What SBI publishes and what it does not
The official notification gives the names of the tests, the questions, marks and time. It does not give a topic-wise syllabus. The Acquaint Yourself booklets add one line per section, for example that English tests "grammar, vocabulary, sentence completion, synonyms, antonyms, comprehension of a passage, etc." and that Quant measures "how fast and accurate you are in dealing with numbers".
The topic lists below come from the question types seen in recent papers and are standard across good preparation sources. The question counts are typical ranges, not official numbers. SBI can and does change the mix in any shift, and the booklets themselves say questions may come from types not shown in the samples.
English Language (Prelims 30, Mains 40)
| Topic | Typical count | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Reading comprehension | 7 to 10 | High |
| Error detection | About 5 | High |
| Single fillers and double fillers | 0 to 5 each | High |
| Para jumbles / sentence rearrangement | About 5 | High |
| Cloze test | 5 to 6 | Medium |
| Word swap, phrase replacement, column-based, misspelt words | 0 to 5 each | Medium |
| Mains extras: connectors, phrasal verbs and idioms, odd sentence out, paragraph completion | 0 to 5 each | Medium |
Vocabulary runs through every question type, so it is not a separate topic you can skip.
Numerical Ability / Quantitative Aptitude (Prelims 35, Mains 50)
| Topic | Typical count | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Simplification and approximation | 10 to 15 in Prelims, fewer in Mains | High |
| Arithmetic word problems (percentage, ratio, profit and loss, SI/CI, time and work, speed, ages, mixtures, partnership, mensuration) | About 10 in Prelims, more in Mains | High |
| Data interpretation (tables, bar, line, pie, caselets) | 5 to 10 in Prelims, 10 to 15 in Mains | High |
| Number series (missing or wrong number) | About 5 | Medium |
| Quadratic equations, data sufficiency, quantity comparison | 0 to 5 | Medium |
| Permutation, combination, probability | 0 to 2 | Low |
Prelims Quant rewards calculation speed. Mains Quant shifts weight to DI and longer arithmetic, so accuracy under time pressure matters more than tricks.
Reasoning Ability (Prelims 35, Mains part of 50)
| Topic | Typical count | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Puzzles and seating arrangement (linear, circular, floor, box, month or day based) | 10 to 15 in Prelims, more in Mains | High |
| Syllogism | 3 to 5 | High |
| Inequality (direct and coded) | 3 to 5 | High |
| Alphanumeric or symbol series | 3 to 5 | High |
| Blood relations, direction and distance, order and ranking | 1 to 3 each | Medium |
| Coding-decoding, machine input-output | 0 to 5 | Medium |
| Alphabet test, meaningful words, pair formation, odd one out | 0 to 2 each | Low |
| Mains extras: logical reasoning (assumption, conclusion, inference, course of action), data sufficiency | 3 to 6 | Medium |
General/Financial Awareness (Mains only, 50)
The booklet calls this "an index of your awareness of people and events past and present". In practice it has three blocks:
| Block | What it covers | Typical share |
|---|---|---|
| Current affairs | National and international news, appointments, awards, sports, summits, schemes, mostly from the 4 to 6 months before the exam | Largest share, often 15 to 20 or more |
| Banking and financial awareness | RBI and monetary policy, banking terms, regulators, financial inclusion, recent banking news, budget and economy | 15 to 25 |
| Static GK | Capitals and currencies, national parks, dams, headquarters of organisations, important days | 5 to 10 |
Computer Aptitude (Mains, inside the 50-question section)
Computer questions share a 45-minute section with Mains reasoning. The topics are predictable:
- Fundamentals, history and generations of computers
- Hardware: input and output devices, memory and storage units
- Software and operating systems
- MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and keyboard shortcuts
- Networking, internet, protocols and email
- Computer security: malware, phishing, firewalls
- Database basics (DBMS) and programming language basics
- New technology terms: AI, cloud computing, IoT
Because questions are short and factual, this is the fastest-scoring part of Mains for most candidates.
How to use this syllabus
- Cover all high-priority topics first. Together they make up most of the paper.
- Do medium-priority topics next. Skip low-priority ones only if you are out of time.
- Re-check the topic mix after every mock. If you keep losing marks in one topic, it is a priority for you whatever its weight.
- Start GA and Computer early even though they are Mains-only, because in recent cycles the gap between Prelims and Mains has been only about two months.
What changes from Prelims to Mains
The same three subjects appear in both stages, but the level and the mix change. Plan for the jump in difficulty rather than discovering it in your first Mains mock.
| Subject | Prelims | Mains |
|---|---|---|
| English | 30 questions in 20 minutes; grammar, fillers, RC at moderate level | 40 questions in 35 minutes; longer passages, inference questions and newer formats such as connectors and odd sentence out |
| Quant | Heavy on simplification and approximation; short arithmetic | DI-heavy, longer arithmetic and caselets; calculation still matters but judgement matters more |
| Reasoning | Moderate puzzles plus many one-liners | Bigger puzzles, logical reasoning and data sufficiency, sharing time with Computer Aptitude |
| GA and Computer | Not asked | 50 GA questions; Computer inside the Reasoning section |
A practical rule: once you reach a steady Prelims mock score, shift at least a third of your practice time to Mains-level sets.
Questions about this
Does SBI publish an official topic-wise syllabus for Clerk?
No. The notification lists only the sections, questions, marks and time. Topic lists come from the question types seen in recent papers.
Is General Awareness asked in Prelims?
No. Prelims has only English, Numerical Ability and Reasoning. General/Financial Awareness and Computer Aptitude appear only in Mains.
Which topics carry the most marks?
In recent papers, puzzles and seating arrangement in Reasoning, simplification, arithmetic and DI in Quant, reading comprehension in English and current affairs in GA have carried the most questions. The exact mix varies by shift.