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Tamil Nadu · Government Exams
TNPSC Group 2A fills the larger and lower of the two tiers in the Combined Civil Services Examination-II: Senior Revenue Inspector, Audit Inspector, Assistants and Accountants across departments, Junior Accountant, Executive Officer Grade-III, Lower Division Clerk and the other posts at pay levels 10 to 12. It is decided on an objective computer-based mains of 300 marks, and it is the recruitment most Tamil Nadu graduates first sit.
The 2026 cycle was live when this page was checked. Notification No. 07/2026 closed on 9 September 2026 for 803 Group IIA posts alongside 43 Group II posts, and the common preliminary examination is on 1 November 2026. There is no interview and never has been for this tier; what distinguishes it from Group II is the mains, which here is 200 objective questions rather than a descriptive paper.
TNPSC Group 2A · 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
Notification 07/2026 — 803 Group IIA posts; applications closed 9 September; prelims 1 November 2026
Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission
A bachelor’s degree; commerce for the accountant posts, diplomas accepted for some cooperative posts
Common objective prelims at 1:10 → Tamil paper plus one objective computer-based paper of 300 marks
Notification
Checked 11 September 2026. The current cycle, Notification No. 07/2026 of 11 August 2026, took applications to 9 September 2026 with a correction window from 13 to 15 September. The common preliminary examination is on 1 November 2026. Addendum 7A of 3 September raised one Secretariat Assistant post from 7 to 17 and added ten Supervisors of Industrial Cooperatives and three Assistants, taking Group IIA from 780 to 803 posts.
| Stage | When |
|---|---|
| Notification | 15 July 2025 |
| Preliminary examination | 28 September 2025 |
| Tamil eligibility test | 15 March 2026 |
| Group IIA mains — computer-based | 24 March 2026 |
| Marks and rank | 29 June 2026 |
| Onscreen verification list | 13 July 2026 |
| Physical verification and counselling list | 9 September 2026 |
Notification No. 07/2026 Addendum 7A — posts added TNPSC examination dashboard TNPSC Group 2 — the other half of the notification
Overview
Group IIA is forty-seven post codes in the 2026 notification, 803 posts after the September addendum, spread across the revenue department’s Senior Revenue Inspectors district by district, the audit and accounts posts of the local fund and treasuries services, Assistants in a dozen departments, Junior Accountants, the town panchayats’ Executive Officers and Lower Division Clerks. The same prelims serves it and Group II; the shortlist for each mains is drawn separately at ten per vacancy.
The Group IIA mains is two papers. Paper I is the Tamil eligibility test at SSLC standard — descriptive, 100 marks, qualifying at 40 for every community — and Paper II is evaluated only for those who pass it. Paper II is a computer-based test of 200 questions for 300 marks in three hours: 150 on general studies at degree standard and 50 on general intelligence and reasoning at SSLC standard, with a minimum of 90. Paper II alone builds the rank list, and posts are allotted at counselling by rank and preference.
Every Group IIA candidate sits the common preliminary examination on 1 November 2026: 75 general studies questions, 25 aptitude, and 100 questions of general Tamil or general English at SSLC standard. The language section is half the paper by question count and the section that improves fastest. A candidate who prepares general studies alone has prepared for a third of the prelims.
Eligibility
| Requirement | What the notification sets |
|---|---|
| Qualification | A degree of a UGC-recognised university for most posts. Accountant and Junior Accountant posts take a commerce degree; some cooperative posts accept a diploma in rural services or the institute of chartered accountants’ associate diploma; some Assistant posts require typewriting. |
| Minimum age | 18 for most posts; 25 for Executive Officer Grade-III. |
| Maximum age — general | 32 for most posts; 37 for Executive Officer Grade-III. |
| Maximum age — SC, SC(A), ST, MBC, DC, BC and BC(M) | No maximum for every Group IIA post — not having completed 60. |
| Concessions | Persons with benchmark disability ten years more; ex-servicemen to 50; destitute widows no maximum. |
| Religion | Audit Inspector, Executive Officer Grade-III and one Assistant post in the endowments department are open to persons professing the Hindu religion only. |
| Government service | Candidates outside the reserved communities with five or more years of state service are not eligible. |
| Fees | One-time registration ₹150; prelims ₹100; mains ₹150, or ₹300 if shortlisted for both groups. Exemptions as for Group 1. |
Selection process
Each stage in order, and what it actually tests.
| Stage | Format | What it involves |
|---|---|---|
| Common preliminary examination | Objective, OMR — screening only | One paper of 200 questions and 300 marks in three hours, shared with Group II: general studies 75, aptitude 25, and general Tamil or general English 100. Minimum 90 for every community. Ten candidates per Group IIA vacancy proceed; the marks are then discarded. |
| Group IIA main examination | Descriptive Tamil paper, then an objective computer-based paper | Paper I, the Tamil eligibility test at SSLC standard, qualifying at 40 out of 100 for every community. Paper II, a computer-based test of 200 questions for 300 marks in three hours — general studies 150 at degree standard, general intelligence and reasoning 50 at SSLC standard — with a minimum of 90. Paper II alone builds the rank. |
| Onscreen and physical certificate verification | Documents, then counselling | Onscreen verification at three candidates per vacancy for general candidates and two for reserved communities; physical verification and counselling at three and one and a half. Posts allotted by rank and preference under the communal roster. |
Exam pattern
| Stage or paper | Content | Format | Duration | Marks | Minimum |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common preliminary | General studies 75; aptitude 25; general Tamil or general English 100 | Objective, OMR | 3 hours | 300, not counted | 90 for every community |
| Mains — Paper I | Tamil eligibility test at SSLC standard | Descriptive, in Tamil | 3 hours | 100, not counted | 40 for every community |
| Mains — Paper II | General studies 150 at degree standard; general intelligence and reasoning 50 at SSLC standard | Objective, computer-based, 200 questions | 3 hours | 300 | 90 for every community |
Paper II is evaluated only for candidates who score 40 in the Tamil eligibility test; a differently-abled candidate may claim exemption. The commission’s generic scheme page shows a Group IIA Paper II with a language section and a different prelims minimum; Notification 07/2026 shows neither, and the notification governs.
TNPSC revises paper structure, marks, syllabus detail and eligibility between recruitment cycles, and has done so more than once in recent years — the Tamil eligibility component itself is a recent addition. 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
Sources
Checked 11 September 2026. Vacancies, eligibility, fees, the scheme of examination and the blank-answer deduction are quoted from Notification No. 07/2026 and Addendum 7A; the 2025 timetable from the commission’s examination dashboard. The commission publishes the common prelims papers with final keys, the Tamil eligibility papers, and the Group IIA mains papers with keys — the 2025 mains as a final key and the 2026 mains as a tentative one.
Notification No. 07/2026 with scheme and syllabus Addendum 7A, 3 September 2026 Notification No. 11/2025 — the previous cycle Prelims syllabus with unit weights Tamil eligibility test syllabus Group IIA mains 2025 final key Objective papers with final keys Descriptive question papers — Tamil eligibility test TNPSC annual planner
Exam resources
Six resource pages, each kept in step with the latest official notification.
Questions
1 November 2026, 9.30 to 12.30, under Notification No. 07/2026 — the common prelims shared with Group II. Applications closed on 9 September 2026. The mains dates will be announced later.
803 after Addendum 7A of 3 September 2026, across forty-seven post codes — Senior Revenue Inspectors district by district, Assistants across departments, audit and cooperative inspectors, Accountants and Junior Accountants, Executive Officers Grade-III, Lower Division Clerks and others. Group II has 43 in the same notification.
A common preliminary examination of 200 objective questions for 300 marks in three hours — general studies 75, aptitude 25, general Tamil or English 100 — at a minimum of 90, screening ten candidates per vacancy. Then a mains of two papers: Paper I, the descriptive Tamil eligibility test, 100 marks and qualifying at 40; and Paper II, a computer-based test of 200 questions for 300 marks — general studies 150 and reasoning 50 — with a minimum of 90. Paper II alone builds the rank.
No. Group IIA has never carried an interview, and since 2024 Group II has not either. Selection is on the mains Paper II alone, followed by certificate verification and counselling.
Not for a wrong answer. Half a mark is deducted for each prelims question left entirely blank — the notification requires a candidate who does not know the answer to darken option E — and two marks for a wrong register number on a non-personalised sheet.
Reckoned as on 1 July 2026: a minimum of 18 for most posts and 25 for Executive Officer Grade-III; a maximum of 32 for general candidates, or 37 for Executive Officer Grade-III. SC, SC(A), ST, MBC, DC, BC and BC(M) candidates have no maximum age for any Group IIA post. Candidates outside the reserved communities with five years of state service are not eligible.
One-time registration ₹150 valid five years; preliminary examination ₹100; main examination ₹150, or ₹300 for a candidate shortlisted for both groups. SC, SC(A), ST, disabled and destitute-widow candidates are exempt from examination fees; BC, BC(M), MBC and DC candidates have three free chances and ex-servicemen two.
Yes. Paper II of the Group IIA mains is held as a computer-based test — 200 questions in three hours — while the common prelims is on OMR sheets. The 2026 Group IIA mains was held on 24 March 2026.
Yes. The common prelims with final keys from 2013 to 2025, the Group IIA mains of February 2025 with its final key and of March 2026 with a tentative key, and the Tamil eligibility papers for 2025 and 2026 are all on the commission’s site.
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