BHUBANESWAR: The state selection board (SSB) under the higher education department will hold an entrance exam on May 5 for aspirants who want free residential civil services (UPSC) coaching at the state capital. The application process has been started and candidates can apply for the exam till April 2.
Candidates can apply online through the Student Academic Management System (SAMS) website. Till 6pm on Thursday, 4,395 aspirants have registered on the website for the exam. Out of these, 1891 of them have paid fees.
According to the guideline, a candidate belonging to the general category aged between 21 years and 30 years must be a permanent domicile of Odisha. Minimum education qualification for a candidate is graduation. As many as 200 aspirants (33 percent for women) will be selected through this pre-qualifying entrance exam.
The two-hour-long exam will be conducted offline. Candidates can appear for 200 marks. Section-A of the question paper is based on general studies, whereas Section-B is an aptitude-based test (qualifying mark is 33 percent). There is a negative marking of 0.5 marks for each wrong answer.
Exam will be conducted at Berhampur, Bhubaneswar, Balasore, Jeypore and Sambalpur. Candidates can receive admit cards from April 29. Coaching classes will commence in June, said the official information from the higher education department.
After getting selected, the 200 candidates will receive free coaching, boarding and accommodation in Bhubaneswar. “This is purely a residential coaching scheme (day scholars are not allowed under this scheme). Minimum 90 percent attendance in each month is compulsory for all candidates,” said the department notification.
Duration of the coaching is 11 months (tentatively from June 2024 to April 2025). “The aspirants who have already availed and selected for the coaching under the scheme for 2023-24, shall not be eligible to apply,” said the official notification.
This scheme was started last year.
Candidates can apply online through the Student Academic Management System (SAMS) website. Till 6pm on Thursday, 4,395 aspirants have registered on the website for the exam. Out of these, 1891 of them have paid fees.
According to the guideline, a candidate belonging to the general category aged between 21 years and 30 years must be a permanent domicile of Odisha. Minimum education qualification for a candidate is graduation. As many as 200 aspirants (33 percent for women) will be selected through this pre-qualifying entrance exam.
The two-hour-long exam will be conducted offline. Candidates can appear for 200 marks. Section-A of the question paper is based on general studies, whereas Section-B is an aptitude-based test (qualifying mark is 33 percent). There is a negative marking of 0.5 marks for each wrong answer.
Exam will be conducted at Berhampur, Bhubaneswar, Balasore, Jeypore and Sambalpur. Candidates can receive admit cards from April 29. Coaching classes will commence in June, said the official information from the higher education department.
After getting selected, the 200 candidates will receive free coaching, boarding and accommodation in Bhubaneswar. “This is purely a residential coaching scheme (day scholars are not allowed under this scheme). Minimum 90 percent attendance in each month is compulsory for all candidates,” said the department notification.
Duration of the coaching is 11 months (tentatively from June 2024 to April 2025). “The aspirants who have already availed and selected for the coaching under the scheme for 2023-24, shall not be eligible to apply,” said the official notification.
This scheme was started last year.