BCS exam

SELECTION STAGES OF BANGLADESH CIVIL SERVICES (BCS CADRE SERVICES) EXAMINATION SYESTEM :

The Bangladesh Public Service Commission makes selection of higher categories of civil servants through competitive examinations on the basis of the Bangladesh Civil Service (Age Qualification and Examination for Direct Recruitment) Rules-2014. The examination is called Bangladesh Civil Service(BCS) Examination and the recruited officers are called BCS Cadres. 27 Cadres are existing at present in Civil Service. Some of these are general and some are technical and some are general and technical/ Professional.

COLLECTING  REQUISITION:

Every year BPSC requests the Ministry of Public Administration to send Cadre wise vacancy list. After getting vacancy lists from the ministries, the Ministry of Public Administration Submits a list of job vacancies of different Cadres to the BPSC.

ADVERTISEMENT:

Receiving vacancy list from the Ministry of Public Administration on the basis of the BCS (Age, Qualification and Examination) Rules-2014, BPSC  floats an advertisement through its website and national dailies mentioning cadre wise educational qualification, exam. fees, tentative date  of examination, subjects of written examination for a particular cadre, age and other terms and conditions. A time span arournd 4(four) weeks is given to the candidates for online registration.

EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION:

According to the BCS (Age, Qualification and Examination) Rules-2014 educational qualification for general cadres is-

1. A Master’s degree from any recognized university or a degree that requires at least 4 (four) years of education after passing Higher Secondary Certificate (H.S.C) Examination or equivalent. Provided that a candidate having more than one third division/class in his academic career shall not be eligible.
2. If a candidate appeared at any examination that is threshold level for BCS examination she/he will be able to apply, provided that all written examination would have been completed by the deadline of submitting application.
3. All appeared candidates have to submit their original or provisional certificates as education qualification from any university to the commission before the viva-voce.

Educational qualification for technical/ professional cadre depends on respective cadres. Generally a graduation degree is needed for being a candidate in professional/technical cadre.

AGE LIMITS:

1. If the age limit of the candidates is below 21(Twenty one) and above 30(Thirty) on the first date of the month when the advertisement is circulated by the commission he/she will not be considered as worthy candidates of BCS examination.

2.   The maximum age limit of freedom fighters and their sons daughters, disable candidate              and BCS (Health) cadre candidates is 32(Thirty two)

3. In case of BCS (General Education) BCS (Technical Education) and BCS(Health)the maximum age limit of tribal candidates is  32 (Thirty two) and in others cases, the age limit is  30(Thirty).

4. The date of birth referred to their SSC certificates or other authorities approved by the commission is  evaluated as the proof of their age. In case of the candidates having O`level’ and A `level’ the date of birth in their certificates issued by competent authority is  considered as their proof.

APPLICATION FORM:

Candidates  fill up their application and submit it through online of Commissions website within the schedule following the process of the Commission for taking part in examination. No application will be accepted after deadline. All candidates except disable and tribal have to pay TK. 700 as examination fee and the exam fee for disable and ethnic minority group candidate is Tk.100 .

PRELIMINARY TEST:

Only the worthy candidates will be able to download their admit card automatically after completing their application and paying their particular fees. No candidates take part their examination without admit card. According to the BCS (Age, Qualification and Examination for Direct Recruitment) Rules, 2014 a two hours preliminary test (MCQ) of 200 (two hundred) marks is held on different branches of knowledge for evaluating the competency of the candidates.

Provision for deduction of 50% marks is kept for each wrong answer given in the preliminary MCQ test so that no candidates can get undue advantage by making answers on guess.

The syllabus of preliminary Multiple Choice (MCQ) examination has been introduced covering ten areas as-

Sl. No.	Name of the subjects	Marks distribution
1.	Bengali Language and Literature	35
2.	English Language and Literature	35
3.	Bangladesh Affairs	30
4.	International Affairs	20
5.	Geography, Environment and Disaster Management	10
6.	General Science	15
7.	Computer and Information Technology	15
8.	Mathematical Reasoning	15
9.	Mental Ability	15
10.	Ethics, Values and Good governance	10
Total =		200

Syllabus in Details.

Candidates make their answer in OMR (Optical Mark Reader) answer sheets for marking by OMR Machine. Qualifying  number in the Preliminary Test is decided by the Commission  prior to publishing the result.

BCS WRITTEN EXAMINATION

Those candidates who pass the Preliminary Test are considered qualified for written examination. According to the BCS Examination Rules-2014, subjects and mark distribution for General and Technical/Professional cadres are as follows:

FOR BOTH ,GENERAL AND TECHNICAL CADRES

Sl. No.	Name of the subjects	Marks distribution
1.	Bangla	200
2.	English	200
3.	Bangladesh Affairs	200
4.	International Affairs	100
5.	Mathematical Reasoning & Mental ability	100
6.	General Science and Technology	100
7.	Viva voce	200
	Total =  1,100

FOR PROFESSIONAL/TECHNICAL CADRES

Sl. No.	Name of the subjects	Marks distribution
1.	Bangla	100
2.	English	200
3.	General Knowledge  Bangladesh Affairs	200
4.	General Knowledge International Affairs	100
5.	Mathematical Reasoning & Mental ability	100
6.	Job related Subject	200
7.	Viva voce	200
	Total = 1,100

Syllabus in Details.

Time allotted for each subject consisting 200 marks is 4 hours. In case of subject consisting 100 marks, the allotted time is 3 hours.

A Candidate securing less then 30% marks in any subject deemed to have secured no marks in that subject.

Candidates must obtain 50% marks in the written examination as qualifying marks.

VIVA VOCE

Candidates who obtain 50% marks in aggregate in written examination are declared qualified for the viva voce. Candidates qualified in the written examination are interviewed by a Board Constituted by the Commission. The viva Board is made by the direction of BPSC Chairman consisting of a Member as Board Chairman, a Departmental representative holding minimum Joint Secretary status of the government and an expert selected by the BPSC from any academic institution or eminent personalities of the country. In selecting the suitable candidates the viva Board attaches particular importance to the intelligence of mind, vigour and strength of Character of the candidates. The Board also takes into consideration Candidate’s extra curricular activities such as sports, debates, hobbies etc. The total marks of viva voce and intelligence test is 200. The minimum qualifying marks in viva voce is 50%.

ALLOCATION OF POST

1. Candidates who have achieved pass marks in the written examination stage and viva voce are entered into the merit list. The position of each candidate on the merit list is determined by this sum of this mark obtained on the written examination stage and viva voce.
2. Those candidates who have applied for both general and technical cadres they will have two merit list scores, first one for the general cadre preferences (Compulsory paper + viva voce) and other one for the technical cadre preferences (Compulsory paper + job related papers + viva voce).
3.  The cadre preferences given by the candidates, Merit and the quota system are the three main factors involved in determining which post will be allotted to which candidate.
4. The candidates who have passed the viva voce are dealt with the Merit list order with the general aim that candidate higher up the merit list should be allotted their first preference if available. If a candidates first preference is not available then he should be allotted the second preference if available.
5. According to the government rules 45% of the posts are allocated on merit basis and 55% posts are allocated on quota. Quota constitutes 30% for freedom fighters and their children, 10% for women, 5% for tribal population and the rest 10% for general on district/ division. Within a quota group selection is made on merit. List of cadre wise selected candidates is then declared by the Commission. In case of getting the first and second class government job in different corporation, autonomous/half-autonomous institutions including BCS cadre service, one percent disable worthy candidate will be filled up from the prevailing privilege quota if there won’t find any maximum number of competent candidates

1. The candidates who have passed the viva voce but cannot be selected for the cadre post because of having no vacancies are sorted in a group named BCS non-cadre.

MEDICAL EXAMINATION & POLICE REPORT

Candidates who are selected by BPSC are required to appear at a medical Board for Physical examination. At the same time they are required to have a police report in order to know whether there is any criminal report against them and whether the candidates are engaged in any activity subversive of the state.

FINAL RECOMMENDATION 

Getting Medical Report from the Ministry of Health BPSC then send the final recommendation list to the Ministry of Public Administration.

APPOINTMENT

Getting satisfactory medical report and police report of the selected candidates Ministry of Public Administration sends the list to the Hon’ble President for approval. After getting approval from the Hon’ble President appointment letters are issued to the selected candidates by the Ministry of Public Administration directing them to join their respective Ministry.

Recruitment in non-cadre posts from BCS qualified candidates

In a BCS examination, successful candidates in written and viva but failed to get recommendation for any posts of cadre service due to shortage of vacant posts are recommended for recruitment in 1^st class non-cadre vacant posts according to the non-cadre (special) recruitment rules, 2010. With a condition that, sometimes commission will exercise its right to increase or decrease the vacant posts with the request of the Government for special need of the state. Candidates are recommended in non-cadre post in accordance with the requisition of the ministry. Recently the rule has been amended and a provision has been introduced to recruit 2^nd class posts along with non-cadre 1^st class posts. After completing recommendation for all first class non-cadre posts Commission will recommend candidates for 2^nd class post in accordance with requisition of the ministries.