Exam pattern, syllabus and every previous year question paper for the Odisha Civil Services Examination conducted by OPSC — organised so you can find a specific paper in two clicks.
General Studies Paper I and Paper II, year by year. 23 papers.
✍️General Studies, English Essay, Odia and English Language. 787 papers.
🎯Topic-wise practice sets built around the previous year papers, subject by subject.
📚Paper I and Paper II for every optional OPSC has offered.
🧠Subject-wise OAS practice quizzes with explanations. Indian Polity is live.
📖Prelims, Mains and optional syllabi, unit by unit.
The Odisha Civil Services Examination is conducted by the Odisha Public Service Commission to recruit Group A and Group B officers for the state government — Odisha Administrative Service, Odisha Police Service, Odisha Finance Service and others. It runs in three stages: a Prelims screening test, a descriptive Mains, and a Personality Test. Papers on file here span 2006 to 2025.
On 15 August 2026 the Odisha government scrapped the six-attempt cap for the OCS examination. Candidates can now appear as many times as they like until they reach the upper age limit. Before this, unreserved candidates had six attempts and SEBC candidates nine.
Candidates must be between 21 and 42 years old as on 1 January of the relevant year, with the usual relaxations for SC, ST, SEBC, women, ex-servicemen and PwBD candidates. The upper limit was raised from 32 to 42 by an amendment to the Odisha Civil Service (Fixation of Upper Age Limit) Rules, 1989 — older guides still quoting 32 or 38 are out of date, so confirm against the advertisement you are applying under.
A graduate degree from a recognised university is required. So is Odia: you must be able to read, write and speak it, evidenced by having passed Odia as a language subject at Middle School level, or having cleared the HSC with Odia as the medium in a non-language subject.
Prelims has two objective papers of 200 marks each, two hours apiece, with one-third of a mark deducted for every wrong answer. General Studies Paper II is qualifying at 33%. Prelims marks do not count towards your final rank.
Mains has nine descriptive papers of three hours each. Odia Language and English Language are qualifying at matriculation standard — you need 25% in each, and your remaining papers are not evaluated otherwise. The seven merit papers are Essay, four General Studies papers, and two papers of one optional subject.
| Paper | Marks | Counts for rank |
|---|---|---|
| Odia Language | 250 | Qualifying only |
| English Language | 250 | Qualifying only |
| Essay | 250 | Yes |
| General Studies Paper I | 250 | Yes |
| General Studies Paper II | 250 | Yes |
| General Studies Paper III | 250 | Yes |
| General Studies Paper IV | 250 | Yes |
| Optional Subject Paper I | 250 | Yes |
| Optional Subject Paper II | 250 | Yes |
| Personality Test | 250 | Yes |
That works out to 1,750 marks from the written merit papers plus 250 for the interview — 2,000 in all.
Until the 2021-22 cycle, Mains had two General Studies papers and two optional subjects, four optional papers in all. The 2022 amendment moved to four General Studies papers and a single optional with two papers, and cut the total from 2,250 marks to 2,000. Anything written about OAS before 2022 — including strategy advice from earlier toppers — describes a different exam.
Question papers are published by the Odisha Public Service Commission and reproduced here for candidates' reference. Source: opsc.gov.in. EduSaint is not affiliated with OPSC.