SSC CHSL Tier 1 Syllabus

CHSL Tier 1 is a screening stage. It shortlists candidates for Tier 2 and its marks are not carried into the merit list. Set at higher secondary standard, it is one of the more approachable first stages in the SSC system, and the competition rather than the difficulty is what makes the cut-off high.

SSC CHSL Tier 1 exam pattern

Section	Questions	Marks
English Language	25	50
General Intelligence	25	50
Quantitative Aptitude	25	50
General Awareness	25	50
Total	100	200

Sixty minutes for the paper. Two marks for a correct answer and 0.50 deducted for a wrong one. Objective multiple choice, set in English and Hindi except the English Language section. Candidates eligible for a scribe get 80 minutes.

Where the exam runs across multiple shifts, the Commission normalises marks before publishing results.

SSC CHSL Tier 1 syllabus, subject wise

English Language

Spot the error, fill in the blanks, synonyms and antonyms, spelling and detecting misspelt words, idioms and phrases, one word substitution, improvement of sentences, active and passive voice, conversion into direct and indirect narration, shuffling of sentence parts, shuffling of sentences in a passage, cloze passage and comprehension passage.

General Intelligence

Both verbal and non-verbal. Semantic, symbolic and figural analogy and classification, semantic and number and figural series, problem solving, word building, coding and decoding, numerical and symbolic operations, trends, space orientation, Venn diagrams, drawing inferences, punched hole and pattern folding, figural pattern completion, embedded figures, critical thinking, emotional intelligence and social intelligence.

Quantitative Aptitude

Number systems, computation of whole numbers, decimals and fractions and relationships between numbers. Fundamental arithmetical operations covering percentage, ratio and proportion, square roots, averages, interest, profit and loss, discount, partnership, mixture and alligation, time and distance and time and work. Algebra covering school level identities and graphs of linear equations. Geometry covering triangles, congruence and similarity, circles, chords and tangents. Mensuration, trigonometry with heights and distances, and data interpretation through bar diagrams, pie charts and histograms.

General Awareness

Awareness of the environment and its application to society. Current events, India and its neighbouring countries, sports, history, culture, geography, the economic scene, general polity, the Indian Constitution and scientific research. Questions are set at a level that does not require specialised study of any discipline.

How to approach Tier 1

Prepare it at Tier 2 depth from the beginning. The four subjects carry into Tier 2 with more questions and harsher negative marking, so nothing you learn twice needs learning twice.

Sixty minutes for 100 questions with no sectional timer means you can still allocate freely across the paper. Use it deliberately. General Awareness needs the least time per question and Quantitative Aptitude the most, so a fixed order that gets the quick marks banked first protects you against a bad maths run.

Accuracy decides the cut-off more than attempt rate does. At 0.50 per error on a 2 mark question, four wrong answers erase a correct one.