WBCS Exam Pattern 2024: Check Prelims and Mains Paper Pattern
The West Bengal Civil Service (WBCS) specifies te WBCS exam pattern 2024 for the state’s Civil services. The candidates who are going to appear for the WBCS Prelims exam must be aware of the WBCS exam pattern that has been specified below here. Check out the WBCS exam pattern, marking scheme, negative marking, marks distribution for the Prelims exam scheduled for 15th December 2024.
WBCS Exam Pattern 2024
The WBCS (West Bengal Civil Service) exam follows a three-stage selection process: Preliminary, Main, and Personality Test. Candidates who qualify for each stage will be required to appear for the subsequent stage. The Prelims exam is qualifying in nature and will have only multiple choice questions. The Mains exam will be descriptive in nature and lastly a personality test shall be held. Each stage has an uncommon exam pattern. The WBCS exam pattern is given below here:
- Preliminary Exam: This is a screening test with a single objective-type paper called "General Studies," which covers various topics from the WBCS syllabus. The marks from this exam are not counted in the final result.
- Main Exam: Candidates who clear the prelims appear for the Main Exam, which includes six compulsory papers and one optional subject divided into two papers. Each paper is worth 200 marks and lasts three hours.
- Personality Test: Candidates who qualify in the Main Exam are called for an interview, which assesses their overall personality and suitability for civil services.
The WBCS 2024 exam for Prelims is to be held on 15th December 2024. Get complete information on WBCS exam pattern for Prelims, Mains and Personality Test on this page here.
WBCS Exam Pattern 2024 for Prelims Exam
The WBCS Preliminary Exam is held by WBPSC solely for screening purposes, and the marks obtained in this exam are not considered in the final WBCS result. The prelims consist of a single objective-type paper which is the General Studies. It consists of a variety of topics to test the candidate’s basic general awareness.
- WBCS Prelims exam is objective in nature.
- WBCS exam consists of 200 questions for 200 marks.
- The time duration to complete the exam is 2 Hours 30 Minutes.
- Check the table below for further clarity.
| Paper | Number of Questions | Max. Marks |
| General Studies | 200 | 200 |
Important Topics for WBCS Prelims Exam
The questions from the following given topics are asked in the WBCS exam 2024. Check the table below along with marks distribution for the same.
| Sl. No | Subject | Marks |
| 1 | English Composition | 25 |
| 2 | General Science | 25 |
| 3 | Current events of National & International Importance | 25 |
| 4 | History of India | 25 |
| 5 | Geography of India with special reference to West Bengal | 25 |
| 6 | Indian Polity and Economy | 25 |
| 7 | Indian National Movement | 25 |
| 8 | General Mental Ability | 25 |
| Total | 200 | |
WBCS Mains Exam Pattern 2024
Candidates who qualify in the WBCS Prelims exam will be required to appear for the WBCS Mains Exam. The WBCS main exam is conducted separately as per the group of services in the following manner.
- Group ‘A’ & ‘B” services & posts need to appear in all the papers as mentioned below.
- Group ‘C’ & ‘D’ services & posts need to appear in all the compulsory papers that is in Paper-I to VI.
The WBCS Main Exam includes six compulsory papers, along with two optional subject. Paper I and Paper II will be conventional essay-type question papers.. Each main paper is allotted 200 marks, and the duration for each paper is three hours. All the answers to the questions will have to be answered in descriptive format as no multiple choice questions will be asked.
| SL.No | Paper Name | Marks |
| Paper I | Bengali/Hindi/Urdu/Nepali/Santali | 200 |
| Paper II | English | 200 |
| Paper III | General Studies-I - Indian History with special emphasis on National Movement Geography of India with special reference to West Bengal | 200 |
| Paper IV | General Studies-II - Science and Scientific & Technological Advancement, Environment, General Knowledge and Current Affairs. | 200 |
| Paper V | Constitution of India and Indian Economy | 200 |
| Paper VI | Arithmetic and Test of Reasoning | 200 |
| Paper VII | Optional Subject – Paper I | 200 |
| Paper VIII | Optional Subject – Paper II | 200 |
| Total | 1600 | |
WBCS Main Optional Subjects
The list of WBCS Main Syllabus Optional Subjects is mentioned in the table given below for the candidates. The Mains exam will have two optional papers, from which candidates must choose one subject from a list of 37 available subjects. Both optional papers will include questions exclusively from the chosen subject.
| WBCS Optional Subjects | |
| Subject | Code |
| Bengali | 1 |
| Hindi | 2 |
| Sanskrit | 3 |
| English | 4 |
| Pali | 5 |
| Arabic | 6 |
| Persian | 7 |
| French | 8 |
| Urdu | 9 |
| Santali | 10 |
| Comparative Literature | 11 |
| Agriculture | 12 |
| Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science | 13 |
| Anthropology | 14 |
| Botany | 15 |
| Chemistry | 16 |
| Civil Engineering | 17 |
| Commerce and Accountancy | 18 |
| Computer Science | 19 |
| Economics | 20 |
| Electrical Engineering | 21 |
| Geography | 22 |
| Geology | 23 |
| History | 24 |
| Law | 25 |
| Mathematics | 26 |
| Management | 27 |
| Mechanical Engineering | 28 |
| Medical Science | 29 |
| Philosophy | 30 |
| Physiology | 31 |
| Physics | 32 |
| Political Science | 33 |
| Psychology | 34 |
| Sociology | 35 |
| Statistics | 36 |
| Zoology | 37 |
WBCS Personality Test
The candidates who will qualify the WBCS Mains exam will be eligible to appear for the personality test. The candidate’s personal qualities e.g., alertness of mind, power of clear and logical exposition, intellectual and moral integrity, leadership and also the candidate’s range of interests will be tested through this. Each candidate will be asked questions on matters of general interest.
The marks of the Personality Test are different for each group of services. The marks of the personality test for each group is defined below
| Group & Post | Maximum Marks |
| Group ‘A’ & ‘B’ | 200 |
| Group ‘C’ | 150 |
| Group ‘D’ | 100 |
You must note that no separate Personality Test will be held for different groups viz. Group-‘A’, Group-‘B’, Group-‘C’ and Group-‘D’ in respect of a candidate. Marks will be awarded according to different services against allotted full marks for the Personality Test.
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