BPSC Exam Pattern 2024, Revised Prelims & Mains Exam Pattern

Based on the provisional BPSC exam schedule for 2024-25, the preliminary phase of the 70th BPSC Integrated CCE is slated for September 30, 2024. Check Out BPSC Exam Pattern 2024

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BPSC Exam Pattern 2024

The revised BPSC 70th Prelims and Mains Exam Pattern are provided below for candidates to review. The Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) releases the 70th BPSC Syllabus and Exam Pattern 2024 through an official notification. To prepare for the Combined Competitive Exam (CCE), candidates must download the 70th BPSC Syllabus 2024 and the BPSC Exam Pattern. The BPSC CCE Recruitment 2024 will fill several openings in a variety of positions. Before designing a preparation plan, aspirants must fully understand and study the BPSC Syllabus. The following are the major changes in the 70th BPSC Exam Pattern:

The 70th BPSC Prelims Exam will be organized for a total of 150 marks, with 1 mark awarded for each correct answer and 0.25 marks deducted for each wrong answer.
With the addition of an essay paper, the 70th BPSC Mains Exam will now include 5 total papers i.e., GS I, GS II, Essay, General Hindi, and Optional Paper.
Along with the General Hindi Paper, the Optional Paper will also have 100 marks and be qualifying nature.
A total of 900 marks will be used to assess the candidates (from the GS I, GS II and Essay Paper).

BPSC Prelims Exam Pattern 2024

Earlier there was no negative marking in the BPSC Prelims examination. This year BPSC has given 3 options to all the candidates while filling out the BPSC registration form for the 70th BPSC 2024 exam and as per the majority of the suggestions that students give, the Commission decided to start the negative marking provision for every 150 questions uniformly.

BPSC Prelims Exam Pattern 2024
Name of Exam	Combined Competitive Exam (Pre)
Organizing Body	Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC)
No. of Papers in Prelims	Only one General Studies Paper
Duration	2 hours
Total Marks in Prelims	150 Marks, Every question asked for 1 mark.
Negative Marking	0.25 Marks for every wrong answer
Total No. of Questions	150 Questions
Type of Questions	MCQ-based questions (Objective Questions)

BPSC Prelims Minimum Qualifying Marks

The following are the minimum marks required to pass the BPSC Prelims Exam:

BPSC Prelims Minimum Qualifying Marks
Category	Minimum Qualifying Marks
General	40%
BC	36.5%
OBC	34%
Women/SC/ST/PwD	32%

BPSC Mains Exam Pattern 2024

The Commission also revised the BPSC Mains Exam Pattern from this year. Earlier only 4 papers were included in the BPSC CCE examination i.e., General Hindi, General Studies Paper I and II and Optional Paper but from now onwards Essay papers will also be included in the BPSC Mains Exam Pattern. This amendment is taken by the commission to resolve the problem of the scaling/normalisation of the optional paper in the main exam.

So, from now onwards BPSC Mains exam pattern will comprise 5 papers out of which the Optional Paper and General Hindi paper will be qualifying in nature. While submitting their application form, candidates have the option to select any subject from a list of 34 disciplines as an optional paper. As Hindi and the optional paper are qualifying in nature, the exam will be conducted for a total of 1100 marks, but candidates will only receive scores out of 900 marks.

Each paper will be conducted for three hours and be subjective in nature (except for the optional paper). There will be Multiple choice questions in the optional paper.

BPSC Mains Exam Pattern 2024
Paper Code	BPSC Syllabus Subjects for Mains	Marks	Time Duration
01	General Hindi (Qualifying, minimum 30%)	100	3 hours
02	General Studies Paper 1	300	3 hours
03	General Studies Paper 2	300	3 hours
04 to 37	Optional Paper (MCQ Based & Qualifying)	100	3 hours
38	Essay	300	3 hours

General Studies Papers

Candidates who clear the prelims will be eligible to sit in the prelims examination the following topics will be covered in General Studies Papers I and Paper II in the BPSC Mains examination:

General Studies Papers for BPSC Mains
General Studies Papers I	General Studies Papers II
Modern History of India and Indian Culture. Current events of national and international importance. Statistical analysis, graphs, and diagrams.	Indian Polity Indian economy and Geography of India; and The role and impact of science and technology in the development of India.

BPSC Interview

After cracking the BPSC Mains Exam, candidates will be eligible for the interview round. The candidates will then appear for the BPSC Interview phase, following which those who are cut will have their documents verified. The interview will be used to evaluate the candidates’ general knowledge, character attributes, and job-related skills. The candidates will go through document verification if they are considered qualified for selection, and then they will be hired. There will be 120 marks awarded for this interview round.

BPSC Exam Pattern FAQs

How many papers are there in BPSC?

The BPSC Prelims examination comprises a single General Studies paper & the BPSC Main exam consists of five papers i.e. General Hindi, General Studies Paper 1 & 2, Optional Paper & Essay.

How many papers are in BPSC Mains?

BPSC Main exam consists of five papers i.e. General Hindi, General Studies Paper 1 & 2, Optional Paper & Essay.

Is BPSC difficult?

Despite being regarded as a difficult exam, this exam can be passed on the first attempt with proper planning. BPSC civil services exam has 3 stages with its own requirements.