Assam Public Service Commission simply APSC conducts various state-level competitive examinations to appoint eligible candidates to serve the people. It recruits administrative jobs in Assam through timely recruitment. Candidates must have the requisite educational qualifications, skills, eligibility, leadership quality, honesty, and encouragement to serve the state’s people. It is a fair and transparent process that maintains the value and integrity in selecting the candidates.
The Assam Public Service Commission is an Indian government agency. According to the provision of the Government of India Act, 1935, the Commission was established in the year 1st April 1936. It’s headquartered is in Jawahar Nagar, Khanapara, Guwahati. It has its own secretariat.
The function of the Commission:
As mentioned in India’s Constitution in article 320, Part XIV, the Commission shall consult all the matters related to Civil Service in Assam. Essential functions of the Commission are as follows:-
1. Recommend the Candidate’s indirect requirement of the State Government of Assam in various posts.
2. Advise the government in an officer’s promotion to follow the principles.
3. Advise the government in all the matters where a person serving the state under the government and recruited by the Commission.
4. The Commission shall advise the government in framing the recruitment rules and in the method of requirement.
5. The Commission also advises the government on the matters related to the protection and payment of the Commission’s government servants.
6. The Commission conducts the departmental Examination for the state government.
Eligibility Criteria to appear in the Examination conducted by APSC:
To appear in the APSC examination, a candidate must fulfill the following criteria set by the Commission.
I. The Candidate must be an Indian citizen.
II. To appear in the APSC examination, the Candidate must be 21 years old or less than 21 years and not more than 38 years.
There is some relaxation in the upper age. For an ST/SC candidate, relaxation is 5 years where he can attempt till 43 years. For the OBC category candidate, there is the relaxation of 3 years of upper age. A candidate with a physical disability has a 5 year relaxation that means the Candidate can apply until 43 years of age. The age limit of a candidate is calculated based on Matriculation/HSLC Admit card issued by the recognized board or council.
III. A Degree from any Universities authorized by an Act of Central or State Legislature in India or other Educational Institutions established by an Act of Parliament or under UGC Act 1956 or any such qualification declared by the Government of India is a must.
IV. If the final result is not out before the closing date of submission of application, the Candidate can’t apply.
V. Persons with a disability should apply by mentioning the post at the time of filling up forms of mains.
Services under APSC:
APSC conducts various examinations every year for various vacancies of the Assam government. Here the list of some essential examinations & vacancies filled up by Assam Public Service Commission.
- Civil Services Examination
- Assam Finance Service (FAO/TO) under the Finance Department (direct recruitment)
- Forest Ranger under Environment and Forest Department Assam
- Junior Administrative Examination
- ADO under Agriculture Department Assam
- Asstt. Prof. etc. in Engineering Colleges of Assam under Education Higher (Technical) Department
- Lecturer in IFIC (In-Service Education), DIET in the Directorate of SCERT under Elementary Education Department
- Assistant Engineer (C), PHE
- Research Asstt. under the Urban Development Department
- Asstt. Programmer in APSC Office
- Fishery Development Officer and Allied Cadre under the Fishery Department
- Lecturer etc. in Polytechnics of Assam under Education Higher (Technical) Department
- AE (Civil) under Handloom & Textile Department
A successful candidate goes through a process of selection under the Commission of APSC; those are as follows:
The Combined Competitive Examination consists of two successive stages:
(I) The Preliminary Examination and
(II) The Main Examination (Written and Interview)
(I) Preliminary Examination of APSC :
The Preliminary Examination will consist of two papers of objective type multiple choice questions of two hours. OMR (Optical Mark Recognition) answer sheet will be provided for answering questions. Candidates will have to use only Black Ball Pen. Use of Eraser, Chemical, Correction Fluid for correcting options once marked in the OMR answer sheet is prohibited, and answer sheets bearing traces of such use shall not be evaluated. This Examination is meant to serve as a screening test only. The marks obtained in the Preliminary Examination by the candidates who are declared qualified for admission to the Main Examination will not be counted for determining the final order of merit.
Format of the paper for the Preliminary Examination of APSC:
General Studies-I
Total Marks – 200
Duration – 2 Hours
Type – Objective
30%-35% questions will compulsorily be related to Assam
Topic to be covered in Paper One as follows:
- Indian Polity
- The political system in India
- Current events of National & International Importance
- Indian Economy
- Planning Process in India
- Geography of India, Assam & World
- Role of Science & Technology in India
- Culture & Literature of India, Assam & World
- History of India & Assam
- Indian National Movement with special reference to Assam
- General Mental Ability
General Studies-II
Total Marks – 200
Duration – 2 Hours
Type – Objective
Qualifying nature shall have minimum qualifying marks of 33%
Topic to be covered in Paper Two as follows:
- Comprehension.
- Interpersonal skills, including communication skills.
- Logical reasoning and analytical ability.
- Decision making and problem-solving.
- General mental ability.
- Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc.) (Class X level), Data Interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc.) (Class X level)
(II) APSC Main Examination (Written and Interview):
Written:
Candidates who clear the prelims based on merit needs to apply for the Mains of APSC. The number of qualified candidates to appear in mains is 11-12 times the number of vacancies. Means for one post, there will be competition among 11-12 candidates. The examinations will be of conventional essay type.
|
Papers |
Type | Marks | Duration |
| Paper 1 | Essay | 250 | 3 Hours |
| Paper 2 to 6 | General Studies | 250 each | 3 Hours each |
| Paper 7 | Optional subject Paper-1 | 250 | 3 Hours |
| Paper 8 | Optional subject Paper-2 | 250 |
3 Hours |
The Candidate can select any two subjects from the following list. Each subject will have two papers of 200 marks.
Syllabus of optional subjects for paper 7 & 8 as follows:
- Agriculture
- Anthropology
- Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science
- Botany
- Chemical Engineering
- Civil Engineering
- Chemistry
- Commerce
- Computer Science
- Economics
- Education
- Electrical Engineering
- Electronics
- Fishery Science
- Geography
- Geology
- Indian History
- Law
- Mathematics
- Mechanical Engineering
- Medical Science
- Physics
- Political Science
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Statistics
- Zoology
Modern Languages and Literature & Classical Language (anyone only)
Candidates are not allowed to choose the following combination of the subject:
- Anthropology & Sociology
- Mathematics & Statistics
- Philosophy & Psychology
- Agriculture & Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science
- Not more than one of the Engineering subjects
Qualifying Language Papers (In the level of Class-X)
Paper-A | 300 Marks | 3 Hours
Any one of the languages from Assamese, Bengali, and Bodo.
Candidates from Dima Hasao, Karbi Anglong, and West Karbi Anglong districts who had not studied any of these languages from Assamese, Bengali, and Bodo in school shall be exempted from appearing for qualifying language papers.
Paper-B | English | 300 Marks | 3 Hours
Interview Test:
|
Interview |
|
After qualifying in Written Examination |
|
Total Marks – 275 |
The interview is the final stage of the APSC recruitment process. The candidates who will able to clear the mains exam of APSC will appear in the Interview. The number of the selected candidates for Interview will be twice the number of the post’s vacancy. Two people will participate in one post in the Interview. The Interview carries 275 marks. Mostly the interviewer will ask questions related to you, your field, and general knowledge. The key is to be smart and confident while answering the questions.
During Interview, Interviewer will not measure your knowledge because it was already tested two times in the Prelims and Mains. The interview is to test your personality, intelligence, smartness, confidence, and communication skills. Be confident, and don’t get nervous even if you fail to answer any question. Answer your questions in brief until they ask you to describe with a clear and confident voice. You can take your time to answer if they permit. Don’t showcase your knowledge, or don’t be over smart. Be you who you are. Otherwise, they will catch you, and you will be in trouble in a situation created by you. If you realized you made any mistake, just say sorry and start your next answer. Interviewers know you well; they are experienced people. Also, they knew you are, thereby, clearing two steps. So be loyal.
Total Mark of Mains:
Written Examination (Paper 1 to Paper 8) = 2000
Interview (After qualifying in Written Examination) = 275
Total Marks – 2275
Reading newspapers is a must and following the APSC website frequently is suitable for any aspirants in all the processes. And for all the competitive examinations, the syllabus is the Bible for the Candidate.
All the best!
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Here is the official link of the APSC website.