JPSC Civil Services Syllabus, Exam Pattern, Eligibility

Two successive stages: an objective Preliminary to select candidates for the Main examination, and a Main examination, written and interview, to select for the services. The Preliminary is a screening test only; its marks are not counted in the final merit.

Stage 1: Preliminary

• Both papers count: the Main shortlist is prepared on the total marks of both.
• There will be no negative marking, and a blank carries no penalty.
• More than one answer is treated as wrong even if one of them is correct.
• Papers are set in both Hindi and English. That is 72 seconds a question.

Stage 2: Main, written

Six compulsory papers, no optional subjects, each three hours and descriptive.

The interview shortlist and the final merit list are both built on Papers II to VI plus, at the end, the interview. Paper I is a gate at 30 of 100 and its marks enter no list. The interview is therefore 100 marks out of the 1050 that count, a little under ten per cent. The minimum aggregate standard, the 15 and 2.5 times shortlists and the tie-break are under Selection process and Cut-off.

The Commission publishes both Preliminary papers question by question, so preparation can be weighted exactly. The detailed syllabus of all eight papers is on its Syllabus page.

General Studies Paper-I, 200 marks, 100 questions

General Studies Paper-II, 200 marks, 100 questions, entirely about Jharkhand

With Paper-I's ten Jharkhand questions, 220 of the 400 Preliminary marks turn on the state. Land law is the heaviest single head at 24 marks, ten of its twelve questions on the C.N.T. and S.P.T. Acts; environment, disaster management and forest conservation together carry 34 marks.

Main Paper II: the fifteen languages

The other five Main papers are listed under Exam pattern.

Educational qualification

A degree from a university incorporated by a Central or State Act, an institution established by an Act of Parliament or deemed a university under Section 3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956, or a foreign university approved by the Central Government, or an equivalent qualification. Any discipline, no percentage requirement.

Age, reckoned on 01.08.2026 for the 2025 examination

The minimum age is 21. At least 03 (three) years of regular service under the Government of Jharkhand earns 5 years' relaxation. And relaxations stack: a candidate of a reserved category or a woman who is also covered by PwBD, ex-servicemen or clause 6(ii)(b) of the 2021 Rules will be eligible for grant of cumulative age relaxation under both the categories, where most commissions allow only one. There shall be no limitation on number of attempts.

Reservation is for permanent residents of Jharkhand only

• Every reservation claim, including women's horizontal reservation and disability, needs a local residence certificate, and caste certificates from a competent Jharkhand authority (District Magistrate, ADM, Deputy Commissioner, ADC, Additional Collector, First Class Magistrate, SDM, SDO, Executive Magistrate, Assistant Collector or Circle Officer).
• Certificates issued for educational purposes are not accepted.
• EBC-I and BC-II need Form-XI, free of creamy layer, with a Form-XV self-declaration if validity has lapsed; EWS needs a current Income and Property Certificate.
• The original caste certificate is produced at the interview, and the reservation category and any disability claim cannot be changed once entered.
• Disability benefit needs at least 40 per cent disability on a Medical Board certificate, and PwBD candidates must still meet the physical and medical standards of the post.

Physical standards, for Police Deputy Superintendent, District Commandant, Jail Superintendent and Probation Officer

For Police Deputy Superintendent and District Commandant the advertisement adds twelve medical conditions, among them no bone, joint, heart or mental disorder, normal blood pressure, no claw hand, free of HIV, distant vision 6/6 in each eye for men, no colour or night blindness, normal ECG and EEG, normal hearing, no hydrocele, varicocele or piles, and no disabling skin disease.

A candidate debarred by the UPSC or any State PSC for misconduct cannot sit the Preliminary. Admission at every stage is purely provisional, and candidature is cancelled whenever verification shows a condition was not met.

How the field narrows

• At the Preliminary, where a reserved category (horizontal or vertical) has fewer than 15 times its vacancies, the cut off for the same shall be reduced till adequate representation is ensured; at the Main it is reduced likewise, but not below the minimum marks in Rule-17(i).
• All candidates getting marks equal to their respective category cut off are included.
• Reserved-category candidates who took no benefit or relaxation are counted as UNR; those who take any concession at any stage are adjusted against their own category.
• For the interview list a candidate must also score 30 in Paper I and the Rule 17(i) aggregate minimum.

Interview, final merit and allocation

The interview is 100 marks with no minimum qualifying marks, a rule abolished under Rule 3(v) of Section-I of Appendix-I to the 2021 Rules, so it reorders candidates but cannot fail them. The final merit list will be prepared on the basis of overall marks obtained in Main (Written Examination) and Interview Test except marks obtained in Paper-I. On a tie, higher Main written marks win, then the older candidate.

Services are allotted by rank and the preference list filed with the Main application, and the candidate shall not be allocated service for which he or she has not given choice. The Commission sends the list to Government, and success in the examination confers no right to appointment until Government is satisfied as to character, antecedents and certificates.

Misconduct

Rule 16 of the 2021 Rules lists fourteen forms of misconduct, from impersonation, illegal gratification and fabricated documents to uploading irrelevant photos in place of actual photo or signature, unfair means, and possession of a mobile phone even in switched off mode. Penalties run to disqualification, debarment permanently or for a specified period by the Commission and by Government from employment, and criminal prosecution, after a written representation within one month. The Jharkhand Examination (Measures, Control and Prevention of Unfair Means in Recruitment) Act, 2023 applies in addition. The Commission reserves the right to postpone or cancel the process without assigning reasons.

All nine posts sit in the Sixth Pay Commission band 9300-34800, in two grades. The post-by-post table is under Overview.

Under the Seventh Pay Commission matrix Jharkhand applies, Grade Pay 5400 corresponds to Level 9 and 4800 to Level 8. The advertisement prints no monthly figure; dearness, house rent and other allowances are paid at the state's notified rates.

Which grade you land in depends on rank and on the preference list filed with the Main application, and a post left off that list cannot be allotted. Probation Officer, though in the lower grade, still carries the physical and medical standards of the uniformed posts.

Applications are accepted only through the One Time Registration (OTR) System on jpsc.gov.in; nothing sent by any other medium is accepted.

Pay by card, net banking, wallet, Bharat QR or UPI. The fee is non-refundable, an unpaid application is cancelled, and a candidate who is not a Jharkhand ST, PT or SC but pays ₹50 has the candidature terminated.

• No certificate is attached; every claim is declared in the form and proved in original at the interview.
• Once Submitted and Locked, no change of any kind is accepted. There is no correction window.
• Name and father's name as in the matriculation certificate; date of birth as in the 10th Board certificate.
• Photograph and signature must be uploaded at the prescribed place, or the application is rejected.
• Use your own mobile and email, and keep the User Id and Password until the final result.
• Download and print two copies of the submitted form, and keep the fee receipt.

Help lines on working days, 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.: general +91 9431301636, technical +91 9431301636 and +91 9431301419, payment +91 9431301419.

The Jharkhand Public Service Commission, Circular Road, Ranchi 834001, conducts the examination on vacancies received from the State Government and sends the list of successful candidates to Government, which appoints under each service's own rules.

The examination is held under the Rules, 2021, whose Rule 3(v) of Appendix-I Section-I abolished the interview minimum, the 1st Amendment Rules, 2021, and the 2nd Amendment Rules, 2023, whose sub-Rule 17(i) sets the 32, 34, 36.5 and 40 per cent standard. Behind them sits the Jharkhand Examination (Measures, Control and Prevention of Unfair Means in Recruitment) Act, 2023, Jharkhand Act 15 of 2023, gazetted on 29 November 2023.

The advertisement names no centres. The centre is on the admit card, and the Commission issues Instructions for Candidates before each paper; for the 2025 cycle that was 28 March 2026, three weeks before the Preliminary of 19 April 2026. Both Preliminary papers are sat the same day, two hours each. The six Main papers run three hours each, and Paper I uses two separate answer books.

Possession alone is misconduct: any mobile phone even in switched off mode, pager, electronic or programmable device, pen drive, smart watch, camera or Bluetooth device. So are obscene or irrelevant matter in scripts, misbehaviour in the hall, harassing staff, and breaking the instructions issued with the admit card.

The interview is held at the Commission, Circular Road, Ranchi 834001, where all originals are checked, including the original caste certificate.

That is two weeks to apply, 31 January to 14 February, and nine weeks to the Preliminary. Two reckoning dates matter: age on 01.08.2026, and every certificate dated no later than the 14.02.2026 closing date (clause 26 of the 2021 Rules). The Commission publishes an annual Examination Calendar, issued on 09.07.2026 for 2026, and every document of a cycle accumulates on the advertisement page.

The admit card is downloaded from jpsc.gov.in through the OTR login, so keep the User Id, Password, email and mobile safe until the final result is published. The instructions issued with it are binding: breaking them is one of the Rule 16 forms of misconduct.

Documents are checked at the interview, not the hall. Bring all original certificates and marksheets for every claim made (qualification, age, disability, caste, local residence, ex-serviceman status, Jharkhand government service), an NOC if in government service, the printed form and the fee receipt.

With no negative marking, the Preliminary score is a plain count against the final key. The result was published in the light of the order passed on 30.06.2026 in W.P.(S) No. 1276/2026 by the Jharkhand High Court, so expect litigation to move the calendar. Each later result opens the next step: the Preliminary result opens the separate Main application, the Main result the interview, and the final list names the category each candidate was selected under. A result can still be undone for wrong information or concealment found at any stage. Results sit under Results and Answer Keys.

JPSC fixes its minimum qualifying standard in advance, by statute, in sub-Rule 17(i) of the 2nd Amendment Rules, 2023, applied at both stages.

Women get 32 per cent whatever their category, and EWS gets no relaxation. At the Main there is also an absolute 30 in Paper I.

Above those floors the cut-off is wherever the 15-times candidate falls at the Preliminary and the 2.5-times candidate at the Main, as described under Selection process. JPSC publishes no cut-off figure as such; the answer keys under Results let a candidate score their own paper.

Half the Preliminary is Jharkhand

Paper-II is 200 of the 400 marks, all on the state, and Paper-I adds ten Jharkhand questions. Weight Paper-II by the published counts: land laws first (24 marks, C.N.T. and S.P.T. Acts five questions each), then economic development and geography (20), history and the traditional governance systems (16), the movement, environment and current events (14 each), industrial policy (12), the 10-mark heads, and educational institutions (6) last.

Attempt every question, and mark one option

No negative marking and no penalty for a blank, so a blank is wasted. Two options marked count as wrong. Both papers count, so neither can be cleared and forgotten.

Choose the Paper II language deliberately

It is 150 marks that count in full. A candidate who reads Santhali, Mundari, Kurux, Ho, Khadia, Nagpuri, Panchpargania, Kurmali or Khortha should weigh it seriously.

Clear Paper I, then put everything into Papers II to VI

Thirty of 100 in Paper I is all it is worth. The four 200-mark papers are 21 per cent each of the 950 that rank you and Paper II 16 per cent; the interview adds only 100 with no minimum.

Fill the form once

No correction window, no category change, name and date of birth as in the matric certificate, and pay at the right rate. Think before claiming a concession: any one, at any stage, moves you onto the reserved list.

Use the answer keys and past papers

The Commission keeps earlier cycles' keys and papers under Results and Answer Keys. Score against the final key, and plan for the calendar to move.

JPSC publishes its answer keys, not separate sample papers. For the 2025 cycle it issued a Model Answer Key two days after the Preliminary, then a final key and a corrected key. Earlier cycles' keys are under Results and Answer Keys.

The Commission also announced a dedicated email for general queries by press release of 18.12.2025.

How much of this examination is about Jharkhand?

220 of the 400 Preliminary marks: all of General Studies Paper-II and ten questions of Paper-I. In the Main, nine of the fifteen Paper II languages are Jharkhand's.

What is the pattern?

Preliminary: two objective papers of 100 questions and 200 marks each, two hours. Main: six descriptive papers of three hours, 950 written marks with Paper I qualifying, plus a 100-mark interview, grand total 1050.

Is there negative marking?

No. But two options marked count as a wrong answer.

Do both Preliminary papers count?

Yes, equally, for the Main shortlist. Neither counts in the final merit.

How many posts are there?

103 for the 2025 examination, led by Police Deputy Superintendent 42 and Deputy Collector 28.

What is the age limit?

Minimum 21; upper 35 unreserved and EWS, 37 EBC and BC, 38 women of those categories, 40 SC and ST, reckoned on 01.08.2026. Relaxations for PwBD (10 years) and ex-servicemen (5) can be combined with category relaxation.

How many attempts?

Unlimited.

What are the minimum qualifying marks?

32 per cent for SC, ST and women, 34 for EBC, 36.5 for BC, 40 for EWS and others, plus 30 in Main Paper I.

Does the interview have a minimum mark?

No. It is 100 marks and can only reorder candidates.

What does it cost to apply?

₹100, or ₹50 for Jharkhand ST, PT and SC candidates, nil with at least 40 per cent disability.

Can I correct my form?

No. Once Submitted and Locked, nothing can be changed.