BPSC CDPO Syllabus, Exam Pattern, Eligibility

Preliminary (Part 1)

Ten times the total notified vacancies go through to the Mains, plus everyone tied at the category cut-off. The paper may run in more than one shift or set.

The five-option sheet

So: correct, full marks; wrong, minus a third; E, nothing; blank, minus a third. Leave the last twenty untouched and you lose six and two thirds marks for nothing.

Mains

The optional is chosen from Home Science (39), Psychology (40), Sociology (41) and Labour and Social Welfare (42). Mains qualifying marks are the same four percentages as the Preliminary.

If you apply for both, you sit both optionals: the CCE one as a hurdle, the CDPO one for a third of your rank.

Papers are set in Hindi and English. Answer every paper in one of Hindi (Devanagari), English or Urdu script, with English renderings of technical terms allowed.

Personality Test (Part 3)

120 marks. Called at two and a half times the vacancies, plus ties. Attendance is compulsory; miss it and you're off the merit list.

Preliminary

• General science
• Current events of national and international importance
• History of India, and the main features of the history of Bihar
• General geography, the geographical divisions of Bihar and its important rivers
• Polity and economy of India, and changes in Bihar's economy after independence
• India's national movement and Bihar's contribution to it
• General mental ability

Four of the seven heads name Bihar.

Mains optionals

Two thirds of the written merit is General Studies; one third is the optional, a three-hour subjective paper. All four options fit the post, which runs the Integrated Child Development Services at block level:

• Home Science: nutrition, child development, family resource management
• Psychology: developmental and child psychology
• Sociology: family, community, social structure
• Labour and Social Welfare: welfare administration, social legislation

Any graduate can apply, but you'll be writing 300 subjective marks in one of these.

The advertisement gives no topic-by-topic syllabus; the Commission's Syllabus page is separate. Material claiming an official detailed syllabus is elaborating.

Qualification

A graduate degree in any subject from a recognised university, with one Mains optional chosen from Home Science, Psychology, Sociology and Labour and Social Welfare. You must select the CDPO post when applying online, or your claim to it won't be accepted.

Age

Minimum 21. Maximum, on 1 August 2026 for the 72nd cycle:

Date of birth is taken from your matriculation certificate.

• Persons with disability: 10 more years.
• Ex-servicemen: 3 years plus defence service, if actual age is no more than 57 on the application date.
• Full-time NCC cadets and instructors enrolled after 1 January 1963 deduct that service from their age, up to three years over.
• Bihar Government employees: 5 years, while their attempts last.

Attempts are unlimited, except for Bihar Government servants, who get five in total across their service, counted from 12 December 2022.

Reservation

Only original residents of Bihar get reservation, judged by the permanent address in your application. A permanent residence certificate is compulsory. If you don't claim reservation in its column, you can't claim it later.

• A married woman's caste or non-creamy-layer certificate must be in her father's name and address.
• For EWS (10 per cent), a married woman takes the income and asset certificate from her husband's residence plus a residence certificate on her father's. It's valid one year.
• A freedom fighter heir's identity card isn't accepted; use the prescribed proforma.

Certificates

Upload all certificates with the application, number and date filled in, and bring the same originals to the interview. Every certificate must be dated on or before the Preliminary application's last date; later ones aren't valid. A disability certificate from a Civil Surgeon or CMO is provisional until a government medical college confirms it.

Scribes: for benchmark disability of 40 per cent or more under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, and for those under 40 per cent who can't write. Mark Yes in the scribe column.

You must be healthy and free of defects that would hinder the work. Anyone debarred for malpractice by UPSC or another commission can't sit.

1. Preliminary, 150 marks, screening only.
2. Mains: General Hindi (qualifying) plus three counted papers of 300 each, to 900.
3. Personality Test, 120.
4. Medical by a Commission board, with ₹16 in cash. Its decision on any claimed disability is final.

Merit is drawn post-wise on 1,020 marks and published category-wise. Ties go to higher Mains marks, then the older candidate, then Devanagari alphabetical order. There's no optional-marks step as in the CCE, because the optional already counts.

Service and post preferences go in the Mains application; you won't be considered for a post you didn't list. The Commission may recommend you for any post you expressed a wish for and are suitable for.

You're answerable for anything wrong, misleading or missing in your form. A cancelled candidate doesn't get their marks.

Level-9 of the pay matrix, Social Welfare Department. The advertisement gives no rupee figure.

That's the same level as the Bihar Administrative Service entry post. Most of the 1,077 Table I posts are Level-7, including 365 Revenue Officer posts. So CDPO can mean a higher level, against 20 posts rather than 1,077.

Fee: ₹100 per examination, charged separately for the 72nd CCE, CDPO, Financial Administrative Officer and Sub-Divisional Welfare Officer. Without an Aadhaar number, add ₹200 per examination as a biometric fee. All four cost ₹400, or ₹1,200 without Aadhaar.

After the Preliminary result you fill a separate Mains application with its own fee, choose your optional and record your post preferences. The 71st cycle's Mains advertisement came out on 1 December 2025.

If a payment fails, use the Commission's refund and chargeback dispute process rather than paying again.

CDPO is the only one of the three open to any graduate.

Centres across Bihar, allotted by the Commission and printed on the admit card. The Preliminary may run in more than one shift or set, so a circulating answer key may not match your set.

The 72nd Preliminary, set for Sunday 26 July 2026, was postponed on 20 July 2026, six days before. The new date will be posted on bpsc.bihar.gov.in.

The important notice had named July as the probable month. Watch the notices list on bpsc.bihar.gov.in.

Admit cards are issued through the notices on bpsc.bihar.gov.in ahead of each stage. Bring the admit card and the ID the Commission specifies. Scribe needs must have been declared in the application; they can't be arranged on the day.

Results go up stage by stage on bpsc.bihar.gov.in under Results, with Corrigendum to Results, Final Results and a District Allocation List. The CDPO merit list is separate from the CCE services, drawn post-wise on 1,020 marks and published category-wise.

The fixed bars are the qualifying percentages (40, 36.5, 34 and 32 per cent) at both Preliminary and Mains. The actual Preliminary cut-off isn't published in advance; it falls where the ten times shortlist closes.

That cut-off is common to the whole integrated exam: about 11,860 places for 1,186 vacancies. CDPO candidates separate only at the Mains, where about 50 are called to interview for 20 posts. This is the first cycle with the five-option sheet, so older Preliminary cut-offs may not carry over.

Cut-offs appear with each stage's result on bpsc.bihar.gov.in under Results.

• Select CDPO and pay for it at the Preliminary application.
• Mark every question. Use E for anything you skip and leave time to sweep the sheet; fifteen blanks on the 150-mark paper cost five marks.
• Put your weight on the Mains. GS I, GS II and the optional are 300 each; the Preliminary and General Hindi count for nothing in merit.
• Pick the optional you studied at degree level, and practise writing three-hour answers, not recognising options. If you're also sitting the CCE, don't carry its objective-optional habits across.
• Cover the Bihar heads of the Preliminary; national material won't.
• Settle your answer language before the Mains.
• Get every certificate dated before the application deadline.
• Use past papers. BPSC posts Integrated Combined Preliminary General Studies question booklets on its Question Booklets page.

BPSC publishes question booklets for the Integrated Combined (Preliminary) General Studies paper, which is the same Preliminary CDPO candidates sit, on its Question Booklets page. It doesn't publish separate CDPO Mains papers in the advertisement.

Papers older than May 2026 use four options, not the new five-option sheet. New notices and results appear on bpsc.bihar.gov.in.

• Bihar Public Service Commission
• Advertisement, Integrated 72nd Combined (Preliminary), 5 May 2026: Table II, eligibility, scheme, merit rules
• Important notice, 5 May 2026: application dates and vacancy total
• Notice on answer option E, 2 May 2026
• Integrated 71st Combined Main advertisement, 1 December 2025
• Question Booklets page and Syllabus

The Commission's other exams (33rd Bihar Judicial Services, Prosecution Officer, School Teacher under TRE 4.0 and others) have their own advertisements and rules.

Is there a separate CDPO examination?

A separate Mains and merit list, but a shared Preliminary with the CCE.

Do I have to apply for it specifically?

Yes. Select CDPO and pay its fee when applying for the Preliminary.

How many vacancies are there?

20 in the 72nd cycle.

What is the pay?

Level-9, the same as the Bihar Administrative Service entry post.

What is the age limit?

21 to 37 for unreserved men, 40 for unreserved women and BC/EBC, 42 for SC/ST, on 1 August 2026.

What happens if I leave a question blank?

You lose a third of a mark. Mark E to skip at no cost.

Is there an Essay paper?

No. That's in the CCE Mains.

Does the optional subject count?

Yes, 300 marks, a third of the written merit.

Can I get reservation if I am not from Bihar?

No.

When is the 72nd Preliminary?

It was postponed from 26 July 2026; a new date is awaited on the Commission's site.