SPSC Exam Pattern & Syllabus

The Sikkim Public Service Commission conducts Combined Recruitment Examination (CRE) for recruitment to various administrative positions in Sikkim.

The recruitment process includes 3 stages -

1. Preliminary examination
2. Mains examination
3. Interview/ Personality test

SPSC Combined Recruitment Examination (CRE) Prelims Exam Pattern

The SPSC Civil Services Prelims is a screening test used to shortlist candidates for the Mains. It includes two objective-type papers.

SPSC CRE Prelims Exam Syllabus

• Current events of national and international importance
• History of India and Indian National Movement.
• Indian and World Geography - Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World
• Indian Polity and Governance - Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc
• Economic and Social Development - Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector initiatives, etc.
• General issues on Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change
• General Science.

• 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)

Meghalaya Civil Services Mains Exam Pattern

The 2nd Stage that is the Mains Exam of MCS includes 1 Qualifying Paper and 7 merit papers of descriptive nature.

Total Marks: 1750

SPSC CRE Mains Examination Syllabus

Qualifying Paper: English

The aim of the paper is to test the candidates’ ability to read and understand serious discursive prose, and to express his ideas clearly and correctly in English. The pattern of questions would be broadly as follows

• Comprehension of given passages
• Precis Writing
• Usage and Vocabulary
• Short Essays

Note: The paper on English will be of Matriculation or equivalent standard and will be of qualifying nature only. The marks obtained in this paper will not be counted for ranking.

Merit Papers

Paper I: General Studies

• 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 industrial revolution, world wars, colonization, decolonization political philosophies like communism, capitalism socialism etc
• Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India
• Role of women and women's organization, population and associated issues, poverty and developmental urbanization, their problems and their remedies.
• Effects of globalization on Indian society.
• Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism & secularism.
• Salient features of world's physical geography.
• Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc geographical features and their location-changes in critical geographical features (including water-bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.
• Indian Constitution-historical underpinnings evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure
• Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States, 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 mechanisms and institutions
• Parliament and State legislatures Structure functioning, conduct of business, powers & 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 associations and their role in the Polity
• Salient features of the Representation of People's Act
• Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies
• Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies
• Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education Human Resources.
• Issues relating to poverty and hunger Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.
• 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
• Indian Economy and issues relating to planning mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.
• Inclusive growth and issues arising from it Government Budgeting
• Major crops-cropping patterns in various parts of the country, different types of irrigation and irrigation systems storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints technology in the aid of farmers.
• Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices; Public Distribution System objectives, functioning limitations, revamping issues of buffer stocks and food security; Technology missions; economics of animal-rearing.
• Food processing and related industries in India- scope and significance location, upstream and downstream requirements, supply chain management.
• Land reforms in India
• Effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth.
• Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc
• Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.
• Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, biotechnology and issues relating to intellectual property rights
• Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation environmental impact assessment.
• Disaster and disaster management Linkages between development and spread of extremism.
• Challenges to internal security through communication networks, role of media and social networking sites in internal security challenges, basics of cyber security; money-laundering and its prevention.
• Security challenges and their management in border areas linkages of organized crime with terrorism.
• Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate.

Paper III and Paper IV: Optional Subject Papers

Any one Optional subject is to be chosen from the following subjects -

Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science, Anthropology, Botany, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Commerce & Accountancy, Economics, Electrical Engineering, Geography, Geology, History, Law, Management, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Medical Science, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science and International Affairs, Psychology, Public Administration, Sociology, Statistics, and Zoology, Literature of any one of the following subjects - English, Nepali and Hindi.

Detailed syllabus of the optional subjects can be viewed in the MPSC-MCS syllabus pdf -

https://spsc.sikkim.gov.in/Advertisements/Combinned_US_AO_DSP_Appendix_III_29_09_2022.pdf

• The interview or Personality test is the final stage of SPSC-CRE process.
• This stage carries 100 marks.
• Candidates' overall personality, communication skills, problem-solving abilities, and general awareness are evaluated.
• The test is intended to judge the mental calibre of candidate. In broad terms, this is really an assessment of not only the intellectual qualities but also social traits and interest in current affairs including the knowledge of customs, manners and dialects of Sikkim.
• Some of the qualities to be judged are mental alertness, critical powers of assimilation, care, and logical exposition, the balance of judgments, variety, and depth of interest, ability for social cohesion and leadership, intellectual and moral integrity
• The marks obtained in the interview (out of 100) are added to the Mains marks (out of 900) for the final merit ranking (out of1000).