The Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) is a body created by  the Constitution of India to select applicants for civil service jobs in the Indian state of Bihar according to the merits of the applicants.

To crack BPSC Prelims, the candidates need to have a sound idea 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 Tips and Strategy

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.

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 for 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.

• 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 for each question.

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 a good standard.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, 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.

• 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.

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 standards is enough.

General Studies Paper

Until now, every paper that the candidates have appeared in 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.

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 the interview. After the interviews, comes the final BPSC result.