BPSC 65th/66th Syllabus and Exam Pattern: The Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) is soon going to conduct the 65th BPSC Mains examination for recruitment of 434 vacancies. The BPSC 65th Prelims exam was held on October 15, 2019. As you all have been preparing for the 65th or 66th BPSC Prelims and Mains exam and to crack this exam, one needs to have a good understanding of the exam pattern and syllabus of BPSC. If the candidates know the exam pattern and the syllabus of the exam, then they can direct their preparation in the best way. Here, in this article, we have compiled all the necessary information that will help the aspirants prepare better for their exam appearances.
BPSC Exam Pattern 2020
The BPSC will hold a three-tier exam for the final selection of the candidates for the various posts. The candidates need to clear all the stages of the BPSC exam to appear successfully in the merit list. There will be a written exam consisting of Prelims and Main Exam followed by an Interview. The BPSC Prelims Exam is qualifying in nature. Candidates who clear the BPSC Prelims Exam will be called for the main exam. The Main Exam comprises 900 marks. If a candidate qualifies the BPSC Main Exam then he is called for the Interview that is of 120 marks. So, the merit is prepared out of 1020 marks.
Stage of BPSC Exam
|
Type of Exam
|
Mode
|
Total Marks
|
Duration
|
Prelims
|
Objective
|
Offline
|
150
|
2 Hours
|
Mains
|
Subjective
|
Offline
|
900 ( 3 Papers of 300 marks each)
|
3 Hours for each Paper
|
Interview
|
120
|
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Prelims Exam Pattern
The BPSC Prelims Exam will be of 150 marks and qualifying in nature i.e. the scores will not be considered in the preparation of the final merit. It will be of two hours. The change that is seen in the last year’s examination is that there were 5 options to each question which earlier used to be 4. Candidates need to be careful in choosing the suitable option. The candidates are advised to score enough to stay in the competition as the cut-off keeps on varying every year.
Stage of Exam
|
Area of Testing
|
Total Marks
|
Duration
|
Prelims (Objective)
|
General Studies
General Knowledge
Current Affairs
|
150
|
2 Hours
|
- The questions will be in Hindi and English language both.
- This stage is qualifying in nature.
- There is no negative marking.
- There will be 5 options to each question.
The Prelims Exam of BPSC 2019 has been scheduled on October 15, 2019 as per the official announcement.
Main Examination Pattern
The candidates are called for the BPSC main exam only if they qualify in the BPSC Prelims Exam and secure the required cut-off marks as decided by the Commission. Since, the BPSC Prelims Exam is qualifying in nature so it does not matter what one scores. The pattern of the BPSC Main Exam has been changed too. Now, the BPSC Main Exam will have a qualifying paper General Hindi. Apart from this, there will be General Studies Paper 1 and General Studies Paper 2 carrying 300 marks each. There will be an Optional Paper that the candidate has chosen earlier while filling the Application Form. The Optional Paper carries 300 marks. The list of the 34 Optional Subjects has been given in this article.
Stage of Exam
|
Name of Paper
|
Total Marks
|
Duration
|
Main Exam
(Subjective)
|
General Hindi (Qualifying)
|
100
|
3 Hours
|
General Studies Paper 1
|
300
|
3 Hours
| |
General Studies Paper 2
|
300
|
3 Hours
| |
Optional Paper
|
300
|
3 Hours
|
- Candidates have to qualify in General Hindi.
- Questions of General Studies are available in Hindi and English both.
- The score will be arrived at by considering the total of 900 marks in GS Paper 1, GS Paper 2 and Optional Paper.
- The candidates who are placed suitably in the merit are called for the interview.
Interview
The candidates who qualify the BPSC Main Exam are called for the final stage of the exam i.e. Interview. The interview carries 120 marks. The final merit list will be prepared out of 1020 marks (900 for Mains + 120 for Interview). Interview judges the personality aspect of the candidates. The members of the Interview Board want to know the administrative aptitude and decision making ability of the candidates through interview. After the interviews, comes the final BPSC result.
BPSC 2020 Syllabus
Once, we have the idea of the pattern of the BPSC exam then it comes to the understanding of the BPSC syllabus. It is important to know the current BPSC syllabus so that it becomes clear for the candidates what needs to be studied. Though, it is understood that syllabus does not change every year yet there are some minute changes in it that the candidates need to know.
Syllabus for the BPSC Prelims Exam
The syllabus for the BPSC Prelims Exam is the same as that of the previous exams of the BPSC. It covers the aspects of General Science, Polity, Economy, History and the National Movement. The candidates have to go through the syllabus and prepare themselves well because the exam will have the questions of good standard. Here is a detailed syllabus of the BPSC Prelims Exam:
- General Science (General understanding of science, including matters of everyday observation and experience)
- Current Affairs of National/International importance
- History of India and Bihar (General understanding of the subject with the broad aspects of the history of Bihar)
- Geography of India and Bihar (Questions will relate to physical, social and economic geography of the country including the main features of Indian agricultural and natural resources)
- General geography and geographical division of Bihar and its major river systems
- Indian polity (Questions will test knowledge on the country’s political system, panchayati raj, community development and planning in India and Bihar)
- Indian economy and economy of Bihar post independence
- Indian Movements and Contribution of Bihar in it (Question will relate to the nature and character of the nineteenth century resurgence, growth of nationalism and attainment of Independence with special reference to Bihar)
- Questions based on General Mental Ability
Studying well and solving some mock papers will help the candidates deal better in preparing for the BPSC Prelims Exam. Since, there is no negative marking in the BPSC Prelims Exam so the candidates can mark as many questions as they can without worrying about the negative scoring.
Syllabus for the Main Exam
Qualifying Paper: General Hindi
The paper of General Hindi will be qualifying in nature. The syllabus for the qualifying paper is of the level as that of Bihar School Education Board (BSEB). The paper will be of 100 marks and subjective in nature; and the distribution of the marks is as follows:
Essay: 30 Marks
Grammar: 30 Marks
Syntax: 25 Marks
Summarisation: 15 Marks
Out of the 100 marks, candidates are required to secure the qualifying marks in the paper. For this qualifying paper, a good book of school standard is enough.
General Studies Paper
Until now, every paper that the candidates have appeared is of qualifying nature. The BPSC Prelims Exam and the General Hindi paper are just qualifying in nature. It does not matter how well the candidates have fared in these exams. The actual BPSC exam starts now with the General Studies Papers and the Optional Paper. There are two Papers for the General Studies and one for the Optional. Each Paper carries 300 marks making the total marks from all these papers to be 900.
Below is the detailed syllabus for the GS Papers and the Optional Paper:
Syllabus of GS Paper 1
- Modern History of India and Indian culture (History of the country with special reference to Bihar in the middle of nineteenth century, the introduction and expansion of western and technical education, Bihar’s role in the Indian freedom struggle, the Santhal Uprising in Bihar, Birsa movement, Champaran Satyagrah, the Quit India Movement, chief features of Mauryan and Pal art, Patna Qulam painting, Roles of Gandhi, Tagore and Nehru)
- Current events of national and international importance
- Statistical analysis, graphs and diagrams ( Questions to test the ability to draw conclusions from statistical, graphical or diagrammatical information and to point out deficiencies, limitations or inconsistencies)
Syllabus for GS Paper 2
- Indian Polity ( Questions based on the political system in India including Bihar)
- Indian economy and Geography of India (Questions on planning in India and the physical, economic and social geography of India and Bihar)
- The role and impact of science and technology in the development of India (Questions to test awareness of the role and impact of science and technology in India and Bihar with special reference to applied science)
Optional Paper
In Optional Paper, a candidate is required to choose any one subject. This paper will be of 300 marks and it will have a time limit of 3 hours. There are 34 Optional subjects in the Main exam. The syllabus of the Optional Paper will be same as that of the Three- Year Honours Paper of the respective subject of Patna University. Here is the list of the Optional Subjects:
1. Agriculture
2. Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science
3. Anthropology
4. Botany
5. Chemistry
6. Civil Engineering
7. Commerce & Accountancy
8. Economics
9. Electrical Engineering
10. Geography
11. Geology
12. History
13. Labour and Social Welfare
14. Law
15. Management
16. Mathematics
17. Mechanical Engineering
18. Philosophy
19. Physics
20. Political Science & International Relations
21. Psychology
22. Public Administration
23. Sociology
24. Statistics
25. Zoology
26. Hindi Language and Literature
27. English Language and Literature
28. Urdu Language and Literature
29. Bangla Language and Literature
30. Sanskrit Language and Literature
31. Persian Language and Literature
32. Arabic Language and Literature
33. Pali Language and Literature
34. Maithili Language and Literature
Keeping the BPSC syllabus in mind, students should make a schedule for their studies. The syllabus is vast and it requires dedicated effort. Also, there should be a constant practice so that things get easier for the students in the exam.
