WBCS Syllabus 2024

West Bengal Public Service Commission (WBPSC) sets the WBCS exam syllabus. The candidates who are preparing for West Bengal Civil Service (WBCS) Exam can check out the syllabus before kickstarting their preparation.

There are three tiers in the examination– Preliminary, Mains and Interview. In this article, candidates will understand the WBCS Syllabus and the exam pattern of both prelims and mains.

Note: The notification for WBCS Exam 2021 is out on 18th December 2020 and the process is undergoing. Moreover, the WBPSC WBCS 2020 recruitment process is also undergoing. The syllabus for WBCS 2020 and 2021 remains the same.

Read the salient points of the WBCS Syllabus 2024 below:

1. The WBCS Prelims will have only one paper- General Studies. There is no Aptitude Test, unlike various other states’ Public Service Commission exams.
2. The WBCS Mains Exam has six compulsory papers and one optional subject consisting of two papers.
3. Optional Subjects are meant to be taken by candidates opting for Group A and Group B services.
4. Out of 6 compulsory papers, four are of MCQ Type:
   • General Studies- I
   • General Studies- II
   • The Constitution of India and Indian Economy including role and functions of Reserve Bank of India
   • Arithmetic and Test of Reasoning
5. The Mains Exam (Conventional/Essay) is allowed to be taken only in Bengali/English language.
6. There is a deduction of 10% of the total marks secured by the candidate if he/she discloses his/her identity by writing his/her roll number/name.

Candidates may check the table below to know about WBCS Exam Pattern:

WBCS Syllabus 2024:- Download PDF Here

Check latest updates about WBCS Result at the linked article.

WBCS Syllabus In Detail

The State Service Examinations of most of the states are aligned on the similar pattern of IAS Exam. The Preliminary stage consists of one paper on General Studies and one on Aptitude Test. In the WBCS exam, the preliminary stage has only one paper, which is of General Studies. There is no Aptitude Test paper to qualify for the next stage. Mains examination has eight papers. Candidates can read WBCS Mains syllabus in the article below.

Candidates may read below the details of WBCS Prelims and Mains:

WBCS Prelims

The WBPCS Prelims Exam takes place at various centres in Kolkata and few other districts of West Bengal. Darjeeling as a centre is allowed to be chosen only by the Scheduled Tribes of the Darjeeling district and by candidates from three hill-divisions: Darjeeling Sadar, Mirik and Kurseong.

Candidates can check the linked article to know about the WBCS Eligibility.

The WBCS Preliminary Syllabus comprises eight subjects/topics and in the prelims exam; 200 Multiple-Choice Questions (MCQ) are asked. Each topic is assigned 25 marks. The duration of the exam is 2.5 hours. The Prelims is only a screening test, and its total marks (200) are not considered for final selection. The commission has clearly stated in its notification that the Prelims Exam tests the level of knowledge as that of a graduate of any faculty from any recognized university.

The eight topics given in WBCS Prelims Syllabus are:

1. English Composition
   1. Synonyms and Antonyms
   2. Idioms and Phrases
   3. Vocabulary Test
   4. Phrasal Verbs
   5. Homophones
   6. Fill in the qualifying words.
2. General Science
   1. General appreciation
   2. Understanding of science
   3. Matters of everyday observation
   4. Experience as expected from an educated person not having made special studies of scientific disciplines
3. Current Events of National and International Importance
   1. Significant events affecting India and its relations with the world
4. History of India
   1. Ancient
   2. Medieval
   3. Modern
5. Geography of India with special reference to West Bengal
   1. Physical Geography
   2. Social Geography
   3. Economic Geography
6. Indian Polity and Economy
   1. Indian Constitution
   2. Panchayati Raj
   3. Constitutional Bodies, etc.
7. Indian National Movement
   1. Nature and character of Nineteenth-Century Resurgence
   2. Growth of Nationalism
   3. Attainment of Independence
8. General Mental Ability
   1. Logical Reasoning
   2. Common Aptitude

To cover broad topics from the subjects mentioned above, candidates can take help of the BYJU’S classroom notes, mentioned in the following links:

To know how to prepare for WBPSC and to get help for current affairs, you may check the linked articles below:

1. WBCS Exam Preparation
2. Current Affairs
3. Government Schemes

The official notification has mentioned the following about the WBCS Prelims Syllabus:

To get the Latest Notifications of Government Exams in one place, check the linked article.

WBCS Mains Syllabus

The West Bengal Public Service Commission (WBPSC) in its official notification has mentioned the WBCS Mains Syllabus. After the Preliminary Stage, shortlisted candidates will have to appear for WBCS (Exe.) etc. (Main) Exam. The WBCS Main exam comprises six compulsory papers and one optional subject that consists of two papers. Only candidates appearing for Group A and Group B exam have to take exams for Optional Subject. Candidates enrolled for Group C, and Group D have to take only the six compulsory papers.

Six compulsory papers and two papers of Optional Subject (list provided by the commission) will be of 200 marks each. The duration for all the papers will be of 3 hours.

Candidates may check the six compulsory subjects given in WBCS Mains Syllabus below:

For the papers as mentioned above, WBCS in its notification has mentioned:

The general studies syllabus of the WBPSC overlaps with UPSC GS syllabus of Mains to some extent (excluding state-specific syllabus.) For instance:

• History and geography that is asked in WBCS syllabus of Paper 3 (GS 1) are also covered in IAS syllabus of Mains GS 1.
• Science and environment that are covered in WBCS syllabus of Paper 4 (GS 2) is also covered in the UPSC syllabus of Mains GS 3
• Indian Polity and Indian Economy that are included in WBCS syllabus of Paper 5 are covered partly in GS 2 of UPSC Mains and partly in GS 3 of UPSC Mains.

BYJU’s brought a broad strategy for covering topics related to mains general studies. MPSC candidates can take inspiration from these strategies and are suggested to imply that while covering the syllabus of MPSC examination. The links are mentioned below:

1. GS 1 Strategy
2. GS 2 Strategy
3. GS 3 Strategy

List of WBPSC (Exe.) etc. Optional Subjects:

WBCS Optional Syllabus 2023:- Download PDF Here

WBCS Personality Test

For the third stage of the examination, which is the Interview stage, the official notification has stated:

Candidates can also check the WBCS Notification in the linked article.

If aspirants are sitting for multiple state service examinations, they can get syllabus information about each of the important public service commission examinations from the links mentioned below: