Staff Selection Commission Conducts SSC CGL Exam in four stages: Tier-1, Tier-2, Tier-3 & Tier-4 exam. While Tier-I & Tier-II exam will be conducted online, Tier-III will be a pen and paper based exam and Tier-IV will be a computer skill test (Applicable for Selected Posts Only). Let's have a look at the exam pattern for all these stages of SSC CGL Exam Recruitment process one by one. Candidates must note that the score for SSC CGL Tier-I & Tier-II Exam will be normalized if it is conducted in multiple shifts. The normalization score will be decided by SSC and it will be considered final for selecting candidates for the further rounds (Tier-III & Tier-IV) of SSC CGL Exam.

SSC CGL Exam  Pattern

Tier	Description
I	Computer-based examination
II	Computer-based examination
III	Pen-and-paper based examination (Descriptive paper)
IV	Computer proficiency test/ skill test (if applicable)/ document verification

SSC CGL Tier-1 Exam Pattern

The exam will be conducted online comprising of 4 sections with about a 100 questions in total and with maximum marks of 200. The entire exam is needed to be completed in a time span of 60 minutes.

The sections asked in SSC CGL Tier-I Exam are:

• General Intelligence & Reasoning
• General Awareness
• Quantitative Aptitude
• English Comprehension

Section	Subject	Q's	Marks	Duration
A	General Intelligence Reasoning	25	50	1 Hour [1 hour 20 minutes for VH/ OH (afflicted with Cerebral Palsy/ deformity in writing hand)]
B	General Awareness	25	50
C	Quantitative Aptitude	25	50
D	English Comprehension	25	50
Total		100	200

Penalty of Wrong Answer: There is a negative marking of 0.50 Marks for each wrong answer. There is no sectional cut off. No point will be deducted if the question is left blank or unattempted by a candidate.

SSC CGL Tier-2 Exam Pattern

The exam will be conducted online comprising of 4 sections with about a 100 questions in each section and with maximum marks of 200.
The sections asked in SSC CGL Tier-I Exam are:

• Quantitative Ability
• English Language & Comprehension
• Statistics (Only for JSO)
• General Studies (Finance & Economics) (Only for AAO)
  

Paper	Subject	Q's	Marks	Duration
I	Quantitative Abilities	100	200	2 Hours for each paper [2 hours 40 minutes for VH/ OH (afflicted with Cerebral Palsy/ deformity in writing hand)]
II	English Language & Comprehension	200	200
III	Statistics (Only for JSO)	100	200
IV	General Studies (Finance and Economics) (Only for AAO)	100	200

Penalty of Wrong Answer: There is a negative marking of 0.25 Marks for each wrong answer. There is no sectional cut off. No point will be deducted if the question is left blank or unattempted by a candidate.

SSC CGL Tier-3 Exam Pattern

Tier-3 of SSC CGL will be a descriptive test. The paper will be in English/Hindi and will constitute of 100 marks. The entire paper needs to be completed in 60 minutes.

Descriptive Paper in English/Hindi (Writing of Essay, Precis, Letter, Application etc.)    100 marks  -  1 hour or 60 minutes

SSC CGL Tier-4 Exam Pattern

The official website informs, “Computer Proficiency Test/ Skill Test (wherever applicable)/ Document Verification will be conducted as per the provisions of the notice of examination.”

Skill Test

The skill test conducted by the commission is of two types as mentioned below:

Data Entry Skill Test (DEST): This test is conducted for candidates who apply for the post of Tax Assistants (Central Excise & Income Tax). As part of the test, all candidates need to type at 8,000 (eight thousand) Key Depression per hour on computer. The skill test will be conducted for a passage of about 2000 key depressions for a duration of 15 minutes. The test is of qualifying nature.

Computer Proficiency Test (CPT): This test is conducted for candidates who apply for the posts of Assistant Section Officer (CSS), Assistant Section Officer (MEA), Assistant Section Officer (AFHQ), and Assistant in Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Assistant (GSI) in the Ministry of Mines and Inspector (Central Excise), Inspector (Preventive Officer) & Inspector (Examiner) in CBEC. The test is of qualifying nature and consists of three modules:

• Word Processing
• Spread Sheet
• Generation of Slides

Document Verification

Documents to be presented (original as well as photocopy) by candidates for verification:

Matriculation certificate	Caste certificate
Mark sheets of all the three years of graduation	Provisional certificate/ certificate of graduation

It may be noted that candidature of candidates who are unable to produce the aforementioned documents will be cancelled.