APPSC Group 1 Syllabus, Exam Pattern, Eligibility

Set by G.O. Ms. No.158, G.A. (Ser-A), 26 December 2018, read with G.O.Ms.No.100, G.A. (Ser-A), 30 September 2022.

Screening Test (shortlisting only)

• Objective, offline, OMR.
• Negative marking: one third of a question's marks per wrong answer (G.O. Ms. No. 235, Finance, 6 December 2016).
• Set in English and translated into Telugu; English is authoritative.
• Sit both papers or you're disqualified. The marks don't count for merit.
• No shortlist ratio is published. Under G.O.Ms.No.5 of 5 January 2018 the Commission sets the qualifying mark, and may relax it for SC, ST, BC and physically challenged candidates.

Main Examination and interview

All descriptive; Papers I to V at degree standard. The interview is a little over nine per cent of the total, and candidates are called at 1:2 (G.O.Ms.No.100 of 2022, following General Rule 22 of the A.P. State and Subordinate Service Rules 1996).

The medium rule

Papers I to V can be written in English, Telugu or Urdu, chosen online before the Mains along with post and zone preferences. All five must be in that one medium. Switching between papers, or within one, invalidates your candidature.

Answer key and OMR sheet

• Objections to the initial key within three days, ₹100 each, refunded if upheld. Three subject experts decide; their key is final.
• Deleted questions: that part of the paper is scaled up proportionately, rounded to two decimals.
• Blue or black ball point pen only. Wrong booklet series, whitener, eraser, folding, tearing or rough work invalidates the sheet. Take the original OMR sheet home and you're rejected.
• Phones (even switched off), smart watches, Bluetooth devices and programmable calculators are banned. At the Mains there's biometric entry, no late entry, and leaving before time disqualifies you.

Use the syllabus enclosed with Notification 12/2023, not the older Group-I items still on APPSC's general syllabus page (a 2011 scheme and a 27/2018 pattern note).

Screening Test

Mains language papers, marked by question type

The Telugu paper has thirteen question types, including expanding a verse, debate, dialogue, application writing, translation and 20 marks of grammar.

Papers I to V

• Paper I: three essays of about 800 words, one from each section: current affairs; socio-political, economic and environmental issues; culture, history, civic awareness and reflective topics. Credit for format, grammar and originality.
• Paper II: Indian history and culture; Andhra history and culture from the Satavahanas and Ikshvakus to the Andhra Movement and Potti Sreeramulu (naming Kandukuri Veeresalingam, Gurajada Apparao, Alluri Sitaramaraju, Gurram Jashuva); geography of India and AP.
• Paper III: polity and administration, Ethics in Public Service, and basic law: civil, criminal, labour, cyber law and the IT Act, tax law and GST.
• Paper IV: each national economic topic paired with its AP counterpart.
• Paper V: science policy, ISRO, DRDO, energy and nuclear policy, pollution, waste management, the Montreal and Kyoto protocols, biotechnology, and diseases from cholera and TB to HIV, chikungunya and bird flu.

You must be in sound health, of good character, hold the qualification, and be an Indian citizen (a non-citizen only with State sanction, if qualified citizens aren't available).

Qualification, held on 8 December 2023

A degree from a recognised university for every post. Exceptions: Fire Officer (05) needs B.E. (Fire), but any degree is considered if no B.E. (Fire) candidates are available; District Social Welfare Officer (08) prefers a degree in Sociology or Social Work. Equivalence claims need the G.O. sent to the Commission within 10 days of the last date. Distance degrees must be recognised by the Distance Education Council.

Age, on 1 July 2023

Physical standards, uniformed posts

Posts 03 and 05 also have three graded vision standards. Colour blindness is noted but isn't a bar; a squint or recurring eye condition is.

Reservation

Vertical for ST, SC, BC and EWS; horizontal for disability, women and sportspersons, under Rules 22, 22(A) and 22(B) as amended by G.O.Ms.No.77 of 2 August 2023.

• Women: 33 and one third per cent, except posts 04 and 05.
• Disability: not for posts 03, 04, 05 and 11; HH and OH only for 02; HH only for 06; OH only for 12.
• Sports: 2 per cent, lapses if unfilled.
• Ex-servicemen reservation doesn't apply to Group-I (Rule 22(2)(c)), though the age relaxation does.
• BC-E is subject to Civil Appeal Nos. 2628-2637 of 2010. Candidates from other states get no reservation. EWS needs family income below ₹8 lakh and a Tahsildar's certificate. No BC non-creamy-layer certificate on the day means open category.
• Reserved candidates using age relaxation are still considered for open posts.

Local status: only post 14

Posts 01 to 13 are state-level (GSR 526-E of G.O. Ms. No. 675 of 1975). Only Assistant Audit Officer is zonal: 60 per cent local, with the list split 30 per cent open merit and 70 per cent locals. Local status follows G.O.Ms.No.674 of 20 October 1975: four consecutive years of study in the area up to the qualifying exam, or four years' residence if you didn't study, with a seven year fallback. If you studied up to SSC, a residence certificate won't do.

Selection is on the Mains written papers and the interview together. The Screening Test only shortlists; Telugu and English only qualify.

Minimum marks

The aggregate minimum comes from G.O.Ms.No.103 of 3 February 1967. Under G.O.Ms.No.631 of 5 September 1977, SC and ST candidates who fall short are still selected on rank. Reaching the minimum guarantees nothing.

Ties

Equal Mains totals are bracketed, then ranked by age (oldest first), then by who got the qualification earlier. A prescribed preferential qualification beats age.

Preferences and after

Post and zone preferences are taken online before the Mains and again at certificate verification; the second set is final. They're indicative, though: the Commission can assign you any post you're eligible for.

No waiting list (G.O. Ms. No. 81 of 22 February 1997, Rule 6 of the APPSC Rules of Procedure), and later vacancies are ignored. Appointment depends on medical fitness and a character check, and a selection based on false information can be cancelled at any stage.

False information can bring a ban of up to five years; impersonation, a permanent ban from every Service Commission in the country; canvassing, disqualification.

The top-scale posts had 53 of the 81 vacancies in 2023.

Horizontally, about 24 were for women, three for PBD and two for sportspersons; posts 04, 05, 08, 10, 11 and 14 had none. Deputy Registrar is allotted zone-wise across Zones I to IV; RTO, District BC and Social Welfare Officers and Municipal Commissioner by Multi-Zone I.

Apply online on the APPSC website, after One Time Profile Registration (OTPR). OTPR alone isn't an application.

1. Register on OTPR; your user ID goes to your mobile and e-mail.
2. Log in, open Online Application Submission, and click Fill Application against the notification.
3. Fill in local status and white card details (they set your fee), then Save and Submit. Save alone doesn't submit.
4. Pay online; the form is submitted only when payment succeeds.
5. Corrections open after the last date, for seven days.

Your OTPR data as of submission is what counts; later OTPR edits are ignored.

Other-state candidates pay both, except PBD and ex-servicemen. Net banking or card only; no IPOs or DDs; no refunds. Name, fee and age-relaxation fields can't be corrected.

Certificate formats are on the website. Anyone who moved from Telangana to AP between 2 June 2014 and 1 June 2024 needs a Local Status Certificate.

Governing law: the A.P. State and Subordinate Service Rules, 1996; the Presidential Order of 1975 (local cadres); the RPwD Act 2016 and Rules 2017; and Act 25 of 1997 on malpractice (A.P. Gazette No. 35, 21 August 1997).

APPSC also runs Group-II, III and IV, departmental recruitments, Half Yearly Departmental Tests and the RIMC entrance. Check the notification number before relying on a rule.

Three preferences for the Screening Test, one for the Mains, both in the application. The Commission can still move you. Bring only the admit card, photo ID and pen.

Totally blind candidates get a scribe and 20 minutes extra per hour. Candidates with locomotor disability or cerebral palsy affecting the writing hand (at least 40 per cent) get the extra time but no scribe. Upload the disability certificate; candidate and scribe both sign an undertaking.

More than a year between Screening and Mains, and just over two years end to end. Earlier notifications were 28/2022 (30 September 2022) and 27/2018. There's no fixed calendar; new notifications appear on APPSC's Recruitment Notifications page.

Hall tickets for both stages are downloaded from the APPSC website. Nothing is sent individually, so check the site through the whole process; medium and preference forms come the same way.

Report any error on the hall ticket to the Chief Superintendent at the centre. If the photo is missing or too small, paste one attested by a Gazetted Officer and hand another in for each paper. Keep your appearance unchanged until the process ends. Government employees must tell their head of office in writing that they've applied.

Results and the selection list appear on the APPSC website. Successful candidates' totals are published after the final list.

The Mains may be evaluated digitally or conventionally. The 2023 selection is provisional and subject to Civil Appeal Nos. 2628-2637 of 2010 (BC-E) and Writ Petition Nos. 10011 of 2025, 32315 of 2025 and 106 of 2026 in the AP High Court.

APPSC doesn't publish cut-off marks in advance, and gives no Screening Test shortlist ratio (no 1:50 or any other figure); the notification says only that the Commission fixes them. Interview calls are at 1:2. The fixed bars are the 40, 35 and 30 per cent minimums under Selection Process.

Results and selection lists appear on the APPSC website. A cut-off from one cycle is a poor guide to the next: vacancies and post mix change each time.

1. Be selective in the Screening Test. A third off per wrong answer, and the marks don't count beyond the cut.
2. Bank Paper II Part A. 60 marks of mostly school-level aptitude, plus emotional and social intelligence that most people skip.
3. Fix your Mains medium early and stick to it across all five papers.
4. Practise the language paper formats. Precis, reports, press releases, speeches, data writing, translation. Learn the Administrative Glossary.
5. Study Andhra Pradesh as a subject. It's in every paper, and the 2014 bifurcation shows up in three.
6. Write three 800-word essays in 180 minutes until you can.
7. Check the post table. Age limits, women's and disability reservation and local status all differ by post.
8. Plan for a long cycle. Fourteen months between stages last time; refresh current affairs before the Mains.

APPSC posts past papers on a Question Papers of Various Notifications page on its website, and publishes the initial and final Screening Test keys after each exam. Check the notification number on any paper: 12/2023, 28/2022 and 27/2018 are different cycles.

For the current scheme, use the syllabus in Notification 12/2023.

• Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission: OTPR, applications, hall tickets, keys, results, selections, question papers
• Recruitment Notifications
• Notification 12/2023 with syllabus (8 December 2023)
• Detailed breakup for Notification 12/2023 (27 December 2023): pay, age, fee, reservation, physical standards, selection rules
• Selection Notification (30 January 2026)

Is there negative marking?

Yes, one third of a mark per wrong answer in the Screening Test.

Do Screening Test marks count?

No. Selection is on the Mains and interview.

What is the total?

825: 750 from five papers of 150, and a 75-mark interview.

Can I write in Telugu?

Yes, or English or Urdu, but all five papers in the same medium.

What is the age limit?

42 for most posts, 30 for DSP and Jails, 28 for Fire and Excise, on 1 July.

Do I need to be a local candidate?

Only for Assistant Audit Officer.

Is there ex-servicemen reservation?

No, only age relaxation.

What is the fee?

₹250, plus ₹120 unless you're exempt.

Is there a waiting list?

No.

When is the next notification?

Not announced yet. The last was 12/2023.