SSC CGL

The SSC Combined Graduate Level examination, or SSC CGL, is the annual all-India test by which the Staff Selection Commission, an attached office of the Department of Personnel and Training, recruits graduates to Group B and Group C posts across central government departments. It fills posts from Level 4 to Level 8 of the 7th CPC pay matrix, with entry basic pay from Rs. 25,500 to Rs. 47,600, at bodies such as the Income Tax Department, the CGST formations, the Central Secretariat, and the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General.

This page explains the exam: the two-tier pattern, the posts it fills and their pay levels, the age and qualification rules, and the selection process. For the pay of each post side by side, see the SSC CGL salary page; for the wider recruitment map, the central government jobs hub.

What SSC CGL recruits

SSC CGL is a single examination that leads to many different posts, and the post decides the pay, the department, and the work. A candidate does not apply for one post; they sit the exam, give a preference order over the posts, and are allotted a post on the basis of the merit rank, the category, and the vacancies.

The posts span five pay levels, from Level 4 to Level 8, so the in-hand at the top of the range is roughly Rs. 88,000 a month against about Rs. 50,000 at the bottom, in an X-class city. The SSC CGL salary page works through each. The most-chosen posts, the Level 7 Inspector grades and the Level 8 Assistant Audit Officer, are picked first by the top rankers, so the post a candidate ends up with follows directly from the rank.

The two-tier examination

Since the 2022 cycle, SSC CGL is a two-tier examination, both tiers computer-based. The earlier structure had four tiers, with a descriptive pen-and-paper Tier III and a skill-test Tier IV; those were removed, and the current scheme rests on Tier I and Tier II alone.

Tier I is the screening stage. It is an objective multiple-choice test of 100 questions for 200 marks in 60 minutes, with four sections of 25 questions each: General Intelligence and Reasoning, General Awareness, Quantitative Aptitude, and English Comprehension. There is a negative mark of 0.50 for each wrong answer. Tier I is qualifying: it decides who advances to Tier II, but its marks do not count towards the final merit.

Tier II is the stage that decides the merit and the post. It is the harder and longer test, and the marks a candidate scores here, adjusted across papers, fix the rank and therefore the post allotted.

The Tier II papers and which posts need them

Tier II is built from papers, and not every candidate sits every paper. Which papers apply depends on the post preferred.

Paper I is common to all posts. It runs across sessions and modules covering mathematical abilities, reasoning and general intelligence, English language and comprehension, general awareness, a computer knowledge test, and a data entry speed test, with 3 marks a question and a negative mark of 1 in the scored modules. The computer module is compulsory but qualifying.

Paper II is a Statistics paper of 100 questions for 200 marks in two hours, and it is set only for the Junior Statistical Officer post in the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation and the Statistical Investigator Grade II post in the office of the Registrar General of India. A candidate who has not preferred those posts does not sit Paper II.

Paper III is a Finance and Economics paper, also 100 questions for 200 marks, set for the Assistant Audit Officer and Assistant Accounts Officer posts under the Comptroller and Auditor General. It is held only in cycles where those Level 8 vacancies are notified; in the 2024 cycle, with no such vacancies, Paper III was not conducted.

Eligibility: age and qualification

The educational bar is a bachelor’s degree in any subject from a recognised university, met by the cut-off date in the notification. Final-year students may apply if they hold the degree by then. Two posts add a subject condition: Junior Statistical Officer needs 60% in Mathematics at the 12th standard or Statistics as a subject at degree level, and the Statistical Investigator post needs Statistics studied in all three years of the degree.

The age limit is not a single figure; it is a band set per post, reckoned as on the notification’s reference date, with the usual relaxations by category on top.

The relaxations follow the standard central rules: three years for OBC, five for SC and ST, and the prescribed relaxations for persons with benchmark disabilities and ex-servicemen, applied on the upper age of the band.

Posts and pay levels

The posts SSC CGL fills, grouped by pay level, are set out below. The level fixes the entry basic pay, and the same level pays the same basic whatever the department, so an Income Tax Inspector and an Inspector of CGST both start at Rs. 44,900.

Two points are worth stating because they are often reported wrongly. The Assistant Enforcement Officer in the Directorate of Enforcement is a Level 7 post at Rs. 44,900, not a Level 8 post, though it is frequently listed as the latter. And the Divisional Accountant is a Level 6 post, distinct from the Level 5 Auditor and Accountant, despite the similar titles. The SSC CGL salary page gives the in-hand for each level, and each level in the table above deep-links into the salary by pay level calculator set to that level.

The most sought-after posts

Not every post at a level is equally prized. Preference tracks the pay level first, then the promotion prospects, the posting city, and the powers of the office.

The Level 8 Assistant Audit Officer is the single most-chosen post when it is on offer, being the only gazetted Group B entry the exam gives directly and the highest pay. Below it, among the Level 7 posts, the Income Tax Inspector and the Inspector of CGST are picked ahead of the Assistant Section Officer by many candidates, for the field powers and the promotion route into the revenue services, though the Assistant Section Officer in the Central Secretariat is preferred by those who want a Delhi posting and secretariat work. The Level 4 to Level 6 posts fill from the lower ranks.

Selection and posting

The final merit is built from the Tier II marks, normalised where papers are held in multiple shifts. A candidate above the cut-off is called for document verification and, on clearing it, is allotted a post according to the merit rank, the reserved-category status, and the preference order given at application. The allotment is where the exam ends and the posting begins: the same rank can mean an Income Tax Inspector in one year and an Assistant Section Officer in another, depending on how the vacancies and preferences fall.

The Staff Selection Commission conducts the exam annually and notifies a tentative vacancy figure with the notification, firmed up later; the 2024 cycle carried about 17,727 tentative vacancies across all posts and departments.

Pay, allowances, and pension

Every SSC CGL post, whatever its level, draws pay on the same central-government pattern: the entry basic fixed by the level, then dearness allowance at 60%, house rent allowance by city class, and transport allowance by level and city, less the deductions for pension, health scheme, insurance, and income tax. The take-home salary article explains that build-up, and the 7th CPC salary calculator computes it for a chosen level and city.

Pension follows the post-2004 rule: a candidate recruited through SSC CGL is covered by the National Pension System, or the Unified Pension Scheme if opted from 1 April 2025, both contributory at 10% of basic plus dearness allowance. The Old Pension Scheme is not available to new recruits.

Related Articles

• SSC CGL salary
• Income Tax Inspector salary
• Salary by pay level
• Salary by pay level calculator
• 7th CPC salary calculator
• Staff Selection Commission
• Central government jobs
• Central Board of Direct Taxes
• Income Tax Officer
• Pay matrix
• 7th Central Pay Commission
• Take-home salary of central government employees
• Dearness allowance
• House rent allowance
• Transport allowance
• Expected DA
• Annual increment
• Modified Assured Career Progression
• Pay fixation on promotion calculator
• National Pension System
• Unified Pension Scheme
• Income tax for government employees
• Central government employees in India
• Minimum pay

External references

• Staff Selection Commission
• Income Tax Department
• Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs
• Comptroller and Auditor General of India
• Department of Personnel and Training