UKMSSB Nursing Officer Syllabus, Exam Pattern, Eligibility

Objective, four options a question, 3 hours for both papers together. 1 mark for a correct answer and one quarter deducted for a wrong one. Questions and options appear in both Hindi and English, on an OMR sheet in triplicate with carbon. The paper is proposed for April or May 2026.

Paper 1 differs by qualification. Diploma holders and degree holders sit different first papers on different subject weightings; Paper 2 is common. The minimum qualifying mark is 45 per cent (90 of 200) for unreserved, OBC and EWS candidates and 35 per cent (70) for SC and ST candidates.

Negative marking makes both harder than they look. A candidate scores R minus 0.25W, so a full attempt of 200 questions needs 112 correct to reach 90 and about 96 to reach 70; attempt 160 and get 100 right and you score 85, still short of the 45 per cent bar. A blind guess among four options is worth an expected 0.0625 of a mark, so guessing does not hurt on average and eliminating one option makes answering clearly right.

Four penalty rules, and two of them are unusual

1. One quarter of the marks for a question is deducted for a wrong answer.
2. More than one answer counts as wrong, and carries the same penalty, even if one of the answers given is correct.
3. An unanswered question attracts no penalty.
4. Whitener, scratching or tampering with an option is itself penalised. Erase a circle with whitener and fill another and you get no mark for the answer and lose the negative mark too.

Rule four is what catches people. Changing your mind costs as much as being wrong, plus the mark you would have earned. Decide before you darken.

The mistake that voids the whole sheet

A wrong roll number or wrong booklet series on the OMR sheet, or those boxes left blank, means the sheet is not evaluated and the candidature is cancelled automatically. No appeal is contemplated.

What you take home

Two things, which is unusual: the question booklet, and the third copy of the OMR sheet. The original and second copy go to the invigilator, and a candidate who leaves with the original has their result withheld and faces legal action.

The answer key goes up on www.ukmssb.org after the exam, and objections with evidence must reach the Board within seven days of publication. Nothing later is entertained.

Two small rules for the hall: a male candidate gives the left thumb impression on the attendance sheet and a female candidate the right; and calculators, watches, smart watches, mobile phones, pagers and any electronic or communication device are prohibited. Ties go to the candidate holding the preferential qualification, which is two years' Territorial Army service or an NCC 'B' or 'C' certificate.

Appendix-A of both 2025 advertisements carries the same syllabus: 200 marks in three hours across two papers, with the first depending on whether you hold a diploma or a degree.

Paper 1, 100 marks, diploma holders

Paper 1, 100 marks, degree holders

The shapes differ. The diploma paper is clinical: four subjects carry fifteen questions each, and they are medical surgical, nutrition and dietetics, child health and community health. The degree paper is flatter and broader, with ten questions in most subjects and four headings the diploma paper does not set at all: Nursing Education, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Statistics, and Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Psychology and Maternal Health Nursing run the other way, appearing only on the diploma paper.

Paper 2, 100 marks, common to both

So the 200 marks divide 100 for nursing subjects, 40 for General Studies, 40 for General Knowledge and 20 for General Hindi. Half the examination is not nursing, and the qualifying bar of 90 marks cannot be reached on the nursing half alone without a near perfect score.

Qualification

Any one of four routes: B.Sc. (Hons) Nursing, a regular B.Sc. Nursing course, Post Basic B.Sc. Nursing, or a Diploma in General Nursing and Midwifery or in Psychiatric Nursing, each from a university or institution recognised by the Indian Nursing Council. Add a registration certificate in the qualification held and a working knowledge of Hindi. Two years in the Territorial Army or an NCC 'B' or 'C' certificate is a preferential qualification, which breaks ties rather than creating eligibility.

The registration rule, which the Board prints in red

Clause 6 is set in red type, which is the Board's own way of marking where candidatures are lost:

• You must hold a permanent registration certificate of the Uttarakhand Nursing and Midwifery Council by the last date of the online application.
• A registration not valid or not renewed by that date makes you ineligible.
• A scanned copy of that certificate must be uploaded with the application.
• An NUID card, or a receipt for an application for registration, is not accepted.
• Even a candidate who passes the written examination is declared ineligible without it.

Registration somewhere else does not count, and having applied does not count. The certificate must exist, be current and be from the Uttarakhand council on the closing date.

Age: 21 to 42, as on 1 July 2025

• Uttarakhand SC, ST and OBC: 5 years.
• Dependants of Uttarakhand freedom fighters: 5 years.
• Uttarakhand persons with disability: 10 years.
• Uttarakhand ex-servicemen: armed forces service is deducted from actual age, and if the result exceeds the maximum by not more than three years the age condition is treated as satisfied. An ex-serviceman already in state Group C or D service keeps the age relaxation for a higher grade but gets no ex-serviceman reservation.
• Orphan children: relaxation against the horizontal category claimed.
• EWS candidates get no age relaxation of any kind.

Who may apply: the Uttarakhand condition

For Group C direct recruitment outside the Public Service Commission's purview you must either hold an Uttarakhand domicile or permanent residence certificate by the closing date, or have passed High School and Intermediate from recognised institutions situated in Uttarakhand, or be (or be the spouse, son or daughter of) a member of the armed or paramilitary forces, a regular state government or state autonomous body employee, or a central government or central PSU employee posted in Uttarakhand whose services cannot be transferred out. Permanent residents living outside the state for work or study, with their spouses and children, are also eligible.

Reservation

Any reservation needs both the Uttarakhand domicile or permanent residence certificate and the category certificate, valid on the closing date. A reserved category candidate who is not a resident of Uttarakhand gets no benefit.

• Identified state movement agitators or their dependants: 10 per cent horizontal, under the Uttarakhand Reservation in Government Service for Identified Agitators Act, 2023, by a letter of 18 August 2024. A dependant means the agitator's spouse, son and daughter, including a married, widowed, deserted or divorced daughter.
• Orphan children of Uttarakhand: 5 per cent horizontal, for orphans in registered voluntary or government homes whose parents and paternal and maternal relatives are unknown, certified by an officer not below Deputy Collector on the District Probation Officer's recommendation. A certificate issued after the closing date is never accepted. Affected children, meaning those whose parents both died between the child's birth and age 21, are covered.
• Skilled sportspersons: 4 per cent horizontal, under the 2024 Act, tiered by the level of competition.
• Persons with disability: at least 40 per cent disability, and for this post the reservation is available only under OL, One Leg Affected.
• Ex-servicemen: the benefit goes to the retired or discharged person only. Dependants of service personnel get nothing.
• EWS: permanent residents of Uttarakhand only, on a certificate for financial year 2025-26. If no eligible candidate is found the post merges into unreserved.

The sportsperson tier stops short of this post

Nursing Officer is Level 7, so only the first three rows reach it. A national level or Khelo India medal, which qualifies at Level 5 and below, does not.

Certificate dates, and two things you cannot fix later

An OBC certificate must be issued not more than three years before the closing date and be valid on it, so for the 587 post cycle one dated before 17 December 2022 or after 17 December 2025 is not accepted. An EWS certificate must be for financial year 2025-26. Every certificate must be dated on or before the closing date.

And two rules with no remedy: no change of reservation category or sub-category is allowed after the form is submitted, and reservation is given only if it was claimed in the relevant column of the online form.

Other conditions: Indian citizenship, or a Tibetan refugee who came to India before 1 January 1962 intending to settle, or a person of Indian origin who migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Uganda or Tanzania intending to settle. A male candidate with more than one living wife, and a female candidate whose husband has more than one living wife, are ineligible absent special grounds. Serving government employees need a departmental NOC. Dismissal by a government or a conviction involving moral turpitude bars appointment, and a medical examination precedes it.

1. Online application at www.ukmssb.org in three steps: registration, application submission, fee submission. No offline or hard copy application is accepted.
2. Written examination, two objective papers of 100 marks in three hours, one quarter negative marking. Proposed for April or May 2026.
3. Answer key on the Board's site after the exam, with a seven day window to object with evidence.
4. Result, with the qualifying bar at 45 per cent for unreserved, OBC and EWS candidates and 35 per cent for SC and ST candidates.
5. Document verification, where every claim made in the application must be proved. Clause 30 adds that all supporting certificates must be produced whenever the office asks for them, failing which the candidature is cancelled.
6. Medical examination before appointment, arranged by the appointing authority.

The Medical Education cycle runs under the Uttarakhand Medical Education Department (Medical College) Nursing Cadre (Non-Gazetted) Service Rules, 2015 as amended. Merit is settled on the total of 200 marks subject to the category bar, and a tie goes to the candidate holding the preferential qualification, two years in the Territorial Army or an NCC 'B' or 'C' certificate.

The 2024 cycle had no examination

Notice 35/2024 of 14 December 2024 describes how the 1,455 post Medical Education recruitment was actually decided: on standards fixed by the Board and a year-wise merit order on the marks obtained in the degree or diploma, with about one and a half times the vacancies, category and sub-category wise, called for document verification between 9 July and 16 August 2024 and again on 11 November 2024 at the Board's office in Dehradun. After verification a final list of ineligible candidates was issued and the result declared. No paper, no admit card, no answer key. Replacing that with a 200 mark written examination is the largest change a returning candidate needs to absorb.

Selection is provisional throughout

The advertisement says it twice. Admission at every stage is entirely provisional, and an admit card settles nothing; if a candidate is found at any stage not to have been eligible, the candidature is cancelled and even a finally selected candidate has the Board's recommendation withdrawn. And even after final selection there is no right to appointment until the government or appointing authority is satisfied, after such enquiry as it thinks necessary, that the candidate is suitable in every respect.

Unfair means

The Board acts under the Uttarakhand Competitive Examinations (Measures for Prevention and Suppression of Unfair Means in Recruitment) Act, 2023. Copying, giving or receiving help, carrying prohibited material, misbehaving in the hall, tearing or removing an answer sheet, inciting a boycott, harassing the Board's staff, or being found with a watch, smart watch, phone, pager or any communication device all attract it. A candidate can be declared ineligible for that exam and debarred, permanently or for a fixed period, from every Board examination and from state government employment, with an FIR registered. No penalty is imposed without first giving the candidate a chance to make a written representation.

Both 2025 advertisements carry the identical pay line, so a Nursing Officer in a government medical college and one in the Medical Health and Family Welfare Department enter on the same scale.

Rs 44,900 is the first cell of Level 7 in the state pay matrix, a higher entry point than most state nursing officer cadres, several of which sit at Level 5 or 6. The advertisement gives the band and nothing else: no allowance, no gross figure, no deduction. Those follow the state's standing rules and the posting, and the Board does not publish them. On pension, clause 4 says only that the post is non-gazetted with contributory pension, meaning the new entrant joins the contributory scheme rather than the old defined-benefit one.

What applying costs

Rs 300 for unreserved and Uttarakhand OBC candidates, Rs 150 for EWS, Uttarakhand SC, Uttarakhand ST and Uttarakhand persons with disability. Note the second group: OBC candidates pay the full fee here while EWS candidates pay the concessional one, which is the reverse of the pattern in several other states. Payment is by net banking, debit card, credit card or UPI only, and an application whose fee is not paid by the closing time is cancelled.

One concession the Board does publish: under a government notification of 4 September 2023, a candidate travelling to the examination centre gets 50 per cent off Uttarakhand Transport Corporation bus fares, from two days before the exam to two days after, on showing the conductor the admit card and a photocopy of the Uttarakhand permanent residence certificate.

Payable only by net banking, debit card, credit card or UPI. An application whose fee is not paid by the closing time is cancelled.

Apply at ukmssb.org, clicking Apply Now against Nursing Officer Examination-2025 for the department you want, then working through registration, application submission and fee submission. Check every entry before clicking I Agree, upload the documents, pay, and keep a copy of the completed application.

The file specifications reject an application quietly, so get them right: photograph and signature both scanned in JPG, not more than 50 KB each, and the supporting documents as a combined file within the size the portal states. The Uttarakhand Nursing and Midwifery Council registration certificate is among the uploads, and the application cannot be completed without it.

For help with the application or the admit card download the Board gives an e-mail, helplineukmssb@gmail.com, and a telephone number, 0135-2665366.

The Uttarakhand Medical Service Selection Board, Building 23, Lane 3, Shastri Nagar, Haridwar Road, Dehradun 248001, established by Uttarakhand Government Act No. 108/xxxvi(3)/2015/26(1)/2015, assented to on 6 April 2015. The Board conducts the examination and declares the result; the employing department requisitions the posts, its service rules fix the qualification, and it issues the appointment after a medical examination.

The 587 posts, code by code

Two readings of that table. Diploma holders have 411 of the 587 posts against 176 for degree holders, and 480 of the 587 are for women against 107 for men. The reserved rosters thin out fast at the small codes: post code 304 carries a single Scheduled Tribe post in the entire recruitment.

Horizontal reservation under post code 301, the largest block, shows the shape of it. Of those 336 posts, 7 go to dependants of freedom fighters, 35 to persons with disability, 48 to ex-servicemen, 11 to orphan children of Uttarakhand, 25 to state movement agitators or their dependants and 9 to skilled sportspersons, leaving 201 others.

The 103 backlog posts, code by code

Every one of those 103 is a horizontal reservation backlog post. Under post code 401 the sub-category table reads 38 ex-serviceman, 3 freedom fighter dependant and 22 persons with disability, and those three account for all 63; the same holds down the table. Anyone who is not an ex-serviceman, the dependant of a freedom fighter or a person with at least 40 per cent disability cannot apply for any of the 103, whatever their category.

How an unfilled backlog post is treated changed in 2025. Notification 160/XXXVI(3)/2025/12(01)/2025 of 22 April 2025, amending the reservation Act of 1993, governs it, and the advertisement quotes the change.

Every candidate chooses two of four cities when applying: Dehradun, Srinagar, Haldwani and Almora. The Board may change the centre city in view of the number of candidates, so the two choices are a preference rather than a guarantee, and the centre itself is printed on the admit card.

Four cities for a state-wide recruitment is a short list, and the geography matters: Dehradun and Srinagar sit in Garhwal, Haldwani and Almora in Kumaon. For many candidates the nearest choice and the second choice are on opposite sides of the state.

The bus fare concession

Under a government notification of 4 September 2023, a candidate gets 50 per cent concession on Uttarakhand Transport Corporation bus fares to the examination centre, from two days before the exam to two days after. Show the conductor the admit card and a photocopy of the Uttarakhand permanent residence certificate; the admit card alone will not do.

What is barred from the hall

Calculators and any calculating device; watches and smart watches, phones and pagers; any electronic instrument or anything usable to communicate; and whitener, which is prohibited on the OMR sheet and carries a negative mark if used. The Board makes no arrangement for the safekeeping of belongings, so anything prohibited that you bring has nowhere to go. Being found with a watch, phone or similar device attracts action under the Uttarakhand Competitive Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2023.

The Board's nursing officer cycles since 2023

The Board keeps closed cycles on its Archives page and publishes an examination calendar, which is where a firm date for the 2026 paper will appear first.

The admit card is downloaded from www.ukmssb.org, and the Board announces the download window on the same site. It carries the examination centre, which may not be either of the two cities you chose, since the Board may change the centre city in view of the number of candidates.

The exam is proposed for April or May 2026, so no admit card had been issued when this page was last checked.

Carry it to the hall, and carry a photocopy of your Uttarakhand permanent residence certificate with it if you want the 50 per cent bus fare concession on Uttarakhand Transport Corporation services, available from two days before the exam to two days after.

For trouble with the download the Board gives helplineukmssb@gmail.com and 0135-2665366.

An admit card settles nothing about eligibility. Admission at every stage is entirely provisional, and a candidate found at any stage not to have been eligible has the candidature cancelled however far the process has gone.

Applications for both 2025 cycles closed in December 2025 and the written examination is proposed for April or May 2026, so no result exists for either yet.

The sequence the advertisements lay down: the written examination, then the answer key on ukmssb.org, then a seven day objection window with evidence, then the result applying the qualifying bar of 45 per cent for unreserved, OBC and EWS candidates and 35 per cent for SC and ST candidates, then document verification, then a medical examination before appointment. Ties go to the holder of the preferential qualification.

The Board publishes results as lists of successful candidates, with a final list of ineligible candidates and, later, a waiting list; it issued one for the Medical Education cycle on 23 August 2025. Results and notices live on the Results page and move to Archives once a cycle closes.

How the previous cycle was decided is worth keeping separate in your mind: the 1,455 posts advertised in March 2024 were settled on degree and diploma marks in a year-wise merit order, with roughly one and a half times the vacancies called for document verification, and the result declared on 14 December 2024. There was no paper at all.

The Uttarakhand Medical Service Selection Board publishes no cut off marks for its nursing officer recruitments, and has not in any past cycle. Results appear as lists of successful candidates, a final list of ineligible candidates and later a waiting list, on the Results page and then Archives. Nothing exists for the 2025 cycles in any case: applications closed in December 2025 and the paper is proposed for April or May 2026.

What the Board does fix, in advance, is a qualifying minimum:

Negative marking makes both harder than they look. See the exam pattern section for what a score of 90 actually costs in correct answers.

Check your registration before anything else

A permanent Uttarakhand Nursing and Midwifery Council registration certificate, valid or renewed on the closing date, is the condition that voids a candidature regardless of how well the paper goes. An NUID card will not do, and nor will a receipt for a pending application. The Board prints this clause in red.

Prepare for a paper, not for a merit list on your marksheet

The 2024 cycle was decided on degree and diploma marks. The 2025 cycles are decided on a 200 mark written examination. Anyone returning from the previous round is the candidate most likely to prepare for the wrong thing.

Use the Board's other nursing papers for house style

Keys for the Assistant Professor (Nursing) Examination 2025 and the Professor and Associate Professor (Nursing) Examination 2024 are on the Board's site. They are higher posts on different syllabi, so use them for question style, not content.

Revise Paper 1 in the Board's proportions

Paper 1 is your own curriculum cut into eight or ten named subjects with a question count against each, so revise in that ratio rather than evenly. For a diploma holder, medical surgical nursing, nutrition and dietetics, child health and community health carry fifteen questions each, which is 60 of the 100 marks. For a degree holder, nursing foundation carries fifteen and nine other subjects carry five or ten, so the paper rewards breadth rather than depth, and the four headings a diploma holder never studied, nursing education, administration, research and statistics, and obstetrics and gynaecology, are 40 marks on their own.

Do not neglect Paper 2

General Hindi, General Knowledge and General Studies is half the examination, 100 of the 200 marks, and it is the half with no connection to nursing training. Candidates who score heavily on Paper 1 and leave Paper 2 to chance are giving away the easier marks.

Work out your attempt strategy around the OMR rules

One quarter is deducted for a wrong answer, so a blind guess among four options returns about 0.06 of a mark on average, positive but tiny; eliminating one option makes answering clearly worthwhile. But two further rules bite: two answers to one question count as wrong even if one is right, and whitener or scratching costs the negative mark as well as the answer. Second thoughts are expensive on this paper. Decide, then darken.

Get the roll number and booklet series right

A wrong roll number or booklet series on the OMR sheet, or blanks in those boxes, means the sheet is not evaluated and the candidature is cancelled. No appeal is contemplated. It is thirty seconds of work at the start of three hours.

Claim reservation on the form, and date your certificates

Reservation is given only if claimed in the relevant column, and the category or sub-category cannot be changed afterwards. Every certificate must be dated on or before the closing date; an OBC certificate must also be no more than three years old, and an EWS certificate must be for 2025-26.

Plan the journey

Only four cities host the exam, two in Garhwal and two in Kumaon, and the centre printed on your admit card may not be either city you chose. The 50 per cent state bus fare concession needs the admit card and a photocopy of your permanent residence certificate.

No previous Nursing Officer written paper exists, because the 2024 cycle was decided on degree and diploma marks without one; the 2026 paper will be the first. Once it is held, the Board publishes the key on Answer Keys, and candidates may take the question booklet home.

The current recruitments

• Detailed advertisement, 587 posts, Medical Education, and the short notice
• Detailed advertisement, 103 backlog posts, Medical Health and Family Welfare, and the short notice
• Apply online

Keys, results and the calendar

• Answer keys, results and the examination calendar
• Archives, where closed cycles' notices, keys and results stay
• Recruitment advertisements

The previous cycle

• Notice 35/2024, which sets out how the 1,455 posts were decided on degree and diploma marks
• Final result, 1,455 posts, Medical Education Department
• Waiting list, 23 August 2025

The Board itself: ukmssb.org, with about, establishment and contact pages.

Is there a written exam, or is it decided on my diploma marks?

For the 2025 cycles, a written examination: two papers, 200 marks, three hours, proposed for April or May 2026. The previous cycle was different. The 1,455 posts advertised in March 2024 were decided on degree and diploma marks in a year-wise merit order with no paper at all, which is why older guides give the wrong advice.

Can I apply without Uttarakhand nursing council registration?

No. You must hold a permanent registration certificate of the Uttarakhand Nursing and Midwifery Council, valid or renewed by the closing date, and upload a scanned copy. An NUID card or a receipt for a pending application is not accepted, and a candidate who passes the written examination without it is still declared ineligible.

Who can apply for the 103 post advertisement?

Only ex-servicemen, dependants of freedom fighters and persons with disability. Every one of those 103 posts is horizontal reservation backlog; under post code 401, for instance, 38 of 63 posts are ex-serviceman backlog, 3 freedom fighter dependant backlog and 22 disability backlog, accounting for the whole. A general candidate has nothing to apply for there.

What is the pay?

Rs 44,900 to Rs 1,42,400, Pay Level 7. The post is non-gazetted, Group C, and carries the contributory pension scheme.

What are the cut-off marks?

The Board publishes none, and never has for this recruitment. What it does fix in advance is a qualifying minimum: 45 per cent (90 of 200) for unreserved, OBC and EWS candidates and 35 per cent (70) for SC and ST candidates. With a quarter mark deducted for every wrong answer, reaching 90 on a full attempt means about 112 correct answers.

Do diploma and degree holders sit the same paper?

Not the first one. Paper 1 differs by qualification, on different subject weightings, and they are recruited under separate post codes. Paper 2, General Hindi, General Knowledge and General Studies, is common.

Can I correct a mistake on the OMR sheet?

Not without paying for it. Whitener, scratching or tampering with an option is itself penalised, so you lose the mark for that answer and the negative mark as well. Marking two options counts as a wrong answer even if one of them is correct. And a wrong roll number or booklet series means the sheet is not evaluated at all.

Do I need to be from Uttarakhand?

Effectively, yes. For Group C direct recruitment you need an Uttarakhand domicile or permanent residence certificate, or High School and Intermediate from institutions situated in Uttarakhand, or a qualifying service connection. And any reservation benefit requires the Uttarakhand residence certificate alongside the category certificate: a reserved category candidate from another state gets nothing.