National level postgraduate examination, for graduates from all fields who want to work in Group B, C or D jobs in the Indian Government.

The CGL (Combined Graduate Level Examination) is a national level postgraduate competitive examination that provides graduates with the opportunity to work for the Central Government in several middle and low – level posts which require a graduate degree as the minimum educational qualification.

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Through the CGL which is conducted by the SSC (Staff Selection Commission), you can get recruited into various Grade B, C and D posts in different departments/ministries of the Central Government.

Recruitments for the Grade A posts in the Central Goverment are carried out by the UPSC throught the Civil Services Exam.

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SSC conducts the Combined Graduate Level Examination or the CGL in 2 phases, Tier 1 and Tier 2. Only the candidates who qualify in Tier 1 of the examination can appear for the Tier 2. Candidates who qualify in the Tier 2 of the examination are further asked to appear for a 3^rd stage which includes a Personality Test cum Interview/Computer Proficiency Test/ Skill Test (wherever applicable)/Document Verification stage. The decision regarding their recruitment will be taken on the basis of their performance in the Written Examinations (Tier 1 and Tier 2) as well as in the subsequent Interview/skill test.

Through the CGL examination, you can be recruited into posts under the Central Government such as those described below:

Group B: Assistants in different central ministries, Inspector of Central Excise.

Group C: Inspector of Income Tax, Assistant Enforcement Officer in Department of Revenue, Sub-Inspectors in the CBI, Auditors and Accountants in the CAG.  

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What are the eligibility criteria?

To work for the Central Government through the CGL examination, you need to be a citizen of India.

To be eligible to appear for the CGL examination, you must have a graduate degree in any field from a recognized university in India.

Candidates who are appearing or have appeared for their final year exams and are awaiting results are also eligible for the CGL examination provided that they can submit their final mark sheets before the due date.

Some posts may require specialized graduation degrees, for example, the ‘Statistical Investigator Grade – 2’ post requires a graduation in Statistics/Mathematics/Economics or Commerce with Statistics as a compulsory subject, at least during any 1 year of the degree.

Leaving out a few exceptions, you should not be less than 18 years of age and more than 27 years of age as on the 1^st of January of the year of the examination.

The upper age limit is relaxed by up to 5 years for candidates who belong to the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes category. For candidates who belong to the ‘Other Backward Classes’ (OBC) category, it is relaxed by up to 3 years. For Physically Handicapped candidates, the upper age limit is relaxed by up to 10 years.

For any further information, please visit the following website: http://ssc.nic.in/.

How to apply?

You can apply for the CGL examination online or offline. Online application forms are available on the following website: http://ssconline2.gov.in.

Keep in mind that while applying, you will have to mention the posts you wish to apply for in order of preference. Think carefully before you make these choices as you will not be able to change them at a later stage.

For any further information, please visit the following website: http://ssc.nic.in/.

What is the pattern of the examination?

The CGL Examination is conducted by the SSC in 3 phases: Tier 1, Tier 2 and the third stage which includes a Personality Test cum Interview/Computer Proficiency Test/ Skill Test (wherever applicable)/Document Verification.

Tier 1 (common to all posts):

Tier 1 of the examination is an objective – type written test of 200 marks, which comprises of multiple choice questions. The Tier 1 examination will comprise of 4 sections, each with 50 questions of 1 mark each: General Intelligence & Reasoning, General Awareness, Quantitative Aptitude and English Comprehension.

Do not attempt questions you do not know the answers to as there will be negative marking. 0.25 marks will be deducted for every wrong answer.

The total duration of the Tier 1 examination will be 2 hours.

Candidates who qualify in the Tier 1 of the examination will be allowed to appear for Tier 2. Qualifying marks differ from year to year, depending on the number of vacancies.

Tier 2:

The Tier 2 of the examination will be an objective – type written test of 400 marks, comprising of multiple choice questions. The examination will comprise of 2 papers: Quantitative Abilities (2 marks x 100 questions) and English Language & Comprehension (200 marks).

The duration of the Tier 2 examination will be a total of 4 hours (2 + 2).

Do not attempt questions you do not know the answers to as there will be negative marking. 0.50 marks will be deducted for wrong answers in Paper 1 (Quantitative Abilities) and 0.25 marks will be deducted for wrong answers in Paper 2 (English Language & Comprehension).

For posts that require specialized knowledge of a particular subject:

Along with the above 2 papers of the Tier 2 examination (Quantitative Abilities and English Language & Comprehension), candidates will have to appear for an additional Paper 3, for example, Statistics (2 marks x 100 questions) for the Statistical Investigator post,  ‘Computer Proficiency Test’ (CPT) for the Assistant in CSS post, ‘Data Entry Skill Test’ for the Tax Assistant post.

For any further information, please visit the following website: http://ssc.nic.in/ or read the brochure: http://ssc.nic.in/notice/examnotice/cgle-2014%20notice.pdf.

What happens after you qualify in the Tier 2 Examination?

All candidates who have applied for a post for which an Interview has NOT been prescribed will be recruited or rejected on the basis of their performance in the Tier 1 and Tier 2 examination only.

All candidates who have applied for posts for which an Interview HAS BEEN PRESCRIBED and have qualified in the Tier 2 Examination (by securing the required marks), will be short listed to appear for the final stage of the selection process which generally includes a Personal Interview/Skill Test (depending upon the post you’ve applied for). Your documents will be verified at this stage. The Personal Interview will be worth 100 marks.

Recruitments will take place on the basis of merit, which will be calculated by considering your performance in all 3 stages of the examination, including Tier 1, Tier 2 and Personal Interview/Skill Test (if applicable). Your preference for posts will be taken into consideration.

For further information, please visit the following website: http://ssc.nic.in/. 

What are the prospects?

The CGL examination conducted by the SSC is one of the most popular entrance examinations for Government Jobs. It is attempted by thousands of candidates annually.

The number of posts available for recruitment differs from year to year, as this depends only on the vacancies in individual departments/ministries of the Central Government. The lesser the vacancies available for a particular year, the more competitive the exam becomes.

Candidates who are recruited into posts through this examination will be liable to serve or be posted anywhere in India.

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Important Dates for the CGL Examination 2014: