Scheme Of The Examination

The Combined Preliminary Examination will be of a Test for selection of candidates for the Main Examination for the different categories of posts, mentioned in the first paragraphs, and would comprise the following subjects:

Note :-

a. Both Parts A & B will be of objective type (multiple choice type).

b. Question Papers (Test Booklets) for both the Parts in Preliminary Exam will be set both in English and Hindi.

Introduction

The Assistants’ Grade Examination is conducted by the Staff Selection Commission for recruitment to:

a. Grade IV (Assistant) of the General Cadre of the Indian Foreign Services (B).

b. Grade II (Cypher Assistant) of Cypher Cadre of Indian Foreign Service Branch (B);

c. Assistants’ Grade of the Railway Board Secretariat Service

i. Assistants’ Grade of the Central Secretariat Service

ii. Assistants’ Grade of the Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service; and

iii. Posts of Assistants in other Departments / Organizations and the Attached Offices of the Government of India, not participating in IFS (B)/Railway Board Secretariat Service/ Central Secretariat Service/Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Services.

The Staff Selection Commission (S.S.C) conducts the Assistants’ Grade Examination, once a year in two stages. The Preliminary Examination (Objective Type) for selection of candidates for the Main Examination is held in the month of January.

The Assistants’ Grade Main Examination is held in the month of July. Blank application forms and other particulars are published in the Employment News, usually in the month of September of the previous year. The last date for submission of applications is usually the first week of. October of the previous year.

Eligibility

a. Age

A candidate must have attained the age of 20 years and must not have attained the age of 25 years on the first day of the August of the previous year. The upper age limit may be relaxed in respect of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and such other categories of persons as may, from time to time, be notified in this behalf By the Government of India, to the extent and subject to the conditions notified in respect of each category.

The upper age limit is also relaxed to 30 years in respect of LDCs/UDCs, Stenographers’ Grade ‘D’ and Grade III with not less than 3 years continuous and regular service in various departments/offices. Government of India.

b. Educational Qualifications

Degree of a recognized University, or equivalent.

Scheme Of The Examination

a. Preliminary Examination (Objective Type)

The Preliminary Examination will be of a Test for selection of candidates for the Main Examination and would compromise of the following subjects:

Note :–

i. The papers in all the subjects will be of Objective Type (Multiple Choice Type).

ii. Question Papers (Test Booklets) in Reasoning Ability, General Awareness and Arithmetic will be set both in English and Hindi.

iii. Part (iv)-Language Paper (English or Hindi) will be of qualifying nature and the marks secured by the candidates in this part will not be counted for preparation of the list of candidates to be called for the Main Examination. Candidates will have the option to answer the Language Paper (Paper (iv)) either in English or in Hindi. (The language opted in Prelim will not be changed in the Main Exam).

iv. The aggregate marks secured in Part (i) and Part (ii) will be taken for preparation of the list of candidates to be called for Main Examination.

v. The Commission have the discretion to fix minimum qualifying standard in any of the four parts of the Preliminary Examination.

b. Main Examination (Conventional Type)

The Main Examination will consist of the following Papers:

Note :-

i. The question Papers for the Main Examination will be of Conventional (Essay) Type.

ii. In Paper I, Part (a) of Main Examination will be Compulsory for all the candidates. However; this will be of a qualifying nature. The marks secured in this part will not be Counted for preparation of the final selection list:
The Commission have the discretion to fix a qualifying standard in this part.

iii. Candidates will have the Option to answer Paper I Part (b) (Communication/Writing Skill) and Paper II (Arithmetic) either in-Hindi or in English.

iv. Scripts of Paper I Part (b) (Communication/Writing Skill) and Paper II (Arithmetic) will be evaluated of only those candidates who secure minimum qualifying standard in Part (a of Paper I of the Main Examination.

Conditions of Eligibility

1.Nationality

A candidate must either be:

i. a citizen of India, or

ii. a subject of Bhutan, or

iii. a subject of Nepal, or

iv. a Tibetan refugee who came over to India before the 1st January, 1962 with the intention of permanently settling in India, or

v. a person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka and East African Countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire and Ethiopia and Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India.

Provided that a candidate belonging to categories (ii), (iii), (iv) and (v) above shall be a person in whose favour a certificate of eligibility has been issued by the Government of India.

Certificate of eligibility will not, however, be necessary in the case of candidates who are Gorkha subjects of Nepal.

2. Age Limits, Sex and Marital Status

Only unmarried male candidates who must have attained the age of 16 1/2 years and must not have attained the age of 19 years on the 1st July, 2005 i.e. he must have been born not earlier than 2nd July, 1986 and not later than 1st January, 1989 are eligible.

The date of birth accepted by the Commission is that entered in the Matriculation or Secondary School Leaving Certificate or in a certificate recognised by an Indian University as equivalent to Matriculation or in an extract from a Register of Matriculates maintained by a University which extract must be certified by the proper authority of the University or in the Higher Secondary or an equivalent examination certificates.

These certificates are required to be submitted only after the declaration of the result of the written part of the examination. No other document relating to age like horoscopes, affidavits, birth extracts from Municipal Corporation, service records and the like will be accepted. The expression Matriculation/Higher Secondary Examination Certificate in this part of the instruction includes the alternative certificates mentioned above.

Candidates should note that only the Date of Birth as recorded in the Matriculation/Higher Secondary Examination Certificate or an equivalent certificate AVAILABLE on the date of submission of applications will be accepted by the Commission and no subsequent request for its change will be considered or granted.

Candidates should also note that once a Date of Birth has been claimed by them and entered in the records of the Commission for the purpose of admission to an Examination, no change will be allowed subsequently or at aNY subsequent examination on any Ground Whatsoever.

The candidates should exercise due care while entering their date of birth in column 8 of the application form for the Examination. If on verification at any subsequent stage any variation is found in their date of birth from the one entered in their Matriculation or equivalent Examination certificate, disciplinary action will be taken Against them by the Commission under the Rules.

Candidates must undertake not to marry until they complete their full training. A candidate who marries subsequent to the Date of his application though successful at this or any subsequent examination will not be selected for training. A candidate who maRRies during training shall be discharged and will be liable to refund all expenditure incurred on him by the Government.

3. Educational Qualifications

i. For Army wing of National Defence Academy :- 12th Class pass of the 10+2 pattern of School Education or equivalent examination conducted by a State Education Board or a University.

ii. For Air Force and Naval Wings of National Defence Academy and for the 10+2 (Executive Branch) Course at the Naval Academy :- 12th Class pass of the 10+2 pattern of School Education or equilvalent with Physics and Mathematics conducted by a State Education Board or a University.

Candidates who are appearing in the 12th Class under the 10+2 pattern of School Education or equivalent exmination can also apply for this examination.

Syllabus of the Examination

1. Algebra :

   Concept of a set, operations on sets, Venn diagrams. De Morgan laws. Cartesian product, relation, equivalence relation.

   Representation of real numbers on a line. Complex numbers - basic properties, modulus, argument, cube roots of unity. Binary system of numbers. Conversion of a number in decimal system to binary system and vice-versa. Arithmetic, Geometric and Harmonic progressions. Quadratic equations with real coefficients. Solution of linear inequations of two variables by graphs. Permutation and Combination. Binomial theorem and its application. Logarithms and their applications.

2. Matrices and Determinants:

   Types of matrices, operations on matrices Determinant of a matrix, basic properties of determinant. Adjoint and inverse of a square matrix, Applications - Solution of a system of linear equations in two or three unknowns by Cramer’s rule and by Matrix Method.

3. Trigonometry:

   Angles and their measures in degrees and in radians. Trigonometrical ratios. Trigonometric identities Sum and difference formulae. Multiple and Sub-multiple angles. Inverse trigonometric functions. Applications - Height and distance, properties of triangles.

4. Analytical Geometry of two and three dimensions:

   Rectangular Cartesian Coordinate system. Distance formula. Equation of a line in various forms. Angle between two lines. Distance of a point from a line. Equation of a circle in standard and in general form. Standard forms of parabola, ellipse and hyperbola. Eccentricity and axis of a conic.

   Point in a three dimensional space, distance between two points. Direction Cosines and direction ratios. Equation of a plane and a line in various forms. Angle between two lines and angle between two planes. Equation of a sphere.

5. Differential Calculus:

   Concept of a real valued function - domain, range and graph of a function. Composite functions, one to one, onto and inverse functions. Notion of limit, Standard limits - examples. Continuity of functions - examples, algebraic operations on continuous functions. Derivative of a function at a point, geometrical and physical interpreatation of a derivative - applications. Derivatives of sum, product and quotient of functions, derivative of a function with respect of another function, derivative of a composite function. Second order derivatives. Increasing and decreasing functions. Application of derivatives in problems of maxima and minima.

6. Integral Calculus and Differential equations:

   Integration as inverse of differentiation, integration by substitution and by parts, standard integrals involving algebraic expressions, trigonometric, exponential and hyperbolic functions. Evaluation of definite integrals - determination of areas of plane regions bounded by curves - applications. Definition of order and degree of a differential equation, formation of a differential equation by examples. General and particular solution of a differential equation, solution of first order and first degree differential equations of various types - examples. Application in problems of growth and decay.

7. Vector Algebra :-

   Vectors in two and three dimensions, magnitude and direction of a vector. Unit and null vectors, addition of vectors, scalar multiplication of vector, scalar product or dot product of two-vectors. Vector product and cross product of two vectors. Applications-work done by a force and moment of a force, and in geometrical problems.

8. Statistics and Probability :-

   Statistics: Classification of data, Frequency distribution, cumulative frequency distribution - examples Graphical representation - Histogram, Pie Chart, Frequency Polygon - examples. Measures of Central tendency - mean, median and mode. Variance and standard deviation - determination and comparison. Correlation and regression.

   Probability : Random experiment, outcomes and associated sample space, events, mutually exclusive and exhaustive events, impossible and certain events. Union and Intersection of events. Complementary, elementary and composite events. Definition of probability - classical and statistical - examples. Elementary theorems on probability - simple problems. Conditional probability, Bayes’ theorem - simple problems. Random variable as function on a sample space. Binomial distribution, examples of random experiments giving rise to Binominal distribution.

   Paper-II
   General Ability Test
   (Code No. 02)
   (Maximum Marks-600)

   Part ‘A’ - English
   
   (Maximum Marks 200).

   The question paper in English will be designed to test the candidate’s understanding of English and workman like use of words. The syllabus covers various aspects like : Grammar and usage, vocabulary, comprehension and cohesion in extended text to test the candidate’s proficiency in English.

   Part ‘B’ - General Knowledge
   
   (Maximum Marks-400)

   The question paper on General Knowledge will broadly cover the subjects : Physics, Chemistry, General Science, Social Studies, Geography and Current Events.

   The syllabus given below is designed to indicate the scope of these subjects included in this paper. The topics mentioned are not to be regarded as exhaustive and questions on topics of similar nature not specifically mentioned in the syllabus may also be asked. Candidate’s answers are expected to show their knowledge and intelligent understanding of the subject.

   Section ‘A’ (Physics)

   Physical Properties and States of Matter, Mass, Weight, Volume, Density and Specific Gravity, Principle of Archimedes, Pressure Barometer.

   Motion of objects, Velocity and Acceleration, Newton’s Laws of Motion, Force and Momentum, Parallelogram of Forces, Stability and Equilibrium of bodies, Gravitation, elementary ideas of work, Power and Energy.

   Effects of Heat, Measurement of temperature and heat, change of State and Latent Heat, Modes of transference of Heat.

   Sound waves and their properties, Simple musical instruments.

   Rectilinear propagation of Light, Reflection and refraction. Spherical mirrors and Lenses. Human Eye.

   Natural and Artificial Magnets, Properties of a Magnet, Earth as a Magnet.

   Static and Current Electricity, conductors and Non-conductors, Ohm’s Law, Simple Electrical Circuits, Heating, Lighting and Magnetic effects of Current, Measurement of Electrical Power, Primary and Secondary Cells, Use of X-Rays.

   General Principles in the working of the following :

   Simple Pendulum, Simple Pulleys, Siphon, Levers, Balloon, Pumps, Hydrometer, Pressure Cooker, Thermos Flask, Gramophone, Telegraphs, Telephone, Periscope, Telescope, Microscope, Mariner’s Compass; Lightening Conductors, Safety Fuses.

   Section ‘B’ (Chemistry)

   Physical and Chemical changes. Elements, Mixtures and Compounds, Symbols, Formulae and simple Chemical Equations, Law of Chemical Combination (excluding problems). Properties of Air and Water.

   Preparation and Properties of Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen and Carbondioxide, Oxidation and Reduction.

   Acids, bases and salts.

   Carbon - different forms.

   Fertilizers - Natural and Artificial

   Material used in the preparation of substances like soap, Glass, Ink, Paper, Cement, Paints, Safety Matches, and Gun-Powder.

   Elementary ideas about the Structure of Atom, Atomic, Equivalent and Molecular Weights, Valency.

   Section ‘C’ (General Science)

   Difference between the living and non- living.

   Basis of Life - Cells, Protoplasms and Tissues.

   Growth and Reproduction in Plants and Animals.

   Elementary knowledge of human Body and its important organs.

   Common Epidemics, their causes and prevention.

   Food - Source of Energy for man. Constituents of food, Balanced Diet.

   The Solar System - Meteors and Comets, Eclipses.

   Achievements of Eminent Scientists.

   Section ‘D’ (History, Freedom Movement etc.)

   A broad survey of Indian History, with emphasis on Culture and Civilisation.

   Freedom Movement in India.

   Elementary study of Indian Constitution and Administration.

   Elementary knowledge of Five Year Plans of India.

   Panchayati Raj, Co-operatives and Community Development.

   Bhoodan, Sarvodaya, National Integration and Welfare State, Basic Teachings of Mahatma Gandhi.
   Forces shaping the modern world; Renaissance, Exploration and Discovery; War of American Independence. French Revolution, Industrial Revolution and Russian Revolution. Impact of Science and Technology on Society. Concept of one World, United Nations, Panchsheel, Democracy. Socialism and Communism. Role of India in the present world.

   Section ‘E’ (Geography)

   The Earth, its shape and size. Lattitudes and Longitudes, Concept of time. International Date Line. Movements of Earth and their effects.

   Origin of Earth. Rocks and their classification; Weathering - Mechanical and Chemical, Earthquakes and volcanoes.

   Ocean Currents and Tides

   Atmosphere and its composition; Temperature and Atmospheric Pressure, Planetary Winds, cyclones and Anti-cyclones; Humidity; Condensation and Precipitation; Types of Climate. Major Natural regions of the World.

   Regional Geography of India - Climate, Natural vegetation. Mineral and Power resources; location and distribution of agricultural and industrial activities.

   Important Sea ports and main sea, land and air routes of India. Main items of Imports and Exports of India.

   Section ‘F’ (Current Events)

   Knowledge of Important events that have happened in India in the recent years.

   Current important world events.

   Prominent personalities - both Indian and International including those connected with cultural activities and sports.

   1. Out of maximum marks assigned to part ‘B’ of this paper, questions on Sections ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’, ‘E’ and ‘F’ will carry appoximately 25%, 15%, 10%, 20%, 20% and 10% weightages respectively.

   ligence and personality test

   In addition to the interview the candidates will be put to Intelligence Tests both verbal and non-verbal, designed to assess their basic intelligence. They will also be put to Group Tests such as group discussions, group planning, outdoor group tasks, and asked to give brief lectures on specified subjects. All these tests are intended to judge the mental calibre of a candidate. In broad terms, this is really an assessment of not only his intellectual qualities but also his social traits and interests in current affairs.

Scheme of Examination

a. The subjects of the written examination, the time allowed and the maximum marks allotted to each subject will be as follows :

b. The papers in all the subjects will consist of objective type questions only. The question papers (Test Booklets) OF mathematics and part “b” of general ability tests will be set bilingually in hindi as well as english.

c. In the question papers, wherever necessary, questions involving the metric system of Weights and Measures only will be set.

d. Candidates must write the papers in their own hand. In no circumstances will they be allowed the help of a scribe to write answers for them.

e. The Commission have discretion to fix qualifying marks in any or all the subjects at the examination.

f. The candidates are not permitted to use calculator or Mathematical or logirithmic table for answering objective type papers (Test Booklets). They should not therefore, bring the same inside the Examination Hall.