ESIC Nursing Officer Syllabus, Exam Pattern, Eligibility

Two computer based stages. In both, the sections appear one at a time and close for good when their time runs out.

Once a section closes, the notice says it "will never come back again for any action". Unused time doesn't carry forward, and the paper submits itself when the clock runs out. That works out to 54 seconds a question in the Preliminary and 67 in the Main.

With four options and a third of a mark off for a wrong answer, a blind guess averages exactly zero. A question marked for review counts as unanswered unless it is also saved.

A candidate entitled to a scribe gets at least 20 minutes of compensatory time per hour. Your own scribe must be qualified one step below GNM or B.Sc Nursing, and in any case only to matriculation; AIIMS can refuse an own scribe. The scribe may read and click, but explaining a question can end the candidature.

AIIMS gives no topic list. The notice says only that questions come from "the syllabus of Nursing courses being taught at the essential qualification level": the undergraduate nursing curriculum behind a B.Sc Nursing, Post Basic B.Sc Nursing or GNM diploma, as standardised by the Indian Nursing Council (constituted under the Indian Nursing Council Act, 1947).

The four INC programmes the eligibility rule points at are the four-year B.Sc (Basic), the B.Sc (Hons), the two-year B.Sc (Post Basic) and the three-year GNM diploma.

General knowledge and aptitude carries twenty of the 100 Preliminary marks and none in the Main. The Main is all nursing, set as clinical situations.

Every condition is judged on the closing date of online registration. AIIMS doesn't check eligibility before the exam, so nothing is verified until ESIC calls you for documents months later.

Experience counts only after the course, the result and registration with the State or Indian Nursing Council. A year worked before registration doesn't count.

Age

Not over 30 on the last date of application.

A reserved-category candidate applying against unreserved seats gets neither the age relaxation nor the lower cut-off. One who is eligible only through relaxation is considered for reserved seats alone.

Benchmark disability

The post is identified for OA, OL, CP, AAV, Dw, LC, SLD and MD at 40 per cent or more. Of the 523 NORCET-11 posts, twenty are for these candidates (ten in category C, ten across D and E), counted inside the total. Anyone allotted a seat on this quota is examined by an ESIC Medical Board. The job calls for sitting, standing, walking, bending, finger manipulation, reading, writing, seeing, hearing and communication.

Certificates

The windows are exact. For NORCET-10 an OBC non-creamy-layer certificate had to be valid for 2025-26 and issued between 1 April 2025 and the closing date of 16 March 2026 (or the old one uploaded with its renewal acknowledgement). An EWS certificate had to rest on 2024-25 income and be issued in the same window. Anything outside is invalid. Category can't be changed after the fee is paid.

Recruitment Regulations

The regulations let the UPSC relax qualifications for otherwise well qualified candidates, and relax the experience rule for SC and ST candidates where enough experienced candidates are unlikely. They also require UPSC consultation, which is why older ESIC advertisements for this post mention UPSC rather than AIIMS.

Anyone in government, a PSU, an autonomous body or a government-funded institution, contractual staff included, must upload a No Objection Certificate by its own deadline or will not be allowed to sit the exam.

No interview. Two computer based stages run by AIIMS, then allocation and verification run by ESIC.

1. Apply to AIIMS at aiimsexams.ac.in. If you've ever registered under One Time Registration for an AIIMS exam, use that same ID; a fresh one can cancel your candidature.
2. Stage I, NORCET Preliminary. Ninety minutes, 100 questions, qualifying only.
3. Shortlist. Five times the seats in each category are called to Stage II, plus every qualified PwBD candidate and anyone tied with the last name. In the NORCET-11 notice's words, "merely securing the qualifying percentile in Stage-I does not automatically entitle a candidate to be called for Stage-II".
4. Preliminary scrutiny of what candidates declared, before the Main result.
5. Stage II, NORCET Main. Three hours, 160 questions. This alone builds the merit list.
6. Choices of organisation, in order of preference.
7. Seat allocation, normally in one round, with no waiting list.
8. Document verification at an ESIC Regional Office.
9. Appointment, subject to character and antecedent checks, biometric identity verification and probation.

Under NORCET-09, AIIMS declared the result for ESIC's Gujarat Region on 17 November 2025 (Result Notification No. 251/2025). ESIC's notice of 12 February 2026 then called the provisionally selected candidates, by name and roll number, to the ESIC Regional Office, Panchdeep Bhavan, Ashram Road, Ahmedabad at 9:30 AM. Each region calls its own candidates.

How a selected candidate still loses the post

• Not joining an allotted seat. Failure to join for any reason cancels your candidature for that NORCET. Fill only choices you'd actually take.
• Failing biometric verification against the exam-day capture, or skipping it. This cancels the appointment and can lead to debarment.
• Being found unfit during probation.

Passing confers no right to appointment unless ESIC is satisfied, after enquiry, that you are suitable in all respects.

Allowances are those of Central Government servants of similar status in the city where you're posted. ESIC, not AIIMS, decides the posting. Probation is two years.

For comparison, Level 7 is where an AIIMS laboratory Technical Officer gets to only after a B.Sc and ten years of experience. A Nursing Officer starts there.

The next rung is Senior Nursing Officer (formerly Nursing Sister), Level 8, ₹47,600 to ₹1,51,100, sanctioned strength 1,272. It is filled entirely by promotion after two years of regular service at Level 7, failing which by deputation. Promotion also needs training at an ESIC Training Institute, unless you retire within two years.

Apply to AIIMS, not ESIC, online at aiimsexams.ac.in. Nothing goes by post; paper documents are treated as void and destroyed. If you have an AIIMS One Time Registration from any earlier exam, use it. A second ID can cancel your candidature.

Pay by debit card, credit card or net banking. The fee isn't refunded, except to SC and ST candidates who sit the exam, after the result and a certificate check.

• Category can't be changed once you've paid, including a move from SC or ST to UR, OBC or EWS.
• Photo, signature and thumb impression must follow the Upload Image Instructions or the form is rejected.
• No corrections by email or letter. There's one correction window, only for applications shown as deficient.
• Scribe or compensatory time certificates must be uploaded at registration, or no facility is given on the day.
• The No Objection Certificate has its own deadline, a few days after registration closes.

At ESIC verification, bring the registration slip, admit card, date of birth proof, category or EWS certificate, any disability or relaxation certificate, NOC if employed, qualification, Nursing Council registration and experience certificate. The experience certificate must come from the head of the organisation, give exact dates, pay and duties, and state the number of beds. ESIC may cross-check it against bank, PF or ESIC records.

NORCET-11 is conducted for AIIMS New Delhi and the other AIIMS, JIPMER, ESIC, the Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi, the National Institute of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases and other central government hospitals in Delhi. You apply once and pick organisations at the choice stage. Each body sets its own age limit and experience rule, so ESIC's eligibility isn't JIPMER's.

Inside ESIC, results, verification and posting all run by region. ESIC's NORCET-11 vacancy table, headed "80:20 Bifurcation":

NORCET-10 had 219 posts, 176 female and 43 male. The notice warns the number may go up or down. An unfilled PwBD vacancy is carried forward to the next recruitment year.

Centres are in cities across India. Your city is announced about a week before the admit card.

The notice says "Any request for change of allocated examination centre will be summarily rejected without any notice."

Two stages mean two trips: in NORCET-11, 12 September and 30 September 2026; in NORCET-10, 11 April and 30 April 2026. The exam centre has no bearing on posting, which ESIC decides from your choices.

NORCET runs twice a year. Current cycle: NORCET-11, Notice No. 103/2026 dated 24 July 2026.

The stages are eighteen days apart, as in NORCET-10 (11 to 30 April 2026).

After the exam it's slow. NORCET-09 was advertised on 22 July 2025, the ESIC Gujarat result came on 17 November 2025, and verification at Ahmedabad was on 19 February 2026: about seven months end to end.

Download it from your login at aiimsexams.ac.in, about three days before the Preliminary. For NORCET-11 the city was announced on 3 September 2026 and the admit card uploaded on 9 September.

Hand the printed admit card to the invigilator after the exam; if you don't, your performance isn't considered. Keep a copy, since ESIC asks for it at verification.

Appearing doesn't make you eligible. Ineligibility found at any stage, even after joining, cancels the candidature from the start.

Phones (even switched off), pagers, smart watches, cameras, Bluetooth devices, pen drives and any electronic device are misconduct and can lead to debarment.

AIIMS publishes results on aiimsexams.ac.in, and for ESIC they come out region by region. Under NORCET-09, the Gujarat Region result was Result Notification No. 251/2025 of 17 November 2025. ESIC then posts its own verification notice with venue, time and the selected candidates by roll number, on esic.gov.in/recruitments.

Only the Main counts. The figure used for allocation is your NORCET Score. Where a stage runs in several shifts, marks are normalised to percentiles to seven decimal places under AIIMS Notice No. 35/2023.

Selection stays provisional through verification, biometric checks after joining, and probation.

AIIMS doesn't publish closing marks. The notice fixes two qualifying lines instead, and they work differently.

A percentile depends on who sat the paper, so the Preliminary line can't be known in advance. No further relaxation is given to anyone. Qualifying the Preliminary doesn't guarantee a Main call, since only five times the seats are called.

Tie-breaks in NORCET-11

1. Fewer wrong answers in the Main
2. Higher marks in the Preliminary
3. Fewer wrong answers in the Preliminary
4. Older candidate first
5. Alphabetical order of name, then father's and mother's names

This order is new. NORCET-10 used date of birth first and wrong answers second, nothing else. Check the clause in the notice for your own cycle.

Prepare for the Main from day one

The Preliminary only decides who sits the Main, and the two are eighteen days apart. The Main has 60 per cent more questions, twice the time, and is entirely nursing. Don't leave it until after the Preliminary.

Practise case scenarios

The Main is "focused towards case scenario based questions for testing nursing skills competency". Recall practice gets you through the Preliminary; clinical-situation questions are what the merit list is built on.

Practise in timed blocks

Sections close for good: 20 questions in 18 minutes in the Preliminary, 40 in 45 in the Main. You can't come back to a hard question later, so practise in blocks of the right size with a hard stop. Save answers; marked-for-review alone counts as blank.

Guess only after eliminating

A blind guess averages zero. With one option ruled out it's worth a ninth of a mark, with two a third. But wrong answers are now the first tie-break, and the Preliminary score and its errors are the next two. So take narrowed-down guesses, skip pure guesses, and sit the Preliminary properly.

Sort your paperwork before paying

Check the OBC and EWS certificate windows in your cycle's notice; category is locked once you pay. Diploma holders: count your year of experience from your Nursing Council registration, and make sure the certificate states the bed count.

No previous year papers or model papers are available for this exam as of now. Neither AIIMS nor ESIC releases NORCET question papers.

The full scheme, qualifying lines and tie-break rules are in each cycle's notice on AIIMS notices, published twice a year, around February and July.

• AIIMS Examination Section: NORCET applications, admit cards and results
• NORCET-11 notice for ESIC, No. 103/2026
• ESIC recruitments: NORCET notices and Regional Office verification schedules
• ESIC Nursing Officer Recruitment Regulations, 2020
• AIIMS Notice No. 35/2023, normalization procedure
• Indian Nursing Council, recognised nursing programmes
• AIIMS notices

Does ESIC hold its own nursing exam?

No. ESIC recruits Nursing Officers through AIIMS NORCET. AIIMS handles the application, papers, admit card and result; ESIC takes over at verification and appointment.

How many posts are there, and how many are for men?

523 in NORCET-11: 418 for women, 105 for men, an 80:20 split in every category. NORCET-10 had 219.

Can I apply with a GNM diploma?

Yes, with State Nursing Council registration and one year in a hospital of at least fifty beds, counted from after registration. A B.Sc, B.Sc (Hons) or Post Basic B.Sc Nursing needs no experience.

What is the age limit?

30, with relaxations for reserved categories, PwBD, ex-servicemen and government employees (see the eligibility table).

Does the Preliminary count towards my rank?

No. It only decides who sits the Main, though its score is now used to break ties.

If I clear the Preliminary, am I sure of a place in the Main?

No. Only five times the seats in each category are called.

What is the pay?

Level 7, ₹44,900 to ₹1,42,400, plus Central Government allowances for the city of posting.

Can I choose where I am posted?

You rank organisations and regions after the Main result, and seats go by merit, usually in one round. You must join the seat you get, or your candidature for that NORCET is cancelled.

Can I change my exam city?

No. Requests are rejected without notice.