IBPS PO/MT

Cycle covered: CRP PO/MT-XVI — IBPS Detailed Notification dated 01.07.2026, for vacancies of 2027-28. Every structural fact below is from that notification. Dates are from the IBPS tentative calendar dated 16.01.2026 and the corrigendum dated 21.07.2026.

Where the cycle stands today (2 August 2026)

Registration and online fee payment ran 01.07.2026 to 21.07.2026. A corrigendum dated 21.07.2026 revised that to 01.07.2026 to 26.07.2026 for CRP PO/MT-XVI and CRP SPL-XVI, and records that all other terms and conditions of the notification remain unchanged. That window has closed.

The IBPS tentative calendar dated 16.01.2026 gives PO/MT Preliminary: 22nd and 23rd August 2026 and Main: 4th October 2026. The notification's own schedule table is coarser — Preliminary "August, 2026", Main "October, 2026", Preliminary result September 2026, Main result November 2026, Personality Test November 2026, interviews November/December 2026, provisional allotment January 2027. Both documents label their dates tentative, and the calendar carries an explicit disclaimer that IBPS reserves the right to change examination dates on administrative reasons, court order or Govt. advisories. Pre-Examination Training is scheduled for August 2026.

The fact that should shape the whole plan

Section F of the notification closes with a line printed in capitals: MARKS OBTAINED IN THE ONLINE MAIN EXAMINATION ONLY WILL BE CONSIDERED FOR SHORTLISTING FOR PERSONALITY TEST & INTERVIEW AND ALSO FOR FINAL MERIT LISTING. The Preliminary score qualifies you and then stops existing. The merit list is built from the Main examination and the interview, in an 80:20 ratio.

Preliminary Examination — 100 questions, 100 marks, 60 minutes

Read the marks column against the question column — they do not track each other. Reasoning Ability is 35 of the 100 questions but 40 of the 100 marks. Quantitative Aptitude is also 35 questions, but only 30 marks. English is 30 questions for 30 marks. All three tests get the identical 20 minutes and are separately timed. So the same minute spent inside the Reasoning test is worth more marks than a minute inside Quant. (The notification publishes maximum marks per test and question counts; it does not publish a per-question mark break-up inside a test.)

Qualifying rule, verbatim: "Candidates have to qualify in each of the three tests by securing minimum cut-off marks to be decided by IBPS. Adequate number of candidates in each category as decided by IBPS depending upon requirements will be shortlisted for Online Main Examination."

Note precisely what that does and does not say: a minimum in each of the three tests. The notification attaches no aggregate requirement to the Preliminary stage — the minimum-total requirement appears only under Section F, which is headed "CUT-OFF SCORE (Online Main Examination)".

Main Examination — 170 objective questions for 200 marks, plus a 25-mark descriptive; 3 hours 10 minutes

The notification states the Main examination duration as 3 hours 10 minutes and warns candidates to expect about 4 hours or more at the venue including formalities.

Again, the marks column is the instruction. English Language is 40 questions — 24% of the objective paper — for 20 marks, which is 10% of the objective marks. Reasoning, General Awareness and Data Analysis & Interpretation carry 60 marks each. General Awareness is the densest test on the clock: 50 questions in 35 minutes, against 40 questions in 45 minutes for each of Reasoning and DA&I.

The paper names its own source material. The awareness test is titled "General/ Economy/ Banking Awareness / Digital/ Financial Awareness including RBI circulars" — RBI circulars are named in the official test title. The descriptive paper carries the footnote: "May be broadly based on Economic and Social issues, emerging trends in Banking and Technology, Current events, Ethics etc." The same current-banking reading serves both.

One more line about the descriptive paper that changes how you write it: "Descriptive Paper may be evaluated by an automated scoring mechanism for identifying features related to writing proficiency. This scoring mechanism is duly validated and evaluates proficiency of test takers."

Negative marking — a fraction, not a flat figure

Section E, applicable to both Preliminary and Main objective tests: "For each question for which a wrong answer has been given by the candidate one fourth or 0.25 of the marks assigned to that question will be deducted as penalty to arrive at corrected score. If a question is left blank, i.e. no answer is marked by the candidate, there will be no penalty for that question."

Because the penalty is one-fourth of the marks assigned to that question, the cost of a wrong answer scales with how heavily its test is weighted. A wrong answer inside a 60-mark Main test is a costlier mistake than a wrong answer inside the 20-mark English test. A blank costs nothing anywhere.

Cut-off and normalisation

Section F: "Each candidate will be required to obtain a minimum score in each test of Online Main examination and also a minimum total score to be considered to be shortlisted for personality test and interview. Depending on the number of vacancies available, cut-offs will be decided." Main scores are not shared with shortlisted candidates before the interview process completes.

Section G: corrected scores from different sessions, if held, "will be normalized using equi-percentile method", and scores up to two decimal points are taken for calculations.

Personality Test, then Interview

The Personality Test is a self-report; the resulting personality profile is placed before the interview panel. It is non-qualifying, but appearing in it is mandatory to be eligible for the interview. IBPS may conduct it in proctored mode or at identified examination centres.

The interview carries 100 marks. The notification's wording on the pass mark is a floor, not a fixed number: minimum qualifying marks "will not be less than 40% (35% for SC/ST/OBC/PwBD candidates)". The relative weightage of Main examination to interview is 80:20, and the combined final score is built from those two.

If two candidates finish level, merit order goes by date of birth — the candidate senior in age is placed above the candidate junior in age.

Rules at the venue that end candidatures

• Candidates called for the Main examination must carry the authenticated/stamped Preliminary call letter and the stamped photocopy of the ID proof. Those who do not "will not be allowed to appear for the examination". Keep the Prelims call letter the centre hands back to you.
• One additional photograph, the same as the one pasted on the call letter, is required; candidates reporting without it will not be allowed to appear.
• Reporting after the reporting time printed on the call letter means you are not permitted to take the examination. Preliminary is one hour of testing but about two hours or more at the venue.
• Compensatory time (20 minutes per hour, for candidates eligible under the PwBD/scribe guidelines) is system-based: "Only candidates registered for compensatory time (at the time of online registration) will be allowed such concessions."
• Ration Card and Learner's Driving Licence are not accepted as ID. A signature in capital letters is not accepted.