SSC CGL Exam Pattern 2023: Tier 1, Tier 2 Revised Paper Pattern, Marking Scheme

SSC CGL Exam Pattern 2023: The Staff Selection Commission conducts the SSC Combined Graduate Level (CGL) exam in two stages: Tier I and Tier II for various Group ‘B’ and Group ‘C’ posts in different Ministries/ Departments/ Organizations of the Government of India and various Constitutional Bodies/ Statutory Bodies/ Tribunals, etc.

As per the revised SSC CGL exam pattern, the Tier I exam is qualifying in nature however compulsory for all aspirants. However, the Tier II exam comprises three papers i.e Papers I, II, and III. Paper I is mandatory for all posts, Paper II will be for only those candidates who apply for the Junior Statistical Officer (JSO) and Statistical Investigator Grade-II posts and Paper III will be for only those candidates who apply for Assistant Audit Officer/ Assistant Accounts Officer post. Marks obtained in the Tier II exam shall be considered for final selection.

In this article, we have shared the detailed exam pattern for Tier I and Tier II along with the marking scheme, question pattern and weightage.

SSC CGL Exam Pattern 2023

SSC stands for Staff Selection Commission which is the exam conducting body for the CGL exam. We have given below the key highlights of the exam pattern for all the aspirants who are going to appear in the upcoming exam.

SSC CGL Exam Pattern for Tier I

• The Tier-I Exam Pattern comprises 4 sections with 100 objective-type, multiple-choice questions for 200 marks.
• The questions will be available in both English & Hindi except for English Comprehension. 
• There will be a negative marking of 0.50 for each wrong answer.
• The four sections in the Tier I exam are General Intelligence and Reasoning, General Awareness, Quantitative Aptitude, and English Comprehension.

Also Read: SSC CGL Cut Off 2023: Check Expected & Previous Year Cut off Marks

SSC CGL Exam Pattern for Tier II

• The SSC CGL Tier II exam pattern comprises three papers i.e paper I, II, and III. Paper I is mandatory for all posts. Paper II will be for only those candidates who apply for the Junior Statistical Officer (JSO) and Statistical Investigator Grade-II posts. Paper III will be for only those candidates who apply for Assistant Audit Officer/ Assistant Accounts Officer post.
• Tier-II (all papers) shall consist of objective type, multiple choice questions, except for module-II of section-III of paper-I. 
• The questions shall be bilingual (English & Hindi) except for English Language and Comprehension module in section II of paper-I. 
• Negative marking of 1 mark for each wrong answer shall be applicable in section-I, section II, and module-I of section III of paper-I and 0.50 marks for each wrong answer in paper-II and paper-III. 
• It will be mandatory for the candidates to qualify all the sections of Paper-I.

Below, we have discussed the Tier II exam pattern in detail for each paper. Candidates can refer to CGL Syllabus here for detailed topics (Tier I and Tier II).

SSC CGL Tier II Paper 1 Exam Pattern

Paper 1 of Tier II shall be conducted in two sessions – Session I and Session II. In session I, there shall be three sections and two modules in each section. Candidates shall get 1 hour to complete section I (two modules). Immediately after completion of section I, candidates shall sit for section II (two modules) for which they shall get 1 hour. After section II is successfully concluded, section III (module I) shall commence immediately for which candidates shall get 15 minutes.

On completion of module I of section III, session I shall come to an end. After the completion of session I, candidates will get a break for re-registration for session II. The module II of section III shall be held in session II for which candidates shall get 15 minutes.

SSC CGL Tier II Paper 2 and 3 Exam Pattern

Paper-II will be for only those candidates who apply for the posts of Junior Statistical Officer (JSO) in the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation and Statistical Investigator Grade-II in the office of Registrar General of India (M/o Home Affairs) and who are shortlisted in Tier-I for these Posts. 

Paper-III will be for only those candidates who are shortlisted in Tier-I for Paper-III i.e. for the posts of Assistant Audit Officer/ Assistant Accounts Officer.

SSC CGL Final Merit

• All the candidates qualified in both Tier I & Tier II stages will be shortlisted for Document Verification. They will be required to appear for Document Verification along with the photocopies and original documents as prescribed by the commission.
• The final SSC CGL Merit list will be prepared on the basis of the overall performance of candidates in the Tier-II Examination only.
• The CGL Merit List for the post of Junior Statistical Officer (JSO) and Statistical Investigator Grade-II will be prepared based on the aggregate marks obtained in section-I & section-II of paper-I and paper-II of Tier-II examination subject to qualifying section-III (both modules) of paper-I of Tier-II.
• The SSC CGL Merit List for the post of Assistant Audit Officer and Assistant Accounts Officer will be prepared based on the aggregate marks obtained in section-I & section-II of paper-I and paper-III of Tier-II examination subject to qualifying section-III (both modules) of paper-I of Tier-I.