UP PGT syllabus, revised exam pattern and English topics

Two stage selection for PGT posts

PGT teachers handle classes 11 and 12, so the commission adds an interview stage that the TGT route does not have. The written paper comes first and acts as the main filter, and shortlisted candidates then face the interview board. Reports of the revised scheme put the final merit at 400 marks, made of 360 from the written test and 40 from the interview.

Since the written part carries nine tenths of the weight, your rank is mostly settled before you reach the interview. Still, 40 marks can swing several hundred places in a crowded subject such as Hindi or history, so do not treat the interview as a formality.

UP PGT exam pattern under the new scheme

Every question is worth 3 marks, with 2 hours on the clock. Wrong answers attract a penalty under the new rules. One report puts it at a third of a question's worth, while others give no amount, so rely on the advertisement for the real number. Before the revision, PGT aspirants faced 125 subject questions at 3.4 marks each, 425 marks in all, without any deduction.

General studies block: 30 questions

The same general studies questions are set for every subject, and they cover:

• Indian history and culture, with the national movement
• Land, people and economy: geography of the country and the state
• The Constitution: fundamental rights, directive principles and local self government
• Economy: five year planning, liberalisation, GDP concepts and sustainable growth
• General science and technology
• Uttar Pradesh: its past, fairs and festivals, population, farming and welfare schemes
• Current events at home and abroad

Ninety marks is a quarter of the written total. Postgraduates in a single subject often ignore this block and lose easy ground to rivals with a competitive exam background.

UP PGT syllabus for English

The UP PGT syllabus English paper is far more literature heavy than its TGT counterpart, which suits a reader with an MA in English.

Language

• Unseen passages with comprehension questions
• Tenses, voice, narration, prepositions, punctuation and spelling
• Synonyms, antonyms, homonyms, one word substitutes, idioms
• Sentence correction, transformation, jumbled sentences and clause analysis
• Prefixes and suffixes

Literature and criticism

• Literary ages: Renaissance and Reformation, Restoration, Neo Classical, Romantic, Victorian and Modern
• Figures of speech, rhetoric, prosody, rhythm and metre
• Forms: sonnet, ballad, elegy, ode, epic and mock epic, kinds of novel and drama
• Critics from Aristotle and Longinus to Dr Johnson, Coleridge, Arnold and T S Eliot
• British writers such as Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Shelley, Keats, Lamb, George Eliot, Tennyson and Hardy
• American writers including Whitman, Frost, Hemingway, Faulkner, Arthur Miller and Toni Morrison
• Indian writing in English: Mulk Raj Anand, Kamala Das and Nissim Ezekiel

Expect questions on who wrote what, which age a work belongs to, and which device a line uses. A dated chart of authors and their major works is the single most useful revision sheet.

Other PGT subjects

The commission advertises PGT posts across languages, sciences, social sciences, commerce and arts subjects. Each one has its own 90 question syllabus at postgraduate level, published on the UPESSC website, while the general studies block stays common. Hindi candidates should note that the paper covers literary history, poetics and grammar in depth, much like the senior level of the UP TGT syllabus.

For a central government alternative at the same level, compare with the KVS PGT syllabus and the EMRS PGT syllabus. All state and central teaching routes are grouped on our teaching exams page.

Weightage and what to study first

Three quarters of the written marks come from your subject, so plan time in roughly that ratio. Within the subject, PGT questions reach beyond class 12 into graduation and postgraduation, which means NCERT alone will not do. Use your MA or MSc notes and standard university textbooks, with NCERT class 11 and 12 books to refresh the basics.

Penalties change the game. In the old paper, a guess cost nothing. Now each careless tick can eat into marks you earned elsewhere, so practise leaving questions you cannot narrow down.

Twelve weeks to the PGT written paper

1. Weeks 1 to 6: cover the whole subject syllabus once, keeping brief notes for each unit.
2. Weeks 7 and 8: general studies, giving extra days to Uttar Pradesh topics and the Constitution.
3. Weeks 9 to 11: two timed 120 question papers a week, then error review.
4. Week 12: revise author charts, formula sheets or date lists, depending on your subject.

For the interview, prepare to explain how you would teach a class 12 topic in your subject and talk about your own academic work.