IBPS SO 2026 Exam - Notification, Exam Date, Online Form, Selection Process, Vacancies

IBPS SO 2026 tentative exam dates are released on the official website. The preliminary examination will be held on Aug 29, 2026 and the main examination on Nov 1, 2026. The posts filled through the IBPS SO recruitment are Agriculture Field Officer, Marketing Officer (Scale I), HR/Personnel Officer (Scale I), IT Officer (Scale I), Law Officer (Scale I), and Rajbhasha Adhikari (Scale I). 

IBPS (Institute of Banking Personnel Selection) organizes an entrance exam for the recruitment of qualified candidates to various posts of Specialist Officers in various Public Sector Banks. The examination of IBPS SO is conducted in three phases for all the eligible candidates: Preliminary exam, Mains, and Interview. The IBPS SO exam is conducted for a diverse range of positions like Agriculture Field Officer, Marketing Officer (Scale I), HR/Personnel Officer (Scale I), IT Officer (Scale I), Law Officer (Scale I), and Rajbhasha Adhikari (Scale I). All the candidates have to qualify for all three rounds of the IBPS SO selection process to be shortlisted for the posts. The parameters for the Selection process depend on several factors, among which the most important is the marks secured by the candidates in the stages mentioned. Check complete details about the IBPS SO 2026 exam on this page.

Some of the highlights of the IBPS SO Exam are:

The preliminary exam date is awaited. Check out more information about the tentative timeline regarding the different events for IBPS SO below:

The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) has announced a total of 1007 vacancies for the recruitment of Specialist Officer posts. You can learn about the vacancies below: 

IBPS SO Agriculture Field Officer (AFO) Vacancy 2026

IBPS SO HR/Personnel Officer (Scale I) Vacancy 2026

IBPS SO Law Officer Vacancy 2026

IBPS SO IT Officer (Scale I) Vacancy 2026

IBPS SO Marketing Officer (Scale I) Vacancy 2026

IBPS SO Rajbhasa Adhikari (Scale I) Vacancy 2026

To apply for the post of IBPS SO, candidates need to fulfill the IBPS SO Eligibility Criteria 2026 which are discussed below:

IBPS SO Nationality

The candidate who is going to apply for IBPS SO 2026 exam should have citizenship of India issued by the government of India. The following candidates can also apply for the IBPS SO 2026 exam:

• a subject of Nepal or
• a subject of Bhutan or
• a Tibetan Refugee, who came to India before 1st January 1962 with the intention of permanently settling in India or
• Persons migrated from India from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania (formerly Tanganyika and Zanzibar), Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia and Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India, along with the certificate of eligibility issued by the Government of India.

IBPS SO Educational Qualification

The education qualification for IBPS SO for various posts is as follows:

• I.T. Officer (Scale-I): 4 year Engineering/Technology Degree or PG in CS/CA/IT/EE/EC/Electronics & Instrumentation/ Electronics & Telecommunications OR Graduate having passed DOEACC ‘B’ level

• Agricultural Field Officer (Scale-I): 4 year Degree (graduation) in Agriculture/ Agricultural Biotechnology/ Horticulture/ Forestry/ Food Science/ Animal Husbandry/Veterinary Science/ Dairy Science/ Fishery Science/ Pisciculture/ Agri. Marketing & Co./ Co-operation & Banking/ Agro-Forestry/ Agriculture Business Management/ Food Tech./ Dairy Tech./ Agricultural Engineering/ Sericulture

• Rajbhasha Adhikari (Scale-I): PG Degree in Hindi with English as a core subject OR PG Degree in Sanskrit with English & Hindi as core subjects.

• Law Officer (Scale-I): Bachelor’s Degree in Law (LLB) and enrolled as an advocate with Bar Council.

• HR/Personnel Officer (Scale-I): Graduate and 2 Years Full-time PG degree or 2 Years Full-time PG Diploma in Personnel Management /Industrial Relations/HR/HRD/Social Work /Labour Law.

• Marketing Officer (Scale-I): Graduate and 2 Years Full-time MMS (Marketing)/ 2 Years Full-time MBA (Marketing)/ 2 Years Full-time PGDBA / PGDBM/ PGPM/ PGDM with specialization in Marketing.

IBPS SO Age Limit

• The age of the applicant must range from anywhere between 20 to 30 years
• Age relaxation will be applicable as per category 

How to Fill IBPS SO Application Form?

The steps to fill out the IBPS SO Application Form 2026 are mentioned in the following steps:

Step 1: Candidates will find the form on the official website - www.ibps.in.

Step 2: Applicants have to log in using a Unique Registration ID, and a password will be generated.

Step 3: The candidates will then be required to upload digitally scanned versions of their photographs, signature, left-hand thumb impression, and a handwritten declaration.

Step 4: Download and take a printout of the application form and the payment receipt for future use.

IBPS SO 2026 Application Fee

The exam fee for the post of IBPS Specialist Officer is mentioned below. The application fee has to be paid online.

It is mandatory to carry the printout of the admit card, as entry without this document is strictly prohibited. You can download the admit card by visiting the official website. 

Steps to Download IBPS SO Interview Call Letter

The steps to download the IBPS SO Admit Card are:

• Go to the official website of IBPS.
• Candidates need to log in using their Registration Number and Password.
• Candidates will see a link on their profile, i.e., "Click here to Download Interview Call Letter for CRP SPL-XII” and click on the link.''
• The admit card of IBPS SO Interview Call letter will appear on the screen.
• Go through all the details and take a printout of the Call letter of IBPS SO Interview Call letter.

Wondering where's the IBPS SO exam centre in your State? Well, check out the table given below to know the names of the cities in which the exam centres of IBPS SO 2026 are present:

IBPS SO Prelims 2026 Exam Pattern:

Given below is the IBPS SO Exam Pattern for various departments separately so that it could help the candidates boost up their preparation.

IBPS SO Law Officer and Rajbhasha Adhikari Exam Pattern

Here comes the IBPS SO Exam Pattern for Law Officer and Rajbhasha Adhikari.

IBPS SO IT Officer, Agriculture Field Officer, HR/Personnel Officer, and Marketing Officer Exam Pattern

IBPS SO Mains 2026 Exam Pattern:

The main exam pattern for the IBPS SO is different for every post as mentioned below. 

For the Post of Law Officer, IT Officer, Agriculture Field Officer, HR/Personnel Officer and Marketing Officer:

For the Post of Rajbhasha Adhikari:

The IBPS SO Syllabus 2026 will cover topics from General English, Reasoning Ability, General Awareness, and Quantitative Aptitude. The details of the syllabus are mentioned below:

IBPS will release the cut-off for 2026 prelims very soon. Till then, you can check out last year's IBPS SO Cut Off below:

Candidates taking the IBPS SO test can access sample questions from previous years here. Candidates can obtain free sample question papers from the last few years from our website. Candidates might better prepare for the upcoming Prelims and Mains exams by working through question papers from prior years. Candidates can learn about the types of questions that will be asked on their papers.

Candidates can gain a sense of the evolving trends in the syllabus through previous year examinations. Exam question kinds and difficulty levels can be determined by solving past problems by candidates. Additionally, when individuals practise more, they become faster and more accurate at responding to questions. Check out IBPS SO Previous Year Question Paper to know about this topic.

IBPS SO 2026 selection process includes the following stages. The Preliminary exam will be conducted by IBPS, which will be followed by the Mains Exam.

1. Preliminary exam
2. Mains exam
3. Interview

The IBPS SO Prelims exam is qualifying in nature. The marks obtained in the mains exam and interview are added for the final selection. It is very important to perform well in the main exam as well as in an interview to get the final selection.