MPESB Nursing Officer Syllabus, Exam Pattern, Eligibility

One paper, 100 marks, shared by both posts. Clause 7 of the departmental rules sets it out in a single table.

Qualifying marks

Clause 4 puts the floor at 50 per cent for unreserved candidates and, with a ten point relaxation, 40 per cent for Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Other Backward Class and candidates with disability. The same relaxation reaches Economically Weaker Section candidates by a General Administration Department order of 22 September 2022, though selection from that list is on merit within it. Clause 3.9 adds that the floor is applied to the proportionate score, not the normalized or percentile score.

What happens when a question is thrown out

This is the Board's most distinctive rule and it is the opposite of what most recruiters do. A deleted question is not simply dropped and nobody gets a free mark. Clause 3.8-A(C) awards every candidate marks in proportion to what they scored on the questions that survived, whether or not they attempted the deleted ones. The rulebook's three worked examples, each with 2 questions deleted: 90 of the remaining 98 on a 100 question paper gives 90 × 100 / 98 = 91.83; 140 of 148 on a 150 question paper gives 141.89; 190 of 198 on a 200 question paper gives 191.91. Computation runs to two decimal places, under Board order Mandal/5-P-1/48/5279/2016 of 29 August 2016.

So a strong candidate gains from a deletion and a weak one loses, because the full 100 marks are redistributed over the survivors in proportion to performance. A question can go for a wrong construction, more than one correct option, no correct option, a divergence between the Hindi and English versions, any other printing error, or any other reason the subject expert committee thinks proper.

Two shifts means normalization

Clause 3-8(B) applies, under Board order ESB/29/16/2021/E-1/1040/2025 of 13 February 2025: results for multi-shift examinations are prepared by the Normalised Equi-Percentile scaling technique. For a single stage examination each candidate's percentile is

P_ij = (number of candidates in shift j with proportionate scores less than or equal to X_ij) / N_j × 100

where N_j is the number appearing in shift j and X_ij is candidate i's proportionate mark. The two shifts' percentiles then combine into one merit list, with every intermediate value rounded to six decimal places. For a two-stage examination the rulebook goes on to a z-value, z = ROUND(NORMSINV(P/100 − 0.005), 6), and a T-score, T = AM + ASD × z, with the assumed mean at half the maximum marks and the assumed standard deviation at a tenth; that stage does not arise here. A tie is broken first on the proportionate marks, then by the Board's existing practice.

The confirmation screen at the end of the paper

Clause 3.8(ii) describes something candidates rarely meet elsewhere. When the paper ends the screen shows your RAW Score, the number of questions answered correctly. You then type that number and a password, and Submit only becomes active when the number you typed matches the number displayed. Read the screen before typing.

Part A: 25 marks

The rulebook names six areas and leaves them there: General Knowledge, General Hindi, General English, General Mathematics, General Science and General Aptitude. No standard, no topic list, no split between the six. Twenty-five of the hundred questions come from this block.

Part B: 75 marks, the B.Sc. Nursing curriculum

The Board writes no professional syllabus of its own. It reproduces the B.Sc. Nursing curriculum course by course, 23 rows across four years, and says the questions come from there. A candidate holding the degree has already studied every line of it.

Where the weight sits

Six areas occupy twelve of the 23 rows, two courses each: Adult Health Nursing, Midwifery and Obstetrics, Child Health Nursing, Mental Health Nursing, Community Health Nursing, and Pharmacology with Pathology. That is the best available guide to how the 75 marks fall, since the Board gives no weighting of its own.

The Adult Health Nursing pair covers intraoperative care and the nursing management of respiratory, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, haematological, endocrine, integumentary and musculoskeletal disorders, communicable diseases, ear nose and throat, eye, renal, male reproductive, burns, neurological, immunological and oncological conditions, emergency and disaster situations, care of the elderly and critical care. Midwifery runs from the midwife's role and the legal framework through problems in pregnancy, labour and the puerperium, high-risk newborns, gynaecological disorders and family welfare. Community Health Nursing carries epidemiology, the national health programmes, reproductive and child health, demography, environmental health and health education.

One thing the syllabus does not say

The rulebook prints a single chapter headed syllabus for all posts. Nursing Officer and Sister Tutor sit the same paper on the same content, even though Sister Tutor requires a year of experience, sits two pay levels higher and teaches rather than nurses. Nursing Education and Nursing Management are in the common list, so a Sister Tutor candidate is not examined on anything a Nursing Officer candidate is not.

Nursing Officer

Clause 8.1(a) requires all three of the following.

1. Pass in class 12 under the 10+2 pattern with Physics, Chemistry and Biology compulsorily.
2. Either a four year B.Sc. Nursing from a centre recognised by the Madhya Pradesh Nurses Registration Council or the Indian Nursing Council, or General Nursing training followed by the two year Post Basic B.Sc. Nursing course, in either case passed with at least 45 per cent marks. Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Class candidates get 5 points off, so 40 per cent.
3. Live registration with the Madhya Pradesh Nurses Registration Council.

Sister Tutor

Clause 8.1(b): the same class 12 subjects, B.Sc. Nursing or Post Basic B.Sc. Nursing with one year of experience, and the same live registration.

Three requirements that rule people out

• The 45 per cent bar in the degree. Many nursing recruitments ask only for the degree. This one asks for a mark in it too.
• Physics, Chemistry and Biology at 10+2, described as compulsory. A candidate admitted to a nursing course on some other school combination is eligible for the course but not for this post.
• The state council. The registration must be with the Madhya Pradesh Nurses Registration Council, not another state's and not the Indian Nursing Council alone.

Clause 3.2(i) requires the qualification to be complete on the last date of the application. And note 8 on the first page requires live registration with a Madhya Pradesh state employment exchange for every candidate.

Age

The women's line is the one to underline. In Madhya Pradesh the higher limit follows from being a woman, whatever the category, so an unreserved woman has the same 45 year ceiling as a Scheduled Tribe candidate. Since every Nursing Officer post is for women, 45 is the working limit for that post. For a transgender candidate, following a General Administration Department notification of 24 February 2023, the gender stated on the certificate decides which set of criteria applies.

Reservation, and the part the High Court has not settled

Each post code's roster appears twice: a main table covering 87 per cent of the posts, drawn with Other Backward Class reservation at 14 per cent, which is what the recruitment is running on; and a provisional and notional table for the remaining 13 per cent, marked as subject to the High Court's decision, with every post listed twice over, once as Other Backward Class (provisional) and once as Unreserved (notional). Under post code 01 that is 1,093 posts live and 163 in suspense. Read the main table as the live one.

Horizontal reservation for persons with benchmark disability is carried inside each category rather than added to it. Under post code 01, 75 of the 1,256 vacancies are so reserved: 19 visually impaired, 19 hearing impaired, 19 locomotor disability and 18 multiple disability.

The three tribal communities that do not sit the paper

Clause 3.30 gives a separate route to candidates of the Baiga, Sahariya and Bhariya communities. For non-executive posts such as these, such a candidate holding the minimum qualification applies against the Scheduled Tribe vacancies in hard copy, direct to the department, not to the Board, by the last date. An application of that kind sent to the Board is invalid, and one sent after the last date is cancelled.

The department appoints them before the examination, and only then does the Board learn how many Scheduled Tribe posts remain. If the number changes, a short amendment notice binds Scheduled Tribe candidates; and if the whole Scheduled Tribe block is filled that way, Scheduled Tribe candidates who had applied may sit against the unreserved posts instead.

Other conditions

• A successful candidate executes a bond of Rs 5,00,000 undertaking to work under the Public Health and Medical Education Department for at least five years.
• Eligibility at the examination stage is provisional in every case. The Board verifies no certificate when the form is filled; the department does it before the appointment order, and candidature can be cancelled at any stage.
• Qualifying confers no right to appointment until the department raises a demand, the Board forwards the name, and the department issues the order.

1. One online application through MPOnline, from a kiosk or by the candidate directly. Clause 3.1(ii) requires a single form covering every post applied for.
2. Preference order inside that one form, listing every post the candidate is eligible for.
3. Written examination, 100 marks in two hours, computer based, 15 May 2026 in two shifts.
4. Model answers, published subject-wise before the result.
5. Objections, filed online within three days of the link going up.
6. Final answer key, settled by the subject expert key committee, whose decision is final.
7. Merit list, on percentile scores combined across the two shifts, subject to the qualifying mark applied to the proportionate score.
8. Result, published on the Board's website after the department's recommendation.
9. Document verification and appointment by the Directorate. Under clause 3.28 the department must issue the appointment orders within three months of the selection list; no extension is entertained and the department head answers for a lapse.

The preference order decides more than most candidates expect

Two clauses work together and both are strict.

Clause 3.1(iv). In a combined examination the candidate must record a preference for every post they are eligible for. Leave a post out and however high you score, you will not be considered for it. Omission is withdrawal, not neutrality.

Clause 3.37(10). Once a post is allotted on percentile, the candidate takes a place on the waiting list of the posts ranked above it and no place at all against the posts ranked below it. The rulebook illustrates it with a candidate who listed eighteen post codes: allotted the fourth preference, they stand on the waiting lists of one to three and appear nowhere against five to eighteen.

So the preference order should be a genuine, exhaustive ranking of where you actually want to work. An honest ranking costs nothing; a short list costs posts. Clause 3.2(iii) adds a duty: a candidate choosing more than one post must upload the qualifying certificate for every post chosen.

The posts that stay empty

Clause 3.1(v): where a post is advertised only under a sub-category, such as ex-serviceman or contractual employee, and not in the open column, then if no eligible candidate of that sub-category comes forward the conversion rule cannot be applied. The post is not thrown open; it stays unfilled. Under post code 01 that clause governs 756 of the 1,256 posts.

What the Board does and does not do

Clause 3.13 confines it: the Board's work is to conduct the written examination and declare its result, and nothing else. It may amend its own conduct rules, binding on everyone. It consolidates further stages into a final result only if the department asks. After the final result the examination records are destroyed under a Board order of 19 October 2016. Legal disputes about the conduct rules lie with the High Court of Madhya Pradesh.

And clause 3.29 allows no recount. Once the result is declared there is no re-counting and no re-evaluation; an application asking for one is filed without a reply.

That is entry pay in the Madhya Pradesh pay matrix, before allowances, which the rulebook does not state. The gap is Rs 7,500 a month, and the only extra entry requirement for the higher post is one year of experience: the school and degree requirements are the same and both posts sit the same paper on the same syllabus.

Two conditions attach to the appointment, and both are in the rulebook rather than any pay circular. A successful candidate executes an agreement in the sum of Rs 5,00,000 consenting to work under the Public Health and Medical Education Department for at least five years. And under a General Administration Department letter of 18 December 2014, quoted at clause 3.28, the department must issue appointment orders within three months of the Board's selection list, with no extension entertained.

The posts are regular posts in the department's Third Class (Non-Clerical) Service, not contractual ones. The distinction matters here, because 630 of the 1,256 posts under post code 01 are reserved for serving contractual employees, which is a different thing from the post itself being contractual.

Fee

MPOnline adds Rs 60 at a kiosk or Rs 20 where a registered citizen user fills the form themselves. A reserved category candidate from another state pays the unreserved fee. Correction is chargeable each time, and clause 3.24(iv) adds a sting: correcting your category from unreserved to a reserved one does not get the fee difference back, while correcting the other way means paying the balance.

What has to be uploaded

Clause 3.15 says the form is not accepted without: a colour photograph, signature and a sample of the candidate's own handwriting; the class 8, 10 or 12 marksheet as date of birth proof; the caste or category certificate; a disability certificate; a guest teacher certificate where applicable; certificates supporting any preference-based bonus such as NCC; and a declaration written out in the candidate's own hand that all the information is true and that candidature can be cancelled if it is not.

The photograph rules, which cancel more forms than anything else

Clause 3.16 is unusually specific and each line is a ground for rejection. Colour photograph on a white background, photograph above and signature below. No Polaroid. From the front, with both ears clearly visible. Not more than three months old, with the date taken and the candidate's name legible on it. Appear at the centre in the same condition, bearded or clean shaven. Reading spectacles must be worn in the photograph; dark glasses are not accepted. Keep five copies, because the same photograph is used at counselling. And a short signature, a signature in English capitals, or more than one signature is not accepted.

Two entries the form will not let you skip

Clause 3.18(ii) requires a permanent identification mark on the body and the type and number of the photo identity document you will bring. Clause 3.18(v) requires the Aadhaar number or VID, used for biometric verification at the registration desk.

What cannot be corrected

Clause 3.24(vii) fixes five fields for good: the online application number, transaction ID, Board application number, mobile number and e-mail address. Everything else can be amended within the window, as often as you like, on payment each time. After it, clause 3.24(viii) accepts no correction of any kind, and clause 3.6 adds that once the admit card is issued no error is corrected at all.

Unfair means

Clause 3.10 covers carrying a mobile phone, calculator, log tables, rough paper or an electronic watch into the hall, talking or signalling to another candidate, and refusing to hand over prohibited material. Two heads do not depend on anything a proctor sees: if the Board's data analysis before the result shows an anomaly, or its statistical analysis after the examination shows abnormal candidate activity, it may register an unfair means case and cancel the candidature. Impersonation draws a first information report against both people.

The Madhya Pradesh Employees Selection Board, Chayan Bhawan, Main Road No. 1, Chinar Park (East), Bhopal 462011, conducts the examination and declares the result. It employs nobody. The employer is the Directorate of Public Health and Medical Education, Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal, which issues the appointment orders. The rules rest on four departmental letters: 9/Nursing/PHME/2026/106 and /108 of 16 March 2026, /117 of 18 March 2026, and /Q-1 of 31 March 2026.

The twelve post codes

Every Nursing Officer post code is marked for women candidates only.

All ten autonomous medical colleges are government autonomous medical colleges, and between them they carry 843 Nursing Officer posts, Gwalior alone taking 273 of those. Post code 01 carries 1,256, which is 60 per cent of the Nursing Officer total.

1,152 of the 2,317 posts, just under half, are earmarked for serving contractual employees. A candidate with no contractual service behind them is competing for the 1,016 open posts. In post codes 02 to 11 the open and contractual halves are almost exactly equal, and from post code 03 onwards there is no ex-serviceman quota at all.

The totals above are the full advertised figures. The main tables are smaller, because 13 per cent of each roster sits in the provisional table awaiting the High Court. Under post code 01 the main table carries 1,093 posts and 163 sit in suspense.

The rulebook names no examination city. It is a computer based examination at the Board's own centres, and the centre is allotted to the candidate and printed on the admit card. There is no separate city intimation.

The reporting window closes when it closes. Clause 3.37(1) allows entry only up to the reporting time; arrive after it and you are not eligible to enter the centre. And clause 9 of the first page forbids leaving the hall between the start of the paper and its end.

Biometric verification

Aadhaar-enabled biometric verification happens at the centre, and clause 3.37(2) says a candidate whose verification does not succeed is not eligible to sit the examination. Note 4 adds that multi-level verification takes place at entry and during the paper. The companion Group-5 rulebook adds what that means in practice: the Aadhaar must be unlocked when it is checked.

What to carry

• The admit card from the Board's website, with part two filled in by the candidate (clause 3.37(3)).
• A black ballpoint pen.
• An original photograph-bearing identity document: voter card, PAN card, Aadhaar card, driving licence, an officially issued signed marksheet carrying a photograph, or a passport. Without one you are refused admission.
• Aadhaar card, or a photocopy, or the Aadhaar number or VID, in addition.

On e-Aadhaar the rulebook contradicts itself. Note 1 on the first page and clause 3.37(9) accept an e-Aadhaar printout if UIDAI has verified it. Clause 3.3(iii), in the same document, says flatly that e-Aadhaar is not acceptable. Two statements against one is not a safe margin when the penalty is being turned away at the gate: carry an original physical photo identity document and treat the e-Aadhaar as a supplement.

What is banned inside

Clause 3.4: scientific calculator, mobile phone, Bluetooth device, programmable calculator, watch alarms, listening devices, paging devices, recording devices, protractors, compasses, scales, digital watch, sunglasses and whitener. Clause 3.10 adds log tables, rough paper and loose paper slips.

Candidates with disability

Clause 3.5 provides a scribe, compensatory time, or both, to candidates who are visually impaired, disabled in the upper limbs or have cerebral palsy; to candidates with spasticity, dyslexia or a disability defined under the Persons with Disabilities Act 1995; and to a candidate suddenly taken ill or injured, on a certificate from a medical officer of not less than Assistant Surgeon rank. A visually impaired candidate gets both.

Two conditions. The complete request, with documents and an affidavit, must reach the Board ten days before the examination date. And the scribe's own qualification must be one level below the examination's minimum, so where a degree is required the scribe must be a higher secondary pass. Compensatory time on a two hour paper is 40 minutes, and the room is on the ground floor where possible.

The rulebook calls 15 May 2026 the probable examination date, and clause 3.37(8) reserves the position openly: the date may change and the examination may be held before or after it. Clause 3.37(7) says the same of the timings. Watch the Board's website rather than a date written down months earlier.

The Group-5 dates, so the two are not confused

A candidate eligible for both had to apply to both, separately, in windows that did not overlap.

The admit card, which the Board calls the Test Admit Card, is available only on esb.mp.gov.in. Clause 3.7(iv) says admit cards are not sent by post in any circumstance.

Downloading it needs three things: the application number, the date of birth, and a password made of the first two letters of the mother's name as written in the online application, followed by the last four digits of the Aadhaar number. The Board's worked examples show the first two letters are taken literally, punctuation and prefixes included: SANGEETA gives SA, S SHARMA gives S plus a space, S. SHARMA gives S plus a full stop, SMT SANGEETA gives SM. Whatever was typed into the mother's name field is what the password is built from. Keep the application number safe; without it there is no admit card.

The card comes in two parts. The first carries the candidate's details, the examination name, the roll number and the centre, and reproduces the permanent body identification mark and the photo identity document type and number entered in the application. The second part the candidate fills in, and clause 3.37(3) makes bringing it completed compulsory. During the paper, in front of the invigilator, the candidate signs the card, gives a left thumb impression and writes a specimen of their handwriting in black ballpoint pen.

An admit card decides nothing about eligibility. Note 11 says it directly: the Board examines no certificate when the form is filled, so eligibility is entirely provisional and candidature can be ended at any stage. And clause 3.37(14) refuses to entertain errors on the card, because an error there is one the candidate made on the form and did not fix within the correction window. Clause 3.6 puts it the other way round: once the admit card is issued, no error is corrected.

The examination began on 15 May 2026. As at 12 September 2026 the Board's result index carries no result for Nursing Officer and Sister Tutor 2026, and its old question papers index carries no paper for it, although both carry the 2026 Group-5 and Pre-Nursing results.

The sequence the Board follows

1. Model answers. Clause 3.11(i) requires subject-wise model answers on the website before the result.
2. Objections. Online only, through the link on the website. A physical representation is not considered at all. Three days from the link going up, then it goes dead. Once per question, at Rs 150 per question plus charges.
3. Final answer key from the subject expert committee, whose decision is final (clause 3.9(iii)).
4. Merit list, on percentile scores combined across the shifts, with the qualifying mark applied to the proportionate score.
5. Result, published on esb.mp.gov.in after the department's recommendation. It is not posted to candidates. The merit list and the key committee's recommendations go on the website too.
6. Appointment within three months of the selection list.

A successful objection does not hand a free mark to everybody. When a question is struck out the Board scales: every candidate is credited in proportion to the marks they earned on the questions that remain. On a 100 mark paper with two deleted, 90 on the surviving 98 becomes 90 × 100 / 98 = 91.83.

Clause 3.29 is short and absolute: after the result there is no re-counting and no re-evaluation, and an application on the subject is filed without a reply. And clause 3.13(iv) records that once the final result is declared the examination records are destroyed under a Board order of 19 October 2016, so a candidate who wants a copy of anything should not wait.

The Board publishes no cut off marks for this recruitment, because it has declared no result. Its result index, read on 12 September 2026, lists the 2026 Group-5 and Pre-Nursing tests and nothing for this one. A cut off would appear there, with the result.

What the rulebook fixes is the qualifying floor, which is not a cut off: on this 100 mark paper, 50 marks for unreserved candidates and 40 for SC, ST, OBC, EWS and disabled candidates, applied to the proportionate score rather than the percentile.

Two things will move the real line. A deleted question rescales everybody, so a raw 49 on 98 surviving questions becomes exactly 50. And the line that matters is the one for your post code and your stream: post code 01 alone reads three ways, for its 500 open, 126 ex-serviceman and 630 contractual employee posts.

Seventy-five of the hundred marks are your own degree

The Board writes no professional syllabus. It reproduces the B.Sc. Nursing curriculum, 23 courses across four years, and says the questions come from there. Revision is a re-reading of what you already studied, and the best guide to weight is how much of the curriculum a topic occupies: Adult Health Nursing, Midwifery and Obstetrics, Child Health Nursing, Mental Health Nursing, Community Health Nursing, and Pharmacology with Pathology take two courses each, twelve of the 23 rows.

Answer almost everything, but not quite everything

Plus 1 and minus 0.25. On four options a pure guess returns an expected 0.0625 of a mark, so blind guessing is very slightly better than a blank, and eliminating one option makes answering clearly worthwhile. Mark practice papers the same way, plus 1 and minus 0.25 on 100 questions in 120 minutes, and check the total against the floor you have to clear. Leave only the questions where you cannot rule out a single choice, and there should not be many of those on a paper drawn from your own curriculum.

Do not give away the 25

Part A has no topic list, no standard and no split between its six areas. Twenty-five marks with no syllabus is exactly the block candidates neglect, and the unreserved floor is 50 out of 100. Work the parts that reward practice rather than reading: Hindi grammar, arithmetic and reasoning.

Fill in the preference order completely

The most expensive mistake available here, and it costs nothing to avoid. A post left out of your preference list will not be considered for you however high you score, and once a post is allotted you stand on the waiting list of the posts above it and appear nowhere against those below. List every post you are eligible for, in the order you genuinely want them, and upload the qualifying certificate for each.

Check the three eligibility conditions before you pay

• 45 per cent in the nursing degree for Nursing Officer, relaxed by five points for SC, ST and OBC candidates. Many nursing recruitments do not ask this.
• Physics, Chemistry and Biology at 10+2, described as compulsory.
• Live registration with the Madhya Pradesh Nurses Registration Council, plus live registration with a Madhya Pradesh employment exchange.

All of it in place on the last date of the application, not later.

Spend an hour on the photograph and the form

Clause 3.16 rejects a form for a Polaroid, a photograph older than three months, one without the date and name on it, one where both ears are not visible, one in dark glasses, a short signature, a signature in English capitals, or more than one signature. Clause 3.15 rejects it for a missing handwriting sample or handwritten declaration. None of that is a judgement call and none of it can be fixed after 25 April.

Practical points for the day

• Reach within the reporting window, which ends a full hour before the paper starts. After it you are not admitted.
• Carry an original photo identity document. The rulebook says contradictory things about e-Aadhaar; an original voter card, PAN card, physical Aadhaar card, driving licence or passport ends the argument.
• If your Aadhaar is locked, unlock it before the day, or biometric verification fails and you cannot sit.
• Black ballpoint pen, and part two of the admit card already filled in.
• You cannot leave the hall before the paper ends.
• When the two hours are up the screen shows your RAW Score and you have to type that number before Submit becomes active. Read it; do not guess at it.
• If you want a scribe or extra time, the complete request has to reach the Board ten days before the examination, and the scribe must hold a qualification one level below the examination's minimum.

One structural fact worth planning around

Just under half the posts, 1,152 of 2,317, are earmarked for serving contractual employees, and every Nursing Officer post is for women only. Contractual service under the department counts for more than any amount of revision. If you do not, the field you are competing in is the 1,016 open posts, not the 2,317.

The Board publishes its own question papers, and for this examination they are worth more than any commercial set, because Part A has no syllabus at all and the only way to see what it contains is to look at what the Board has actually asked.

• Group-5 Staff Nurse, Paramedical and Other Post Combined Recruitment Test 2024
• Paramedical Combined Recruitment Test 2025
• Group-5 Staff Nurse and Other Post Combined Recruitment Test 2023
• Group-5 Staff Nurse and Other Direct and Backlog Post Combined Recruitment Test 2022
• Post Basic B.Sc. Nursing and M.Sc. Nursing Selection Test 2025
• The full index, with the model answer pages for the older recruitments

The Group-5 papers are the closest match: same Board, same computer based system, same style, for nursing and paramedical posts, and the 2026 edition ran a month before this one. The Pre-Nursing and Post Basic papers are entrance tests rather than recruitment tests, so use them for the science and the general block.

Nothing for this recruitment is on the index yet. When it appears it will come in the rulebook's order: subject-wise model answers, the three day objection window, then the key committee's final recommendations. Read the model answers against the final recommendations, because that comparison is the only way to see which questions were struck out, and a deletion changes every candidate's mark.

• Madhya Pradesh Employees Selection Board, official website
• Rulebook index
• Rulebook, Nursing Officer and Sister Tutor Recruitment Test 2026
• Rulebook, Group-5 Staff Nurse, Paramedical and Other Post Combined Recruitment Test 2026
• Admit card, Nursing Officer and Sister Tutor Recruitment Test 2026
• Admit card index
• Results index
• Old question papers
• Question objections and response sheet
• Important notices to candidates
• Examination calendar
• MPOnline, where the application form is filled
• The Board's Act and Regulations

What is MPESB Nursing Officer?

The Madhya Pradesh Employees Selection Board's recruitment to the regular posts of Nursing Officer and Sister Tutor under the Directorate of Public Health and Medical Education. The 2026 cycle advertises 2,317 posts, 2,099 Nursing Officer and 218 Sister Tutor, and its paper began on 15 May 2026.

Can men apply for Nursing Officer?

No. All eleven Nursing Officer post code tables are marked for women candidates only. Sister Tutor, post code 12, is the one post whose roster has an open column.

Is this the same as the Group-5 examination?

No. Group-5 is a separate Combined Recruitment Test for Staff Nurse, Paramedical Staff and other equivalent posts, held on 15 April 2026 with its own rulebook, its own window that closed on 30 March, and a fee charged per question paper.

What is the examination pattern?

One paper of 100 marks in two hours, computer based. Part A is 25 marks of General Knowledge, Hindi, English, Mathematics, Science and Aptitude. Part B is 75 marks on the B.Sc. Nursing curriculum.

Is there negative marking?

Yes, 0.25 for a wrong answer against 1 for a correct one. On four options a guess has an expected value of about 0.06, so blind guessing beats a blank very slightly, and eliminating one option makes answering clearly worthwhile.

What happens to my marks if a question is cancelled?

Nobody gets a free mark. Every candidate is credited in proportion to the marks they earned on the questions that survived. On a 100 question paper with 2 deleted, 90 on the remaining 98 becomes 90 × 100 / 98 = 91.83, to two decimal places.

The paper ran in two shifts. How are they compared?

By the Normalised Equi-Percentile scaling technique. Each candidate gets a percentile within their own shift, and the two shifts' percentiles combine into one merit list, rounded to six decimal places. The qualifying mark, though, is applied to the proportionate score.

What are the qualifying marks, and what was the cut off?

Fifty per cent for unreserved candidates and forty for SC, ST, OBC, EWS and disabled candidates, which on 100 marks is 50 and 40. That is a floor, not a cut off. The Board has declared no result for this recruitment and published no cut off.

What qualification do I need for Nursing Officer?

Class 12 under 10+2 with Physics, Chemistry and Biology; a four year B.Sc. Nursing, or General Nursing followed by the two year Post Basic B.Sc. Nursing course, passed with at least 45 per cent (40 for SC, ST and OBC); and live registration with the Madhya Pradesh Nurses Registration Council. All complete on the last date of the application.

How does Sister Tutor differ?

Same school and degree requirements with no 45 per cent bar stated, plus one year of experience. It pays Rs 36,200 at Level 9 against Rs 28,700 at Level 7, and both posts sit the same paper on the same syllabus.

What is the age limit?

Eighteen to forty on 1 January 2026 for unreserved men, and forty-five for every woman candidate whatever her category, as for SC, ST and OBC candidates and serving government employees. Since every Nursing Officer post is for women, 45 is the working limit there. Economically Weaker Section candidates get no age relaxation at all.

Why are so many posts reserved for contractual employees?

Because the department's roster says so. Of 2,317 posts, 1,152 are earmarked for serving contractual employees and 149 for ex-servicemen, leaving 1,016 in open competition. And clause 3.1(v) says that where a post is advertised only under such a sub-category and nobody eligible comes forward, it simply stays vacant.

Why does the rulebook print each vacancy table twice?

Because part of the Other Backward Class reservation is before the High Court. The main table covers 87 per cent of the posts at 14 per cent OBC reservation; the remaining 13 per cent sits in a provisional and notional table, listed both as OBC and as Unreserved. Read the main table as the live one.

What is the preference order and why does it matter?

You file one application covering every post you are eligible for and rank them inside it. A post you leave out will not be considered for you however high you score, and once a post is allotted you go on the waiting list of the posts above it and appear nowhere against those below. List every post, in the order you really want them.

What does it cost to apply?

Rs 500 unreserved and Rs 250 for SC, ST, OBC, EWS and disabled candidates who are native residents of Madhya Pradesh, with no fee for backlog posts. MPOnline adds Rs 60 at a kiosk or Rs 20 for a registered user. A reserved category candidate from another state pays the unreserved fee.

Can I correct a mistake in my form?

Only between 6 and 25 April 2026, on payment each time. The application number, transaction ID, Board application number, mobile number and e-mail can never be changed. After 25 April nothing is accepted, and once the admit card is issued no error is corrected at all.

Is an e-Aadhaar printout accepted at the centre?

The rulebook says both things. Its first page and clause 3.37(9) accept an e-Aadhaar printout if UIDAI has verified it; clause 3.3(iii) says it is not accepted. Carry an original physical photo identity document and the question does not arise.

What if my biometric verification fails?

Clause 3.37(2) is plain: a candidate whose Aadhaar-enabled biometric verification does not succeed at the centre is not eligible to sit the examination. If your Aadhaar is locked, unlock it before the day.

Can I ask for a recount if I miss by half a mark?

No. Clause 3.29 provides no re-counting and no re-evaluation after the result. The only stage at which a mark can change is the three day objection window, which costs Rs 150 a question and must be used online.

Do Baiga, Sahariya and Bhariya candidates sit this paper?

No. For non-executive posts such as these they apply in hard copy direct to the department, not to the Board, by the last date, and are appointed against Scheduled Tribe vacancies before the examination.

Is there a bond, and how soon does the appointment come?

A successful candidate executes an agreement in the sum of Rs 5,00,000 consenting to work under the department for at least five years. The department must issue appointment orders within three months of the Board's selection list, with no extension entertained.