Punjab Civil Services Selection Process: Punjab Public Service Commission’s (PPSC) Punjab State Civil Services Combined Competitive Examination Selection Procedure is given below…
Selection Procedure: Candidates will be selected based on their performance in Preliminary Competitive Examination; and Main Competitive Examination (written and viva voce).
Preliminary Competitive Examination: The Preliminary Competitive Examination will consist of two papers i.e. Paper-I General Studies and Paper –II Civil Services Aptitude Test. Candidates equal to thirteen times of the total number vacancies may qualify for the Main Competitive Examination. All candidates are required to appear in both papers including Ex-servicemen candidates i.e. Paper I and Paper II of the Preliminary Competitive Examination are compulsory.
Main Examination: The main examination will consist of written examination and a viva voce (interview) test. The main Examination is intended to assess the overall intellectual traits and depth of understanding of candidates rather than merely the range of their information and memory. Total number of questions in the question papers of optional subjects will be eight. All questions will carry equal marks. Each paper will be divided into two parts, viz. Part A and Part B, each part containing four questions. The main competitive examination shall include compulsory and optional subjects and every candidate shall take all the compulsory subjects and two of the optional subjects, except for Ex-servicemen candidates, who are exempted from taking optional subjects.
Note:
1. No candidate shall be eligible to appear in the viva voce test unless he obtains 45 per cent marks in the aggregate of all subjects including at least 33 per cent marks in Punjabi (in Gurmukhi Script). Provided that if at any main competitive examination a sufficient number of candidates do not obtain 45 per cent marks in the aggregate, the Commission may at its discretion lower this percentage to not below 40 per cent, but the percentage for the language paper i.e. Punjabi in Gurmukhi Script shall remain unchanged.
2. No candidate shall be considered to have qualified in the main competitive examination unless he obtains at least 45 per cent marks in the aggregate in all subjects including vivavoce except in the case of any main competitive examination for which this percentage has been lowered to not less than 40 per cent by the Commission under the proviso to regulation 7 in which case the qualifying percentage shall be as determined by the Commission.
Viva Voce Test: The candidates securing the highest aggregate marks in the written part of the Main Competitive Examination, numbering not more than three times the number of vacancies, shall be called for the viva voce test. In the event two or more candidates are tied at same rank then the order of merit shall be determined in accordance with highest marks secured in viva voce. Candidates up to three times the number of vacancies shall be declared qualified for each category to take viva voce test.
The viva voce test shall be conducted by an Interview Board comprising of the Chairman and Members of the Commission which may include an outside expert. More than one Interview Boards may be set up to interview the candidates. In the event of an Interview Board not being headed by the Chairman of the Commission, the senior most Member shall be the Chairman of the Board.
Honesty and spontaneity of candidate’s responses to the questions will be gauged by the interview panelist, who would be looking to judge confidence, communication skills, mental alertness, logical thinking, judgment ability and leadership qualities of the candidate.
The technique of the interview will not be that of a strict cross-examination but of a natural, though directed and purposive conversation, which will be intended to reveal the mental qualities of the candidate. The interview test is not intended to be a test either of the special or general knowledge of the candidates, for which the candidate should have been already tested through their written papers. Candidates are expected to have taken an intelligent interest not only in their special subjects of academic study but also in the events which are
happening around them both within and outside their own State or country as well as in modern currents of thought and in new discoveries which should rouse the curiosity of well educated youth.
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