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Quoted from the Bihar Gazette syllabus the Commission publishes, with a weightage counted question by question across the 579 questions in the 4 CCE papers we have digitised and solved.
The correction that matters most: there is no “Bihar Special” subject. The Gazette writes Bihar into four of its seven fields, so a Bihar question is almost always also a history, geography, economy or freedom-movement question — 68 of the 71 we found, the other 3 being recent-news items. A table that gives Bihar its own row is describing a syllabus the Commission never published.
Looking for “Bihar CCE”? Two different exams share that phrase. This page covers the BPSC Combined Competitive Examination for the Bihar Administrative Service and allied posts. BCECE — the Bihar Combined Entrance Competitive Examination — is a Class 11-12 entrance test for medical, engineering and agriculture courses, run by a different board.
The Gazette introduces them as: “The paper on General Studies will include questions covering the following fields of knowledge”. Each quoted line below is the Commission’s wording; the note under it is ours.
One honest caveat about the numbering. The Gazette prints five unnumbered lines, not seven numbered fields. Two of those lines carry two subjects each — current events shares a line with History, and the Indian National Movement shares one with General Mental Ability, which is why field 6’s quotation below ends with a clause that also produces field 7. Splitting them into seven is our reading, and we think it is the right one because the paper treats them as separate. The numbers are ours; the words are the Commission’s.
| Duration | Two hours |
|---|---|
| Paper | One General Studies paper of 150 marks |
| Type | Objective and multiple-choice |
| Medium | Question papers set in both Hindi and English |
| Calculator | Not permitted in the Preliminary examination |
| Counts for merit? | No — Prelims is a screening test only; its marks have no bearing on the Mains |
| Shortlist size | Ten times the total notified vacancies |
| Re-totalling | No provision to re-check the total or to issue Prelims marks |
The gazette does not fix a penalty; each CCE does, and BPSC has changed it twice. Every row below is read from the IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS on page 1 of the Commission’s own question booklet — not from a notification summary. All of these papers carry 150 questions for 150 marks, so one mark per question.
| CCE | Penalty per wrong answer |
|---|---|
| 66th CCE | No penalty clause in the booklet |
| 67th CCE | No penalty clause in the booklet |
| 68th CCE | One-fourth of the marks for that question |
| 69th CCE | One-third of the marks for that question |
| 70th CCE | One-third of the marks for that question |
| 71th CCE | One-third of the marks for that question |
Two things this table settles. Negative marking did not begin at the 70th CCE, as is widely repeated — it began at the 68th. And the 68th’s penalty was a quarter, not a third. For any CCE after the last row, read that cycle’s booklet; we do not extrapolate a penalty, because a guessed one mis-scores a real attempt.
Which cycle this gazette describes. It was issued for the 60th to 62nd CCE and examinations held thereafter, and says in its own words that the syllabus “may be modified somewhat”. BPSC has since altered the Mains paper structure in later cycles. The syllabus fields below have been stable; the structure tables are the standing gazette position, and the advertisement for the CCE you are sitting governs that cycle.
General Science
The Gazette adds that this covers "general appreciation and under-standing of science, including matters of everyday observation and experience, as may be expected of a well educated person who has not made a special study of any scientific discipline." No specialist depth is expected.
Current events of national and international importance.
Pure news recall. Most scheme, index and budget questions are not this — they belong to field 5, with a recent year as the hook.
History of India and salient features of the history of Bihar.
Ancient, medieval and colonial India, and Bihar within it. The Gazette says emphasis is on "broad general under-standing of the subject in its social, economic and political aspects" — which is where art and culture live, since there is no separate culture field.
General Geography and geographical division of Bihar and its major river systems.
The Gazette narrows this: "emphasis will be on geography of India and Bihar… physical, social and economic Geography of the country including the main features of Indian agricultural and natural resources."
Indian Polity and Economy and major changes in the economy of Bihar in the post independence period.
One field, not two. The Gazette says it tests "the country’s political system, panchayati raj, community development and planning in India and Bihar." Constitution and inflation sit in the same box.
Indian National Movement and the part played by Bihar in it and also Questions on General Mental Ability.
Separate from field 3. The Gazette scopes it to "the nature and character of the nineteenth century resurgence, growth of nationalism and attainment of Independence", plus "the role of Bihar in the freedom movement of India."
Questions on General Mental Ability.
An official field in its own right — reasoning, series, coding, direction, and elementary arithmetic. Weightage tables that have no Mental Ability row are usually counting these as Science.
BPSC publishes no subject-wise blueprint, so every weightage table you have seen is an estimate. This one is a count. Every question in 69th CCE (2023), 70th CCE (2024), 70th CCE Re-exam (2025), 71st CCE (2025) was assigned to exactly one of the seven official fields, so the fields sum to 579.
| Official field of knowledge | Questions | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 5. Indian Polity and Economy and major changes in the economy of Bihar | 121 | 20.9% |
| 1. General Science | 118 | 20.4% |
| 4. General Geography and geographical division of Bihar and its major river systems | 86 | 14.9% |
| 3. History of India and salient features of the history of Bihar | 82 | 14.2% |
| 2. Current events of national and international importance | 77 | 13.3% |
| 6. Indian National Movement and the part played by Bihar in it | 56 | 9.7% |
| 7. General Mental Ability | 39 | 6.7% |
| Total counted | 579 | 100% |
Our own topic-wise pages say something different, and you deserve to know why. Our topic-wise BPSC pages group the same papers under an older eight-topic scheme that has no General Mental Ability bucket, so roughly 39 reasoning questions are counted there as Science & Technology. That is why those pages show a much larger Science figure than this one. The table on this page is built on the Commission’s own seven fields and is the one we would defend; reconciling the older pages is work in progress.
This is 579 questions, not 600. The papers we publish carry 144 (69th CCE (2023)), 143 (70th CCE (2024)), 142 (70th CCE Re-exam (2025)), 150 (71st CCE (2025)) — the shortfall is 21 questions we hold back pending a faculty ruling on their answer, not questions the Commission did not ask. Because held questions are the disputed ones rather than a random sample, treat the field shares as very slightly soft rather than exact. We would rather show you the population than round it up.
Of the 579 questions we counted, 71 (12.3%) cannot be answered without Bihar-specific knowledge. That is real and it is large. What is not real is treating it as a subject — 68 of them sit in the four fields whose wording already names Bihar. Here is where they landed:
| Official field it sat in | Bihar-specific questions |
|---|---|
| 4. General Geography and geographical division of Bihar and its major river systems | 24 |
| 3. History of India and salient features of the history of Bihar | 18 |
| 5. Indian Polity and Economy and major changes in the economy of Bihar | 14 |
| 6. Indian National Movement and the part played by Bihar in it | 12 |
| 2. Current events of national and international importance | 3 |
These counts overlap the subject table above — they are the same questions seen a second way, and adding the two together would double-count. That is precisely the mistake a standalone “Bihar GK” row makes.
The practical consequence: do not park Bihar in a separate book to be revised in the last month. Study each field with its Bihar layer attached — the rivers alongside the geography, Champaran alongside the national movement, post-independence Bihar alongside the economy — because that is the shape the paper asks it in, and it is what the Gazette says.
The table above pools four papers. This one does not, because the pooled average hides movement — and BPSC moves. Read down a row to see whether a field is growing or shrinking before you decide how long to spend on it.
| Official field | 69th (2023) | 70th (2024) | 70th re (2025) | 71st (2025) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. General Science | 27 | 26 | 31 | 34 |
| 2. Current events of national and international importance | 20 | 26 | 16 | 15 |
| 3. History of India and salient features of the history of Bihar | 25 | 16 | 24 | 17 |
| 4. General Geography and geographical division of Bihar and its major river systems | 22 | 20 | 20 | 24 |
| 5. Indian Polity and Economy and major changes in the economy of Bihar | 29 | 31 | 28 | 33 |
| 6. Indian National Movement and the part played by Bihar in it | 11 | 14 | 14 | 17 |
| 7. General Mental Ability | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 |
| Questions counted | 144 | 143 | 142 | 150 |
Ordered by what the four papers actually asked, not by what a syllabus list implies.
The largest field, and one paper in five. Polity and economy are a single field here, so learn them together rather than as two syllabi — and attach post-independence Bihar to the economy half, because the Gazette does.
Everyday science at the level of a well-educated non-specialist, which is the Gazette’s own phrasing. Breadth beats depth; no scientific discipline is studied specially.
Not a subject and not a book. Do the rivers with the geography, Champaran and the Santhal uprising with the national movement, post-independence Bihar with the economy. Studying it as a separate block at the end is the single commonest way to prepare for this paper badly.
India and Bihar, physical, social and economic, plus agriculture and natural resources. Maps repay the time.
The Gazette separates them, and so should you: ancient, medieval and colonial administration in one, and the freedom struggle in the other. Culture has no field of its own and lives inside history.
An official field, though most weightage tables have no row for it. Small, entirely learnable, and the cheapest accuracy on the paper. Do not let it be a surprise on exam day.
Prelims only screens you in; the Mains decides your rank. The Gazette sets out the General Studies papers as follows, again quoted directly.
The Gazette names what it wants: Bihar’s role in the freedom struggle, "the Santhal Uprising, 1857 in Bihar, Birsa movement, Champaran Satyagrah and the Quit India Movement 1942", the chief features of "Mauryan and Pal art and Patna Qulam painting", and questions on Gandhi, Tagore and Nehru. Statistical analysis is tested as the ability "to draw common sense conclusions" from data and "to point out deficiencies, limitations or inconsistencies therein."
Bihar again runs through all three: the political system "including Bihar", "planning in India and the physical, economic and social geography of India and Bihar", and science and technology "in India and Bihar". The Gazette adds that emphasis "will be on applied aspects".
Set at Bihar School Examination Board secondary standard, testing clear and correct expression in simple Hindi. The Gazette prints this marks breakdown, totalling 100.
This table is on the हिन्दी side of the Gazette (भाग-2). Anyone reading only the English pages concludes the document fixes no marks — it does.
| Code | Paper | Marks | Duration | Counts? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | General Hindi (सामान्य हिन्दी) | 100 | 3 hours | Qualifying — 30% required, not counted for merit |
| 02 | General Studies Paper I | 300 | 3 hours | Counts for merit |
| 03 | General Studies Paper II | 300 | 3 hours | Counts for merit |
| 04–37 | One optional subject (chosen from 34) | 300 | 3 hours | Counts for merit — a single paper combining both former papers’ syllabi |
Codes 04 to 37 in the Gazette table — 34 subjects, which is where the widely repeated “34 optionals” figure comes from. You choose one. The Gazette adds that the standard is “about that of the three-year honours examination of Patna University”.
Which cycle this describes. The Gazette was issued for the 60th to 62nd CCE and examinations held thereafter, and says in its own words that the syllabus “may be modified somewhat”. BPSC has since altered the Mains paper structure in later cycles. Treat the table above as the standing gazette position and check the advertisement for the CCE you are actually sitting — that advertisement governs its own cycle, including the marking scheme, which this document does not fix.
Every figure above counts questions you can read yourself. Each paper is published in full with a worked explanation for every option, in English and हिन्दी.
Four BPSC CCE prelims papers, solved question by question in English and हिन्दी, with a worked explanation for every option.
The Bihar Gazette lists seven fields of knowledge for the compulsory General Studies paper: General Science; current events of national and international importance; History of India and salient features of the history of Bihar; General Geography and geographical division of Bihar and its major river systems; Indian Polity and Economy and major changes in the economy of Bihar in the post independence period; Indian National Movement and the part played by Bihar in it; and questions on General Mental Ability. Note that Polity and Economy are a single field, and that General Mental Ability is a field in its own right.
Across the 579 questions in the four CCE papers we have digitised, 71 — 12.3% — cannot be answered without Bihar-specific knowledge. But they are not a separate subject. The Gazette names Bihar inside four of its seven fields, and 68 of the 71 sit in exactly those fields; the other 3 are recent-news items in the current-events field. A weightage table showing a standalone "Bihar GK" row is using a taxonomy the Commission does not use, and is either double-counting or taking those questions away from the fields that already contain them.
No. This is the single most common error in BPSC preparation material. The official syllabus has no "Bihar Special" head. Bihar appears as a qualifier inside History, Geography, Polity and Economy, and the Indian National Movement. Practically this changes how you should study: you do not prepare Bihar as a standalone subject to be revised at the end, you prepare each subject with its Bihar layer attached, because that is how the paper asks it.
By our count of 579 real questions, the largest field is Indian Polity and Economy and major changes in the economy of Bihar at 20.9%, followed by General Science at 20.4%. BPSC publishes no blueprint, so these are counts of the papers we hold rather than a promise about the next one, and they do move between sittings.
The syllabus gazette settles the paper — two hours, one General Studies paper of 150 marks, objective and multiple-choice, set in both Hindi and English, no calculator — but not the penalty. That is set per CCE, and BPSC has changed it twice, so there is no single answer. Read from the IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS printed on page 1 of the Commission's own question booklets: the 66th and 67th carried no penalty clause at all; the 68th deducted one-fourth of the marks for a wrong answer; and the 69th, 70th and 71st deducted one-third. All of them had 150 questions for 150 marks, so one mark per question. Note that the widely repeated claim that BPSC introduced negative marking at the 70th CCE is wrong twice over — it began at the 68th, and at a quarter rather than a third. For any later cycle, read that cycle's booklet; we do not extrapolate.
The gazette fixes four papers: General Hindi (subject code 01) for 100 marks, General Studies Paper I (code 02) for 300, General Studies Paper II (code 03) for 300, and one optional subject (codes 04 to 37) for 300, each of three hours. General Hindi is qualifying — you must score 30 per cent, but it is not counted when merit is determined. Note that BPSC has altered the Mains structure in later CCE cycles, so confirm against the advertisement for your own cycle.
Thirty-four, listed in the gazette as subject codes 04 to 37 — from Agriculture and Anthropology through Law, Management and Public Administration to literature papers in Hindi, English, Urdu, Bengali, Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, Pali and Maithili. You choose exactly one. The gazette specifies a single paper of 300 marks and three hours, combining the syllabi of what were formerly two papers, and sets the standard at roughly that of the three-year honours examination of Patna University. This is the standing gazette position, issued for the 60th to 62nd CCE and examinations thereafter; BPSC has altered the Mains structure in later cycles, so confirm against the advertisement for your own cycle.
Ten times the total notified vacancies, according to the standing gazette. It also states plainly that Prelims is only a screening test: the marks you score there have no bearing on the Mains, there is no provision to have the total re-checked, and Prelims marks are not issued at all. You do have to clear the minimum qualifying mark the Commission sets. As with the rest of the structure, confirm the ratio against the advertisement for the CCE you are sitting.
Not in the Preliminary examination — the gazette says so explicitly. In the Main examination candidates may use a calculator if they wish, though they may not borrow one from another candidate or exchange one during the exam.
Not necessarily, and the search term is genuinely ambiguous. BPSC CCE is the Combined Competitive Examination for Bihar Administrative Service and allied posts, run by the Bihar Public Service Commission. BCECE — the Bihar Combined Entrance Competitive Examination — is a Class 11-12 entrance test for medical, engineering and agriculture courses, run by a different board entirely. This page is about the BPSC one.
Field 2, current events proper, is 13.3% of the questions we counted. Separately, 107 questions (18.5%) are "current-dependent": answerable only if you followed the news. Those two sets overlap heavily but are not the same — 65 of the 107 ARE field 2, and the other 42 sit in static fields, testing a durable concept with a recent example attached. That minority is the useful part: a scheme or an index is an economy question wearing a recent headline, and it is better learned as economy, because the concept outlives the headline.
General Studies Paper I covers Modern History of India and Indian culture, current events of national and international importance, and statistical analysis, graphs and diagrams. Paper II covers Indian Polity, Indian economy and Geography of India, and the role and impact of science and technology in the development of India. Bihar runs through both papers explicitly, and the Gazette names the freedom-struggle episodes it expects: the Santhal Uprising, 1857 in Bihar, the Birsa movement, Champaran Satyagraha and the Quit India Movement 1942.