🏦 Introduction

The IBPS SO (Specialist Officer) Exam is conducted by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) to recruit specialist officers across multiple professional domains in public sector banks. IBPS SO 2026 provides career opportunities in specialist roles such as IT Officer, Agriculture Field Officer, HR/Personnel Officer, Law Officer, Rajbhasha Adhikari and Marketing Officer.

This detailed guide covers the IBPS SO 2026 syllabus, latest exam pattern, specialist-wise syllabus, selection process and preparation strategy — essential for aspirants targeting the upcoming recruitment cycle.

🧭 Selection Process

The IBPS SO 2026 selection procedure includes:

Preliminary Examination (Online)
Main Examination (Online — Specialist-specific)
Personal Interview
Document Verification & Medical Clearance
Final Provisional Allotment

📘 Exam Pattern — 2026

🔹 IBPS SO Prelims Exam Pattern (Post-Wise)

Section	IT / Agriculture / Marketing / HR	Law Officer / Rajbhasha
English Language	50	50
Reasoning Ability	50	50
Quantitative Aptitude	50	—
General Awareness (with banking focus)	—	50
Total Questions	150	150
Marks	125	125
Duration	120 minutes	120 minutes

Negative Marking: –¼ for every wrong answer.

🔹 IBPS SO Mains Exam Pattern (Specialisation-Based)

Post	Exam Content	Questions	Marks	Duration
IT Officer, Agriculture Field Officer, HR/Personnel Officer, Marketing Officer, Law Officer	Professional Knowledge (Objective)	60	60	45 minutes
Rajbhasha Adhikari	Professional Knowledge (Objective + Descriptive: Translation & Essay)	47 (Obj) + 2 (Desc)	60	60 minutes

🔹 Interview

Component	Marks
Personal Interview	100 marks
Minimum Qualifying	40% (35% for SC/ST/OBC/PwBD)

📝 Detailed Specialist-Wise Syllabus (2026)

🔹 Common Syllabus – Prelims

English Language

Reading comprehension, para jumbles
Error detection, sentence improvement
Fill in the blanks, cloze test, idioms & phrases

Reasoning Ability

Puzzles & seating arrangement
Syllogism, inequalities
Blood relation, direction sense
Coding-decoding, input-output, statement-conclusion

Quantitative Aptitude / General Awareness

(IT/AFO/HR/Marketing): QA — DI, simplification, algebra, arithmetic
(Law/Rajbhasha): GA — banking awareness, current affairs, financial GK

🔹 Professional Knowledge Syllabus — Post-Wise

📌 IT Officer (Scale-I)

Data structures, DBMS, OS, networking
C/C++/Java/Python basics, software engineering
Cybersecurity, cloud, SDLC, computer architecture

📌 Agriculture Field Officer (AFO)

Agronomy, soil science, horticulture
Agricultural economics, fertilizers, irrigation
Plant breeding, seed science, animal husbandry

📌 Law Officer

Constitution of India, Contracts, Torts
Banking regulations, SARFAESI, NI Act, RBI Act
Civil, criminal law basics, corporate laws & SEBI

📌 Rajbhasha Adhikari

Hindi grammar & translation
Administrative terminology
Essay and letter writing
Translation (Hindi ↔ English)

📌 HR / Personnel Officer

HR development & planning
Recruitment, training, motivation & leadership
Industrial relations, labour laws, compensation mgmt

📌 Marketing Officer

Marketing management, planning and segmentation
Branding, product & pricing strategies
Sales, digital marketing, CRM, market research

⚖️ Final Selection & Marks Weightage

Phase	Weightage
Mains	80%
Interview	20%
Prelims	Qualifying only

➡ Final merit = 80% of Mains + 20% of Interview
➡ Candidates who clear document verification and medical standards receive Provisional Allotment in a participating bank.

✅ Practical Preparation Tips

✔️ Follow post-specific syllabus from Day 1 — professional knowledge is the most scoring area
✔️ Clear basics for reasoning, English & QA / GA for Prelims
✔️ For Mains, focus on in-depth conceptual understanding of your field
✔️ Solve previous year papers & sectional mock tests weekly
✔️ Read banking & financial awareness daily — useful for interview as well
✔️ Maintain accuracy and speed to counter negative marking
✔️ Prepare HR/PI questions for personality test (career goals, technical/domain questions, banking awareness)

🔗 Official Resource

📌 IBPS Official Website — Notification, Syllabus PDF, Admit Card & Result
🔗 https://www.ibps.in/

(Go to → CRP Specialist Officers → Notifications — IBPS SO 2026 notification PDF will be available here once released)

IBPS SO 2021 Exam Notification Declared ...

IBPS SO Recruitment 2026 – Exam Pattern, Syllabus, Selection Process & Preparation Guide