BPSC Syllabus and Exam Pattern for the Combined Competitive Exam

The three stages of the BPSC CCE

1. Preliminary exam: a single objective General Studies paper on an OMR sheet. The commission calls about ten candidates per vacancy to mains, worked out separately for each category. Prelims marks are never carried into the final list.
2. Main exam: five descriptive or objective papers written over several days. Only GS 1, GS 2 and the Essay (900 marks together) count for merit.
3. Personality test: 120 marks, for candidates called in about two and a half times the seats.

Your final position therefore comes from 900 mains marks plus 120 interview marks, a total of 1,020. The posts filled through this exam include DSP, senior deputy collector, BDO, revenue officer and many other Bihar state services, with the list changing every cycle.

BPSC exam pattern and syllabus, paper by marks

In prelims each question has five bubbles. The first four options carry the answers, while option E records that you are skipping. Every incorrect response lowers your total by 0.33 of a mark, and the same cut applies to an item where you darken nothing, so fill E whenever you pass on a question.

BPSC prelims syllabus topic by topic

The official list for the BPSC pre syllabus runs to only a few lines, yet every line opens up a large area. Questions are set at the level a graduate with a general education should manage without special study.

• General science: how physics, chemistry and biology show up in ordinary life, plus health, nutrition, environment and recent scientific developments.
• Current events: what is happening in India and abroad, government schemes, awards, sports and reports, with a strong slice of Bihar news.
• History of India and salient features of Bihar history: India across its early, medieval and modern periods, plus Magadh, Nalanda, Vikramshila and the state's place in each age.
• Indian national movement and Bihar's role: Champaran satyagraha, the 1857 revolt in Bihar, Quit India and leaders from the state.
• Geography: general and Indian geography, and the physical divisions of Bihar with its major river systems such as the Ganga, Kosi, Gandak and Son.
• Indian polity and economy: constitutional basics, Parliament, panchayati raj, community development and planning, with changes in the Bihar economy since independence.
• General mental ability: number series, simple arithmetic, ratios, coding, directions and similar reasoning questions.

No calculator is allowed, so practise the mental ability set by hand.

BPSC mains syllabus, one paper at a time

General Hindi (qualifying)

Essay (30 marks), grammar (30), sentence structure (25) and precis writing (15), at roughly secondary school level. Many candidates lose this paper through neglect, so give it a few practice sittings.

General Studies Paper 1

• Modern Indian history and the country's culture, including how Bihar took part in the independence movement and the state's art, crafts and heritage.
• Current happenings that matter for India and the world.
• Statistical analysis, graphs and diagrams: reading tables and charts and drawing conclusions from data. A simple calculator is permitted in this paper as per reports; confirm in the admit card instructions.

General Studies Paper 2

• Indian polity, including the Bihar government, local bodies and governance questions.
• Indian economy and geography of India, with planning, agriculture, industry and the geography and economy of Bihar.
• How science and technology shape the growth of India and of Bihar.

Essay

Essay questions come in three groups. You pick one topic from every group, usually choosing from several topics, at about 700 to 800 words each. Themes range across society, economy, governance, environment and Bihar.

Optional subject

You pick one of about 34 subjects, among them history, geography, political science, public administration, sociology, economics, law, mathematics, the sciences, engineering branches and literature papers including Maithili, Sanskrit, Urdu, Hindi and English. Since it only needs to be cleared, choose the subject you already know best.

Which papers decide your BPSC rank

Since rank rests on just 900 mains marks plus the interview, the optional paper should take a small share of your time. Think in terms of these weights:

• GS 1 and GS 2 (600 marks): two thirds of the written merit. Answer writing practice here pays more than anything else.
• Essay (300 marks): a full third of written merit, and the easiest place to gain with structured practice.
• Prelims: a gate. Past cut offs for general men have sat roughly in the high 80s to low 90s out of 150; see the BPSC cut off page for the category tables.

Bihar specific content shows up in every GS paper. Maintain a Bihar fact register listing districts, rivers, schemes, budget figures, freedom fighters and festivals, so you can drop one relevant example into every answer.

Planning your months for prelims and mains

1. Months 1 to 3: social studies and science NCERTs, read from the class 6 book up, with a Bihar history and geography text alongside. Read the newspaper daily and note Bihar items.
2. Months 4 and 5: prelims practice. Solve one 150 question set every week on an OMR sheet, using option E honestly when you are unsure.
3. After prelims: shift fully to mains. Write two GS answers a day in 15 minutes each and one essay every week.
4. Two weeks before mains: attempt one General Hindi paper and one optional paper under time, simply to make sure you clear both.

Books and sources to use

Begin with the NCERT textbooks you may have rushed through at school, particularly those on Indian history, economics and our polity. Add a standard modern India text, one book on Indian polity, and a dedicated Bihar general knowledge book. Bihar's yearly Economic Survey and the finance minister's budget speech give you economy figures. For mains, past BPSC question papers on the commission website show the kind of questions asked and the length of answers expected. The full official syllabus, including every optional subject, sits in the advertisement on the BPSC website. For comparison with the national exam, the UPSC syllabus page lets you see where the two meet.

BPSC syllabus in Hindi, pre and mains

सीसीई के लिए आयोग प्रीलिम्स, मेंस और इंटरव्यू, ये तीन चरण रखता है। प्रीलिम्स का पेपर सामान्य अध्ययन पर आधारित होता है, कुल डेढ़ सौ सवाल, दो घंटे का समय। गलत उत्तर देने पर एक तिहाई अंक कट जाता है, तो तुक्का लगाने से पहले सोचें। विषय हैं सामान्य विज्ञान, समसामयिक घटनाएं, भारत और बिहार का इतिहास, राष्ट्रीय आंदोलन में बिहार की भूमिका, भूगोल, भारतीय राजव्यवस्था और अर्थव्यवस्था, तथा मानसिक योग्यता। मुख्य परीक्षा में सामान्य हिंदी और वैकल्पिक विषय केवल क्वालीफाइंग हैं। सामान्य अध्ययन पेपर एक, पेपर दो और निबंध, तीनों 300 अंक के हैं और मेरिट इन्हीं से बनती है। आखिरी पड़ाव 120 अंकों का इंटरव्यू है।

Who can sit for the exam

Every applicant must be a graduate, whatever the discipline, of a university that is properly recognised, though certain posts set their own degree condition, for example law for sub registrar posts. Each advertisement names the reference day for reckoning your age. The minimum age is 20, 21 or 22 depending on the post. Men of the unreserved category may apply up to 37. Unreserved women, along with BC and EBC applicants, get up to 40, while SC and ST applicants can apply until 42. Relaxation for disabled candidates and others follows Bihar government rules, so check the latest notification. Planning both state and central routes? The state exams hub compares other commissions, and the UPPSC syllabus shows a similar exam next door.