RPSC RAS Syllabus, Exam Pattern, Eligibility

The Preliminary

150 questions for 200 marks puts each one at one and one third marks, so a wrong answer costs about 0.44.

The answer sheet, and the rule that disqualifies

On 150 questions that threshold is fifteen. Leave sixteen circles blank and you are out, however well you answered the rest. Use a blue ball point pen, and use the ten minutes added beyond the scheduled time to check that every question carries a circle.

The Main Examination

All four are descriptive and analytical, every candidate sits all four, and each mixes brief, medium and long answer questions. Paper IV is set at Senior Secondary standard.

How each Mains paper is built

RPSC publishes the internal structure of every paper. A five mark answer runs to 50 words, a ten mark answer to 150.

Papers I to III each run to about 28 questions in 180 minutes, roughly six minutes a question. The Commission cautions that the scheme is only for general guidance and the unit wise distribution may vary.

Three rules about how you write, which carry marks

• Answer in Hindi or in English, and not one paper partly in each unless specifically allowed.
• Handwriting that is not easily legible draws a deduction from the total marks otherwise accruing.
• Credit is given for orderly, effective and exact expression combined with due economy of words.

The Commission published the scheme and syllabus for both stages on 9 January 2026, in Hindi and English, separately from the advertisement: Preliminary and Mains.

Preliminary: General Knowledge and General Science

That last entry puts the state's anti-cheating law for recruitment exams on the syllabus of the paper it governs.

Mains: four descriptive papers

Inside Paper IV

Senior Secondary standard, but 200 marks, a quarter of the written total. The English unit asks for grammar and usage, including phrasal verbs and idioms, one word substitutes and words often confused or misused, all tested in application, then two blocks of written work:

• Comprehension, translation and precis, 30 marks: an unseen passage of about 300 words with five questions, a precis of it in about 100 words, and five sentences translated from Hindi to English.
• Composition and letter writing, 20 marks: a given theme elaborated in about 150 words, one of three; and an official letter, demi-official letter, official memorandum or report in about 150 words.

The essay, which has a published specification

Forty marks, one essay of about 600 words in Hindi or English, chosen from six thematic areas fixed in advance:

1. Language, Literature, and Cultural Heritage.
2. Society, Governance, and Public Affairs.
3. Science, Technology, Environment, and Sustainable Development.
4. Economy, Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce.
5. Current Affairs, Disasters, and National Development Initiatives.
6. Tourism, Culture, and Contemporary Issues with reference to Rajasthan.

Candidates are expected to keep strict relevance to the subject, organise their ideas coherently and write with precision and brevity. Credit goes to clarity of thought, coherence of structure and effectiveness of expression.

Qualification

A degree of a university incorporated by an Act of the Central or State Legislature in India, of an institution established by an Act of Parliament or deemed a university under section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, or an equivalent the Government recognises in consultation with the Commission. Final year students may apply, but have to produce proof of the qualification before the Mains.

Age, reckoned as on 1 January 2027

From 21 to under 40, or 25 to under 45 for non-gazetted employees applying against posts reserved for them. These posts were advertised once before, in 2024, with age reckoned as on 1 January 2025; moving the date to 1 January 2027 gives candidates an extra year of relaxation in the maximum age under the relevant service rules.

The relaxations at points 1 to 13 are non-cumulative: you take one, not two. The five years for persons with benchmark disabilities is the exception, given on top of whichever other relaxation applies. And take any concession other than the fee, under a vertical or horizontal reservation, and you will not be considered against the general vacancies, which is the Personnel Department's position in its circulars of 26 July 2017, 14 September 2017 and 19 February 2021.

Who gets reservation

• Original residents of Rajasthan. Reserved category and ex-servicemen candidates of other states apply as general, and so do creamy layer candidates of Rajasthan.
• A woman of another state married to a native of Rajasthan has Rajasthan resident status in public employment, following the Supreme Court in Civil Appeal No. 1085/2013 of 30 August 2018 and the Rajasthan High Court in D.B.S.A.W. No. 1116/2018 of 18 September 2018, but gets no caste reservation and applies as general.
• Reservation for persons with disability is horizontal, adjusted within the candidate's own category, and ex-servicemen reservation under the 1988 Rules is categorywise horizontal.
• A vacancy reserved for widows may be filled by a divorced or judicially separated woman where no widow is available, and the other way round; then by other women of the same category, and only then by men of it. Such vacancies are not carried forward, and women selected on general merit are adjusted against the women's reservation before it is applied.

Posts reserved for departmental and non-gazetted employees

In the Subordinate Services, the posts at serial numbers 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 13, 23 and 26 go to ministerial employees of the department concerned. Only an employee working in that department should apply under the DC column; one from another department who does so is considered only against NGE posts. In the State Services, posts reserved for non-gazetted employees go to employees of the Rajasthan Government, the Panchayat Samitis and the Zila Parishads with at least five years of service, officiating or substantive, on 1 January 2027.

Selection is by competitive examination and interview, in three stages.

1. Preliminary, one objective paper of 200 marks. A screening test whose marks never enter the final merit.
2. Main Examination, four descriptive papers of 200 marks each, 800 in all.
3. Personality and viva-voce examination, 100 marks, held under rule 15.

The marks tables for each stage are under Exam Pattern. The gates between them work like this.

Preliminary to Mains

Fifteen times the total approximate number of vacancies for the year are admitted, plus everyone who scores the same marks as the Commission fixes for any lower range.

There is a second door. Where the Commission thinks that not enough candidates of a reserved category are available on the general standard, it may apply a relaxed standard to admit more of them to the Mains, and the fifteen times zone of consideration stands relaxed for that purpose. The condition attached matters: candidates who qualify this way are eligible for selection only to the posts reserved for their own categories. Reserved category here covers any category for which reservation applies, horizontal or vertical, which is wider than it sounds.

Mains to interview

Above that floor, the Commission fixes the qualifying mark for the interview in its own discretion, so the interview call is not expressed as a ratio the way the Preliminary shortlist is. Ex-servicemen get relaxation in those minimums under the Rajasthan Civil Services (Absorption of Ex-servicemen) Rules, 1988, and persons with disability under the Rajasthan Rights of Persons with Disabilities Rules, 2018.

The interview

A hundred marks, against character, personality, address and physique, and also, the Commission says expressly, for the candidate's knowledge of Rajasthani culture. That is a scoring head, not small talk.

One service has a stated preference of its own: for selection to the Rajasthan Police Service, candidates holding an NCC 'C' certificate are preferred.

The total, and afterwards

Mains 800 plus interview 100 gives a final merit of 900, so the interview is about 11 per cent of the score and the Preliminary none of it. If it needs to, the Commission may use scaling, moderation or normalisation in evaluating answer sheets and answer books; that is a power it holds, not a method it commits to in any cycle. Under rule 17 it then recommends the candidates it finds suitable to the State Government or the appointing authority, in order of merit.

This is not one post with one salary. The advertisement gives a pay matrix level for each of the 47 services it recruits to, running from L-14 down to L-10, and no rupee figure: levels in the Rajasthan pay matrix are fixed by the State Government's pay rules, not by a recruitment advertisement.

Read that against the vacancy count. Of the 607 posts, 415 are in the Subordinate Services at L-10 and L-11. The L-14 services come to about 118, of which 57 are the Rajasthan Administrative Service and 26 the Rajasthan Police Service. So the exam takes its common name from a service with 57 posts, while the single largest allocation in the advertisement is 136 Tehsildar posts at L-11.

Online only, through the Commission's site and the Rajasthan SSO portal. Applications for the 2026 cycle ran from 4 June to 3 July 2026, 12:00 midnight, under advertisement 02/2026-27 of 27 May 2026.

One Time Registration, which is how Rajasthan charges

There is no fee per exam. Under the Personnel Department (K-2) circular of 19 April 2023, one registration fee covers every recruitment exam in the state: ₹600 for general candidates and the creamy layer, ₹400 for Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, non-creamy-layer Backward and More Backward Class, Economically Weaker Sections, the Sahariya Adim Jati and persons with disability. Candidates of other states pay the general fee, and anyone registered before that date must register again through their SSO ID.

Miss two exams and your registration is blocked

Under the circular of 9 May 2025, two absences from exams held by the Commission, any Board or other recruitment institution in one financial year block the online application facility. Unblocking costs ₹750, then ₹1,500 after two more absences that year. Withdraw before the last date for withdrawal and you are not counted absent.

Corrections

Correction costs ₹500, during the application period and for 10 days after the last date, then in a 7 day window opening 60 days before the first announced exam date. Once the exam has been held, nothing can be corrected at all. Name, father's name, date of birth and gender come from the OTR profile and change only by correcting Aadhaar or Jan Aadhaar first, so check those before creating the OTR. And if no application number has been generated, the application has not been submitted.

Applying on false information, or without the qualification and then not withdrawing, is an offence under section 217 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and brings a three year debarment if the ineligibility turns up later. Anyone who realises they lack the qualification, experience or age may withdraw up to the last date for correction.

The rules it runs under

• Rajasthan State and Subordinate Services (Direct Recruitment by Combined Competitive Examination) Rules, 1999, and the Rajasthan Scheduled Areas Subordinate, Ministerial and Class IV Service Rules, 2014.
• Rajasthan Civil Services (Absorption of Ex-servicemen) Rules, 1988.
• Rajasthan Rights of Persons with Disabilities Rules, 2018, and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, whose sections 2(r) and 2(s) govern scribes.
• Rajasthan Public Examination (Measures for Prevention of Unfair Means in Recruitment) Act, 2022, and section 217 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

Forty-seven services take the successful candidates off one merit list: the state and subordinate sides of the same twenty departments, plus the Tehsildar Service and the Social Justice and Empowerment Subordinate Service in its branches. Check the advertisement number before relying on any rule: RPSC amends often, and this cycle already runs to corrigenda numbered into the teens.

The advertisement says only that the place and date will be given in due course, by press note on rpsc.rajasthan.gov.in, and candidates are told to watch the Exam Dashboard there, since no letter is issued.

The mode of the Preliminary is not fixed either: objective form, online or offline, at the Commission's discretion, so do not assume pen and paper, or a computer based test, until the press note says which. The Mains is descriptive, and that is settled.

What happens at the desk

Carry the admit card, a blue ball point pen, and a recent photograph for the attendance sheet, dated within the application period. The photograph on the admit card is matched against the one on your Aadhaar card, and a thumb impression is taken in front of the invigilator. Ten minutes of extra time is given beyond the scheduled duration, to confirm that one of the five circles is darkened for every question.

Scribes

Select the scribe option in the online application, then contact the Commission with the certificates at least two days before the exam, or one day before if you are bringing your own. The facility is open to candidates with the disabilities defined in sections 2(r) and 2(s) of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, on the medical certificates named in the Commission's own scribe instructions, which count as part of the advertisement.

The syllabus came out four and a half months before the advertisement, which lets a candidate start on a settled syllabus before the vacancies are known.

Still undated

The Preliminary, the Mains and the interview. The advertisement says the place and date will be given in due course, and the Commission publishes them by press note on its own site, under Press Notes and on the Exam Dashboard. No separate information or letter is issued, so check it from time to time.

Two other dates to hold

Corrections cost ₹500 during the application period and for 10 days after the last date, and again in a 7 day window that opens 60 days before the first announced exam date. Nothing can be corrected once the exam has been conducted.

And the financial year, 1 April to 31 March, is the period over which absences are counted for the One Time Registration blocking rule. If you have applied and decided not to sit, the date that matters is the last date for withdrawal, which the Commission announces for each exam.

Admit cards, like everything else, come through the Commission's own site. After applying, watch the Exam Dashboard: all information about the Commission's exams and recruitment is displayed and uploaded there, and no separate letter is issued.

Enter the mobile number and email address you want future information about the exam and interview sent to. If a message does not arrive because the number was changed, closed or had a network problem, that is the candidate's responsibility.

The photograph on it is checked

At the centre, the photograph printed on the admit card is matched against the photograph on your Aadhaar card. Because the OTR pulls that photograph from Aadhaar or Jan Aadhaar, the advertisement warns that if your Aadhaar photograph is three years old or older, update it before applying so the admit card carries a current one. A thumb impression is also taken on the attendance sheet in the hall, separately from the one uploaded with the application.

Results appear on the Commission's site, in its dated Results and Answer Keys listings, as separate documents for each stage:

• A model answer key, with an online facility to object to it, then a final answer key once objections are decided.
• A result preamble with cut-off marks, for each stage and each list, including the cut-off for candidates qualified for interview.
• Main and reserve merit lists, each with its own cut-off; a list of disqualified candidates by name; and pickup lists where a selected candidate does not join.

Only the Mains and the interview decide it. The marks of candidates declared qualified for the Mains are not counted in determining their final order of merit, so the final total is 900: four papers of 200 plus an interview of 100. The Commission may use scaling, moderation or normalisation in evaluating answer sheets, and under rule 17 recommends the candidates it finds suitable to the State Government or the appointing authority, in order of merit.

RPSC does publish its cut-offs, after the fact, as a result preamble and cut-off marks document for each stage and each list, in the Results listing on its site. Separate documents come out for the main list, the reserve list and the candidates qualified for interview, and those are the only figures to rely on.

Three bars that are fixed, and one that moves

The Preliminary is marked out of 200 over 150 questions, the Mains out of 800 and the final merit out of 900. The interview call is not a ratio: it rests on a minimum the Commission fixes in its discretion, above that floor.

Two rules shift where a candidate sits. Admission to the Mains under the relaxed standard leaves that candidate eligible only for posts reserved for their own category, and taking any concession other than the fee takes you out of the running for general vacancies. The vacancy count is not final either: the advertisement says the number of posts may be revised, and already carries two services at nil.

Learn the answer sheet before you learn anything else

Rajasthan's OMR sheet has five circles a question, and circle 5 means you are not attempting. Marking one circle on every question is compulsory; a bare question costs a third of its marks, the same as a wrong answer; and leaving more than fifteen of 150 bare gets you disqualified. The ten minutes of extra time exist for one job, sweeping the sheet to confirm every question carries a mark. Do not spend them attempting more questions. Carry a blue ball point pen.

Then do the arithmetic. Each question is worth about 1.33 and a wrong answer costs about 0.44, so three wrong answers cancel a right one. Work out your own threshold for a half-guess before the day, not during it.

Know where the marks actually are

The Preliminary contributes nothing to the final merit. The Mains carries 800 of the 900 and the interview 100. Inside the Mains, Paper IV is a quarter of the written total, and Senior Secondary standard makes it the easiest paper to score in and the easiest to put off. Its English unit wants precis, Hindi to English translation and an official letter or report, which are practised skills rather than things you read up.

Write to the word limit, with a stopwatch

Papers I to III each run to about 28 questions in 180 minutes, most of them five mark answers in 50 words. Six minutes a question, with marks for economy of words and a deduction for illegible handwriting. Practise writing fifty words that answer the question, by hand, in five minutes.

Take Rajasthan seriously at every stage

The largest head in the Preliminary is the history, art, culture, literature, tradition and heritage of Rajasthan, its current affairs head is expressly with special reference to Rajasthan, and Paper I of the Mains opens on the same ground. The interview awards marks for knowledge of Rajasthani culture. National material will carry you through part of this exam and not the part that distinguishes it. The essay repays the same treatment: its six thematic areas are published in advance.

And one administrative trap

Do not apply to exams you will not sit. Two absences in a financial year block your One Time Registration, and unblocking costs ₹750, then ₹1,500. Withdrawing before the last date of withdrawal keeps you off the absent list.

Everything a candidate should prepare against comes from the Commission, free, in its own listings:

• The detailed advertisement, the authority for the vacancy tables, eligibility, fees and the scheme of examination.
• The syllabus for the Preliminary and the Mains, in Hindi and English, dated 9 January 2026.
• The Mains scheme of examination, a single page few commissions match: it fixes the question count, the marks a question carries and the word limit, unit by unit.
• Model answer keys with an online objection window, final answer keys, and result preambles with the cut-off marks, in the Answer Keys and Results listings on rpsc.rajasthan.gov.in.

Material sold for this exam is worth one check: if its mock tests give four options a question instead of five, it is the wrong answer sheet, and it probably predates the syllabus of 9 January 2026 too.

• Rajasthan Public Service Commission, Ajmer. The conducting body, and the only authority for any of this. Dated listings of Recruitment Advertisements, Syllabus, Press Notes, Answer Keys and Results, plus the Exam Dashboard that replaces any letter to candidates.
• Advertisement 02/2026-27, dated 27 May 2026, for 607 posts. Vacancy tables with pay matrix levels, eligibility, age limits, reservation, the fee and the blocking rule, the correction windows, the scheme of examination, the OMR instructions and the scribe provisions.
• Scheme and syllabus, Preliminary, 9 January 2026. The paper, the negative marking and the topic list head by head.
• Scheme and syllabus, Mains, 9 January 2026. The four papers, the unit topics and the six essay themes.
• Scheme of examination, Mains, 9 January 2026. Questions, marks each and word limit for every unit.

Who conducts the RAS exam?

The Rajasthan Public Service Commission, at Ajmer. Its formal name is the Rajasthan State and Subordinate Services Combined Competitive Examination.

How many posts are there?

607 under advertisement 02/2026-27 of 27 May 2026: 192 State Service and 415 Subordinate Service posts. The number may be revised.

What is the Preliminary pattern, and does it count?

One paper, General Knowledge and General Science, 150 objective questions for 200 marks in three hours, at degree standard, online or offline. It screens only: the marks of those who qualify for the Mains do not enter the final order of merit.

How many options are there, and what if I leave a question blank?

Five circles a question, and circle 5 means you are not attempting. A question with nothing darkened costs a third of its marks, the same as a wrong answer, and leaving more than fifteen of the 150 bare disqualifies you. Ten minutes of extra time is given so you can check the sheet, with a blue ball point pen.

How many are admitted to the Mains?

Fifteen times the approximate vacancies, plus everyone who scores the same marks as the Commission fixes for any lower range.

What is the Mains pattern?

Four descriptive papers of 200 marks and three hours each: General Studies I, II and III, and General Hindi and General English. The language paper is at Senior Secondary standard.

What must I score in the Mains to reach the interview?

At least 10 per cent in each paper and 15 per cent in the aggregate, with a 5 point relaxation for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates, and relaxation for ex-servicemen and persons with disability.

How many marks is the interview, and what is marked?

100, giving a final total of 900. Character, personality, address and physique, and expressly the candidate's knowledge of Rajasthani culture. An NCC 'C' certificate is a stated preference for the Rajasthan Police Service.

Can I write in Hindi, and does handwriting matter?

Hindi or English, including the essay, but not one paper partly in each unless specifically allowed. Illegible handwriting draws a deduction, and credit goes to economy of words.

What is the age limit, and what relaxations are there?

21 to under 40 as on 1 January 2027, or 25 to under 45 for non-gazetted employees against posts reserved for them. Five years for men of the reserved categories and Economically Weaker Sections of Rajasthan, ten for women of those categories, five for general category women, and no upper limit for widows and divorced women. The relaxations are non-cumulative, except the five years for persons with benchmark disabilities.

What is the fee?

A One Time Registration fee covering every recruitment exam in the state, not a fee per exam: ₹600 for general candidates and the creamy layer, ₹400 for reserved categories, EWS, the Sahariya Adim Jati and persons with disability.

Can my registration be blocked?

Yes. Two absences from recruitment exams in one financial year block it; unblocking costs ₹750, and ₹1,500 the second time. Withdraw before the last date for withdrawal and you are not counted absent.

Can I correct my application?

For ₹500, during the application period and for 10 days after the last date, and again in a 7 day window opening 60 days before the first announced exam date. Name, father's name, date of birth and gender change only by correcting Aadhaar first, and nothing at all can be corrected after the exam.

What qualification is needed?

A degree of a recognised Indian university, or an equivalent the Government recognises in consultation with the Commission. Final year students may apply but must prove the qualification before the Mains.