CHSL 2026 at a Glance: Eligibility, Two Tiers and How Marks Become a Post
This chapter sets out the CHSL 2026 scheme as the Staff Selection Commission's official notice states it (F. No. HQ-C1102/5/2026-C-1): eligibility, the two computer-based tiers, qualifying marks, merit and the marking arithmetic that later chapters rely on. Keep the notice open beside this chapter, because each rule is tied to a numbered paragraph.
KarmSakha preparation topics covered
- Age window, relaxations and qualification
- Post groups, pay levels and vacancies
- Tier-I: four parts, 100 questions, 200 marks
- Tier-II: sessions, sections and qualifying tests
- Qualifying percentages and how merit is built
- Negative marking and break-even accuracy
- Normalisation, answer keys and objections
- Cycle history from 2019 to 2026
Who Can Apply: Age, Qualification and the DEO Split
The notice fixes 1 August 2026 as the crucial date for age (para 5.1). The age limit is 18 to 27 years on that date, and the notice turns it into a window: a candidate must be born not before 2 August 1999 and not later than 1 August 2008. That window is exactly nine years wide, matching the 27 minus 18 span. Read the printed dates literally. A candidate born on 1 August 1999 is exactly 27 on the crucial date and still falls outside the window. The 2025 notice used the same convention.
Para 5.2 relaxes only the upper age limit. The table adds each relaxation to the general limit of 27, so the upper figure can be read directly. The Ex-Servicemen relaxation is different: it is 3 years after the military service rendered is deducted from actual age on 1 August 2026, so no fixed upper figure applies. The notice prints no code 07. For Central Government civilian employees with three years of regular and continuous service, and for widows, divorced or judicially separated women who have not remarried, the notice prints the upper age limit itself rather than a relaxation, and the table follows that wording.
Para 8.2 requires a 12th Standard pass or equivalent for LDC/JSA posts and for DEO posts in general. Para 8.1 sets a stricter test for DEO and DEO Grade A posts in three bodies: the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, the Staff Selection Commission and the Ministry of Culture. There the candidate needs a 12th pass in the Science stream with Mathematics as a subject. Para 8.3 lets candidates still in 12th apply, provided the qualification is held by 7 October 2026, a cut-off separate from the age date.
| Category (para 5.2) | Relaxation beyond 27 | Upper age limit |
|---|---|---|
| SC and ST | 5 years | 32 years |
| OBC | 3 years | 30 years |
| PwBD | 10 years | 37 years |
| PwBD (OBC) | 13 years | 40 years |
| PwBD (SC/ST) | 15 years | 42 years |
| Ex-Servicemen | 3 years after deducting military service | No fixed figure |
| Defence personnel disabled in operations (code 08) | 3 years | 30 years |
| Defence personnel disabled in operations, SC/ST (code 09) | 8 years | 35 years |
| Central Government civilian employees with 3 years' service (code 10) | Printed as an upper limit | Up to 40 years |
| Central Government civilian employees with 3 years' service, SC/ST (code 11) | Printed as an upper limit | Up to 45 years |
| Widows, divorced and judicially separated women not remarried (code 12) | Printed as an upper limit | Up to 35 years |
| Widows, divorced and judicially separated women not remarried, SC/ST (code 13) | Printed as an upper limit | Up to 40 years |
Posts, Pay Levels and Tentative Vacancies
The notice covers LDC/JSA, DEO and DEO Grade A posts. For cut-offs, para 17.3 treats three groups separately: DEO and DEO Grade A in the bodies named in para 8.1, DEO and DEO Grade A elsewhere, and LDC/JSA. Category-wise cut-offs may be set for each group in Tier-I and later tiers, so category and post group both shape the cut-off. The notice gives pay levels and ranges only, not allowances, so this book does not compute salary. The table below gives the pay figures as the notice states them.
Para 2.1 gives approximately 2,536 tentative vacancies, to be finalised after the user departments' documents are scrutinised. The Commission does not collect state-wise or zone-wise vacancies, so those figures must be sought from the user departments. Updated post-wise and category-wise figures are to appear on the Commission's website under Tentative Vacancy, and a candidate who needs them should check that page. Until then the count is tentative and is a planning figure, not a promise of posts. It reflects the notice's date, not the date of this book.
Candidates choose posts through the Online Option Form before the result is declared (para 17.7), and an option, once submitted, is final (para 17.10). Allotment follows merit-cum-preference (para 17.11). If a higher-preference post is allotted but the candidate then fails that post's physical, medical or educational standard, the candidature is rejected and no other preference is considered (para 17.11). A preference the candidate cannot meet is therefore a risk, not a free attempt, and it deserves the same care as an answer in the exam.
| Post | Pay level (notice) | Pay range (Rs) |
|---|---|---|
| LDC/JSA | Pay Level-2 | 19,900 to 63,200 |
| DEO | Pay Level-4 and Pay Level-5 | 25,500 to 81,100 and 29,200 to 92,300 |
| DEO Grade A | Pay Level-4 | 25,500 to 81,100 |
Tier-I: 100 Questions, 200 Marks, 60 Minutes
Tier-I is a computer-based test of objective, multiple-choice questions only (para 13.8.1). It has 100 questions in four parts of 25, each part carrying 50 marks, so the test is 200 marks. The notice lists the parts 'not in sequence', so the paper's order is not the table's order. Part I is set in English only. Parts II to IV can be set in English, Hindi or another language opted for in the application (Annexure-XV). Each correct answer is therefore worth 2 marks.
All four parts share a 60-minute test, with a 15-minute sectional timer for each part (para 13.8). A scribe-eligible candidate under paras 7.1 to 7.3 gets 80 minutes, with 20 minutes per part, matching the 20 minutes of compensatory time per hour in para 7.9. The working pace is 15 minutes for 25 questions, or 36 seconds per question on average. Practise each part against its own timer, which is the constraint on any one set. Chapter 10 applies this pace to the session plan.
The parts map onto this book's chapters. Part I is Chapter 2 and Part II is Chapter 3. Part III is split between Chapter 4 (arithmetic) and Chapter 5 (algebra, geometry, mensuration, trigonometry and data reading). Part IV is split between Chapter 6 (static knowledge) and Chapter 7 (current events). The topics for each part are those in the notice's indicative syllabus, para 13.10, and this book adds none that the notice does not name. Chapters 2 to 7 each name the paragraph they draw on.
| Part | Subject (as the notice lists it) | Questions | Marks | Sectional timer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | English Language (Basic Knowledge) | 25 | 50 | 15 minutes |
| II | General Intelligence | 25 | 50 | 15 minutes |
| III | Quantitative Aptitude (Basic Arithmetic Skill) | 25 | 50 | 15 minutes |
| IV | General Awareness | 25 | 50 | 15 minutes |
| Total | Tier-I | 100 | 200 | 60 minutes (80 for scribe candidates) |
Tier-II: Two Sessions, Four Sections, Two Qualifying Tests
Tier-II runs in two sessions on the same day (para 13.9.2). Session-I holds Sections I, II and III and lasts 2 hours 15 minutes (para 13.9.3). Sections I and II are each one hour and close automatically when it ends (paras 13.9.4 and 13.9.5). Section-III, the Computer Knowledge Test, follows Section-II and lasts 15 minutes. After a break for re-registration, Session-II holds Section-IV (paras 13.9.7 and 13.9.8). Every candidate sits all four sections (para 17.4). Session-I's total of 2 hours 15 minutes is the sum of these three closing times.
Objective questions in Sections I to III carry 3 marks each, so Sections I and II are 180 marks each and Section-III is 45. A wrong answer in these sections costs 1 mark (para 13.9.11). Sections I and II together give 360 marks, and only those marks build the merit list (para 17.9). Section-III counts only as a qualifying test (paras 13.9.12 and 17.6), and Section-IV carries no marks. Para 17.5 requires every section to be qualified, so a cleared merit total is not enough alone.
Tier-II objective questions are set in English, Hindi or any other language opted for in the application, except Section-II Part A, which is set in English only (para 13.9.10). Section-IV is different. DEO candidates take a skill test measured in key depressions per hour, and LDC/JSA candidates take a typing test measured in words per minute (paras 13.9.13.6 and 13.9.13.7). This chapter gives only the scheme. Chapter 8 teaches the Computer Knowledge Test, and Chapter 9 the skill and typing standards.
| Session | Section and part | Questions | Marks | Time and sectional timer | Marking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Session-I | I-A Mathematical Abilities (merit) | 30 | 90 | Section-I 1 hour; 30 minutes | +3 / −1 |
| Session-I | I-B Reasoning and General Intelligence (merit) | 30 | 90 | As above; 30 minutes | +3 / −1 |
| Session-I | II-A English Language and Comprehension (merit) | 40 | 120 | Section-II 1 hour; 40 minutes | +3 / −1 |
| Session-I | II-B General Awareness (merit) | 20 | 60 | 20 minutes | +3 / −1 |
| Session-I | III Computer Knowledge Test (qualifying) | 15 | 45 | 15 minutes | +3 / −1 |
| Session-II | IV Skill Test or Typing Test (qualifying) | Not a marked paper | None | DEO 15 minutes; LDC/JSA 10 minutes | No marks |
Qualifying Marks and How Final Merit Is Built
Para 17.1 sets minimum qualifying marks for Tier-I and for Sections I, II and III of Tier-II, as percentages: 30 for UR, 25 for OBC/EWS and 20 for all other categories. The last row covers every category that is neither UR nor OBC/EWS, including SC and ST. The notice prints no marks for each stage and does not say how fractions are rounded. The table converts each percentage into marks on the stage's maximum, the usual reading of a percentage cut-off, and leaves fractions unrounded.
Shortlisting and merit are separate steps. Para 17.2 shortlists candidates for Tier-II on their Tier-I performance, using normalised scores. Para 17.9 builds the merit list from Tier-II alone: the aggregate of Sections I and II, subject to qualifying Sections III and IV. Para 17.10 makes final selection in each category on overall Tier-II performance and the candidate's preference of posts. The qualifying marks, the Tier-I cut-off and the merit list are therefore three different tests, each with its own rule.
Para 17.2 also says normalised scores 'will be used to determine merit and for final selection'. Paras 17.9 and 17.10 tie merit and final selection to Tier-II, so this book follows them for merit and reads 17.2 as the shortlisting rule. The notice gives no normalisation formula, and a reader who wants a different reading should check 17.2 on ssc.gov.in. For a tie in Tier-II scores, para 18 uses Section-I marks, then Tier-I marks, then the older date of birth, the same order as in 2025.
| Category (para 17.1) | Qualifying per cent | Tier-I minimum (of 200) | Tier-II Section-I or II minimum (of 180) | Tier-II Section-III minimum (of 45) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UR | 30 | 60 | 54 | 13.5 |
| OBC/EWS | 25 | 50 | 45 | 11.25 |
| All other categories | 20 | 40 | 36 | 9 |
Negative Marking Arithmetic in Each Tier
Tier-I carries 0.50 negative marking for each wrong answer (para 13.8.2). The penalty applies only to wrong answers, so an unattempted question costs nothing. A Tier-I score is therefore 2 times the number correct, minus 0.50 times the number wrong. A wrong answer costs a quarter of what a correct answer earns, so an attempt has to be right about one time in five just to break even. The derivation below sets the expected value of a blind guess to zero.
