OPSC OAS 2023: Notification | Exam Pattern | Prelims Syllabus

Plan of Examination

The Combined Competitive Recruitment Examinations shall comprise of the following:

(A) Preliminary Examination (Objective Type) for the selection of candidates for Main Examination; and

(B) Main Examination (Written and Interview) for the selection of candidates for the various Services and posts.

A. Preliminary Examination

The Preliminary Examination shall consist of two papers of Objective Type (multiple choice) questions and carry a maximum of 200 marks each in the subjects set out in section- 1 of SCHEDULE III. This examination is meant to serve as a screening test only.

The marks obtained in the Preliminary Examination by the candidates who are declared qualified for admission to the Main Examination shall not be counted for determining their final order of merit. The number of candidates to be admitted to the Main Examination will be as nearly as possible but not more than twelve times of the total number of vacancies to be filled in the year through this examination. Only those candidates who are declared by the Commission to have qualified in the Preliminary Examination in the year shall be called to appear in the Main Examination of that year provided they are otherwise eligible for admission to the Main Examination.

Note I: The Commission shall draw a list of candidates to be qualified for Civil Services (Main) Examination based on the criterion of minimum qualifying marks of 33% in General Studies Paper-II of Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination and total qualifying marks of General Studies Paper-I of Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination as may be determined by the Commission.

Note-II: There shall be negative marking for incorrect answers (as detailed below) for all questions except some of the questions where the negative marking shall be inbuilt in the form of different marks being awarded to the most appropriate and not so appropriate answer for such questions.

(i) There shall be four alternatives for the answers to every question. For each question for which a wrong answer has been given by the candidate, one-third (0.33) of the marks assigned to that question shall be deducted as penalty.

(ii) If a candidate gives more than one answer, it shall be treated as a wrong answer even if one of the given answers happen to be correct and there will be same penalty as above for that question.

(iii)If a question is left blank i.e. no answer is given by the candidate, there shall be no penalty for that question.

Scheme and Subjects of Preliminary Examination

(i) The Examination shall comprise of two compulsory Papers of 200 marks each and each paper shall be of two hours duration.

(ii) Both the question papers shall be of the objective type (multiple choice questions).

(iii) The General Studies paper-II of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination will be a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%.

(iv) The question papers other than language and Literature shall be set in English. Candidates must answer the papers in their own handwriting and the facility of Scribe or Reader as the case may be, may be allowed by the Commission to the candidates with disability having physical requirement and functional classification as may be prescribed by the Government from time to time. Besides, compensatory time of twenty minutes per hour wherever applicable shall be permitted to such candidates by the Commission.

Detailed Syllabus for the Preliminary Examination

Paper-I

1. Current events of national and international importance.
2. History of India and Indian National Movement.
3. History of Odisha and Odia Nationalism
4. Odisha and Indian Geography – Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.
5. Indian Polity and Governance – Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
6. Economic and Social Development Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector initiatives, etc.
7. General issues on Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change – that do not require subject specialization.
8. General Science.

Paper-II

1. Comprehension
2. Interpersonal skills including communication skills
3. Logical reasoning and analytical ability
4. Decision-making and problem-solving
5. General mental ability
6. Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc.) (Class X level), Data
7. Date Interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. – Class X level)

NB: General Studies Paper-II is qualifying in Nature and the candidates have to secure minimum 33% to qualify.

Note- It is mandatory for the candidate to appear in both the Papers of Preliminary Examination for the purpose of evaluation. Therefore a candidate shall be disqualified in case he or she does not appear in both the papers of Preliminary Examination.

B. Main Examination (Written and Interview)

• The Main Examination shall consist of written test and an interview test. The written examination shall consist of nine papers of conventional essay type in the subjects set out in Section- 2 of SCHEDULE-III in which there shall be two papers in part-I which are qualifying in nature and seven papers in part-II for assessment of merit of the candidate. Detail syllabus for papers in part-II shall be set out by the Commission. Marks obtained for all the compulsory papers (Paper-I to Paper-VII in part-II) and Marks obtained in Interview for Personality Test shall be counted for ranking.
• Candidates who obtain such minimum qualifying marks in the part-II of the written part of the Main Examination as may be fixed by the Commission at their discretion, shall be called by them for an interview for a Personality Test, as provided in section-3 of SCHEDULE-III. After Main Examination, the number of candidates to be called for interview shall be about twice of the number of vacancies to be filled. The interview shall carry 250 marks (with no minimum qualifying marks).
• Marks thus obtained by the candidates in the Main Examination (written as well as interview) shall determine their final ranking. Candidates shall be allotted to the various Services keeping in view their ranks in the examination and the preferences expressed by them for the various Services and posts.

Scheme and Pattern of Main Examination

(1) The written examination shall comprise of two parts, i.e., Part-I and Part-II consisting of the following papers:

(2) Candidates may choose any one of the subjects from amongst the list of subjects given below for optional Paper-VI and Paper-VII of the written test:

Optional Subjects

NOTE:

(a) The papers on Odia Language and English (Part-I of Main examination) shall be of Matriculation or equivalent standard and shall be of qualifying nature. The marks obtained in these papers will not be counted for ranking.

(b) The aim of the papers on Odia Language and English (Part-I of Main examination) is to test the candidates’ ability to read and understand discursive prose, and to express his ideas clearly and correctly, in Odia and English Language.

(c) Evaluation of the papers, namely, ‘Essay’, ‘General Studies’ and Optional Subject of all the candidates shall be done simultaneously along with evaluation of their qualifying papers on ‘Odia’ and ‘English’ language in Part-I, but the papers on Essay, General Studies and Optional Subject of only such candidates shall be taken cognizance who obtain 25% marks in ‘Odia’ and English language each in part-I as minimum qualifying standards in these qualifying papers.

(d) Marks obtained by the candidates for the Paper I-VII in Part-II only shall be counted for merit ranking. However, the Commission may have the discretion to fix qualifying marks in any or all of these papers.

(e) The question papers for the examination shall be of conventional (essay) type.

(f) Each paper shall be of three hours duration.

(g) The question papers (other than Indian language and Literature) shall be set in English.

(3) General instructions (Preliminary as well as Main examination):

(i) Candidates must answer the papers in their own handwriting and the facility of Scribe or Reader as the case may be, may be allowed by the Commission to the candidates with disability having physical requirement and functional classification as may be prescribed by the Government from time to time. Besides, compensatory time of twenty minutes per hour wherever applicable shall be permitted to such candidates by the Commission.

(ii) The Commission shall be competent to fix the qualifying marks in any or all the subjects of the examination.

(iii) If a candidate’s handwriting is not easily legible, a deduction will be made on this account from the total marks otherwise accruing to him.

(iv) Marks will not be allotted for mere superficial knowledge.

(v) Credit will be given for orderly, effective and exact expression combined with due economy of words in all subjects of the examination.

(vi) In the question papers, wherever necessary questions involving the Metric system of weights and measures only will be set.

(vii) Candidates shall use only International form of Indian numerals i.e. 1,2,3,4,5,6, etc. while answering question papers.

(viii) Candidates will be allowed the use of scientific (Non-programmable type) calculators at the conventional (Essay) type examination of OPSC. Programmable type calculators will, however, not be allowed and the use of such calculators shall tantamount to resorting to unfair means by the candidates. Loaning or interchanging of calculators in the Examination Hall is not permitted.

(ix) Candidates are not permitted to use calculators for answering objective type papers (Test Booklets). They should not, therefore, bring the same inside the Examination Hall

C. Personality Test/ Interview

The candidate shall be interviewed by a Board to be constituted by the OPSC who will have before them a record of his career. He shall be asked questions on matters of general interest. The object of the interview is to assess the personal suitability of the candidate for a career in public service. The test is intended to judge the mental calibre of a candidate, his intellectual qualities as well as social traits and his interest in current affairs. Further some of the qualities like mental alertness, critical powers of assimilation, clear and logical exposition, balance of judgment, variety and depth of interest, ability for social cohesion and leadership, intellectual and moral integrity are to be judged by the said Board.

The interview test is not intended to be a test either of the specialised or general knowledge of the candidate which has been already tested through the written papers. The candidate is expected to have taken an intelligent interest not only in their special subjects of academic study but also in the events which are happening around them both within and outside his/her State or Country as well as in modern currents of thought and in new discoveries which should rouse the curiosity of well-educated youth.”