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In Andhra Pradesh, APPSC Group 3 and the Panchayat Secretary recruitment are the same thing. Both cycles the commission has run under the Group-III Services heading — in 2016 and in 2018 — were for Panchayat Secretary Grade-IV in the Panchayat Raj Subordinate Service, and the commission’s own syllabus page and question-paper archive file them under that name. A candidate searching for either is looking for one examination.
That examination has a shape of its own. Half of it is general studies at degree standard, as in every APPSC paper. The other half is a paper the commission sets nowhere else: rural development and the problems of rural areas with special reference to Andhra Pradesh — panchayat raj, rural schemes, the economy of the village and the duties of the post itself. It is examined twice, in the screening test and again at greater length in the mains.
APPSC Group 3 · checked 19 September 2026
The dates, vacancies and rules below are read on the conducting body’s own site and rewritten as each notice appears. The guide beneath carries the full pattern, syllabus, cut-offs and free mock tests.
Checked 19 September 2026
No notification since 2018 — see the notification section
Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission
Panchayat Secretary Grade-IV, a district post under the Panchayat Raj department
A bachelor’s degree; no post codes, no technical requirement
Notification
Checked 11 September 2026. The commission’s recruitment list from 2021 to 2025 contains no Group-III notification, and the state’s 2026 job calendar — 10,060 posts in four phases from September 2026 — includes no Panchayat Secretary or Group 3 posts. The last notification was No. 13/2018 of 21 December 2018. Content elsewhere describing a "Group 3 2026 notification" with an age rule, a fee and a date is extrapolated from that 2018 document, not taken from a new one.
| Notification | Vacancies | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| 13/2018, 21 December 2018 | 1,051 — 1,000 fresh and 51 carried forward, listed district by district | Applications 27 December 2018 to 19 January 2019; screening test April 2019 with results in July; main examination August 2019 with results published 11 February 2020 |
| 29/2016 | As notified | Screening test held; the question paper is the one Group 3 paper in the commission’s official archive |
APPSC recruitment notifications APPSC results The Panchayat Secretary post and the sachivalayam route
Overview
A Panchayat Secretary is the executive officer of a gram panchayat — the person who keeps its records and accounts, convenes its meetings, implements the rural development and welfare schemes that reach the village, and connects the elected body to the mandal and district administration. The commission recruits to the post district by district, with the District Collector as the unit of appointment, which is why the vacancy table in every notification is a list of districts rather than a single figure.
The examination is built for that job. A screening test, held on OMR sheets because the field runs well past the threshold at which the commission screens, cuts the applicants to a manageable shortlist. The main examination is then two computer-based papers of equal weight — one the general studies and mental ability paper common to APPSC recruitments, the other a rural development paper written around Andhra Pradesh’s panchayat raj system, its schemes, its rural economy and the responsibilities a secretary carries. Selection is on the mains alone.
APPSC Group 3 and the APPSC Panchayat Secretary recruitment are the same notification. The Grama Sachivalayam recruitment of 2019, which also filled panchayat secretary posts at Grade-V and Grade-VI, was a separate exercise run by the Panchayat Raj department and not by the commission, under its own rules and pattern. The panchayat-secretary page on this site covers the post and both routes into it; this page is the commission’s examination.
Eligibility
| Requirement | What the notification set |
|---|---|
| Qualification | A degree from a university in India established under a Central, State or Provincial Act, or an institution recognised by the UGC. There is a single post and no post codes, and no computer, typing or technical requirement. |
| Age | 18 to 42 years as on 1 July 2018 — not born earlier than 2 July 1976 or later than 1 July 2000. |
| Age relaxation | SC, ST and BC candidates 5 years; persons with disability 10 years; ex-servicemen and NCC instructors 3 years plus service; state government employees up to 5 years by regular service; retrenched census employees 3 years; widowed, divorced or judicially separated women not remarried, up to 48 for SC and ST and 43 for others. |
| Application processing fee | ₹250, payable by every applicant. |
| Examination fee | ₹80, from which SC, ST, BC, disabled and ex-servicemen candidates, white-card household families of Andhra Pradesh and unemployed youth on declaration were exempt. |
| Local status | Vacancies are district-wise and the District Collector is the unit of appointment, so a candidate competes for the posts of the district they are local to. |
Selection process
Each stage in order, and what it actually tests.
| Stage | Format | What it involves |
|---|---|---|
| Screening test | Objective, offline OMR — screening only | Held because the applicant field exceeds the threshold at which the commission screens. Two parts of 75 questions — general studies and mental ability, then rural development in Andhra Pradesh — in 150 minutes. Shortlists for the mains in a ratio the commission fixes, with relaxed standards permitted for reserved categories, and the marks are not carried forward. |
| Main examination | Objective, computer-based | Two papers of 150 questions and 150 marks in 150 minutes each — Paper 1 general studies and mental ability, Paper 2 rural development and problems in rural areas with special reference to Andhra Pradesh. Selection is on the merit of these two papers. |
| Certificate verification | Documents | Degree, age, category, local status and any claimed relaxation verified against originals for candidates in the district ranking list. |
| District appointment | Merit within the district | The District Collector is the unit of appointment. Candidates are appointed against the vacancies of their own district, under the reservation rules of the notification. |
Exam pattern
| Stage | Paper | Questions | Marks | Duration | Counts? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screening test | Part A — General Studies and Mental Ability; Part B — Rural Development and Problems in Rural Areas with special reference to Andhra Pradesh | 75 + 75 | 150 | 150 minutes | No — shortlists only |
| Main examination | Paper 1 — General Studies and Mental Ability | 150 | 150 | 150 minutes | Yes |
| Main examination | Paper 2 — Rural Development and Problems in Rural Areas with special reference to Andhra Pradesh | 150 | 150 | 150 minutes | Yes |
The notification quotes G.O.Ms.No.235 of the Finance Department dated 6 December 2016: each wrong answer will be penalised with one-third of the marks prescribed for the question. It applies to the screening test as well as to the mains, so the habit of leaving a question blank has to be built before the first paper, not after it.
Paper 2 is the one that decides this recruitment, because it is half the marks and the half that general competitive preparation does not cover. The syllabus names the panchayat raj system and its constitutional basis, the rural development schemes of the central and state governments, the rural economy of Andhra Pradesh, community-based organisations and self-help groups, the revenue and expenditure management of local bodies, and — in terms — the roles and responsibilities of the Panchayat Secretary. It is a paper about the job.
APPSC revises paper structure, marks, syllabus detail and eligibility between recruitment cycles, and has done so more than once in recent years. Everything here describes the shape the recruitment has held; the notification for the cycle you are sitting is the document that decides it. Read it end to end before you plan around any figure.
Study plan
Eight years have passed since the last Group 3 notification and it is not in the 2026 calendar. Preparation for this paper is not wasted — Paper 1 is the general studies paper every APPSC recruitment sets, and Paper 2 is the best preparation for any panchayat raj post the state recruits by any route — but it should be built as a routine that serves other examinations too, rather than as a sprint towards a date that does not exist.
Sources
Checked 11 September 2026. Vacancies, eligibility, fees, the scheme of examination and the negative-marking clause are taken from Notification No. 13/2018 and the commission’s Group-III Panchayat Raj Secretary syllabus of November 2016. The commission’s official archive holds one Group 3 question paper — the screening test of Notification No. 29/2016 — and no other; the 2019 screening and mains papers were not published.
APPSC recruitment notifications APPSC scheme and syllabus documents APPSC results APPSC old question papers archive Notification No. 13/2018 — Panchayat Secretary Grade-IV, Group-III Services Group-III Panchayat Raj Secretary syllabus, November 2016 Panchayat Secretary screening test paper, Notification No. 29/2016
Exam resources
Six resource pages, each kept in step with the latest official notification.
Questions
Yes. In Andhra Pradesh both notifications the commission has issued under Group-III Services — in 2016 and in 2018 — were for Panchayat Secretary Grade-IV in the Panchayat Raj Subordinate Service, and the commission files the syllabus and the archived paper under that name. The Grama Sachivalayam recruitment of 2019 was a separate exercise by the Panchayat Raj department, not the commission.
No. As at 11 September 2026 the commission had issued no Group 3 or Panchayat Secretary notification since No. 13/2018, and the state’s 2026 job calendar includes no such posts in any of its four phases. Eligibility rules and dates circulating for a 2026 cycle are extrapolated from the 2018 notification.
A screening test on OMR sheets of 150 questions in 150 minutes — 75 on general studies and mental ability, 75 on rural development in Andhra Pradesh — which shortlists and is then discarded. Then a computer-based main examination of two papers of 150 questions, 150 marks and 150 minutes each: Paper 1 general studies and mental ability, Paper 2 rural development and problems in rural areas with special reference to Andhra Pradesh. Selection is on the 300 mains marks.
Yes. Under G.O.Ms.No.235 of December 2016, quoted in the notification, each wrong answer is penalised with one-third of the marks prescribed for the question, in both the screening test and the main examination.
A degree from a recognised university. There is one post, no post codes and no computer, typing or technical requirement. In 2018 the age limit was 18 to 42 as on 1 July 2018, with the usual category relaxations.
The panchayat raj system and its constitutional basis, the Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act, the functions and finances of each tier, rural development and employment schemes of the centre and the state, the rural economy and rural problems of Andhra Pradesh, community-based organisations and self-help groups, the revenue and expenditure management of local bodies, and the roles and responsibilities of the Panchayat Secretary. It is examined at 75 questions in the screening and 150 in the mains.
One. The official archive holds the Panchayat Secretary screening test of Notification No. 29/2016 and no other Group 3 paper; the 2019 screening and mains papers were not published. For the general studies half, the archived Group 1 mains and 2016 Group 2 screening papers are set by the same commission under the same marking rule.
On the merit of the two mains papers, district by district. The District Collector is the unit of appointment, vacancies are notified per district, and a candidate is ranked against the vacancies of the district they are local to. There is no interview and no skill test. Ties go to the older candidate, then to the earlier degree.
Read the syllabus, attempt a free mock, then fix the section that costs you the most marks.
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