Indian Coast Guard Assistant Commandant Syllabus

CGCAT is a two hour computer based test of 100 multiple choice questions, in English only. It is the same paper for General Duty and Technical: there is no engineering section, and the Technical branch is distinguished by the degree held, not by a separate paper.

Nothing is weighted: English counts for as much as General Knowledge.

Marking, and what the negative mark costs

+4 for a correct answer, −1 for an incorrect one, 0 for a blank. Four to one is generous by Indian recruitment standards, where a quarter of the question's marks is the usual penalty; here the penalty is a quarter of a mark, a sixteenth of what the question is worth. A blind guess among four options returns +0.25 marks on average. The arithmetic favours attempting, not leaving blank.

The qualifying marks, and where they are published

The advertisement prints no qualifying marks. It prints the subject table and reserves to the Coast Guard "the discretion to fix qualifying marks in any or all subjects". The career pages do print them:

160 is what 42 correct against 8 wrong produces. It is a floor; the Stage II shortlist is cut from an all India category wise merit list, as explained under Cut-off Details.

Normalisation across shifts

Marks are normalised across shifts using two anchors per shift: the average of the top 0.1 per cent of candidates and the sum of the mean and the standard deviation. A harder shift lifts everyone who sat it.

An older scheme still printed on the women's page

The Women-SSA page carries a second, incompatible pattern: a 300 mark CGCAT of 100 questions in 2 hours, passing at 150 for UR, EWS and OBC and 135 for SC and ST, plus a Branch Specialisation Test of 50 questions in 45 minutes for 150 marks, passing at 75 and 60, for Technical and Law candidates. There is no Branch Specialisation Test in the 2027 batch advertisement, and the Technical page says a Technical candidate sits Section I and nothing else. The advertisement governs.

The Coast Guard publishes a topic list for each of the four CGCAT sections. It is a graduate level general aptitude syllabus: nothing in it tests the engineering degree a Technical candidate had to hold to apply.

Section A: English, 25 questions

Designed, in the Coast Guard's words, to test understanding of English and workmanlike use of grammar: comprehension; usage of words; sentence completion and corrections; punctuation and grammar; vocabulary, antonyms and synonyms; parts of speech; direct and indirect speech; idioms and phrases; active and passive voice. Not a literature paper.

Section B: Reasoning and Numerical Ability, 25 questions

Section C: General Science and Mathematical Aptitude, 25 questions

This is where the eligibility rule is cashed in: Mathematics and Physics up to class XII are required of every General Duty and Technical candidate, and Section C is what tests them.

Section D: General Knowledge, 25 questions

What the syllabus does not contain

No maritime or naval content. Nothing on seamanship, navigation, ships or maritime law appears anywhere. The Coast Guard tests general aptitude at Stage I and teaches the profession at the Naval Academy afterwards. And no engineering paper for the Technical branch: the degree is an eligibility filter, and the branch is decided by the option exercised and where the vacancies fall. The Military Aptitude heading on the Women-SSA page belongs to the older two paper scheme.

Indian citizenship is required.

Age

Relaxation: five years for serving Coast Guard or Armed Forces personnel, five for SC and ST and three for OBC (non-creamy layer) where posts are reserved, and nothing else. Date of birth and gender cannot be changed later, even after induction.

Educational qualification

Graduation after a diploma counts if the diploma carried Physics and Mathematics. AMIE sections A and B are accepted in place of the engineering degree. An integrated postgraduate degree needs an institution certificate, uploaded at registration, confirming the qualifying degree was passed with marks.

Final year candidates, and the marksheet they must already hold

Final year students may apply, with proof of passing due by 31 October 2026 (no extension) and a bonafide certificate from the Registrar at the Selection Board. The penultimate year's marksheet must already be issued on the closing date:

Medical and physical standards

Height is relaxed by up to 5 cm for Gorkhas, Nepalese and candidates from the north eastern states, Garhwal, Sikkim and the local tribes of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and by 2 cm for Lakshadweep, but only against a domicile certificate produced to the medical officer.

• Uncorrected distant vision is a hard gate, and laser correction of myopia is not accepted. Spectacles are permitted in every branch except General Duty.
• No permanent tattoos except on the inner forearm and back of the hand, with concessions for declared tribal communities.
• Persons with any kind of disability are not eligible.
• Accepted and merely noted: knock knees under 5 cm, mild bow legs up to a 7 cm intercondylar distance, flexible flat feet, mild stammer, mild varicocele.
• Disqualified: withdrawal on disciplinary grounds from a service academy, criminal charges or proceedings, or debarment from any public service examination.

Five stages, all compulsory, with biometric, photo and document verification at each.

Stage I: the Coast Guard Common Admission Test

The paper described under Exam Pattern. Biometric registration before it becomes the reference for every later stage, and the Stage II shortlist comes from an all India category wise merit list on normalised marks.

Stage II: Preliminary Selection Board, one day

At Noida, Goa, Chennai, Kolkata, Shillong or Guwahati, and Gandhinagar. You choose a centre on the application, though the Coast Guard may allot another and will not entertain a request to change the centre or the date. Two components: the Computerised Cognitive Battery Test, objective and in English only, and the Picture Perception and Discussion Test, in English, Hindi or a mixture.

The result is recommended or not recommended. Thumb impressions are matched against Stage I, and an unresolved mismatch cancels the candidature. Document verification follows, and a discrepancy produces a Rejection Slip on the spot.

Stage III: Final Selection Board, four or five days

At the Coast Guard Selection Board at Noida, and nowhere else, with the schedule and call up letter reaching you through your login. A Psychological Test, a Group Task and an Interview described as a personality test. This stage produces marks, and those marks are half of the final merit. Being recommended does not on its own confirm selection.

Stage IV: the Special Medical Board

At Base Hospital, New Delhi. A candidate declared unfit may appeal:

A candidate who fails the final medical carries nothing forward: the whole procedure has to be undergone afresh in a later batch, subject to still being eligible.

Stage V: induction

Candidates who clear Stage IV and stand high enough in the all India merit list are provisionally selected and report to the Indian Naval Academy, Ezhimala, for the Naval Orientation Course, with photo and biometric verification once more on arrival. There is no travel warrant or money for the journey to Ezhimala.

The merit list, and the multi options scheme

The merit list covers medically fit candidates only, on Stage I plus Stage III, all India rather than zone wise. A candidate eligible for both branches names Option I and Option II: Stage II shortlisting uses Option I only, and Option II is considered only after every recommended Option I candidate in that branch has been selected. The Coast Guard may also allocate branches by suitability regardless of options.

Training

The Naval Orientation Course runs 44 weeks for General Duty and 22 weeks for Technical, Law and Women-SSA, followed by ab initio training on Navy and Coast Guard ships and units. Under trainees can be discharged as unsuitable for poor progress or conduct, or at any stage for a falsified application.

An Assistant Commandant is a Group A Gazetted Officer, and the advertisement prints the pay level and starting basic pay for every rank in the officer cadre.

Allowances are paid on top. Ignore the career pages' pay block, which shows Navik pay of ₹21,700 at Level 3.

Promotion, and how long each rank takes

Minimum residency is the minimum service before a rank can be considered for the next, not a guarantee of when it happens.

What comes with the rank

• Medical cover for self and family, including dependent parents, and ECHS facilities after retirement.
• Furnished government accommodation, or house rent allowance.
• 45 days earned leave and 8 days casual leave a year, with Leave Travel Concession for self, family and dependent parents.
• Group insurance of ₹1.25 crore at a premium of ₹12,500 a month, paid by the officer at a group rate.
• The National Pension Scheme or the Unified Pension Scheme, and gratuity on retirement.
• Canteen facilities, subsidised loans, free ration or ration money, and sports and adventure activities.

Online only, through joinindiancoastguard.cdac.in. There is no offline route and no other portal.

For the 2027 batch the window ran from 08 July 2025 at 1600 hours to 27 July 2025 at 2330 hours, twenty days. Registration takes an e-mail address and a mobile number, and both must stay valid until at least 15 January 2027, about eighteen months after the window closed and the clearest single statement of how long this recruitment runs.

Fee

₹300, nil for SC and ST, paid online; the Technical career page's ₹250 is out of date. Failed payments are refunded within 15 working days; a fee properly paid is never refunded. File twice and only the latest application counts. A candidate eligible for both branches files one application naming Option I and Option II.

Documents, uploaded in two phases

Scan originals only. Phase one, with the application: a colour photograph taken not before June 2024 with name and date written on it, signature, both thumb impressions, date of birth proof, identity proof, and a no objection certificate for serving personnel. The rest is uploaded after Stage II shortlisting.

Live image capture

The portal captures a live image through the browser camera and will not submit unless it matches the uploaded photograph; see the image guidelines. And a Resident Certificate is not a Domicile Certificate.

Travel reimbursement

Boarding and lodging are free for the Final Selection Board only.

One force, one recruiting directorate, and a small number of named establishments a candidate actually visits.

The establishments a candidate passes through

The force you join

Headed by the Director General Indian Coast Guard in New Delhi, assisted by an Additional Director General and seven Deputy Director Generals of Inspector General rank. Below headquarters, India's maritime zones divide into two seaboards and five regions, each commanded by an Inspector General:

Each stage narrows the geography. Stage I is held in dozens of cities; Stage III in exactly one.

Stage I: CGCAT cities, by zone

You give five preferences, the first within 30 km of your present address.

Stage II: the six Preliminary Selection Board centres

Stage III is at Noida only, Stage IV at Base Hospital, New Delhi, and Stage V at Ezhimala. Phones and recording devices are banned at every centre.

The 2027 batch, as published

From the closing of applications to the start of training is seventeen months. That is the number to plan around, not the date of the written test.

The table is tentative: the Final Selection Board runs to October 2026 while the printed medical window closes in April, so the medical moves with the Board batch you are called to.

One advertisement a year, not two

The career pages still describe two batches a year, but the Upcoming Opportunities page shows paired batches only up to 02/2024 (the 01/2023 window ran 18 to 28 February 2022, extended to 02 March 2022), and a single batch each for 2025, 2026 and 2027. Plan for one advertisement a year, around mid-year. No e-mail announces it.

The e-admit card is downloaded from your own login on the recruitment website. No e-mail is sent to say it is available. The Coast Guard announces the download date on the site and states it is not responsible if a candidate misses the notice.

The city comes early enough to book travel; the street address does not. Admit cards are issued for Stages I, II and III, and failing to download one, or to report for a stage, cancels the candidature. A colour printout is preferred; black and white is accepted if the photograph, QR code and details are legible.

What to carry to Stage I

1. The printout of the Stage I e-admit card.
2. Two colour passport size photographs, the same as the one uploaded.
3. The original photo identity card named in the application, not a different one.
4. SC and ST candidates claiming travel reimbursement: the original caste certificate with two self attested copies, the original ticket, a cancelled cheque leaf and the travel form.

Missing items 1 to 3 cancels the candidature.

At Stages II and III originals are checked again, and any discrepancy with the uploads cancels the candidature.

Every result, Stage I to Stage V, is read by logging into your own account on the recruitment website. There is no public stage by stage merit list and no e-mail announcement.

The Stage I result is announced tentatively within 30 days of the test, on normalised marks.

Marks reach you only once you are out of the running, and "No RTI queries for advance declaration of marks of candidates will be entertained".

The final merit list is prepared for medically fit candidates only, on Stage I plus Stage III, on an all India basis, and was due on the website in December 2026 for this batch. Recommendation at the Final Selection Board does not confirm selection; the vacancies in each branch are fixed later.

Nothing carries forward to the next batch, whether you fell short at Stage III or at the medical.

The Coast Guard publishes a qualifying mark but not a closing mark, and the distinction decides how to read both.

Those are on the career pages. The advertisement prints no qualifying mark at all, only the subject table and a reservation of discretion.

Qualifying is not the same as being called

Three clauses decide who actually goes to Stage II. An all India category wise merit list is prepared on Stage I marks; the Coast Guard has "the discretion to fix qualifying marks in any or all subjects" and to decide how many to shortlist; and "Due to limited vacancies, Indian Coast Guard reserves the right to fix cut-off marks" for admit cards and Stage II call up letters, with no correspondence entertained.

So 160 is a floor below which nobody proceeds. The mark that decides a shortlist is set after the paper, from the merit list, against 170 vacancies, and in a year with a large field it sits well above the floor. The Coast Guard does not publish where it landed.

The tie rule works in the candidate's favour: if there is a tie at the last shortlisted position, every candidate on that mark is shortlisted, so the shortlist can be larger than intended and no tie break applies.

The final cut is a different arithmetic

The final merit is Stage I plus Stage III, so a strong CGCAT score counts twice: at shortlisting and in the final total. Option I candidates in a branch are all placed before any Option II candidate.

No closing marks, category wise cut off tables or candidate wise scorecards appear on the recruitment site for past cycles. Any CGCAT cut off circulating elsewhere is not from the Coast Guard.

1. Work out what 160 costs you

Two hours for 100 questions is 72 seconds each, generous for a graduate aptitude paper. There is time to attempt most of it, and the marking does not punish you for doing so.

2. Guess, but guess narrowed

A blind guess among four options is worth +0.25 marks on average; eliminating one option lifts it to +0.67. Leaving a question you have read and half worked out is the worst of the three choices. That is the opposite of what a one third penalty paper teaches, so unlearn it deliberately.

3. Do not let one section carry you

Each section is a quarter of the paper. Nobody reaches 160 on one strong section, so audit yourself section by section.

4. Section C is where the eligibility rule is cashed in

General Science and Mathematical Aptitude is the widest section and the most closed. A graduate who last saw class XII physics years ago should start here.

5. Practise from the right material

Start with the Coast Guard's model question paper and sit its mock examination for the interface. Beyond that: CDS English for Section A, CDS Elementary Mathematics and reasoning banks for B, class XI and XII science and mathematics for C, and a standard general awareness source for D. Avoid material built around a Branch Specialisation Test or a 300 mark paper; that is the old scheme.

6. Prepare for Stage II and III as seriously as for Stage I

Half the final merit is the Final Selection Board. These are Services Selection Board style assessments, practised rather than crammed: speaking to a picture under time pressure, working in a group without dominating it, writing coherently against a clock. The PP&DT allows English, Hindi or a mixture, so fluency matters more than language choice.

7. Handle the paperwork as a separate project

The Coast Guard's common reasons for rejection are almost all paperwork: name mismatches with the class X certificate, a stale OBC certificate, marks that differ from the marksheet, the wrong identity document. Put every certificate side by side before filling the form.

8. Fix the medical gates you can fix, early

Uncorrected distant vision is a hard gate for General Duty and laser correction is not accepted. Tattoos outside the inner forearm and back of the hand are a bar. A domicile certificate must be in hand for a height relaxation. The Coast Guard also advises getting ears cleaned of wax and tartar removed from teeth before the medical. None of this can be arranged in the week before Stage IV.

9. Watch the website, because nothing will be sent to you

No e-mail announces an advertisement or an admit card. The city appears in your login ten days before Stage I and the venue two or three days before. Miss a stage for want of a downloaded admit card and you lose the candidature.

No previous year papers are published for CGCAT. The Coast Guard does publish a model question paper on each Assistant Commandant career page, such as the General Duty page, and a mock examination for the interface. Practice sources are under Preparation Tips.

Official

• CGCAT portal, the officer recruitment site
• Upcoming Opportunities, which lists every officer advertisement and marks each open or closed
• Advertisement, 2027 batch, 16 pages
• Mock examination and frequently asked questions

The four entry pages

• General Duty: syllabus, qualifying marks, medical standard, model paper
• Technical, Women-SSA and Law

Before you apply

• Examination fee, exemption and travel reimbursement
• Documents to upload and documents required at Stage I
• Live image capture guidelines, with accepted and rejected examples
• Common reasons for rejection and caste certificate formats

Where each stage is held, and the force

• Stage I cities, Stage II centres and the Stage III venue
• Indian Coast Guard recruitment home, organisation, officer rank structure and charter of duties

Is CGCAT the only way to become an Assistant Commandant?

Yes. It is the single entrance for every Assistant Commandant entry: General Duty, General Duty (Pilot Navigator), Women-SSA, Law, Technical and Commercial Pilot License-SSA. Which of those is recruiting depends on the advertisement; the one open at the time of writing, for the 2027 batch, covers General Duty and Technical only, male candidates only.

What marks do I need to clear Stage I?

The career pages put the qualifying mark at 160 out of 400 for UR, EWS and OBC and 140 for SC and ST, for both branches. The advertisement prints no qualifying mark at all. Treat 160 as a floor: candidates are called to Stage II from an all India category wise merit list against 170 vacancies, and the Coast Guard states that it fixes a cut off because vacancies are limited. It does not publish where that cut off landed.

Is there negative marking, and should I guess?

Four marks for a correct answer, one deducted for an incorrect one, nothing for a blank. That penalty is mild: a blind guess among four options is worth +0.25 marks on average and eliminating one option lifts it to about +0.67. With two hours for 100 questions there is also time to attempt most of the paper, so the arithmetic favours attempting.

Do Technical candidates sit an engineering paper?

No. A Technical candidate sits exactly the same 100 question CGCAT, with the same four sections and the same qualifying marks. The engineering degree is an eligibility filter. The Branch Specialisation Test on the Women-SSA page belongs to an older scheme and is not in the live advertisement.

What is the salary of an Assistant Commandant?

₹56,100 basic pay at Pay Level 10, plus allowances, as an entry level Group A Gazetted Officer. Ignore the Pay and Allowances block on the career pages: it prints Navik (Domestic Branch) pay of ₹21,700 at Level 3, copied onto the officer pages by mistake. The advertisement's pay table runs to ₹2,05,400 for Director General.

I cleared Stages I and II but missed out at Stage III. Do I get an exemption next time?

No. A selection is valid for one batch only. A candidate not on the final select list, or who fails the final medical, undergoes the whole procedure afresh in a later batch and only if still eligible. There is no carry forward and no scorecard with a shelf life.

How many times a year is the advertisement published?

The career pages describe two batches a year. The Coast Guard's own advertisement list says otherwise: batches 01/2022 through 02/2024 were numbered in pairs because there were two a year, while the 2025, 2026 and 2027 batches carry no number because there has been one. Plan for one advertisement a year, around the middle of the calendar year.

How long does the whole process take?

For the 2027 batch, applications closed 27 July 2025, the written test was 18 September 2025, the Final Selection Board ran January to October 2026, the merit list was due in December 2026 and training begins at Ezhimala in early January 2027. Seventeen months from the closing date to the start of training, which is also why the registered e-mail and mobile must stay active until 15 January 2027.

Will I be told when my admit card is out?

No. The Coast Guard announces the download date on its website, says no e-mail will be sent and disclaims responsibility if the notice is missed. The city appears in your login at least ten days before Stage I and the e-admit card with the exact address two or three days before. Failure to download it or to report cancels the candidature.