SSC CHSL Exam Guide: Pattern, Syllabus, Result & Cut Off

SSC Preparation Strategies & S Published on 23 September 2022


If you want to serve the government of India and be in a stable yet challenging career, SSC CHSL is a great choice for you! The service consists of a variety of positions like postal assistants, data entry operators, lower division clerks, court clerks, etc. and works in a number of departments and ministries of the government.


For these posts, the Combined Higher Secondary Level-CHSL, 10+2 Exam is held every year.


SSC CHSL Exam Date 2020:


Some important upcoming dates for the SSC CHSL exam are:



SSC CHSL 2020 Eligibility Criteria:


The eligibility criteria for SSC CHSL service can be ascertained based on:


Nationality/Citizenship of applicant:

In order to be eligible, an applicant must be one of the following:

  1. A citizen of India, Nepal or Bhutan
  2. A Tibetan refugee who came to India before the 1st January 1962 with the intention of permanently settling down in the country, or
  3. A person of Indian origin who has migrated to India from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia and Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling down in the country .


Educational Qualification of applicant:


In order to be eligible, applicants must have one of the following:

  1. Be XIIth grade or equivalent pass, from a recognized Board or University.
  2. Have an open university/distance education mode degree recognized by Distance Education Council, IGNOU.
  3. For Data Entry Operator post, the applicant must have passed XIIth grade in science stream with Mathematics as a subject, from a recognized Board.


Age limit of the applicant:


Candidates appearing for SSC CHSL 2020 should not be less than 18 years of age, and more than 27 years of age as on 1st January 2020. To check, please ensure that your date of birth is not earlier than 2nd August 1992, and not later than 1st August 2001.


Relaxation in upper age limit is permissible in some cases, as given below:

  1. SC/ST: 5 years
  2. OBC: 3 years
  3. PH: 10 years
  4. PH+OBC: 13 years
  5. PH+SC/ST: 15 years


SSC CHSL 2020 Vacancy:


As per the SSC CHSL 2020 notification released, total 1,269 SSC CHSL vacancies have been released for Lower Divisional Clerk (LDC)/Junior Secretariat Assistant (JSA), 3,598 vacancies have been released for Postal Assistant (PA)/ Sorting Assistant (SA) and 26 vacancies have been released for Data Entry Operator (DEO) in 2020.


Application Process:


The application process for SSC CHSL is fairly simple. Following are the steps applicants need to take for applying for the exam:


  1. Look out for the release of the Official Notification of SSC CHSL 2020-21 exam, expected around September 15th, 2020
  2. Apply online to register for the exam at the official website: ssc.nic.in
  3. Click on register/new user
  4. Fill registration form with basic details of themselves like name, parents name, date of birth, email id, mobile number etc.
  5. Click on save button. 
  6. Upload a photograph and signature. Following are the specifications for the photograph and signature:


Photograph: 


  1. Photograph must be without cap, goggles, etc. 
  2. Size of photograph must be more than 20 kb and less than 50 kb.
  3. Dimensions of the photograph must be 3.5 cm (width) and 4.5 cm (height)
  4. Format should be jpg/jpeg


Signature: 


  1. Scanned copy of signature must be in jpg format
  2. Size of image should be more than 10 kb and less than 20 kb in size.
  3. Resolution of the image should be 4cm (width) and 3 cm (height)


Things to keep in mind:


  1. After completing the registration form, please verify your details carefully. Submit form.
  2. Verify through OTP sent on your mobile phone. Thereafter, login ID and password will be sent via email.
  3. Enter educational details and centre preference in application form. 
  4. Click on submit and pay the online fees. Application fees for general and OBC applicants is Rs. 100. There is no fee for female, SC, ST, PwD, & Ex-Servicemen applicants.


Tip: Don't forget to take a physical printout of your application form.


SSC CHSL Admit Card:


Look out for notifications for SSC CHSL 2020 admit card. Applicants are required to take a printout of their admit cards from the official website using their Registration Number/Roll Number and Date of Birth/Password. 


Salary Structure:


As per 7th Pay commission, following is the salary structure for various posts in SSC-CHSL:


Selection Procedure:


The selection procedure for the SSC CHSL exam is triple tiered. 

  1. Tier I- Objective Test: To pass this tier, an applicant has to score more than the declared cut off in a 200 marks, 1 hour long objective exam. This exam is conducted online.
  2. Tier II- Descriptive Test: Tier II consists of a written descriptive test. Applicants have to write an essay or application of 200-250 words, or 150-200 words, respectively. This exam is offline and candidates must score above 33% to qualify. 
  3. Tier III- Skill Test: Based on selection of post applied for, candidates have to undergo a typing test or data entry skill test.

Final selection is based on total score in tier I and II. Tier III is only qualifying in nature.


SSC CHSL Syllabus:


For the SSC CHSL tier I objective exam, following is the syllabus:

  1. General Intelligence and Reasoning: Alphanumeric Series, Ranking/Direction/Alphabet Test, Data Sufficiency, Logical Reasoning, Coded Inequalities, Seating Arrangement, Tabulation, Syllogism, Puzzle, Blood Relations, Input-Output, Coding-Decoding
  2. English: Cloze test, para jumbles, reading comprehension, error spotting, multiple meanings, fill in the blanks, one word substitution, active/passive voice, paragraph completion
  3. Quantitative Ability: Profit and Loss, Mixtures and Allegations, Simple Interest and Compound Interest, Surds and Indices, Simplification, Work and Time, Time and Distance, Data Interpretation, Ratio and Proportion, Percentage, Mensuration – Cylinder, Cone, Sphere, Number Systems, Sequence and Series, Permutation, Combination and Probability
  4. General Awareness: culture, economics, geography, history, general policy, scientific research, books and authors, awards and honours


SSC CHSL Exam Pattern:


SSC CHSL 2020 Tier 1 Pattern:


SSC CHSL 2020 Tier 2 Pattern:


Cut Off:


Cut off for SSC CHSL tier-I 2020 will be released by SSC along with declaration of the SSC CHSL result. The cutoff will be released category-wise and post-wise on the official website. 


Cut off for SSC CHSL 2019 tier I and tier II combined is given below:

For DEO (Other than C&AG) Post


For DEO in C&AG Post


For LDC/JSA and PA/SA Posts


Cut off for SSC CHSL 2019 Tier 1 only:

For DEO (Other than C&AG) Post:

For DEO in C&AG Post

For LDC/JSA and PA/SA Posts