IBPS RRB XV 2026 exam pattern and syllabus: Office Assistant and Officer Scale I

The IBPS RRB XV recruitment (CRP RRBs XV, notification dated 01.09.2026) fills 8,222 Office Assistant (Multipurpose) and 4,256 Officer Scale I posts in Regional Rural Banks, as per the indicative vacancies updated on 25.09.2026. Both posts have a Preliminary exam of 80 questions, 80 marks, 45 minutes, then a Main exam of 200 questions, 200 marks, 120 minutes. Every wrong answer costs one-fourth (0.25) of that question’s marks. Office Assistants are selected on Main exam marks alone; Officer Scale I candidates also face an interview of 100 marks, with exam and interview counted 80:20. The Preliminary exam is tentatively in November / December 2026. Everything below is taken from the IBPS notification, its corrigendum and the updated vacancy annexure.

What is the IBPS RRB XV exam pattern at a glance?

IBPS runs one Common Recruitment Process for the Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) of each state. For Office Assistants (Multipurpose) and Officer Scale I (Assistant Manager) the exam is two-tier: an online Preliminary exam and an online Main exam. Officer Scale II and Scale III candidates take a single online exam followed by an interview.

Stage	Office Assistant	Officer Scale I
Preliminary (online)	80 questions, 80 marks, 45 minutes	80 questions, 80 marks, 45 minutes
Main (online)	200 questions, 200 marks, 120 minutes	200 questions, 200 marks, 120 minutes
Interview	None	100 marks (Common Interview)
Final merit	Main exam marks only	Main exam and interview, 80:20

The Preliminary is only a screening round. Its marks are not added to the final merit for either post.

How are the IBPS RRB XV Preliminary exam marks split?

The Preliminary exam has two tests, each separately timed:

Test	Office Assistant	Officer Scale I	Questions / marks	Time
Test 1	Reasoning	Reasoning	40 / 40	25 minutes
Test 2	Numerical Ability	Quantitative Aptitude	40 / 40	20 minutes
Total			80 / 80	45 minutes

The notification says candidates of both posts have to qualify in both tests by scoring the minimum cut-off marks. Then an adequate number of candidates in each category, as per requirements, is shortlisted for the Main exam. So a very high Reasoning score cannot make up for a weak score in the second test. Plan your time to attempt both sections well.

What is in the IBPS RRB XV Main exam?

The Main exam has five tests, 200 questions, 200 marks and 120 minutes for both Office Assistant and Officer Scale I:

Test	Questions	Marks	Time
Reasoning	40	50	30 minutes
Computer Knowledge	40	20	15 minutes
General Awareness	40	40	15 minutes
English Language or Hindi Language	40	40	30 minutes
Numerical Ability (OA) / Quantitative Aptitude (Officer I)	40	50	30 minutes
Total	200	200	120 minutes

You pick either the English Language test or the Hindi Language test. Note how the marks are weighted: Reasoning and the maths test carry 50 marks each, while Computer Knowledge has 40 questions for only 20 marks. General Awareness gives 40 marks in just 15 minutes, so it is the fastest place to score.

Is there negative marking, and how are scores normalised?

Yes. In every objective test (Preliminary, Main and Single), one-fourth or 0.25 of the marks of a question is deducted for each wrong answer. If you leave a question blank, there is no penalty.

In a Main exam test where 40 questions carry 50 marks, each question is worth 1.25 marks, so a wrong answer costs about 0.31 marks. In a test where 40 questions carry 20 marks, the penalty is 0.125 marks.

If the exam is held in more than one session, IBPS normalises the corrected scores using the equi-percentile method, and scores are taken up to two decimal points. This is why your raw score and your final score can differ slightly.

What is the IBPS RRB XV syllabus?

The official notification lists only the names of the tests, the number of questions, the marks and the time. IBPS has not published a topic-wise syllabus for CRP RRBs XV. Any detailed “official syllabus” PDF circulating online is not from the notification.

What the notification does fix is the subject list:

• Preliminary: Reasoning; Numerical Ability (Office Assistant) or Quantitative Aptitude (Officer Scale I).
• Main: Reasoning; Computer Knowledge; General Awareness; English Language or Hindi Language; Numerical Ability or Quantitative Aptitude.

IBPS also says it reserves the right to modify the structure, including duration, and that more detail will come in the Information Handout released with the call letter. Read that handout carefully when it appears on ibps.in.

In which language can you write the exam?

For Office Assistant and Officer Scale I, the medium of the tests depends on the state you applied for. For example:

State	Medium of exam
Karnataka	English, Hindi, Kannada and Konkani
Uttar Pradesh	English, Hindi and Urdu
Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana	English and Hindi

The English Language and Hindi Language tests are always in their own language. If there is any difference between the English version and a translated version of a question, the English version prevails. You chose the medium in the online application, so check your call letter.

Who qualifies for the interview and how is the final merit made?

Office Assistant: You must score the minimum in each test of the Main exam. Then candidates are shortlisted for provisional allotment depending on the vacancies in each state. Only Main exam marks count for the final merit list.

Officer Scale I: You must score the minimum in each Main exam test. Then, depending on vacancies, up to three times the declared vacancies in each category in each state are called for interview. Your Main exam scores are not shared before the interview process ends.

The interview carries 100 marks. The minimum to qualify is 40%, or 35% for SC, ST, OBC and PwBD candidates. The final score combines the Main exam and the interview in the ratio 80:20. The notification also warns that just passing each test may not be enough; you need a high enough total to rank in merit.

Who is eligible: age, degree and local language?

Ages are counted as on 01.09.2026:

• Office Assistant: 18 to 28 years (born not earlier than 02.09.1998 and not later than 01.09.2008).
• Officer Scale I: above 18 and below 30 years (born not earlier than 02.09.1996 and not later than 01.09.2008).
• Upper age relaxation: SC/ST 5 years, OBC (non-creamy layer) 3 years, PwBD 10 years.

Both posts need a bachelor’s degree in any discipline. For Officer Scale I, preference is given to degrees in agriculture, horticulture, forestry, animal husbandry, veterinary science, agricultural engineering, pisciculture, IT, management, law, economics or accountancy.

Local language is essential. If you studied the state language in Class 8 or above (or hold a certificate for that level), you are treated as proficient. If not, you get six months from joining to acquire it. In Karnataka the language is Kannada (Karnataka Grameena Bank); in Uttar Pradesh it is Hindi, Urdu or Sanskrit (Uttar Pradesh Gramin Bank); in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana it is Hindi.

Corrected on 22 October 2026: an earlier version listed only Hindi for Uttar Pradesh; the IBPS notification lists Hindi, Urdu and Sanskrit.

How many vacancies are there in Karnataka and the Hindi states?

These are indicative vacancies from Annexure I updated as on 25.09.2026. IBPS says allotment will follow the actual vacancies reported by each RRB.

State (RRB)	Office Assistant	Officer Scale I
Karnataka (Karnataka Grameena Bank)	279	300
Uttar Pradesh (UP Gramin Bank)	1,200	425
Bihar (Bihar Gramin Bank)	500	394
Madhya Pradesh (MP Gramin Bank)	484	252
Rajasthan (Rajasthan Gramin Bank)	225	250
Haryana (Haryana Gramin Bank)	211	94

Across all states, the annexure adds up to 8,222 Office Assistant and 4,256 Officer Scale I vacancies. For registration news and the edit window, see our IBPS RRB XV notification guide and the edit window update.

What does the official notice not say?

• No detailed syllabus. Only test names, marks and time are given.
• No exact exam date. Only tentative months: Preliminary in November / December 2026, Main / Single between December 2026 and February 2027, interviews in January / February 2027.
• No salary figure. The notification does not state a pay scale for Office Assistant or Officer Scale I. We do not print a number that IBPS has not published.
• No previous-year cut-off. Cut-offs are decided by IBPS per state and category after the exam.
• No sectional cut-off number. The notice says a minimum is needed in each test but does not give the figure.

We checked this page against the official IBPS notification, corrigendum and Annexure I on 22 October 2026. If IBPS announces exam dates, we will update the dates and note the change here.