SBI PO Previous Year Question Papers: Free PDF Downloads and Strategy
Download free SBI PO Prelims and Mains previous year question papers (2018-2025) with solutions, exam analysis, and a practical strategy to use them.
AC Team
Nearly 12 lakh candidates have applied for the SBI PO Exam 2026, expected to be held in August 2026. That is a lot of competition. If you are one of them, you already know that revising the syllabus is not enough. You need to practise with real questions, and the best real questions come from previous year papers.
SBI does not release official question papers after the exam. So the papers you find online, including the ones here, are memory-based. Faculty and toppers recreate them right after the exam using what candidates remember. They are not word-for-word official papers, but they are close enough to show you the pattern, the difficulty level, and the type of questions SBI likes to ask.
Why Bother With Old Papers
Think of previous year papers as a map of the exam. They show you which topics get asked again and again, how the difficulty has shifted over the years, and how much time each section actually needs. Mock tests are useful too, but they are built by test creators guessing what might come. Previous year papers show you what actually came.
SBI PO Question Papers: Year-Wise PDFs
Below is a list of SBI PO Prelims and Mains papers from 2018 to 2025, with solutions where available. Download the ones closest to your exam year first, then work backwards.
SBI PO 2025 Papers
Prelims: 4th August (Shift 1 & 2) and 5th August (Shift 1) papers, in both English and Hindi
Mains (13th September): English, Reasoning, and Data Analysis & Interpretation papers
SBI PO 2024 Papers
Prelims: Papers from 8th March (all four shifts), 16th March, and 24th March
Mains: English, Reasoning, and Data Analysis & Interpretation papers
SBI PO 2023 Papers
Prelims paper
Mains paper
SBI PO 2022 Papers
Prelims: Six separate paper sets (Paper 1 to Paper 6), covering different shifts and slots
Mains paper
SBI PO 2021 Papers
Prelims paper with solution PDF
Mains paper with solution PDF
SBI PO 2020 Papers
Prelims paper with solution PDF
Mains paper with solution PDF
SBI PO 2019 Papers
Prelims paper with solution PDF
Mains paper with solution PDF
SBI PO 2018 Papers
This year's papers are split section-wise, which is handy if you want to focus on one subject at a time.
Reasoning Ability paper with solution
Quantitative Aptitude paper with solution
English Language paper with solution
What The Last Few Years Tell Us
Patterns from the last four years give a fairly clear picture of where to put your energy.
Quantitative Aptitude (Prelims)
Data Interpretation, in the form of tables, bar graphs, and line graphs, shows up every single year without fail. Simplification, approximation, and number series stay high on the list too. Caselet-based DI and data sufficiency questions have started appearing more often. And here's the twist: 2024 and 2025 papers packed in 2-3 DI sets instead of the usual 1-2, so the section now eats up more time than before.
Reasoning Ability (Prelims)
Puzzles and seating arrangement questions are the heavyweights here, often making up 8-10 questions on their own. Blood relations, syllogism, and inequality stay steady and are usually easier marks. Machine input-output questions come and go, so check the last three years before deciding how much time to give this topic.
Mains: Reasoning and DI
These two sections have earned a reputation as the toughest part of the Mains exam. Puzzles here are longer and more tangled than what you see in Prelims. DI questions often combine two data sets in a single question, such as a table paired with a missing-value calculation. Budget extra time for these.
English and General Awareness (Mains)
English tends to be more approachable compared to the other sections, so it is a good place to build speed and confidence. Banking and economy awareness questions, though, increasingly pull from the last six months of financial news. Pairing old papers with a regular current affairs revision habit works better than relying on static GK books alone.
How To Actually Use These Papers
Downloading a PDF and skimming through it will not move your score. Here is a method that actually works:
Solve under real exam conditions. Set a timer, keep your phone away, and follow the exact section timing. No pausing halfway.
Review right after, not days later. Your reasoning for each answer is still fresh in your head immediately after the test. Use that window.
Track three numbers every time: accuracy percentage, number of questions attempted, and time spent per section. One overall score tells you almost nothing on its own.
Split your mistakes into two types. Some are due to a concept gap, others are due to time pressure. These need completely different fixes, so don't treat them the same.
Re-attempt the wrong ones after 3-4 days, without peeking at the solution first. If you get it right this time, the concept has stuck.
Previous year papers work best as a diagnostic tool, not a one-time practice session. Come back to them throughout your preparation, and let the numbers guide where you spend your next study hour.
