The State Bank of India (SBI) Clerk Prelims Exam 2025 kicked off with great anticipation on September 20, 2025, marking the beginning of a rigorous selection process for 6,589 Junior Associate (Customer Support & Sales) vacancies. As the largest public sector bank in India, SBI's recruitment drive draws lakhs of aspirants annually, transforming the lives of many young graduates into stable careers in banking. This year's prelims, scheduled across September 20, 21, and 27 in four shifts each day, tests candidates' aptitude in three core sections: English Language, Numerical Ability, and Reasoning Ability. With over 12 lakh registrations, the competition is fiercer than ever, making post-exam analysis not just a review but a roadmap for future attempts and strategy refinement.
The SBI Clerk Prelims is a 60-minute online test comprising 100 multiple-choice questions worth 100 marks, with sectional timings of 20 minutes each to prevent over-reliance on strong areas. There's a negative marking of 1/4th mark for wrong answers, emphasizing accuracy alongside speed. Qualifying in nature, the prelims score doesn't count toward the final merit but serves as a gateway to the Mains exam. As the first shift concluded on September 20, early feedback from candidates painted a picture of an exam that balanced familiarity with subtle twists, offering hope to well-prepared aspirants while underscoring the need for smart time management.
Diving into the overall exam pattern, the 2025 prelims mirrored previous years' structure but introduced minor variations in question phrasing and topic emphasis, possibly to gauge adaptability. The English section, often the easiest, focused on comprehension and grammar basics. Numerical Ability leaned on arithmetic and data interpretation, while Reasoning emphasized logical puzzles. Based on student reviews aggregated from coaching platforms and exam forums, the overall difficulty across shifts on Day 1 hovered between easy to moderate, a notch up from 2024's predominantly easy vibe but still accessible for those with consistent practice.
Let's break down the section-wise analysis, starting with Shift 1 on September 20. Held from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM, this shift saw around 75-80 good attempts overall, with candidates reporting a smooth interface and no technical glitches—a relief after past years' occasional hiccups. The English Language section emerged as the scoring powerhouse, rated easy by 80% of participants. Out of 30 questions, the Reading Comprehension (RC) passage was on road accidents, spanning 10 questions that included direct inferences and vocabulary-based queries like synonyms and antonyms. Grammar dominated with 8-10 questions on error detection, phrase replacement, and fillers, where spotting subject-verb agreement errors was key. Cloze tests (5 questions) and para jumbles (5) rounded it off, with good attempts pegged at 24-28. Aspirants who practiced daily reading from newspapers found this section a breeze, often finishing in under 15 minutes.
Moving to Numerical Ability, the 35-question section tipped into moderate territory, challenging time-strapped candidates with calculation-heavy problems. Data Interpretation (DI) stole the show with three sets—tabular (5 questions on sales trends), line graph (5 on profit margins), and pie chart (5 on expense breakdowns)—totaling 15 questions. Arithmetic word problems, the exam's staple, covered simplification (10 questions) and topics like time-work, profit-loss, and simple interest (10 questions combined). Quadratic equations (5) were straightforward, solvable via factorization. The twist? A few questions involved mensuration, like cylinder volumes, demanding quick formula recall. Good attempts ranged from 22-26, with speed in DI being the differentiator. Candidates who skipped lengthy approximations early on maximized their scores here.
Reasoning Ability, the 35-question wildcard, was easy to moderate, heavily puzzle-centric as expected. Puzzles and seating arrangements accounted for 20 questions: floor-based (5), circular (5), and linear row (5 with variables), plus a scheduling puzzle (5) on days and people. Syllogism (5 questions) stuck to two-statement "all-some" types, while inequalities (5) were direct. Alphanumeric series (5) and blood relations (5) were straightforward pattern-spotters. No surprises in direction sense or coding-decoding, which were absent this shift. Good attempts hit 25-30, rewarding those who tackled high-weightage puzzles first. A common feedback: the puzzles had minimal data overload, allowing 18-20 minutes for completion.
Shifting to September 20's Shift 2 (11:30 AM-12:30 PM), the exam maintained parity with Shift 1, overall easy to moderate but with a slight uptick in Numerical Ability's toughness. English remained a safe haven—easy, with an RC on environmental issues (10 questions), error spotting (8), and word swaps (5), yielding 25-28 attempts. Numerical Ability amped up with trickier DI sets (bar graph on investments, caselet on ratios) and arithmetic emphasizing percentages and ratios (12 questions), pushing good attempts to 20-24. Reasoning mirrored Shift 1 but swapped a linear puzzle for a box-based one, keeping attempts at 24-28. Total good attempts: 72-80, slightly lower due to quant's curveball.
By afternoon, Shift 3 (2:00 PM-3:00 PM) echoed the morning's moderate tone. English was effortless (RC on health awareness, 10 questions; fillers and connectors, 10), with 24-27 attempts. Numerical Ability's DI focused on mixed charts, and quadratic comparisons added spice, but simplification eased it—21-25 attempts. Reasoning's puzzles included a month-based scheduling (5) and inequality chains (5), solid at 23-27. Evening Shift 4 wrapped Day 1 on a high note: easy overall, with English at 26-29, Numerical at 23-26 (heavy on number series), and Reasoning at 25-29 (puzzle variety intact). Across shifts, the exam's consistency suggests SBI's intent to normalize difficulty, avoiding the wild swings of 2023.
Comparing to previous years, 2025's prelims feels evolutionary rather than revolutionary. In 2024 (held in February), the difficulty was easy-moderate, with English averaging 25 attempts and quant puzzles lighter on variables. 2023 saw more calculation-intensive DI, dropping quant attempts by 2-3. This year, the RC themes—accidents, environment, health—align with current affairs, hinting at integrated prep needs. Student reviews highlight a positive shift: fewer ambiguous options and clearer instructions, boosting confidence. One Delhi candidate shared, "Quant felt doable if you practiced mocks; puzzles weren't as twisted as IBPS." Forums buzz with relief over no major surprises, though some rued time lost on a tricky syllogism variant in Shift 3.
Topic-wise weightage offers prep gold. English: RC (10), Grammar (15), Vocabulary (5)—prioritize The Hindu editorials. Numerical: DI (15), Arithmetic (15), Simplification/Series (5)—drill Rakesh Yadav's book. Reasoning: Puzzles/Seating (20), Syllogism/Inequalities (10), Series (5)—Oliveboard mocks shine here. Emerging trends? A nudge toward caselet DI and variable puzzles signals mains prep overlap. For upcoming shifts on September 21 and 27, expect minor tweaks—perhaps a story-based RC or ratio-heavy arithmetic—to keep vigilance high.
Good attempts serve as a litmus test. For general category, 70-80 total (English 25+, Numerical 22+, Reasoning 25+) eyes cutoff clearance. Reserved categories might need 65-75, factoring state-wise variations. Negative marking amplifies this: aim for 85% accuracy. Time allocation tips from toppers: 15 mins English, 25 mins Numerical, 20 mins Reasoning—leaving buffer for reviews.
Expected cutoffs, state-specific, add intrigue. Nationally, general cutoff hovers at 65-70, up from 2024's 62 due to moderate difficulty and fewer vacancies (6,589 vs. 8,000+ last year). State-wise: Uttar Pradesh (70-75), Bihar (68-72), Maharashtra (65-70), Tamil Nadu (62-67), Delhi (72-77). Factors? 12 lakh applicants, 10x selection ratio, and balanced paper. For SC/ST/OBC, shave 5-10 marks. Previous years: 2024 UP general at 72, 2023 Bihar at 65—2025's moderate tag predicts a 2-3 point rise.
For aspirants in pending shifts, strategy is paramount. Analyze mocks daily, focusing weak spots—say, if DI trips you, solve 50 sets weekly. Speed drills via apps like Testbook cut solving time by 20%. Sleep well, eat light pre-exam; hydration curbs jitters. Post-shift, jot attempts immediately for self-audit. Mains-bound? Prelims polish reasoning for the descriptive English twist.
The SBI Clerk Prelims 2025 analysis underscores resilience amid competition. Day 1's easy-moderate blend rewarded balanced prep, but success demands more—discipline, analysis, adaptation. As shifts unfold, these insights evolve, but the core remains: in banking's gateway, persistence pays. For the 6,589 dreamers, this is just the start; the real marathon awaits in Mains. Stay tuned, stay sharp—your branch awaits.
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