The OPSC Assistant Section Officer examination has three written papers (400 marks) and a computer skill test (50 marks, qualifying). Below is the official syllabus from Appendix-I of Advertisement No. 15 of 2026-27, followed by what the recent question papers actually ask.
Paper I — General Awareness (100 marks, 1½ hours)
- Current national events
- Current international events
- History of British rule in India and the freedom struggle
- Indian Constitution
- Salient features of world physical geography
- Physical geography of India and Odisha
- Governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance, role of civil service in democracy; Indian economy and issues relating to planning, growth, development and employment, poverty alleviation, resource mobilisation and inflation
- Defence and Indian armed forces
- Scientific inventions and use of science in everyday life; environment, ecology, biodiversity and climate change
- Important national and international institutions, organisations and fora — their structure and mandate
Paper II — Reasoning & Mental Ability and Mathematics (100 marks, 1½ hours)
(A) Test of Reasoning & Mental Ability — 50 marks
| Verbal | Non-verbal |
|---|---|
| Number series Alphabet series Direction sense Coding-decoding Number ranking Arithmetic reasoning Age problems |
Non-verbal series Mirror images Cubes and dice Grouping identical figures Embedded figures, etc. |
(B) Mathematics (Class 10 level) — 50 marks
- Arithmetic
- Algebra
- Mensuration (2D and 3D)
- Statistics and probability
Paper III — Language (200 marks, 2 hours)
(A) English — 100 marks
- Grammar: verb, preposition, adverb, subject-verb agreement, error correction/recognition, tenses, fill in the blanks with articles, etc.; vocabulary, synonyms, antonyms
- Comprehension
- Sentence rearrangement
(B) Odia — 100 marks
- ବ୍ୟାକରଣ: କ୍ରିୟା, ଭ୍ରମ ସଂଶୋଧନ/ଚିହ୍ନଟ, କାଳ (ଅତୀତ/ବର୍ତ୍ତମାନ/ଭବିଷ୍ୟତ); ଭାଷାଜ୍ଞାନ ପରୀକ୍ଷା: ପ୍ରତିଶବ୍ଦ, ବିପରୀତ ଅର୍ଥବୋଧକ ଶବ୍ଦ, କ୍ରିୟା ବିଶେଷଣ, କର୍ତ୍ତା-କ୍ରିୟା ସମ୍ବନ୍ଧ
(Grammar: verbs, error correction, tenses; synonyms, antonyms, adverbs, subject-verb relation) - ଅନୁଚ୍ଛେଦ (Comprehension)
- ବାକ୍ୟ ପୁନର୍ବିନ୍ୟାସ (Sentence rearrangement)
Paper IV — Skill Test in Computer Application (50 marks, 1 hour, qualifying)
Windows, MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), MS Access and use of internet services. Only candidates shortlisted after the written test take it, and 40% is needed to qualify.
What the question papers actually ask
We sorted every question of the two most recent ASO papers — the Home Department recruitment of 2021-22 and the Advocate General office recruitment of 2025-26 — by topic. Approximate counts out of 100:
Paper I — General Awareness
| Area | 2021-22 | 2025-26 |
|---|---|---|
| Current affairs (events, schemes, days, awards, places) | 20 | 20 |
| Indian polity and constitution | 12 | 16 |
| History (mostly modern India and freedom struggle) | 10 | 16 |
| Defence and armed forces | 11 | 9 |
| Environment, ecology and science | 10 | 11 |
| Geography — world, India and Odisha | 20 | 12 |
| Governance and civil service | 6 | 6 |
| Indian economy | 3 | 8 |
| International organisations | 9 | 2 |
The level is close to a civil services prelims paper, and the 2025-26 paper uses many statement-based ("which of the above is/are correct") questions. Defence carries about ten questions every time — a section most general-studies books ignore.
Paper II — Reasoning and Mathematics
Reasoning: coding-decoding, ranking and order, direction, blood relations, dictionary order, wrong-term number series, age and calendar on the verbal side; painted cubes, dice, mirror and water images, figure counting, figure series, grouping and embedded figures on the non-verbal side (about 20 questions in 2025-26). Some questions — a wrong-term series and a direction-turning question — appeared word for word in both papers.
Mathematics: the 2021-22 paper was Class 10 board style — algebra (quadratic equations, AP, linear equations, matrices, sets) about 13, probability 9, statistics 7, number system 10, arithmetic 8, mensuration 3. The 2025-26 paper was almost entirely arithmetic (time and work, pipes, trains, races, clocks, ages, percentage, profit and loss, interest, partnership) plus number system. The 2026 syllabus lists arithmetic, algebra, mensuration and statistics & probability, so prepare both styles.
Paper III — English and Odia
English is grammar-heavy: prepositions, tenses and verb forms, subject-verb agreement and articles together made up about half the 2021-22 paper. The 2025-26 paper had 64 fill-in-the-blank questions, error spotting, 14 sentence rearrangements, 6 paragraph rearrangements and two comprehension passages.
Odia follows the same structure both years: 10 spelling (ଶୁଦ୍ଧ ଶବ୍ଦ), 20 synonyms and antonyms, and about 70 questions of grammar — mostly କ୍ରିୟା (samapika/asamapika, prayojaka, dwikarmaka, naamadhatu, purusha-bachana, kala), then କାରକ-ବିଭକ୍ତି, ବିଶେଷଣ, ସର୍ବନାମ, ଅବ୍ୟୟ, ପ୍ରତ୍ୟୟ and types of sentences.
Papers I, II and III must each be cleared separately, so the Odia section cannot be skipped.