How does the APPSC Group 2 exam work, step by step?

What are the three steps of APPSC Group 2?

The Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) ran the last Group 2 recruitment, notification 11/2023, in three steps. The Screening Test chose who would sit the Mains. The Mains ranked everyone who sat it, out of 300 marks. Verification and a computer proficiency test then checked the people near the top of that list. Only the Mains marks decided the order of selection.

The last Group 2 cycle in the order it ran, with what each step was for, and the next date the government order gives.

Each step is there for its own reason, and knowing the reason tells you how to treat it. The Screening shortens a very long list of applicants to a number the commission can examine in the Mains. The Mains is the examination proper. It is marked by machine, and the order it produces is the order of selection. The last step is a check: verification matches your certificates against your application, and the computer test confirms a basic skill the job needs.

If you have heard that there is an interview, that is Group 1, which gives 75 of its 825 marks to an interview after five descriptive Mains papers. Group 2 has no interview at any stage. Notification 11/2023, paragraph 15.2, says selection is "based on the Merit in the Main Examination".

Do Group 2 Screening marks count for the final result?

APPSC does not count Group 2 Screening marks toward merit. The Screening is one paper of 150 questions for 150 marks in 150 minutes, on an OMR sheet, in five blocks of 30 marks. It decides who goes to the Mains, and nothing more. The one held on 25 February 2024 sent 92,250 candidates through, a count we made from the register numbers on the commission's qualified list.

Once you clear the Screening, its score plays no further part. Two people who scored far apart in it start the Mains level, at zero.

How many go through is the commission's call each time. Notification 11/2023 fixes no ratio: paragraph 10.4 leaves the cut to the commission under G.O.Ms.No.5 of 5 January 2018. In the 2024 cycle the press reported that 404,037 people sat the Screening, and that the shortlist was widened after candidates said the paper was unusually hard. The 92,250 on the qualified list of 10 April 2024 are about 23 in every 100 who sat.

One of the five blocks, 30 marks, is current events. The syllabus names no time window for it, only "Major Current Events and Issues pertaining to International, National and State of AP".

Is the Group 2 Mains objective, and how does negative marking work?

The APPSC Group 2 Mains is fully objective: two papers of 150 marks each, every question multiple choice, 300 marks in all. Paper 1 is AP history and culture with the Indian Constitution. Paper 2 is Indian and AP economy with science and technology. One third of a mark is deducted for each wrong answer, in the Mains and in the Screening.

Put the deduction in whole numbers: three wrong answers cancel one right answer, so every guess carries some risk. Whether it pays depends on how often your guesses turn out right, and you learn that only by counting them in practice.

There is also a floor. You need 40 percent of the 300 marks if you are OC or EWS, and 35 percent if you are BC. SC and ST candidates and persons with disabilities need 30 percent. In marks, that is 120, 105 and 90. Above the floor, selection goes by rank, and the commission has published no category cut-off for Group 2 since 2019. If two people tie, the older one ranks higher (paragraph 15.7), so the date of birth on your application has to match your matriculation certificate.

Each paper is set in English and translated into Telugu in the same booklet. Where the two differ, the English version is the one used for valuation.

What happens after the Group 2 Mains?

After the Mains, APPSC calls candidates from the top of the merit list for certificate verification and holds a computer proficiency test of 100 marks in 60 minutes. The test is qualifying only: OC candidates need 40, BC 35, and SC, ST and PH 30. In the last cycle it ran with verification in rounds, the last on 23 September 2025, and the final list of 28 January 2026 selected 891.

The press reported that 2,517 people were called for verification in that cycle. The 891 selected filled 891 of the 905 posts, and the commission said it would review the remaining vacancies separately.

The computer test has a short multiple-choice part and a practical part: typing, a formatted document, a spreadsheet and a simple presentation. It does not test programming, and its marks never reach the merit list. If you rarely use a computer, practise typing, a simple spreadsheet and a few slides a little each week in the months before.

Updated 23 September 2026. What changed

How should the three steps change the way I prepare?

For APPSC Group 2, prepare for the Mains from the first day, because the Mains alone decides rank. Treat the Screening as a gate to clear with room to spare. In the last cycle, 150 of the 300 Mains marks, the Constitution and the economy, sat in subjects the February 2024 Screening had no section for.

That 150 is our number. We mapped every question in the 2024 Screening booklet and the 2025 Mains booklets to the syllabus. The Screening had no polity or economy section. The Mains had no geography, society or mental ability section. So the two papers shared little ground, and someone who read only for the Screening would have reached the Mains with at least half its marks in subjects the Screening had no section for. It is one cycle, so treat it as the shape of the last pair of papers. The next pair can differ.

The gaps between steps matter too. Last time the Screening came 80 days after the notification, and the Mains came a year after the Screening. Eighty days is short for a first reading of the syllabus, so most Screening reading has to be done before the notification appears. The year before the Mains is long, but last time half of its marks sat in subjects the Screening had no section for. Starting the Constitution and the economy early keeps that year for practice and revision.

Negative marking changes how you practise more than how you read. Keep a count of right and wrong answers in each mock paper, and note how often your guesses between two options came out right. Let that count, and not a feeling of confidence, decide when you attempt a question you are unsure of. For how the 2025 Mains marks fell chapter by chapter, see where the marks were in Group 2 Mains 2025.

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