Cycle 2025
DRAFT — unverified
Unverified — pending official notification check.
Scheme from official SSC regional site; negative-marking clauses from notification-based sources. Paper-II negative marking: secondary sources conflict (0.25 vs 1); the 1/3-of-allotted-marks formulation (1 mark per wrong answer on 3-mark questions) is consistent with notice language.
1
Paper-I (CBT)
2
Paper-II (CBT)
3
Document Verification
4
Medical Examination
Main Session
| Section | Timing | Questions | Marks / Q | Negative | Nature |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Intelligence & Reasoning | Not timed separately | 50 | 1 | −0.3333 | Scored |
| General Awareness | Not timed separately | 50 | 1 | −0.3333 | Scored |
| General Engineering (Civil & Structural / Electrical / Mechanical — candidate's stream) | Not timed separately | 100 | 1 | −0.3333 | Scored |
Main Session
| Section | Timing | Questions | Marks / Q | Negative | Nature |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Engineering (candidate's stream) | Not timed separately | 100 | 3 | −1 | Scored |
Descriptive stage — no CBT mock in milestone 1.
Descriptive stage — no CBT mock in milestone 1.
Paper-I · Paper-I (CBT) · Main Session — navigation
Single '2 Hours' duration for the whole paper — overall timer; no sectional timing. Navigation/locking not specified.
Paper-I · Paper-I (CBT) · Main Session — qualifying criteria
Merit cutoff; Paper-I screens candidates for Paper-II.
Paper-I · Paper-I (CBT) · Main Session — negative marking
Official notice formulation: 'negative marking equal to one-third of the marks allotted to the question' (1 mark/question => 1/3 mark per wrong answer). Widely misreported as 0.25 on coaching sites.
Paper-II · Paper-II (CBT) · Main Session — note
Paper-II converted from conventional/descriptive to CBT in the 2025 cycle (held 07.04.2026). Single 2-hour overall timer.
Paper-II · Paper-II (CBT) · Main Session — navigation
Single 2-hour overall timer for the whole paper — overall timer; no sectional timing. Navigation/locking not specified.
Paper-II · Paper-II (CBT) · Main Session — qualifying criteria
Final merit on Paper-I + Paper-II.
Paper-II · Paper-II (CBT) · Main Session — negative marking
'negative marking of one mark for each wrong answer in Paper-II' per official-formulation quote (3 marks/question, so 1 mark = one-third of allotted marks).