SSC CGL 2026: Vacancy, Exam Date, Pattern, Eligibility, Salary and Cut Off
SSC CGL 2026: Vacancy, Exam Date, Pattern, Eligibility, Salary and Cut Off
Status on 13 September 2026: the SSC CGL 2026 application window is closed (the reopened window ended on 25 June 2026), and SSC released the Tier 1 schedule notice on 12 September 2026 confirming that the Computer Based Examination will run from 30 September 2026 to 30 October 2026. The admit card has not been released yet, and the date-wise, shift-wise schedule is still awaited.
This page is the main SSC CGL page on ExamAtlas. Everything below is the short version, checked against the official notice, with a link to the full page on each topic. If a WhatsApp forward has given you an older tentative window, ignore it. The schedule notice dated 12 September 2026 is the current word, and it puts Tier 1 in the 30 September to 30 October slot.
What is SSC CGL and which jobs does it actually give you
The Combined Graduate Level Examination is conducted by the Staff Selection Commission to fill Group B and Group C posts across ministries, departments and constitutional bodies of the Government of India. One application, one exam, roughly 40 different posts. That is the reason a single vacancy notice pulls in a crowd that most state exams never see.
The posts people chase hardest are Assistant Section Officer in the Central Secretariat Service, Assistant Audit Officer and Assistant Accounts Officer under the CAG, Inspector in the Income Tax Department and in CGST, Sub Inspector in the CBI and in the Narcotics Control Bureau, Assistant Enforcement Officer in the Directorate of Enforcement, and Junior Statistical Officer in the Ministry of Statistics.
Below that tier sit Auditor, Accountant, Senior Secretariat Assistant, Tax Assistant and Upper Division Clerk posts, which carry lower pay levels but the same central government service conditions. You do not apply post by post. You give one exam, then your marks and your preference order decide where you land.
That structure matters for how you prepare. A Boring Road coaching batch in Patna and a Mukherjee Nagar batch in Delhi will both tell you the same thing: the gap between an Auditor posting and an Assistant Section Officer posting is often 30 marks in Tier 2, not a different syllabus.
Where the SSC CGL 2026 cycle stands right now
SSC put out the notification on 21 May 2026 on ssc.gov.in and opened applications the same day. The original closing date was 22 June 2026, but the Commission reopened the window from 23 June to 25 June 2026, and in doing so it moved the eligibility crucial date as well. SSC's own wording was that the closing date used for ascertaining eligibility would now be the new closing date, 25 June 2026. So your age and your degree status are judged as on 25 June, not 22 June.
The correction window carried a charge of Rs 200 the first time and Rs 500 the second time, which is worth remembering for next cycle if you are the sort who fills the form at 11 pm on the last day. For the full notice breakdown, including what changed between the first and second closing dates, read the SSC CGL 2026 notification page.
The application itself ran through the OTR route on ssc.gov.in, with photo and signature specifications that rejected a fair number of first attempts. If you are reading this for the next cycle, the step-by-step form process and the document specifications are on the SSC CGL apply online page.
December 2026 for Tier 2 is still the tentative line from the notification itself. SSC has not issued a separate Tier 2 notice, so treat that month as indicative until a notice appears.
12,256 vacancies and 28.5 lakh applicants
The advertised vacancy for this cycle is 12,256, marked tentative by SSC and spread across roughly 40 Group B and Group C posts. There has been no corrigendum and no revision so far. Tentative in SSC language usually means the number moves up slightly once indenting departments finalise their requirement, though it can also move down.
Against those posts, more than 28.5 lakh candidates applied. The exact figure reported is 28,52,665. Work the ratio yourself: that is roughly 233 applicants per post before a single question has been attempted.
Do not let the ratio scare you into a bad decision. A very large slice of those 28.5 lakh registrations never reach the exam centre, and another large slice attempts Tier 1 without finishing the syllabus even once. The real fight is far narrower than the raw number suggests.
Eligibility in brief
The base requirement is a Bachelor's degree from a recognised university. Three posts add a layer on top of that. Junior Statistical Officer needs either Class 12 with Mathematics at 60 per cent, or graduation with Statistics as a subject. Statistical Investigator Grade-II needs Statistics in every year or semester of graduation. Assistant Accounts Officer takes any Bachelor's degree, with CA, CMA, CS, MBA (Finance) or M.Com listed as desirable.
The age band runs from 18 to 32 years and varies post to post. Each post carries its own band, and the exact post-wise table sits in the annexure of the official notification PDF. Standard central government relaxations apply on top: 5 years for SC and ST, 3 years for OBC, 10 years for PwD, with other categories as per rules.
Final year students can apply provisionally, but the qualification has to be complete by the cut-off date, which for this cycle is 25 June 2026. Physical standards apply to the CBI, NIA, Narcotics and similar enforcement posts; the exact height, chest and vision figures are in the official PDF and you should read them there rather than trusting a forwarded screenshot.
The detailed version, including degree-equivalence questions and what counts as a recognised university, is on the SSC CGL eligibility page.
SSC CGL Tier 1 exam pattern
Tier 1 is a 100-question, 200-mark Computer Based Examination with four sections of 25 questions each. Every question carries 2 marks. Negative marking is 0.50 per wrong answer.
The single most important line about Tier 1 is this: it is qualifying only. Your Tier 1 marks do not enter the final merit list. They decide whether you sit for Tier 2 and nothing else. Candidates lose whole months arguing over a 2-mark answer key challenge in Tier 1 that has zero effect on their final rank.
Section-wise, the content is settled and has not changed this cycle: Reasoning stays non-verbal and verbal in roughly equal measure, General Awareness leans on static History, Polity, Geography, Science and economy basics, Quantitative Aptitude runs from arithmetic to geometry and data interpretation, and English Comprehension mixes grammar, vocabulary and one short passage. The topic-wise breakdown for all four sections, plus every Tier 2 module, sits on the SSC CGL syllabus page.
For the section-by-section marking rules, the Tier 2 paper structure and the full Scheme of Examination in one place, use the SSC CGL exam pattern page.
The sectional timing change you have to plan around
This is the biggest structural change in the 2026 cycle. In Tier 1, each of the four sections now has its own 15-minute timer. Four sections, 15 minutes each, 60 minutes total. When a section's timer runs out, that section closes. You cannot go back to it, and you cannot carry unused minutes forward into the next section.
Read that twice, because it breaks the old strategy completely. The classic SSC approach was to finish General Awareness in 6 minutes, bank the saved time, and spend it on Quantitative Aptitude at the end. That bank no longer exists. Finishing GA in 6 minutes now means you sit and stare at the screen for 9 minutes, or you revise your own GA answers.
SSC has introduced sectional timing in Tier 2 as well. The exact per-section minutes for Tier 2 are not confirmed by any source, so check the Scheme of Examination annexure on ssc.gov.in for those figures rather than relying on a number from a coaching post. Scribe candidates get compensatory time as per SSC rules.
The 15-minute Tier 1 figure is widely reported by prep portals and matches what the Commission has communicated, but confirm it against the Scheme of Examination annexure on ssc.gov.in before you build your mock routine around it. The practical fix: practise every mock with a 15-minute hard stop per section from today, not from October.
SSC CGL Tier 2 in brief
Tier 2 is where the actual selection happens. It has three papers, and which ones you sit for depends on the posts you applied to.
Negative marking in Tier 2 is heavier than Tier 1: 1 mark for a wrong answer in Paper 1 Section I and Section II, and 0.50 in the Computer Knowledge module. A wild guess in Tier 2 costs you twice what it costs in Tier 1, which is why blind attempting is the most common way strong candidates lose a rank they had earned.
The Data Entry Speed Test module and the Computer Knowledge module are the two parts candidates consistently underestimate, and both are entirely learnable in a fortnight. Full paper-wise breakdown on the SSC CGL Tier 2 page.
Selection process, step by step
- Tier 1 (30 September to 30 October 2026): qualifying stage. Shortlists candidates for Tier 2. Marks do not count towards final merit.
- Tier 2 (December 2026, tentative): Paper 1 for everyone, plus Paper 2 or Paper 3 for JSO and AAO applicants. Final merit is built from Tier 2 marks.
- Document verification and medical: conducted by the allocating department, with physical standards checked for CBI, NIA, Narcotics and similar posts.
- Post allocation: driven by Tier 2 merit, your category, and the preference order you locked in the application form.
SSC does not publish one combined Tier 1 shortlist. It publishes three separate lists, and this trips up more candidates than any other detail on this page. List-1 is Junior Statistical Officer, List-2 is Statistical Investigator Grade-II, and List-3 covers all other posts, which is the largest group and the one most candidates belong to.
Qualifying marks are not the cut off
Two completely different numbers get mixed up on almost every exam site, so keep them apart in your head.
Qualifying marks are the minimum percentage you need to qualify a paper: 30 per cent for UR, 25 per cent for OBC and EWS, and 20 per cent for all other categories. Clearing this does not get you selected. It only means your paper is valid.
Cut off is the score of the last candidate who made the list. It is decided by competition, not by a fixed percentage, and it sits far above the qualifying mark every single year. If a site shows you 54 or 63 marks under a heading that says cut off, it has printed the qualifying marks and mislabelled them.
SSC CGL salary and pay levels
SSC CGL posts span Pay Level-4 (Rs 25,500 to Rs 81,100) up to Pay Level-8 on the 7th Pay Commission matrix. In-hand salary then depends on your city's HRA class, so the same post pays noticeably more in Delhi than in a Class-Z town.
Note the ASO row carefully. A large number of exam sites print Assistant Section Officer (CSS) as Pay Level-8. It is Level-7, grade pay 4600. Assistant Accounts Officer is the Level-8 post with grade pay 4800. That one error has been copied across the internet for years, and candidates set their post preferences based on it.
For the remaining posts, pay levels should be read off the official notification PDF rather than a comparison table. The SSC CGL salary page covers allowances, deductions and the in-hand calculation city by city.
SSC CGL cut off trend: what the numbers actually say
Here is the List-3 Tier 1 cut off, meaning all posts other than JSO and Statistical Investigator. These are normalised marks out of 200, which is why they carry five decimal places.
The 2025 List-3 UR figure is 136.40215, and 1,31,027 candidates qualified on that revised list. The revision corrected a display error in the cut-off table; it did not change who qualified. In 2024, List-3 qualified 1,65,240 candidates, and the grand total across all three lists was 1,86,509.
If you see 153.46 quoted as the 2025 Tier 1 cut off, that is the JSO List-1 number being passed off as the general cut off. The two are different lists with different competition. JSO and Statistical Investigator cut offs sit well above List-3 because the eligible pool is smaller and more self-selected.
On Tier 2, the 2024 ASO/CSS cut off was 533.2468 for UR, while the JSO and SI Grade-II combined cut off was 438.6747 for UR. The 2025 final result was revised after FRTA on 14 May 2026, with 15,118 candidates provisionally selected across 57 posts and 115 cut offs across 39 posts moving down. The full post-wise 2025 table is not publicly available in one place, so anyone showing you a complete version of it is filling gaps with guesses. Year-wise tables for all three lists are on the SSC CGL cut off page, and you can check category-wise trends on the verified cut off tool.
Why normalisation decides your fate more than you think
Tier 1 runs from 30 September to 30 October across many days and multiple shifts. Different shifts get different question sets, and no two sets are equally hard. SSC therefore normalises raw scores across shifts before publishing results, which is exactly why every cut off on this page carries five decimal places instead of being a whole number.
What this means in practice: your raw score is not your final score. A 120 in a brutal morning shift can normalise higher than a 128 in an easy afternoon shift. You cannot control which shift you get, so stop hunting for the easy slot and start treating every mock as if it will be the hardest set of the cycle. How the adjustment works and what it has historically done to scores is explained on the SSC CGL normalisation page.
Admit card and city intimation
SSC has not announced admit card dates. Based on how the Commission has handled multi-day CBEs before, the city intimation slip is expected around 22 September 2026 and the admit card around 27 September 2026, or two to four days before your own exam date, released region by region. Both of those are expectations, not official dates.
Admit cards come from your regional SSC website, not a single central link, so know your region before the rush starts. Download steps, the regional website list and what to do when your name or photo is wrong are covered on the SSC CGL admit card page. Shift timings circulating online (09:00, 11:45, 14:30 and 17:15) come from previous years and are not in the official 2026 notice, so treat them as expected only.
How to prepare with the time that is left
You have under three weeks before the first exam date. This is not the window for starting a new subject. It is the window for sectional mocks under the 15-minute rule, previous year paper analysis, and cutting the topics you keep getting wrong.
Three practical calls. First, General Awareness carries 50 marks in 15 minutes, which makes it the highest-return section per minute in the entire paper, so revise static GK and the last six months of current affairs daily. Second, Quantitative Aptitude in 15 minutes means roughly 36 seconds a question, so drop anything that needs more than two steps and come back only if time allows. Third, English Comprehension is the section most candidates over-invest in; 25 questions of vocabulary, grammar and one short passage do not need an hour of daily study at this stage.
Work through the last five years of papers topic by topic rather than paper by paper, using the SSC CGL previous year papers page, and build the actual day plan from the SSC CGL preparation strategy page. If you want the sectional timer enforced for you instead of running a stopwatch beside your notebook, the ExamAtlas SSC CGL Tier 1 mock test series runs the same 15-minute lock per section.
Every SSC CGL page on ExamAtlas
This hub covers the short version of each topic. The pages below go deep on one thing each, and between them they answer almost every question this exam throws up.
- SSC CGL notification 2026: the full notice, what changed when the window reopened, and the complete date list.
- SSC CGL eligibility: degree requirements post by post, age bands, relaxation rules and the crucial date.
- SSC CGL exam pattern: Tier 1 and Tier 2 structure, marking, sectional timing and the Scheme of Examination.
- SSC CGL syllabus: topic-wise syllabus for all four Tier 1 sections plus every Tier 2 module.
- SSC CGL apply online: the OTR and application process, fee rules, photo and signature specifications, correction window.
- SSC CGL salary: pay levels, in-hand calculation, allowances, job profile and promotion path.
- SSC CGL cut off: year-wise and category-wise cut offs for all three Tier 1 lists and for Tier 2.
- SSC CGL Tier 2: paper-wise structure, module weightage, negative marking and DEST.
- SSC CGL admit card: region-wise download, city intimation slip, exam day documents and rules.
- SSC CGL previous year papers: year-wise paper analysis, topic weightage and good-attempt ranges.
- SSC CGL preparation strategy: study plans, subject order, revision cycles and mock test routines.
- SSC CGL normalisation: why scores are adjusted across shifts and what it has done to past cut offs.
Frequently asked questions
When is the SSC CGL 2026 Tier 1 exam?
From 30 September 2026 to 30 October 2026. SSC confirmed this in the schedule notice released on 12 September 2026. The exam runs as a Computer Based Examination across multiple days. The date-wise and shift-wise schedule for individual candidates has not been released yet.
Can I still apply for SSC CGL 2026?
No. Applications closed on 25 June 2026 after the reopened window, with fee payment closing on 26 June 2026 and the correction window running from 1 to 3 July 2026. The next opportunity will be the 2027 cycle notification.
How many vacancies are there in SSC CGL 2026?
12,256 vacancies, marked tentative by SSC, spread across roughly 40 Group B and Group C posts. No corrigendum or revision has been issued so far. More than 28.5 lakh candidates registered for these posts.
What was the SSC CGL 2025 Tier 1 cut off for UR?
For List-3, which covers all posts other than JSO and Statistical Investigator Grade-II, the 2025 revised UR cut off was 136.40215 and 1,31,027 candidates qualified. The higher figure of 153.46 that circulates online belongs to the JSO List-1, which is a separate shortlist.
Does Tier 1 count in the final SSC CGL merit list?
No. Tier 1 is purely qualifying. It decides who sits for Tier 2 and nothing more. The final merit list is built entirely from Tier 2 marks, which is why post allocation is decided at that stage.
What is sectional timing in SSC CGL 2026?
Each of the four Tier 1 sections has its own 15-minute timer, totalling 60 minutes. Once a section's timer ends, that section locks and you cannot return to it or carry unused time forward. SSC has introduced sectional timing in Tier 2 as well; the exact per-section minutes there are not confirmed, so check the Scheme of Examination annexure on ssc.gov.in.
Is Assistant Section Officer a Level-7 or Level-8 post?
Assistant Section Officer in the Central Secretariat Service is Pay Level-7 with grade pay 4600. Assistant Accounts Officer is the Level-8 post with grade pay 4800. Many sites print ASO as Level-8, which is wrong.
When will the SSC CGL 2026 admit card come out?
SSC has not announced a date. The city intimation slip is expected around 22 September 2026 and the admit card around 27 September 2026, or two to four days before your individual exam date, released region by region. Both are expectations, not official dates, so keep watching your regional SSC website.