This page lists SBI Clerk previous year question papers for 10 years, 2015 to 2024, with labelled mock papers for 10 years with no official question paper. SBI Clerk (SBI Junior Associate) is conducted by State Bank of India (SBI) and covers English, Numeracy, Reasoning and Computer/GA. Pick a year below for the paper, answer key and a timed practice plan; confirm dates and pattern on sbi.co.in.
Explore: Question papers by year · Syllabus & pattern · Pattern changes · FAQ
Year-wise question papers
SBI does not publish its Junior Associate (Clerk) question papers. Each year page has an original mock paper in the pattern candidates reported for that cycle, clearly labelled as a mock. For 2017, when SBI held no Clerk exam, the mock follows the pattern in use around that time.
SBI Clerk 2024
The newest paper here. Sit it last, as a check on your Prelims attempt rate and accuracy.
SBI Clerk 2023
A strong full-length paper for both stages. Use its Mains to test your stamina over 160 minutes.
SBI Clerk 2022
Same four-section Mains as recent years. Good for practising General Awareness under a short timer.
SBI Clerk 2021
A pandemic-year cycle. Use its Numerical Ability for simplification and series speed.
SBI Clerk 2020
The cycle that ran into COVID. Its format matches the years after it.
SBI Clerk 2019
A pre-pandemic paper in the current format. A good first full-length attempt.
SBI Clerk 2018
SBI’s first Clerk exam after the 2016 cycle. Useful for Reasoning and English drills.
SBI Clerk 2017
No SBI Clerk exam was held this year. The page has a mock in the pattern used around then.
SBI Clerk 2016
An archive paper. Best for topic-wise arithmetic and grammar practice.
SBI Clerk 2015
The oldest paper here. Use it for untimed topic practice, not as a full mock.
Want to practise one topic at a time? SBI Clerk topic-wise practice sorts the 271 questions from our labelled mock papers by section and topic.
About SBI Clerk
SBI Clerk is the State Bank of India’s exam for Junior Associates in Customer Support and Sales, the staff who run the counters, accounts and customer service in SBI branches. SBI conducts the exam itself, separately from IBPS. Recruitment is state-wise, and you can apply for vacancies in one state only.
There are two written stages, Prelims and Mains, followed by a test of the local language of the state you applied for. Candidates who studied that language in Class 10 or 12 and can show it on their mark sheet are usually exempt. There is no interview. The final list comes from Mains marks alone.
Because the vacancies are split by state and category, the competition you face depends heavily on where you apply. That is one reason the same Mains score can be comfortable in one state and short in another. What does not change is the nature of the paper. Like IBPS Clerk, it rewards attempting many questions quickly with very few mistakes, and past papers are the clearest guide to how fast you have to be. The section-wise syllabus is on the SBI Clerk syllabus and pattern page.
About the papers on this site
SBI does not release its Clerk papers or a public answer key, and the exam is held in many shifts over several days. Papers on coaching websites are memory-based, pieced together from what candidates recalled after each shift. Two papers both labelled “SBI Clerk 2022” may come from different shifts and look quite different.
Each year page here gives an original mock paper in that year’s reported pattern and level, marked as a mock. Read the guide on memory-based and official papers before relying on reconstructions from elsewhere.
How the paper has changed
SBI Clerk’s structure has been very stable. The calendar has been less so: there was no exam in 2017, and the pandemic pushed several stages back in 2020 and 2021.
| Period | Prelims | Mains | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015–2016 | 100 questions in 1 hour: English, Numerical Ability, Reasoning | Objective paper on the same broad subjects | Early years; use for topic practice |
| 2017 | No exam held | No exam held | Recruitment resumed with the 2018 cycle |
| 2018–2024 | English 30, Numerical Ability 35, Reasoning 35, with 20-minute section timers in recent cycles | General/Financial Awareness 50, General English 40, Quantitative Aptitude 50, Reasoning Ability and Computer Aptitude 50. 190 questions, 200 marks, 2 hours 40 minutes | Local language test after Mains; no interview |
| 2025 onward | Check the notification | Check the notification | SBI revised its PO pattern in 2025, so read the Clerk notification closely |
A wrong answer costs a quarter of the marks for that question in both stages. SBI’s notifications have generally used overall marks rather than section-wise cut-offs for Clerk, but read the rule in your own notification. Where a stage runs in several shifts, scores are normalised, since different shifts get different papers.
If you sit a 2015 or 2016 paper, use the modern Prelims timing of 20 minutes per section. The topics have barely changed, so the questions are still useful.
What the papers show, section by section
Numerical Ability
Prelims Numerical Ability is built for speed. A large share is simplification and approximation, along with a number series, one or two small DI sets and arithmetic word problems on percentages, ratio, averages, profit and loss, simple and compound interest, time and work, and speed and distance.
The students who do well here are not the ones who know the hardest methods. They are the ones who have done enough simplification that they barely need to write anything down. When you check a past paper, time your simplification questions separately. If they average more than 25 or 30 seconds, daily drill on that alone will raise your score faster than anything else.
Mains Quant leans more on DI and arithmetic and has quantity comparisons or data sufficiency in some years. It is still lighter than SBI PO Mains, so do not let PO-level DI practice crowd out the basics.
Reasoning Ability (and Computer Aptitude in Mains)
Prelims Reasoning mixes two or three short puzzles or seating arrangements with inequalities, syllogisms, coding-decoding, blood relations, direction sense, order and ranking, and alphanumeric series. The short questions are where most of the marks are. Do them first, then go to puzzles.
In Mains, puzzles become longer, and the section includes computer questions on hardware, software, networking, internet terms and MS Office. Past papers show that these computer questions are often direct and repeat in style, so a few hours of revision before Mains is well spent.
English Language
SBI Clerk English is a mix of one reading passage, cloze tests, error spotting, fillers, phrase replacement and sentence rearrangement. Many students treat it as easy marks and then lose six or seven questions to grammar they half-know.
Keep a list of every grammar question you get wrong and the rule behind it. After five or six papers you will see the same rules repeat. That list is your English revision for the last month.
General/Financial Awareness (Mains)
This is a quarter of the Mains marks, and since Mains decides the final list, it is often the difference between selection and the waiting list. Expect banking and financial awareness, current affairs from the months before the exam, and some questions on SBI itself. Static GK forms a smaller part.
The section is short on time, about 35 minutes for 50 questions, so you either know an answer or you do not. Past papers show what kind of facts get asked. Your notes during your own cycle decide your score.
Notes on recent years
2024 is the closest you have to the next paper. Sit it once you can already handle the 20-minute sections, so that the result tells you something useful.
2022 and 2023 followed the same format and are two of the best full-length papers to practise with. Use them for both Prelims and Mains.
2020 and 2021 were affected by the pandemic, with stages postponed and rescheduled. The papers stayed in the usual format and are fine for practice.
2018 and 2019 came after the gap in 2017 and set the format that continued until 2024.
2015 and 2016 are early papers. Use them for topic practice and sit them with modern timers if you do them in full.
Using old papers at different stages of preparation
In the first months
Practise by topic. After learning shortcuts for simplification, solve every simplification question from several years of SBI and IBPS Clerk papers. Do the same for series, inequalities, syllogisms and error spotting. These short question types make up most of the Prelims, and getting them automatic is the best preparation for the full paper.
Six to eight weeks before Prelims
Sit full Prelims papers three or four times a week with 20-minute section timers. Write down your attempts and accuracy for each section. Because there are many shifts and normalisation between them, do not get too attached to “safe scores” you read online. Aim for steady improvement in your attempts while keeping accuracy high.
Between Prelims and Mains
Move to Mains papers at once and give General Awareness time every day. The Mains has four sections with fixed timers, so you need to switch gears from quick GA answers to slower Reasoning and Quant work. Sit at least four or five full 160-minute papers before the exam.
Before the language test
If you are not exempt, practise reading and writing simple passages in the state’s language. The test is qualifying, and failing it can cost you a selection you have otherwise earned.
Mistakes students make with past papers
Many students practise mostly with PO-level puzzles and DI because they feel harder and therefore more useful. In Clerk, that time is better spent on the simple, fast questions that decide the score.
Another common mistake is leaving General Awareness until after Prelims. With Mains being the only stage that counts for the final list, a weak GA section is costly, and it cannot be fixed in three weeks.
Students also treat memory-based papers as exact copies of a shift and get frustrated when a DI set does not work. And some never sit a full 160-minute Mains in practice, so their accuracy drops in the last section on exam day without warning.
FAQ
Does SBI release Clerk question papers?
No. SBI does not publish the Junior Associate question papers or a public answer key. Papers online are memory-based reconstructions, often from a single shift. The year pages here have original mock papers in each year’s reported pattern, clearly labelled.
Was there an SBI Clerk exam in 2017?
No. SBI did not hold a Clerk exam in 2017. Recruitment resumed with the 2018 cycle. The 2017 page on this site has a mock paper in the pattern used around that time so you still have a practice set.
What is the SBI Clerk Mains pattern?
In recent cycles Mains has had 190 questions for 200 marks in 2 hours 40 minutes: General/Financial Awareness 50, General English 40, Quantitative Aptitude 50 and Reasoning Ability with Computer Aptitude 50, each with its own timer. Check the current notification for changes.
Is there an interview for SBI Clerk?
No. The final list is based on Mains marks, followed by a local language test for candidates who did not study the state’s language in Class 10 or 12. The language test is qualifying.
How is SBI Clerk different from IBPS Clerk?
The two papers are very similar in sections, level and timing. SBI runs its own exam for its own branches, you apply for one state, and its General Awareness section often includes questions about SBI. Papers from both exams are useful practice for either.
How many SBI Clerk papers should I solve?
Do 2018 to 2024 as full papers, since they follow the current format. Use 2015 and 2016 for topic practice. Add IBPS Clerk papers for extra full-length sets at the same level.
Why do different SBI Clerk papers from the same year look different?
The exam runs in many shifts and each shift gets its own paper. Scores are normalised between shifts. A memory-based paper usually reflects one shift, so one year’s papers can vary in difficulty.
Which section should I focus on for SBI Clerk Mains?
General/Financial Awareness, for most students. It carries 50 marks, takes the least time per question and can be prepared steadily from current affairs. Quant and Reasoning need daily practice too, but GA is where scores vary the most between candidates.
Where to get the official papers
SBI publishes Junior Associate notifications, state-wise vacancies, call letters and results on the careers section of sbi.co.in. It does not publish the question papers. Use the notification for the current pattern and language rules. We add notes and mock papers for each year, but the official notification is the final word.