SSC CHSL 2020: Application, eligibility, exam date, syllabus

When it comes to government exams in India, those held by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) are one of the most well-known ones. The Combined Higher Secondary Level (CHSL) exams are held annually to facilitate recruitment in a host of departments and ministries across the government. These exams can help aspiring government officials get jobs as:

• Data entry operator
• Court Clerk
• Postal Assistants/Sorting Assistants
• Lower Divisional Clerk

SSC CHSL 2020: Application process 

You can apply for the SSC CHSL 2020 online. The applications were opened on 6th November 2020, and the last date for the same is 15th December 2020. The following are a few pointers to keep in mind regarding the application process:

• The application fee that you must pay is Rs. 100/-

• Certain students are exempted from paying the fees. Females, SCs, STs, Physically Handicapped, and Ex-Servicemen candidates don’t have to pay the fee. 

• You must pay the fees only via SBI. You can do so by NetBanking, in the form of challan or any other bank Credit/Debit Card. 

• You can also pay the fee in cash. To do so, you must take a print out of the challan that is generated after Part-1 registration. You must then deposit the fee in any SBI branch and then continue with the Part-2 registration.

• Candidates who wish to pay online can go directly to the next part of the registration. They must supply the registration number and date of birth to continue to Part-2 registration.

SSC CHSL 2020: Eligibility Criteria

There are 3 important eligibility criteria for the SSC CHSL 2020:

1. Citizenship:A candidate must be either:

(a) a citizen of India, or
(b) a subject of Nepal, or
(c) a subject of Bhutan, or
(d) a Tibetan refugee who came over to India, before the 1st January,1962, with the intention of permanently settling in India, or
(e) a person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania(Formerly Tanganyika and Zanzibar),Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia and Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India.

2. Age Limit:Age limit for the posts is 18-27 years as on 01-01-2021 (i.e. Candidates born not before 01-01-1994 and not later than 01-01-2003). Permissible relaxation in upper age limit for different categories are as below:

3. Educational Qualification:
   For LDC/ JSA, PA/ SA, DEO (except DEOs in C&AG):The candidates who is planning to appear in CHSL 2020 exam must have passed 12th Standard or equivalent examination from a recognized Board or University.
   For Data Entry Operator (DEO) in the Office of Comptroller and Auditor General of India (C&AG):12th Standard pass in Science stream with Mathematics as a subject from a recognized Board or equivalent.

SSC CHSL 2020: Exam Dates

The following are the dates released for the SSC CHSL 2020 Exams

SSC CHSL 2020: Syllabus

Since the SSC CHSL 2020 exam is comprised of 3 different levels, the following is an independent breakdown of the syllabus.

This is an objective exam which will be conducted online. There are 4 sections in the Tier 1 exam of SSC CHSL 2020, with 100 questions which account for a total of 200 marks. The subject-wise details are given below:

SSC CHSL Tier 1 Syllabus

English Language: Spot the Error, Fill in the Blanks, Synonyms/ Homonyms, Antonyms, Spellings/ Detecting mis-spelt words, Idioms & Phrases, One word substitution, Improvement of Sentences, Active/ Passive Voice of Verbs, Conversion into Direct/ Indirect narration, Shuffling of Sentence parts, Shuffling of Sentences in a passage, Cloze Passage, Comprehension Passage.

General Intelligence: It would include questions of both verbal and non-verbal type. The test will include questions on Semantic Analogy, Symbolic operations, Symbolic/ Number Analogy, Trends, Figural Analogy, Space Orientation, Semantic Classification, Venn Diagrams, Symbolic/ Number Classification, Drawing inferences, Figural Classification, Punched hole/ patternfolding & unfolding, Semantic Series, Figural Pattern-folding and completion, Number Series, Embedded figures, Figural Series, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Emotional Intelligence, Word Building, Social Intelligence, Coding and de-coding, Other subtopics, if any Numerical operations.

Quantitative Aptitude:

Number Systems: Computation of Whole Number, Decimal and Fractions, Relationship between numbers.

Fundamental arithmetical operations: Percentages, Ratio and Proportion, Square roots, Averages, Interest (Simple and Compound), Profit and Loss, Discount, Partnership Business, Mixture and Allegation, Time and distance, Time and work.

Algebra: Basic algebraic identities of School Algebra and Elementary surds (simple problems) and Graphs of Linear Equations.

Geometry: Familiarity with elementary geometric figures and facts: Triangle and its various kinds of centres, Congruence and similarity of triangles, Circle and its chords, tangents, angles subtended by chords of a circle, common tangents to two or more circles.

Mensuration: Triangle, Quadrilaterals, Regular Polygons, Circle, Right Prism, Right Circular Cone, Right Circular Cylinder, Sphere, Hemispheres, Rectangular Parallelepiped, Regular Right Pyramid with triangular or square Base.

Trigonometry: Trigonometry, Trigonometric ratios, Complementary angles, Height and distances (simple problems only) Standard Identities like sin2 + Cos2 =1 etc.,

Statistical Charts: Use of Tables and Graphs: Histogram, Frequency polygon, Bar-diagram, Pie-chart.

General Awareness: Questions are designed to test the candidate‟s general awareness of the environment around him and its application to society. Questions are also designed to test knowledge of current events and of such matters of everyday observation and experience in their scientific aspect as may be expected of an educated person. The test will also include questions relating to India and its neighboring countries especially pertaining to History, Culture, Geography, Economic Scene, General policy and scientific research

Important Points:

• There is negative marking in SSC CHSL 2020 Tier 1 Exam. Giving a wrong answer to a question will lead to a penalty of 0.5 marks in all sections
• The exam duration is 75 minutes for candidates who are visually handicapped.

SSC CHSL Tier 2 Syllabus

This is a descriptive exam that is designed to test the written skills of the candidates in English/Hindi. The Paper would comprise writing of an Essay of 200-250 words and Letter/Application writing of approximately 150-200 words. The minimum qualifying marks in Tier-II would be 33 per cent. The performance in Tier II would be included for preparing merit. The best way to prepare for the same is to read lots of articles from various newspapers. Apart from this, you need to be well aware of the pattern of Letter and Application.

Important Points:

• The exam is of 60 minutes’ duration and carries 100 marks.
• The questions are based on 10 level.
• The exam is qualifying in nature.
• Part paper written in Hindi and Part in English will not be evaluated.
• The exam duration is 80 minutes for candidates who are visually handicapped or suffer from cerebral palsy.

SSC CHSL Tier 3 Exam Syllabus

The Tier 3 of SSC CHSl Exam 2020 comprises of a couple of skill tests which are required for certain government posts.

Skill Test for Data Entry Operator (DEO):

• Data Entry Speed of 8,000 (eight thousand) Key Depressions per hour on Computer.
• The duration of the Test will be 15 (Fifteen) minutes.

Typing Test for Postal Assistant/Sorting Assistant LDCs and Court Clerks:

• Typing Test will be conducted in English or Hindi and candidates while applying for the Examination, will have to indicate his/her choice/option for Skill Test Medium in the Application Form.
• Typing Test will be of qualifying in nature.
• It will be administered on the Computer, to be provided by the Commission or any agency authorized by the Commission.
• Candidates opting for English medium should have typing speed of 35 words per minute.
• Candidates opting for Hindi medium should have typing speed of 30 words per minute.
• The speed will be adjudged on the accuracy of typing on the Computer of a given text passage in 10 minutes.
• Visually Handicapped candidates (with 40% disability and above) will be allowed 30 minutes.

Note: After skill test or typing test, those candidates who qualify it, will be appointed based on their position in the merit list.