IBPS SO Syllabus 2026: Prelims and Mains Guide

The IBPS SO syllabus for the current cycle, CRP SPL-XVI, covers English Language, Reasoning, Quantitative Aptitude or General Awareness (depending on the post), and a Professional Knowledge test specific to your post. IBPS names these tests in its notification but does not publish a topic-wise syllabus. The topic lists below are built from the official notification and the sample questions IBPS releases in its information handouts. Use them as a working checklist, not as an official list.

This page gives the test structure, the topics worth covering for each section, post-wise Professional Knowledge areas, and a phased plan. The Preliminary and Main stages were redesigned this cycle, so older syllabus pages may be out of date.

Table of Contents

• IBPS SO syllabus at a glance

• Key changes to know

• Prelims syllabus

• Main syllabus

• Professional Knowledge by post

• Overlap between Prelims and Main

• Interview

• How to cover the syllabus

IBPS SO syllabus at a glance

• Professional Knowledge now appears in Prelims: In the previous cycle, Prelims had three general tests only. This cycle it adds a 25-question Professional Knowledge test worth 50 marks.

• Main is much larger: The previous cycle's Main was a single 60-mark Professional Knowledge test. This cycle it has four objective tests for 200 marks plus a descriptive paper.

• Merit still rests on Professional Knowledge: Every Main test except Professional Knowledge is qualifying, so the general sections are about clearing cut-offs and your post subject is about ranking.

• Older pages may mislead: Some pages still show the earlier 150-question, two-hour Prelims, so follow the official notification.

Prelims syllabus

The Prelims tests are general in nature except Professional Knowledge. The table shows what to cover and what to start with.

With only 20 minutes per test, speed matters more than depth. Reasoning puzzles and data interpretation carry the heaviest time cost, so practise them under a timer from the start.

Main syllabus

The Main objective tests cover the same areas as Prelims at greater depth and with more questions. Expect longer reading passages, multi-step puzzles and data interpretation sets in Reasoning and Quantitative Aptitude. For Law Officer and Rajbhasha Adhikari, General Awareness replaces Quantitative Aptitude, and banking and financial awareness gets more weight.

The Professional Knowledge test is 50 questions for 100 marks, so each question is worth 2 marks. It decides your rank, which is why the next section matters most.

Professional Knowledge by post

IBPS says only that questions are relevant to the respective post. The lists below are working checklists based on the post qualifications in the notification and the sample questions in the IBPS handout.

IT Officer

• Programming and software: object-oriented concepts, data structures, algorithms, software engineering, web technologies

• Databases: DBMS concepts, SQL, normalisation, transactions

• Systems and networks: operating systems, computer networks, computer organisation

• Security and banking IT: information and cyber security, cryptography, digital payments, cloud computing

Agricultural Field Officer

• Crops and soil: agronomy, soil science, horticulture, irrigation, plant protection

• Allied sectors: animal husbandry, dairy, fisheries, forestry, sericulture

• Agri economy and banking: agricultural marketing, cooperation, rural credit, government schemes for agriculture and farm finance

Law Officer

• Core law: Indian Contract Act, Companies Act, Negotiable Instruments Act, Constitution of India

• Procedure and evidence: civil procedure, and criminal law under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam

• Banking law: SARFAESI Act, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, recovery of debts laws, banking regulation

HR/Personnel Officer

• HR management: recruitment, training, performance appraisal, compensation, organisational behaviour

• Industrial relations: trade unions, collective bargaining, grievance handling

• Labour laws: major labour and employment statutes and social security provisions

Marketing Officer

• Marketing basics: marketing mix, segmentation, targeting and positioning, branding, consumer behaviour

• Modern marketing: digital marketing, CRM, sales management, market research

• Banking marketing: marketing of financial services and products

Rajbhasha Adhikari

• Hindi language: grammar, vocabulary, translation, comprehension, literature

• Official language: Official Language Act and rules, official use of Hindi in government and banks

• Descriptive paper: the notification lists a Professional Knowledge descriptive paper of 2 questions for this post, so practise structured writing and typing in Hindi and English

Overlap between Prelims and Main

Interview

There is no separate syllabus for the interview. It is a 100-mark common interview conducted by the participating banks, and questions usually come from your post subject, banking and your application details. The interview carries 20 percent of final merit.

How to cover the syllabus

1. Weeks 1 to 4: Cover the core Professional Knowledge topics of your post and start one Reasoning and one Quantitative Aptitude topic every few days.

2. Weeks 5 to 8: Add English Language practice daily, and take topic-wise tests in each section.

3. Weeks 9 to 12: Move to sectional timed tests of 20 minutes, and revise Professional Knowledge from your notes.

4. Final phase: Take full-length mocks in the Prelims and Main formats, analyse every attempt the same day, and revise from an error log.

Check the official notification on ibps.in.