NCERT LDC Syllabus, Exam Pattern, Eligibility

Two stages: a computer based test that produces the merit list, and a typing test that qualifies a candidate to be on it.

The qualifying rule is two tests, not one. A candidate must clear the percentage in Section A and in Section B separately: 20 of 50 and 28 of 70 for an Unreserved candidate. A strong total built on one section does not qualify.

NCERT gives the exact split for Section A and names Section B only by subject, with a caveat across the whole table: "The weightage of marks may slightly vary depending on circumstances."

The typing test

Both computed at five key depressions a word, on a computer. It is pass or fail and carries no marks; the merit list comes from the CBT.

NCERT runs a mock test before each sitting and opens an objection window after it, each notified separately. It also reserves the right to raise or lower the qualifying or final cut-off marks, and to hold or not hold a written test for any post without prior notice.

NCERT publishes a 40-page Marking Scheme and Syllabus alongside the advertisement, with a page for each post. For Lower Division Clerk it names the subjects without a per-topic breakdown.

Section A, 50 marks

General English, 15 questions. Grammar and usage at intermediate level: parts of speech, tense, subject-verb agreement, articles and prepositions, voice, narration, common errors, sentence improvement, synonyms and antonyms, idioms and phrases, one word substitution and spelling.

Comprehension, 10 questions. Passage-based, and tested separately from the grammar, so practise passages as their own skill.

General Awareness, 15 questions. Indian polity and the Constitution, history and the freedom movement, geography, economy, general science and the static ground. Since the employer is NCERT, read the school education system too: the National Education Policy 2020, the National Curriculum Framework, and what NCERT itself does.

Current Affairs, 10 questions. Named separately from General Awareness, so recent events carry their own block. Read about a year back.

Section B, 70 marks

Quantitative Aptitude. Intermediate level: number system, simplification, LCM and HCF, percentage, ratio and proportion, average, profit and loss, discount, simple and compound interest, time and work, time speed and distance, mensuration, elementary algebra, and data interpretation from tables and graphs.

Logical Reasoning. Series, analogy, classification, coding and decoding, blood relations, direction sense, ranking and ordering, syllogism, statement and conclusion, Venn diagrams and non-verbal items.

Computer Knowledge. Fundamentals, components, hardware and software, operating systems, word processing, spreadsheets, internet and email, and basic security. For a post whose essential qualification is a typing speed on a computer, this is no peripheral head.

NCERT ends its own list with "etc.", so it does not commit to those three subjects exhausting Section B.

The typing test is outside the syllabus: 35 words a minute in English or 30 in Hindi, on a computer, at five key depressions a word. Practise to the speed and then stop, since exceeding it gains nothing.

The typing speed is listed as an essential qualification, so you are expected to hold it when you apply, and it is verified by an actual test after the CBT.

Age

27 is the ceiling NCERT uses for most Group C posts in this advertisement, with relaxation for SC, ST, OBC (NCL), PwBD and Ex-Servicemen under Government of India rules. If you are already in government service, note that age relaxation is not given where you have resigned, where there is a gap in service, or where no No Objection Certificate is provided.

Reservation

• SC, ST and OBC (NCL) reservation follows the Central Lists. A caste in a state list but not the central one does not qualify.
• A reserved category candidate selected on their own merit without any relaxed standard counts against the unreserved vacancies, and the reserved ones are filled separately.
• Anyone who qualifies on a relaxed standard, of age, experience, qualification or extended zone of consideration, counts against the reserved vacancies whatever their merit position.
• Ex-Servicemen reservation applies only where a post is advertised under that category, though an ESM candidate may still apply elsewhere using the age relaxation. LDC carries nine ESM posts, the largest ESM block in the advertisement.

Certificates, with two dates that cannot be fixed later

• OBC (Non-Creamy Layer): issued on or after 1 April 2025, after the close of financial year 2024-25, and not later than the closing date of applications. You must not be in the creamy layer on the crucial date.
• EWS: issued on exactly the same terms.
• SC, ST and OBC (NCL) certificates must be in the prescribed proforma, naming the caste, the Act or Order recognising it in the Central List, and the village or town of ordinary residence.
• PwBD: the disability must fall within the categories NCERT identifies for the post, under the Schedule to the RPwD Act 2016.

Experience and the NOC

Experience is not required for LDC, but if you apply for any other post in the same advertisement the rules are strict: education and experience must be complete on or before the closing date; experience counts only if gained after the essential qualification; part-time work, internships, apprenticeships, freelance work and daily wages do not count, bar one narrow exception for a SAS apprentice in the Indian Audit and Accounts or Defence Accounts Department. Certificates must come from the head of the organisation with exact dates, basic and consolidated pay, and the duties performed.

Candidates employed by a state or central government, a PSU or an autonomous body must submit a No Objection Certificate. Failure to submit it by the due date cancels the candidature. NCERT may instead accept, at its discretion, proof of acceptance of resignation with an original relieving letter at joining.

Three steps, and the first does almost all the work: the Computer Based Test, 120 marks in two hours; the computer typing speed test, qualifying; then document verification and the select and waiting panels.

NCERT puts it this way: "The candidate will be shortlisted on the basis of CBT, which will qualify a candidate for the merit list. Those who qualify in the CBT will have to appear in computer typing speed test." The provisional merit list is drawn on the CBT marks.

From 10,541 present to 496 shortlisted is about 21 to 1, and 496 against 54 posts is a little over nine per vacancy. The written paper settles the contest; the typing test then removes those who cannot type to speed.

The typing test

35 w.p.m. in English or 30 in Hindi, at five key depressions a word, on a computer. Pass or fail, no marks. NCERT publishes a separate instructions and guidelines document for the typing test and document verification, and issues its admit card through its own link.

What the Council reserves

• The right to raise or lower the qualifying or final cut-off marks for shortlisting or final selection.
• The right to hold a written test for all posts, or not to hold one for any post, with or without prior notice.
• The right to allot an examination centre in any city, state or union territory in India, whatever the preferences in the application. No correspondence about a change of centre is entertained.

Canvassing in any form is a disqualification. NCERT has published individual notices cancelling the candidature of named candidates, including for Lower Division Clerk, so the verification stage has teeth.

Level 2 is one step above the entry level of the central matrix. NCERT prints the pre-revised scale alongside the level throughout the advertisement, which pins the grade down exactly.

Where you would be posted

The advertisement gives the pay level and the pre-revised scale but does not itemise allowances, probation or pension for this post, so treat any in-hand figure quoted elsewhere with care.

Online only, through the link NCERT publishes on its vacancies page. An application without the prescribed fee is summarily rejected.

The fee is charged for each post, so applying to more than one costs more than once, and women are not exempt at NCERT, unlike several comparable central bodies. It is never refunded or adjusted. Payment is online by debit card, credit card or net banking, with bank charges on the candidate.

The payment step, and how it fails

• After submitting payment information, wait for the server. Do not press back or refresh, which risks a double charge.
• Success generates an E-Receipt. No E-Receipt means the payment failed.
• On failure, log in again with the provisional registration number and password and repeat the payment.
• Print the E-Receipt and the application form showing the fee details.

The two certificate dates

An OBC (Non-Creamy Layer) certificate and an EWS certificate must each be issued on or after 1 April 2025, after the close of financial year 2024-25, and not later than the closing date. Obtained too early is as useless as too late. Caste certificates must be in the Government of India proforma, naming the caste, the Act or Order recognising it in the Central List, and the village or town of ordinary residence.

Government, PSU and autonomous body employees need a No Objection Certificate; failure to submit it by the due date cancels the candidature.

NCERT extended the window by a little over two weeks by a separate notice, so watch the vacancies page after a deadline as well as before one. The Council takes no responsibility if the admit card email or SMS does not arrive, entertains no correspondence about a change of centre, and will not consider a qualification or experience completed after the closing date.

NCERT is the sole recruiting body, conducting this recruitment itself through its Non-Academic section. No commission or outside agency is named in the advertisement.

The network, and the codes the vacancy tables use

Read the vacancy table by establishment as well as by category, because reserved vacancies are allocated to particular institutes.

NCERT keeps its academic and non-academic recruitments in separate folders on the same vacancies page. The academic folder holds Professors, Associate and Assistant Professors, Regional Institute Principals and the PGT and TGT posts of the Demonstration Multipurpose Schools, under their own advertisement numbers. An LDC candidate wants the non-academic folder and only that one.

The same page carries notices of Limited Departmental Competitive Examinations for serving staff, for Assistant, Section Officer and Assistant Programme Coordinator at a 25 per cent quota each, and Senior Accountant at 75 per cent. Those are internal, but they show the ladder an LDC joins at the bottom of.

The computer based test is held in all major states and union territories, subject to NCERT receiving enough applications from a place. The Council does not publish the list of cities in the advertisement.

The centre is NCERT's to allot, and the advertisement forecloses the usual appeal: "The Council reserves the right to allot exam centre in any City/State/UTs across India to any candidate as per the availability, irrespective of the choices/preferences ... and no correspondence regarding change of exam centre will be entertained." The preference on the form is a preference and nothing more.

One post, one date

With 47 post codes to examine, NCERT fixes a single date for each post rather than running everything together. In the 2026 cycle the sittings ran across five days.

LDC got a day to itself, which is what 32,864 registered candidates required, and it was the last sitting of the cycle.

The typing test and document verification are a separate call, after the CBT result, with their own admit card link and instructions document. Only the 496 shortlisted candidates attend.

NCERT has no annual calendar for its non-academic recruitment. It advertises the whole block at once, at intervals of several years, then runs the sittings post by post over months.

The application window ran about five weeks after an extension, LDC was examined last and alone, and every sitting has three notices attached to it: a CBT schedule notification, a mock test link a few days before, and an objection window afterwards.

The closing date for online applications fixes everything. Qualifications and experience must be complete on or before it, experience acquired after it is not considered, and the OBC (NCL) and EWS certificates must be dated on or after 1 April 2025 and not later than that date.

The previous advertisement, No. 11-4/2019-20/E-III(R-II)/Rect(D), was six years earlier, and NCERT was still working through it in 2025 and 2026: cut-offs for Junior Accountant and Lab Assistant on 23 June 2025, marks lists for Assistant, and a waiting-list selection notice that September. Two advertisements six years apart, each taking years to finish, is the pattern to plan around.

The admit card is downloaded from NCERT's vacancies page, through a link published for each sitting. Nothing is sent by post.

The advertisement puts the responsibility on the candidate: separate emails or SMS may be sent about the release of the admit card, but NCERT will not be responsible if a candidate does not receive them, and advises visiting the website regularly. Treat the website as the channel and any message as a bonus.

For Lower Division Clerk the Council published all four in order, then a separate admit card link and instructions document for the computer typing test and document verification. Two admit cards, one per stage. It also issued a CBT date change notice for two other posts in this cycle, so a notified date can move and the page is where it will be said.

The centre on the card may not be the city you chose: NCERT allots centres anywhere in India irrespective of preference, and entertains no correspondence about changing one. Carry the E-Receipt and the application printout; if the E-Receipt could not be generated, the fee transaction was not successful.

NCERT publishes its results as dated notices on the vacancies page, in the non-academic folder, and it publishes more of the process than most recruiters: an attendance report post by post, shortlists for the typing test and document verification, category-wise cut-off marks when a post is completed, typing test results, waiting list selections and cancellations of individual candidatures.

The shortlist runs to twelve pages, in alphabetical order by name, with the application sequence number and roll number.

There is no published answer key beyond the objection window and no candidate-wise mark sheet. The Council keeps the right to raise or lower the qualifying or final cut-off marks, and selection stays subject to verification of character, antecedents, caste, educational and experience documents throughout. NCERT has published notices cancelling named candidatures, including one for Lower Division Clerk.

NCERT publishes a qualifying minimum in advance and a cut-off afterwards, and they mean different things.

The word each matters. This is not a threshold on the 120-mark total but two separate thresholds, so a candidate who scores heavily in Section B and falls below 40 per cent in Section A does not qualify.

A cut-off is defined on the face of NCERT's notices as "the score obtained in CBT by the last candidates in the select panel/waiting panel who were offered the post after being found eligible in Document Verification as on date". It is where the panel that actually got offers closed, not a shortlisting line and not the qualifying minimum.

Those three decimal places are the signature of a normalised score. And on Lab Assistant the SC cut-off equalled the unreserved one while the six ST vacancies produced no eligible candidate at all, so a reserved category with few candidates does not automatically mean an easier line.

No LDC cut-off had been published as at 12 September 2026, only the attendance report and the shortlist of 496. NCERT declares cut-offs when a post is completed, so it will follow the typing test and verification. Going from 10,541 present to 496 shortlisted means roughly the top 4.7 per cent of those who sat went forward, which makes the 40 per cent minimum a floor rather than a target. The advertisement also reserves to the Council the right to raise or lower those percentages.

Clear both sections, not just the total

The qualifying minimum applies to each section separately. An Unreserved candidate needs 20 of the 50 in Section A and 28 of the 70 in Section B. A brilliant Section B does not rescue a weak Section A. Build a floor under both before building a ceiling on either.

Section B is bigger, so weight it

Seventy of the 120 marks sit there. If your preparation time splits anywhere, split it seven to five.

Take computer knowledge seriously

It sits inside Section B and connects directly to the post, whose essential qualification includes a typing speed on a computer. The syllabus at this level is small and finite, which makes it efficient marks.

Reach the typing speed early, then stop

35 w.p.m. in English or 30 in Hindi, at five key depressions a word, on a computer. It carries no marks, so there is nothing to gain by exceeding it and everything to lose by falling short after clearing the written paper. Practise on a keyboard, in the language you will be tested in.

Practise from CHSL, under NCERT's rules

SSC CHSL material is the nearest published practice at the same 10+2 level, but its Tier 1 is 100 questions in 60 minutes with a 0.50 penalty and an overall cut-off. NCERT gives 120 questions in 120 minutes, a 0.25 penalty and a percentage in each section. Take the content from SSC and the rules from NCERT, and sit NCERT's own mock test when it opens.

Answer accurately

Four wrong answers cancel one right one, in both sections. Two hours for 120 questions leaves time to think, so there is little excuse for a blind guess here.

Get the certificate dates right in both directions

OBC (NCL) and EWS certificates must be dated on or after 1 April following the close of the preceding financial year and not later than the closing date. Reservation follows the Central Lists only. These conditions quietly convert a reserved category candidate into an unreserved one.

Budget ₹1,000

Per post, for UR, OBC and EWS candidates, never refunded. SC, ST, PwBD and ESM pay nothing, and NCERT does not exempt women. At the payment step, wait for the server and do not press back or refresh. No E-Receipt means the payment failed.

Be ready to travel, and watch one page

NCERT allots centres anywhere in India irrespective of your preference. Everything for this recruitment appears on the vacancies page, in the non-academic folder, and the Council extended the last date by more than two weeks in this cycle by a notice there. The previous non-academic advertisement was six years earlier, so apply when the block comes up.

No previous year papers or sample papers are available for this exam as of now. NCERT releases none for its non-academic recruitment. A free mock test link appears on the vacancies page a few days before each sitting, as it did for the LDC paper of 15 May 2026.

Official

• National Council of Educational Research and Training
• NCERT Vacancies, where every notice for this recruitment appears, in separate academic and non-academic folders

Advertisement No. 01/2025/Non-Academic

• Detailed advertisement, 39 pages, with the 173 vacancies including the 54 LDC posts
• Marking Scheme and Syllabus, 40 pages
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Recruitment Rules for non-academic posts

The Lower Division Clerk cycle

• CBT schedule notification for LDC
• Objection window notice for the LDC paper
• List of 496 candidates shortlisted for the typing test and document verification
• Instructions for the computer typing test and document verification

The numbers

• Attendance report for all 33 CBT sittings, 7 July 2026
• Cut-off marks for Junior Accountant and Lab Assistant, 23 June 2025, which also defines what NCERT means by a cut-off
• Staff Selection Commission, whose CHSL papers are the nearest published practice at the same level

Who conducts the NCERT LDC recruitment?

NCERT itself, through its Non-Academic section, under Advertisement No. 01/2025/Non-Academic. No commission or outside agency is named.

How many Lower Division Clerk posts were advertised?

54, the largest single post in the advertisement: 18 UR, 16 OBC (NCL), 9 SC, 7 ST and 4 EWS, with 3 horizontally reserved for PwBD and 9 for Ex-Servicemen. The whole advertisement carried 173 posts.

Where are the posts?

38 at the National Institute of Education in New Delhi, and the rest at the Regional Institutes of Education at Bhopal (6), Ajmer (5) and Bhubaneswar (3) and the North East Regional Institute at Shillong (2).

What qualification is needed?

Intermediate, 10+2 or equivalent, and a typing speed of 35 words a minute in English or 30 in Hindi on a computer. The typing speed is an essential qualification, not merely a later test.

What is the age limit?

27 years, with the usual relaxations. Age relaxation is not given to a government employee who has resigned, who has a gap in service, or who provides no NOC.

What is the exam pattern?

A computer based test of 120 marks in two hours. Section A is 50 questions: General English 15, Comprehension 10, General Awareness 15, Current Affairs 10. Section B is 70 questions on Quantitative Aptitude, Logical Reasoning and Computer Knowledge.

Is there negative marking?

Yes, 0.25 off a wrong answer in both sections.

What are the qualifying marks?

40 per cent for UR and 35 per cent for SC, ST, OBC and PwBD, in each Section separately. It is not a threshold on the 120-mark total.

Is there a typing test?

Yes, after the CBT: 35 w.p.m. in English or 30 in Hindi, at five key depressions a word. It is qualifying and carries no marks.

Is there an interview?

No. The mode of selection is written test, and the provisional merit list comes from the CBT marks.

How many people applied?

32,864 registered, 10,541 were present and 22,323 absent, an attendance of 32 per cent. That was 83 per cent of the 39,585 who registered across all 33 sittings.

How many were shortlisted?

496, for the typing test and document verification, against 54 posts. Roughly the top 5 per cent of those who sat.

Does NCERT publish cut-off marks?

Yes, but only when a post is completed, and narrowly defined: the CBT score of the last candidates in the select or waiting panel who were offered the post after being found eligible at document verification. No LDC cut-off had been published as at 12 September 2026.

What is the application fee?

₹1,000 for each Level 2 to 5 post, for UR, OBC and EWS. SC, ST, PwBD and ESM pay nothing. Women are not exempt. It is never refunded, and an application without it is summarily rejected.

What certificate dates should I watch?

OBC (NCL) and EWS certificates must each be issued on or after 1 April following the close of the preceding financial year, and not later than the closing date. Too early is as bad as too late, and reservation follows the Central Lists only.

Can I choose my exam centre?

You can state a preference, but NCERT allots centres anywhere in India irrespective of it and entertains no correspondence about a change.

What is the pay?

Level 2 of the 7th CPC matrix, which NCERT equates to pre-revised PB-1 ₹5,200 to ₹20,200 with grade pay ₹1,900.

When was the last cycle?

Applications opened 27 December 2025, closed 16 January 2026 and were extended to 2 February 2026. The LDC paper was on 15 May 2026, and the attendance report followed on 7 July 2026.

How often does NCERT advertise this post?

Rarely. The previous non-academic advertisement was numbered 11-4/2019-20 and NCERT was still declaring results under it in 2025 and 2026. There is no annual cycle.