OPSC Syllabus, Exam Pattern and Eligibility 2023- RAYACADEMY
Odisha Civil Services (OCS) Exam Syllabus 2023: Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) has officially released the OPSC Syllabus 2023 pdf and Prelims & Mains Exam Pattern on their official website @opsc.gov.in. The exam has three parts- Preliminary, Mains and Interview round. However, interested candidates must meet the eligibility criteria as laid down by the authorities. Not meeting the eligibility criteria would result in the cancellation of the candidature.
Eligibility Criteria
Citizenship:
A candidate must be a citizen of India.
Age Limits:
A candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not be above the age of 38 years as of 1st day of January, 2022 i.e. He/ She must not have been born earlier than 2nd January, 1984 and not later than, 1st January, 2001.
The upper age limit is relaxable by 05 years for candidates belonging to S.C/S.T/S.E.B.C/Women/Ex-serviceman and by 10 Years for PWDs whose permanent disability is 40% or more.
Educational Qualification:
A candidate must hold a Bachelor's Degree is eligible for the exam.
Other Eligibility Criteria:
He/ She must be able to read, write and speak Odia and have-
Passes middle school Examination with Odia as a language subject; or
Passed High School certification or equivalent examination with Odia as medium of examination in non-language subject; or
Passes in Odia as a language subject in the final examination of class-VII from a school or educational institution recognized by the Government of Odisha or the Central Government; or
Passed a test in Odia in Middle English School Standard conducted by the school & mass education department of the Government of Odisha.
Number of Attempts:
A candidate appearing the Odisha Civil Services Examination will be permitted 06 (six) attempts at the examination: Provided that-
There will be no such limit for the S.C and S.T candidates
The number of attempts permissible to candidate belonging to socially & Educationally backward classes, who are otherwise eligible, shall be 09 (nine). This relaxation will be available to the candidates, who are eligible to avail reservation applicable to such candidates.
Number of Posts/ Vacancies
OPSC has officially released a notification about the number of Vacancies for the different posts of Odisha Civil Services. There are total 683 Vacancies, out of which 244 posts are for Groups-A and 439 posts are for the Group-B Category.
Application Fees:
While Applying for the OPSC OAS exam, Candidates must pay application fees of 500/- (Five Hundreds Rupees only). However, This is only applicable for the General and Unreserved Category. Candidates from S.C. and S.T. categories are exempted from paying this fees. More ever, Odisha Residents with 40% or more permanent disability are also exempted.
How to Apply
Candidates must go through the details of this advertisement available in the website of OPSC before filling up online application form.
Candidate must apply Online through the website of the OPSC https://www.opsc.gov.in/ Applications received through any other mode would not be accepted and summarily be rejected.
Conduct of Examination
The Odisha Civil Service Examination will consist of the following successive stages:-
Preliminary Examination (Objective Type) for selection of candidate for Mains Examination; or
Mains Examination (Written & Interview) for the selection of the candidate for the various services and posts.
Prelims Examination Pattern
Name of the Paper | Nature of the Paper | Examination Duration | Questions | Marks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Paper-I (General Studies) | Cut-off Merit Nature | 2 Hours | 100 Nos. | 200 Marks |
Paper-II ( General Studies) | Qualifying in Nature | 2 Hours | 80 Nos. | 200 Marks |
Mains Examination Pattern:
Paper | Name of the Paper | Nature of the Paper | Exam Duration | Marks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Paper-A | Compulsory Odia Language | Qualifying in Nature | 3 Hours | 250 Marks |
Paper-B | Compulsory English Language | Qualifying in Nature | 3 Hours | 250 Marks |
Paper-I | Essay | Merit Ranking in Nature | 3 Hours | 250 Marks |
Paper-II | General Studies-I | Merit Ranking in Nature | 3 Hours | 250 Marks |
Paper-III | General Studies-II | Merit Ranking in Nature | 3 Hours | 250 Marks |
Paper-IV | General Studies-III | Merit Ranking in Nature | 3 Hours | 250 Marks |
Paper-V | General Studies-IV | Merit Ranking in Nature | 3 Hours | 250 Marks |
Paper-VI | Optional Paper-I | Merit Ranking in Nature | 3 Hours | 250 Marks |
Paper-VII | Optional Paper-II | Merit Ranking in Nature | 3 Hours | 250 Marks |
​ | ​ | ​ | Total Marks | 1750 Marks (Merit) |
Interview or Personality Test | ​ | ​ | ​ | 250 Marks |
​ | ​ | ​ | Grand Total | 2000 Marks |
The Marks obtained in the Preliminary Examination by the candidate who are declared qualified for admission to the Mains Examination shall not be counted for determining their final order of merit.
There shall be Negative Marking of One-Third (0.33) of the marks assigned to that question shall be deducted as penalty.
Evaluation of the papers, namely 'Essay', 'General Studies' and Optional subjects of all the candidate will be done simultaneously along with evaluation of their qualification papers on 'Odia' and 'English' Language Paper. The Qualification marks in 'Odia' and 'English' Language is 25% of total marks of each paper.
Syllabus & Exam Pattern
Looking to Start Preparation for OPSC OAS 2023 Exam then go through the details syllabus for a better understanding of the subjects and the Candidate should carefully select the subject from a list of optional subjects. Check the Details Syllabus Accordingly-
For Prelims Exam
Paper-I ( General Studies ):
General Studies Paper-I will cover the following
Current events of National and International Importance
History of Indian National Movements.
Indian and World Geography- Physical, Social, Economic Geography of Indian and the World.
Indian Polity and Governance- Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
Economics and Social Development- Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector initiatives, etc.
General Issues on Environmental Ecology, Biodiversity, and Climate change- that do not require subject specialization.
General Science
Paper-II ( General Studies ):
General Studies Paper-II will cover the following
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)
For Mains Exam
Compulsory Papers
Odia Language Paper:
Odia Language Paper will cover the following
Comprehension of a given passage
Precis writing with a passage (1000 words approximate)
Translation from English to Odia
Grammar, usage and Vocabulary
Short Essay ( 1000 words approx.)
Expansion of an Idea
English Paper:
English Paper will cover the following
Comprehension of a given passage
Precis writing of a given passage
Translation from Odia to English
Grammar, usage and Vocabulary
Short Essay ( 1000 words Approx.)
Expansion of an Idea
English Essay Paper:
Candidates will be required to write an essay on a specific topic. The Expectations will be to keep close to the subject of the essay to arrange the ideas in a orderly fashion. Credit will be given for the effective, Exact expression of topic and on how the essay is written.
General Studies:
Paper I:
General Studies Paper I will cover the following
Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society.
Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art forms, literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.
Modern Indian History from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present- significant events, personalities, issues.
The freedom struggle- its various stages and important contributors/contributions from different parts of the country.
Post-Independence consolidation and reorganization within the country.
History of the world will include events from 18th century such as Industrial revolution, world wars, redraw of national boundaries, colonization, Decolonization, Political philosophies like communism, capitalism, socialism etc.-their forms and effect on the society.
Salient Features of Indian Society, Diversity of India
Role of women and women's organization, Population and associated issues, poverty and development issues, urbanization, their problems and their remedies.
Effects of Globalization on Indian Society.
Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism and secularism.
Salient features of World's physical geography.
Distribution of key natural resources across the world ( including South Asia and the Indian Sub-continent); factors responsible for the location of primary, secondary, and tertiary sector industries in various parts of the world (Including India).
Important Geographical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activities, cyclone, etc. geographical features and their location-changes in the critical geographical features ( including water-bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.
Odisha History and Geography.
Paper II
General Studies Paper II will cover the following
Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International Relations
Constitution of India- historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure.
Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the State, issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure, devolution of powers and finances up to local levels and challenges therein.
Separation of powers between various organs dispute redressal mechanism and institutions.
Comparison of the Indian Constitutional scheme with that of other countries.
Parliament and state legislatures- Structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers and privileges and issues arising out of these.
Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary- Ministries and Departments of the Government; pressure groups and formal/informal association and their role in the polity.
Salient features of the representation of people's Act.
Appointment to various constitutional posts, power, functions and responsibilities of various constitutional bodies.
Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.
Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
Development processes and the development industry.
Welfare schemes of vulnerable sections of the population by the center and state and the performance of these schemes.
Issues relating to development and management of society sector/services relating to health, education, Human resources.
Issues relating to poverty and hunger.
Role of civil services in a democracy
India and its neighborhood relations
Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests.
Important international institutions, agencies and form-their structure mandate.
Polity of Odisha
Paper III
General Studies Paper III will cover the following
Technology, Economics Development, Biodiversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management.
Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment.
Government Budgeting.
Major Crops- Cropping patterns in various parts of the country.
Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices
Food processing and related industries in India
Land reforms in India
Effects of liberalization on the economy, changes on industrial policy and their effects on Industrial growth
Infrastructure, Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.
Achievements of Indians in Science and Technology.
Disaster and Disaster Managements.
Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenge to Internal security.
Challenges to internal security through communication networks, role of media and social networking sites in internal security challenges, basics of cyber security.
Security challenges and their management in border area
Various security forces and agencies and their mandate.
Odisha Economy
Paper IV
General Studies Paper IV will cover the following-
Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude.
Ethics and human interface: Essence, determinants and consequences of ethics in-human actions, Dimension of ethics, Human Values.
Attitude: Content, structure, function.
Aptitude and foundational values for civil service, integrity, impartiality and non-partisanship, objectivity, dedication to public service, empathy, tolerance and compassion towards the weaker sections.
Emotional intelligence- Concepts and their utilization and application in administration and governance.
Contributions of moral thinkers and philosophers from India and the world.
Public/Civil service values and ethics in public administration.
Probity in governance: concept of public service; Philosophical basis of governance and probity; information sharing and transparency in government, right to information, code of ethics, code of conducts, citizen's charters, work culture, Quality of service delivery, utilization of public funds, challenges of corruption.
Case Studies on the above issues.
Optional Subjects List
Candidates should select any one optional subject from the list of optional subjects mention in the below table. Here is the list of all the subjects that a candidate can select from for the OAS Main Exam. For Optional Selection Mentorship Guidance Call us at 7606024205
​Agriculture | History |
Agriculture Engineering | Home Science |
Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science | Law |
Anthropology | Management |
Botany | Medical Science |
Chemistry | Mechanical Engineering |
Civil Engineering | Philosophy |
Commerce & Accountancy | Physics |
Economics | Political Science and International Relations |
Education | ​Psychology |
Electrical Engineering | ​Public Administration |
Fishery Science | Sociology |
Forestry | Statistics |
Geography | Zoology |
Geology | Literature: (a) Odia, (b) Hindi, (c) English, (d) Sanskrit, (e) Persian, (f) Urdu |