SSC CGL is a national-level competitive examination, conducted by the Staff Selection Commission for the recruitment of candidates into various Organizations, departments, and offices under the Government of India. The Combined Graduate Level (CGL) Exam is one of the most sought-after exams in the country, and if you are planning to appear for it, you must have a thorough knowledge of the latest examination pattern, syllabus, and eligibility criteria to appear in this exam.
SSC CGL Overview
|
Name of Agency |
Staff Selection Commission |
|
Notification Release |
3rd April 2023 |
|
Online Application Starts |
3rd April 2023 to 3rd May 2023 |
|
Last date to Apply |
3rd May 2023 |
|
SSC CGL Prelims Exam Date |
14.07.2023 to 27.07.2023 |
|
Name of the post |
Multiple posts (Grade ‘B’, Grade ‘C’) |
|
Total Vacancies |
7500 (tentative) |
|
Mode of Application |
Online |
|
Mode of exam |
Online |
|
Selection procedure |
Prelims, Mains, CBT |
|
Official website |
https://ssc.nic.in/ |
Posts offered through SSC CGL
Staff Selection Commission holds a Combined Graduate Level Examination for filling up various Group ‘B’ and Group ‘C’ posts in different Ministries/ Departments/ Organizations of the Government of India and various Constitutional Bodies/ Statutory Bodies/ Tribunals, such as the Intelligence Bureau, Indian Audit & Accounts Department under C&AG, Directorate of Enforcement, Department of Revenue, Central Secretariat Service, etc. The following posts are offered through the SSC CGL exam every year
→ Assistant Audit Officer
→ Assistant Accounts Officer
→ Assistant Section Officer
→ Inspector of Income Tax
→ Inspector, (Central Excise)
→ Inspector (Preventive Officer)
→ Inspector (Examiner)
→ Assistant Enforcement Officer
→ Sub Inspector at CBI
→ Divisional Accountant Junior
→ Intelligence Officer at Narcotics Control Bureau
→ Junior Statistical Officer
→ Auditor
→ Accountant
→ Postal Assistant/ Sorting Assistant
→ Senior Secretariat Assistant
→ Senior Administrative Assistant
→ Tax Assistant
SSC CGL 2023 Eligibility Criteria
Before applying for the examination, you must ensure that you fulfill all the eligibility conditions including the age limit, education qualification, nationality, etc. for admission to SSC CGL 2023 examination. To avoid inconvenience at any stage of the examination, we are going to discuss the eligibility criteria for SSC CGL 2023 Examination in detail:
Nationality / Citizenship:
A candidate must be either –
I. A Citizen of India or
II. A subject of Nepal or
III. A subject of Bhutan or
IV. A Tibetan Refugee who came over to India before 1st January 1962 with the intention of permanently settling in India or
V. A person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania (formerly Tanganyika and Zanzibar), Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia, and Vietnam intending to permanently settle in India, provided that a candidate belonging to categories (ii), (iii), (iv) & (v) above shall be a person in whose favor a certificate of eligibility has been issued by the Government of India.
SSC CGL Age Limit (As on 01-08-2023)
The requirement of age for various posts is as follows:
|
S No |
Age Limit |
Remarks |
|
(i). |
For the posts for which the age limit is 18-27 years |
The candidate must have been born not earlier than 02-01-1995 and not later than 01-01-2004. |
|
(ii). |
For the posts for which the age limit is 20-30 years |
The candidate must have been born not earlier than 02-01-1992 and not later than 01-01-2002. |
|
(iii). |
For the posts for which the age limit is 18-30 years |
The candidate must have been born not earlier than 02-01-1992 and not later than 01-01-2004. |
|
(iv). |
For the post for which the age limit is 18-32 years |
The candidate must have been born not earlier than 02-01-1990 and not later than 01-01-2004 |
Age relaxation:
Following is the permissible
age relaxation for SSC CGL 2022 examination for different categories:
|
S. No |
Category |
Age relaxation permissible beyond the upper age limit |
|
1. |
SC/ST |
5 Years |
|
2. |
OBC |
3 Years |
|
3. |
PwBD (Unreserved) |
10 Years |
|
4. |
PwBD (OBC) |
13 Years |
|
5. |
PwBD (SC/ST) |
15 Years |
|
6. |
Ex-Servicemen (ESM) |
3 years after deduction of the military service rendered from the actual age as on the closing date. |
SSC CGL Educational Qualifications
Before applying for the examination, you should go through the essential education qualification required for SSC CGL Examination. Any graduate from any disciple can apply for the examination provided they should have completed their degree. The candidates who have appeared in the final year of their graduation can also apply for the examination however they must possess Essential qualifications on or before the date mentioned in the notification.
The following table provides a detailed description of the essential education qualification required for various posts in the SSC CGL Examination.
|
Name of the Post |
Education Qualification |
|
Assistant Audit Officer/Assistant Accounts Officer |
Essential Qualifications: Bachelor’s Degree from a recognized University or Institute.
Desirable Qualifications: Chartered Accountant or Cost & Management Accountant or Company Secretary or Masters in Commerce or Masters in Business Studies or Masters in Business Administration (Finance) or Masters in Business Economics. |
|
Junior Statistical Officer |
Bachelor’s Degree in any subject from a recognized University or Institute with at least 60% Marks in Mathematics at 12th standard level;
Or
Bachelor’s Degree in any subject with Statistics as one of the subjects at degree level. |
|
All other posts |
Bachelor’s Degree from a recognized University or equivalent |
SSC CGL Application Fees
The application fees for SSC CGL would be as follows. Candidates can pay the application Fees for SSC CGL 2022 examination through online mode or make cash payments through the challan of SBI.
Women candidates and candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD), and Ex-servicemen (ESM) eligible for reservation are exempted from payment of the fee.
|
Category |
Application Fees |
|
General/OBC |
100/- |
|
Women/SC/ST/OBC/PwBD/Ex-servicemen |
NIL |
SSC CGL Exam - Changes Introduced
To make the hiring process much more transparent and faster, the commission has entirely revamped the examination pattern for the SSC CGL exam this year. Before beginning the preparation, it is very essential for you to understand the latest examination pattern as this would help you develop an effective plan of action to prepare for the examination.
Following are the
major changes introduced in the SSC CGL examination:
1. The preliminary round (Tier-I)
would be qualifying in nature, i.e., the marks obtained in the preliminary examination will not be considered for the final merit.
2. For
Tier II, new sections have been introduced. Apart from Quant and English, Reasoning, General Awareness, and Computer Knowledge would also be asked in Paper-I of Tier II.
3. Tier-II exam shall have three papers.
-
Paper I is mandatory for all the posts.
-
Paper II (Statistics) will be conducted for the posts of Junior Statistical Officer (JSO).
-
Paper III (General Studies - Finance and Economics) will be conducted for the posts of Assistant Audit Officer/ Assistant Accounts Officer (AAO).
The most important change is in paper I which will now have three sections:
Section I:
-
Quant -30 Questions (90 Marks)
-
Reasoning- 30 Questions (90 Marks)
Section II:
-
English – 45 Questions (135 Marks)
-
General Awareness – 25 Questions (75 Marks)
Section III:
-
Computer knowledge – 20 Questions (60 Marks) Qualifying
4. It is important to note that there will be a
sectional cut-off for each section introduced in
Tier II. You need to score 30% (OBC/EWS – 25%: Other categories – 20%) as the minimum qualifying marks in each section.
5. Tier III or descriptive examination has been
scrapped.
6. The
final merit list will be prepared based on the overall performance of candidates in the
Tier-II Examination only.
7. Post preference will be asked
after the Tier-II result.
8. SSC will not conduct the DV. Final Document Verification will be conducted by the respective departments.
SSC CGL Tier 1 Examination Pattern
-
Tier-I will consist of Objective Type, Multiple choice questions. The questions will be set both in English & Hindi except for English Comprehension.
-
This phase will be divided into 4 sections - General Intelligence and Reasoning, Quantitative Aptitude, General Awareness & English Comprehension.
-
You will be given a composite time of 1 hour to attempt 100 questions, i.e, there will be no sectional time limit for each section.
-
The prelims of SSC CGL will be qualifying in nature, i.e, marks obtained in this phase will not be considered while preparing the final merit list.
-
Based on the marks scored in Tier-I i.e. Computer Based Examination, an appropriate number of candidates will be shortlisted, category-wise, to appear in Tier-II Examination.
-
Separate cut-offs will be fixed for Paper-II of Tier-II (i.e. for the post of Junior Statistical Officer), Paper-III of Tier-II (i.e. for the posts of Assistant Audit Officer and Assistant Accounts Officer), and Paper-I of Tier-II (i.e. for all other posts).
-
There will be a penalty of 0.50 marks for wrong answers marked in the Objective Tests.
-
If the examination is held in different shifts, the corrected scores obtained by each of the candidates in different sessions will be normalized.
You can understand the examination pattern for the Tier-I examination more clearly from the following table:
|
Tier-I |
Subject |
Number of Questions |
Maximum Marks |
Duration |
|
|
A. General Intelligence and Reasoning |
25 |
50 |
1 hour
(1 hour and 20 minutes for the candidates eligible for scribe) |
|
B. General Awareness |
25 |
50 |
|
C. Quantitative Aptitude |
25 |
50 |
|
D. English Comprehension |
25 |
50 |
|
Total |
100 |
200 |
SSC CGL Tier II Examination Pattern
-
Tier-II will include conducting of Paper-I, Paper-II, and Paper-III in separate shift(s)/ day(s).
-
Paper-I is compulsory for all the posts. It will be mandatory for the candidates to qualify for all the sections of Paper-I.
-
Paper-II will be for only those candidates who apply for the posts of Junior Statistical Officer (JSO) in the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation and who are shortlisted in Tier-I for these Posts.
-
Paper-III will be for only those candidates who are shortlisted in Tier-I for Paper-III i.e. for the posts of Assistant Audit Officer/ Assistant Accounts Officer.
-
Paper-I will be conducted in two sessions: Session-I & Session-II, on the same day. Session-I will include conducting Section-I, Section-II, and Module-I of Section-III. Session-II will include conducting Module-II of Section-III. Therefore, the duration of Session-I will be 2 hours and 15 minutes, and the duration of Session-II will be 15 minutes only.
-
There will be a negative marking of 1 mark for each wrong answer in Section-I, Section-II, and Module-I of Section-III of Paper-I and 0.50 marks for each wrong answer in Paper-II and Paper-III.
-
Module-I of Section-III of Paper-I i.e., Computer Knowledge Test is mandatory but qualifying in nature.
-
Module-II of Section-III of Paper-I will include a Data Entry Speed Test (DEST) for a duration of 15 minutes in Session-II on the same day. DEST will be mandatory for all the posts; however, it will be qualifying in nature.
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You can understand the examination pattern for the Tier-I examination more clearly from the following table:
|
SSC CGL 2022 Tier-II Examination pattern |
|
Paper |
Session |
Section and Module |
Subject |
Number of Questions |
Maximum Marks |
Time Allowed |
Paper I |
Session-I
(2 hours and 15 minutes)
|
Section I |
Module I |
Mathematical Abilities |
30 |
90 |
1 hour for each section
(1 hour and 20 minutes for the candidates eligible for scribe) |
|
|
Module II |
Reasoning and General Intelligence |
30 |
90 |
|
Section II
|
Module I
|
English Language and General Comprehension |
45 |
135
|
|
Module II
|
General Awareness
|
25
|
75 |
|
|
Section III |
Module I |
Computer Knowledge module |
20 |
60 |
|
Session-II
(15 minutes)
|
Section III |
Module II |
Data Entry Speed Test module |
One Data Entry Task |
- |
|
15 Minutes (for each module)
(20 minutes for the candidates eligible for scribe)
|
|
Paper II
|
Statistics |
100 |
200 |
2 hours (for each Paper)
(2 hours and 40 minutes for the candidates eligible for scribe
|
|
Paper III |
General Studies (Finance and Economics) |
100 |
200 |
Minimum Qualifying Marks
Based on the aggregate performance in Section-I and Section II of Paper-I of the Tier-II Examination, candidates will be shortlisted for evaluation of Section III of Paper-I of the Tier-II Examination. The candidates who are not qualified in Section-I + Section-II will not be eligible for evaluation of Section-III and they will not be considered for the further selection process.
Minimum qualifying marks in Tier-I, Section-I, Section-II & Module-I of Section-III of Paper-I of Tier-II, Paper-II & Paper-III of Tier-II Examination would be as follows:
UR: 30%
OBC/ EWS: 25%
All other categories: 20%
Section-III of Paper-I of Tier-II is qualifying in nature, in other words, both modules i.e. Computer Knowledge Test and DEST are qualifying in nature. Maximum percentage of errors allowed (i.e. minimum qualifying standards) in Module-II of Section-III of Paper-I of Tier-II Examination i.e. DEST would be as follows:
UR: 20%
OBC/ EWS: 25%
All other categories: 30%
Resolution of Tie Cases
In the event of a tie in scores of candidates in Tier-II examination, merit will be decided by applying the following criteria, one after another in the given order, till the tie is resolved:
1. Marks scored in Paper-II & Paper-III of Tier-II Examination for the posts of Junior Statistical Officer (JSO) and Assistant Audit Officer/ Assistant Accounts Officer respectively, if applicable.
2. Marks scored in Section-I of Paper-I of Tier-II Examination.
3. Date of birth, with older candidates, placed higher.
4. Alphabetical order in which the names of the candidates appear.
SSC CGL Previous Year Cutoff
The cutoff is the minimum score required by a candidate to qualify for any round. SSC CGL cutoff depends on the number of available vacancies as well as the difficulty level of the examination. After each stage, the commission releases post-wise and category-wise cutoffs along with the number of candidates available under each category.
Analyzing the previous year’s cutoff gives you a rough idea about the level of the exam and the amount of effort you need to put in to reach that level. Therefore, while preparing for the SSC CGL exam, you should familiarize yourself with the previous year's cutoffs for the SSC CGL examination as well. It will help you to get an idea of the number of good attempts required to clear the examination with a good score.
Here is the category-wise cutoff for different posts in SSC CGL 2022
SSC CGL Tier-1 Cut Off 2022 (for posts other than AAO & JSO)
|
Category |
Cutoff for posts other than AAO & JSO |
|
UR |
114.27 |
|
OBC |
102.35 |
|
SC |
89.08 |
|
ST |
77.57 |
|
EWS |
114.27 |
|
ESM |
40 |
|
OH |
70.69 |
|
HH |
40 |
|
VH |
40 |
|
Others-PWD |
40 |
SSC CGL Tier-1 Cut Off 2022 (Statistics & JSO)
|
Category |
Statistics & JSO |
|
SC |
150.55 |
|
ST |
150.32 |
|
OBC |
167.19 |
|
EWS |
169.35 |
SSC CGL Tier-1 Cut Off 2022 (Finance & Accounts, AAO)
|
Category |
Finance & Accounts, AAO |
|
SC |
137.54 |
|
ST |
131.03 |
|
OBC |
152.92 |
|
EWS |
154.8 |
|
UR |
158.36 |
|
OH |
128.59 |
|
HH |
96.45 |
|
Others-PWD |
72.79 |
SSC CGL 2023 - Points to Remember
SSC CGL is a highly competitive exam that is conducted by the SSC for recruitment to various posts in different departments and ministries of the Government of India. Every year lakhs of students appear in this examination to ensure a shining career. To crack this exam on the first attempt and secure a seat in the top ministries, you should try to maintain a good score in the mains to get your preferred department and location.
Here are some important points that should be kept in mind while preparing for SSC CGL Examination:
1. Understand the examination pattern: Since the commission has recently revamped the examination pattern, you must have a good understanding of the latest exam pattern and the changes introduced in it. Go through the revised exam pattern and syllabus thoroughly to develop a structured study plan to focus on topics that carry higher weightage. Since a
sectional cutoff has also been introduced this year, therefore, you need to give an appropriate focus to all the sections asked in the second phase to be eligible for the further process.
2. Do not turn a blind eye to Tier-I score: The qualifying nature of Tier-I will not allow you to trivialize the importance of scoring in this phase. Various good posts of SSC CGL have a higher cutoff and to get shortlisted for those posts, you have to score well in tier 1 and clear the cutoff of those posts in this round itself.
3. Attempt New Pattern Mock Tests: Mocks play an extremely important role in your preparation. New pattern mock tests will help you get familiarize yourself with the latest pattern of SSC CGL.
SSC CGL mock tests at Smartkeeda are meticulously designed to create an examination-like environment for you to test and validate your preparation and help you create a strategy that you know will work for you. Consistency is the critical driver for success. Therefore, you should consistently attempt mock tests to boost your score in the actual examination.
4. Analyze your performance: Analyzing your performance after each mock test is crucial because it helps you identify your strengths and weaknesses, understand where you made mistakes, and determine areas that need improvement. It also allows you to gauge your progress and adjust your study plan accordingly, ultimately leading to better exam preparation and increased chances of success. Regular self-evaluation can help you identify patterns and adjust your approach, ultimately leading to better performance on the actual exam.
5. Avoid Guessing: There will be a penalty of 0.50 marks for each incorrect attempt in the
SSC CGL 2023 examination, therefore it is better to go for accuracy rather than maximizing your attempt in this examination. However, taking calculated risks can be helpful sometimes. Like in the
English section, you can approach vocabulary questions by eliminating similar options and choosing the best match. But making random guesses about the questions of which you are completely unaware can cost you your positive marks. So, it's better to skip all the questions you are clueless about.
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(Team Smartkeeda)
