first invoice matched the delivery, and it delayed us by a day. But I also booked the venue two months early because I had the data to decide. I decide quickly when I have the information and slowly when I do not. In a branch, I would want to learn which decisions are which in my first month." That answer agrees with the profile, gives two concrete examples, and ends with the job. Practise your own version aloud in a bank panel mock, where the AI panel asks the follow-up.
SBI psychometric test versus IBPS personality test
Candidates sitting both should know the two bodies describe their tests differently. Both put the result before the panel; only IBPS says in words that attendance is compulsory and that the test is non-qualifying.
| Point | SBI PO 2026-27 (advertisement and notice) | IBPS CRP PO/MT-XVI (notification) |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Psychometric test, "for personality profiling" | Personality test (self-report) |
| Date | 31 October 2026 (tentative) | November 2026 (tentative) |
| Marks | None listed; Phase III marks are GE 20 + Interview 30 | None; interview is 100 marks |
| Qualifying? | Not described as qualifying; "all the questions ... are mandatory" | "Non-qualifying in nature"; appearing is "mandatory" for the interview |
| Who sees it | "Placed before the Interview panel" | "Placed before the Interview panel" |
| Mode | Proctored mode or identified centres, as the Bank decides | Proctored mode or identified centres, as IBPS decides |
| Sample items published | No | No |
The same five-sentence anchor works for both. If you sit both tests within a fortnight, answer both from it; two different profiles reaching two different panels is not a problem, but two different profiles of the same person is a sign you were performing in one of them.
The week before 31 October
- Seven days out: write the five-sentence anchor. Ask one person who knows you well whether it is true.
- Five days out: read the Phase III page for the documents and call-letter rules, and download the call letter the day it appears on SBI current openings.
- Three days out: if proctored, test the device, browser, camera, microphone and a backup internet connection. If at a centre, plan the route and the reporting time.
- The day before: no revision needed. Sleep. Lay out ID and the call letter.
- On the day: steady pace, answer from the anchor, finish every item.
- That evening: write down the traits you reported strongly, then open the questions and answers page and start matching one example to each trait. Eighteen days later the panel will have the profile; you will have the examples.
Sources read on 19 October 2026: SBI PO 2026-27 detailed advertisement, SBI notice on Phase III dates, SBI PO 2026 main examination result and the IBPS CRP PO/MT-XVI notification. Every page in this series is listed on the Bank PO interview hub.