SBI PO 2026: Study Notes Guide
Build short, revision-ready SBI PO notes for every section, from quant formulas to banking terms and descriptive templates.
Good SBI PO study notes are short, built for revision and organised around the sections of the exam rather than around textbooks. The Main exam alone covers reasoning with computer aptitude, data interpretation, 60 marks of general, economy and banking awareness, English and a typed descriptive test, so notes that you cannot revise in a few hours before the exam are too long.
This page shows what to put in your notes for each section, how to organise them, a revision schedule and the sources worth using. It follows the 2026 pattern in Advertisement No. CRPD/PO/2026-27/09.
What to Include in SBI PO Notes
Section | What your notes should hold | Format that works |
|---|---|---|
Quantitative Aptitude and DI | Formulas, percentage-fraction table, squares and cubes to 30, approximation rules, DI shortcuts | One formula sheet per topic, two pages at most |
Reasoning and Computer Aptitude | Puzzle set-up methods, syllogism rules for "only a few", inequality patterns, input-output tracking, computer terms and shortcuts | Worked examples with the diagram you drew, plus a computer glossary |
English | Grammar rules you broke in mocks, phrasal verbs, confusing word pairs, new vocabulary in context | Error log with the wrong sentence and the corrected version |
General, Economy and Banking Awareness | RBI policy rates and decisions, schemes, appointments, reports and indices, budget highlights, banking terms | Monthly one-page summaries plus a running banking glossary |
Descriptive | Email, report and precis formats, useful formal phrases, situation analysis structure | Templates with one model answer each |
How to Organise Your Notes
Short notes by topic: one sheet per topic with only what you forget. If you already know it, leave it out.
Formula sheets: keep quant and DI formulas separate from methods, so you can scan them in ten minutes on the day before the exam.
Error log: after every mock, write the question type, why you went wrong and the correct method. This becomes the most valuable part of your notes.
Monthly current affairs notes: one or two pages per month, grouped under banking, economy, schemes, appointments and awards, and sports and summits.
Banking glossary: one line per term, with an example. Add new terms as they appear in news or mocks.
Use a single notebook or one digital folder per section. Notes scattered across apps and screenshots are hard to revise under time pressure.
Notes for Banking Awareness: A Worked Example
Suppose the RBI changes the repo rate. A useful note fits in four lines: what changed, the new rate, the date of the policy, and what it means for loans and deposits. Add the other rates that moved, such as the standing deposit facility and marginal standing facility. If you cannot write the effect in one sentence, revisit the concept in your glossary. Always copy rates and dates from the RBI press release rather than from a secondary page, because errors spread quickly.
Notes for Quant and the Descriptive Test
A quant formula sheet that earns its place
Percentage-fraction pairs: 1/6 is 16.67 percent, 1/7 is about 14.29 percent, 1/8 is 12.5 percent, up to 1/20, for fast DI calculations.
Successive change: a change of a percent then b percent equals a plus b plus ab divided by 100, for profit, discount and population questions.
Compound interest for two and three years: the effective rates at common interest levels, so you skip the full formula.
Time, speed and work shortcuts: relative speed, efficiency-based work and pipe problems in one line each.
A descriptive template you can adapt
For a formal email, note the skeleton once: To, Subject, Salutation, a one-line purpose, two short paragraphs of detail or request, a closing line, and your name with designation. Under it, list 10 to 15 formal phrases for requests, apologies and follow-ups. Do the same for a report (title, introduction, findings, recommendation) and a precis (title, one-third length, own words). With these in your notes, you spend exam time on content rather than structure.
Revision Schedule
Timing | What to revise |
|---|---|
Daily, 20 minutes | Yesterday's current affairs and five glossary terms |
Weekly | Error log from the week's mocks and one formula sheet |
Monthly | The month's current affairs summary and all reasoning methods |
Last two weeks before Prelims | Formula sheets, English error log and puzzle methods |
Between Prelims and Mains | Six months of current affairs, banking glossary, computer terms and descriptive templates |
The gap between Prelims and Mains is short, so your awareness notes must be ready before Prelims. You will not have time to make them after.
Sources to Use
Official SBI documents: the advertisement and the Acquaint Yourself booklets show the test names and sample question types.
RBI: monetary policy statements and press releases for rates, regulations and banking terms.
Union Budget and Economic Survey: the official summaries for economy questions.
Press Information Bureau: releases for government schemes and appointments.
Previous papers: for the type and level of questions, not for facts that may be outdated.
Common Note-Making Mistakes
Copying full chapters: notes should be a fraction of the source, or you will never revise them.
No error log: notes that ignore your own mistakes miss the topics that actually cost you marks.
Starting awareness notes late: six months of news cannot be summarised in the last two weeks.
Never testing the notes: if a topic stays weak in mocks, the note on it needs rewriting.
Where Notes Fit With Mocks
Notes and mocks work as a loop: you learn from notes, test in mocks, then update notes from the mistakes. Revise the relevant sheet before each sectional test and add to your error log after it.
Base your topic list on the official SBI PO 2026 Main exam information handout.