Telangana · Government Exams

TGPSC Group 1

TGPSC Group 1 is the senior recruitment in Telangana: Deputy Collector, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Commercial Tax Officer, Regional Transport Officer, District Panchayat Officer and the other state-cadre posts that run a district between them. It is the state equivalent of the civil services examination in everything but its final stage: a screening paper, then a long descriptive mains that decides the result outright.

The part that surprises candidates arriving from national preparation is the writing. Group 1 is decided in the mains, the mains is written by hand under time pressure across several papers, and one of those papers is about the Telangana movement and the formation of the state — a subject no national book covers at the depth the paper asks for.

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TGPSC Group 1 · 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.

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19September 2026

Checked 19 September 2026

TGPSC Group 1: the facts that matter now

01
Telangana Government Public Service Commission, formerly TSPSC
Conducted by
02
A bachelor’s degree from a recognised university
Qualification
03
Prelims (screening) → descriptive Mains. No interview under the current scheme
Stages
04
Screening only — the marks do not carry into the merit list
Prelims role

Notification

TGPSC Group 1 notification and key dates

Checked 11 September 2026. The current Group 1 cycle is Notification No. 02/2024 of 19 February 2024. It replaced Notification No. 04/2022, which the commission cancelled — candidates who had applied to the cancelled cycle had to apply again, though not to pay again. Selection under 02/2024 is published but remains provisional.

The 02/2024 cycle, end to end.
Stage	When
Notification issued	19 February 2024
Applications	23 February to 14 March 2024, with an edit window to 27 March
Preliminary test	Notified for May or June 2024. The notification names no exact date, and the commission published none that survives on its site.
Main examination	21 to 27 October 2024
General ranking list	30 March 2025
Provisional selection	24 September 2025 — 562 candidates against 563 vacancies

The selection is provisional and litigation is pending

The commission’s own selection notification states that the final list is subject to the outcome of Writ Appeal No. 1066 of 2025 and connected cases, and that changes will be carried out if court orders require them. One vacancy was left unfilled under a High Court order in a separate writ petition, which is why 562 candidates were selected against 563 posts. A place on a provisional list is not an appointment.

Where the 563 vacancies sat

Mandal Parishad Development Officer — 140 — the largest single post code in the recruitment, about a quarter of it.
Deputy Superintendent of Police — 115 — the largest uniformed block, and one of the post codes carrying a lower age ceiling and a physical requirement.
Commercial Tax Officer 48, Deputy Collector 45, Municipal Commissioner Grade-II 41, Assistant Audit Officer 41 — the next tier of post codes by size.
Eighteen post codes in all — down to two vacancies for District Tribal Welfare Officer. Vacancy numbers are expressly subject to variation on intimation from the department concerned.

No fresh Group 1 notification has been issued

As at the date checked above, 02/2024 remains the most recent Group 1 notification. Any vacancy count or application date circulating for a new cycle is not from a commission document.

Check the cycle status at source

TGPSC notifications TGPSC selection lists

Overview

What TGPSC Group 1 is, and who it suits

Group 1 fills the posts a state government recruits directly into its senior executive cadre. A successful candidate is likely to spend early service as a Deputy Collector or a Deputy Superintendent of Police, and the recruitment is designed around that: a wide screening test to reduce a very large field, then a descriptive mains that tests whether a candidate can construct an argument in writing. Under the scheme notified for the current cycle there is no interview, so those written papers are the entire basis of the merit list.

The examination has three properties worth understanding before committing to it. It is long — the gap between notification and final result has historically run well over a year. It is written, in the literal sense, so handwriting speed and legibility are part of the score. And it is state-specific to a degree national material does not prepare you for: Telangana history, culture, geography, economy and the statehood movement run through every mains paper.

What separates Group 1 from Group 2

The mains is descriptive — answers are written in prose, by hand, against the clock. Group 2 is objective throughout, and the two demand different preparation even where the syllabus overlaps.
The screening stage is separate — Group 1 has a prelims whose marks are discarded once it has done its job, so the paper that admits you to the examination is not the paper that ranks you. Group 2 has no screening stage at all — every candidate sits the papers that count.
The posts carry executive authority — district administration and policing, rather than the supervisory and ministerial posts most Group 2 appointments lead to.
The field is smaller but stronger — Group 1 attracts candidates also preparing for the civil services, which raises the standard of the written answers you are ranked against.

Prelims marks do not survive the stage

The preliminary paper decides who writes the mains and nothing else — it is not added to the final total. Candidates routinely over-invest in prelims-style objective practice and arrive at the mains having never written a timed answer. Prepare for the mains from the first month, and treat the prelims as a filter you must pass rather than a paper you must top.

Eligibility

Who can apply for TGPSC Group 1

Group 1 does not have one eligibility rule — it has eighteen, one per post code, and the differences are the kind that end an application. Both the minimum and the maximum age vary by post, and three post codes want a specific degree rather than any degree. The figures below are those set by Notification No. 02/2024, with age reckoned as on 1 July 2024.

Eligibility under Notification No. 02/2024. A future notification will set its own reckoning date and may set different ceilings, so read the structure rather than reusing the dates.
Requirement	What the notification set
Qualification	A bachelor’s degree of a recognised university for most posts, held as on the notification date of 19 February 2024 with the result already declared by then. A degree awaited or declared later did not qualify.
Degree-specific posts	Regional Transport Officer required a degree in mechanical or automobile engineering. Assistant Commissioner of Labour required arts, commerce, science or engineering. The Assistant Treasury Officer group required commerce, economics or mathematics with at least a second class in the subject.
Minimum age	18 years for most posts; 21 years for Deputy Superintendent of Police, Regional Transport Officer and Assistant Excise Superintendent.
Maximum age	46 years for most posts; 35 years for Deputy Superintendent of Police, Deputy Superintendent of Jails and Assistant Excise Superintendent. The 46-year ceiling came from a government order of February 2024 raising it from 44.
Age relaxation	Telangana government employees up to 5 years by length of regular service; ex-servicemen 3 years plus service rendered; NCC instructors 3 years plus service; SC, ST, BC and EWS candidates 5 years; persons with disability 10 years. Relaxation cannot take a candidate past the post’s own ceiling.
Physical requirements	Deputy Superintendent of Police and Assistant Excise Superintendent required at least 165 cm height and 86.3 cm chest on full inspiration; Deputy Superintendent of Jails at least 167.6 cm with a minimum 5 cm expansion. Relaxed standards applied where enough candidates at the higher standard were unavailable, and a request for re-medical examination is not entertained.
Application processing fee	₹200, payable by every applicant with no exemption.
Examination fee	₹120, from which unemployed candidates were exempt on filing a declaration. Government employees at any level paid it.

Selection process

How TGPSC Group 1 selection works

Each stage in order, and what it actually tests.

Stages change between cycles. Confirm the structure in the notification for the cycle you are sitting.
Stage	Format	What it involves
Preliminary examination	Objective, screening only	A general studies and mental ability paper covering current affairs, history, polity, economy, geography, science and technology, reasoning and Telangana-specific content. It decides who is called to the mains in a ratio fixed by the commission, and the marks are not carried forward.
Main examination	Descriptive, written by hand	A qualifying language paper alongside marked papers covering general essay, history and culture, society and governance, economy and development, science and technology with data interpretation, and the Telangana movement and state formation. These marks build the merit list.
Verification and appointment	Documents and medical	Certificate verification with web options for post and multi-zone preference, medical fitness and physical requirements where the post requires them, and allotment of service by merit, preference, reservation and local status.

Exam pattern

TGPSC Group 1 exam pattern and marking

The Group 1 scheme of examination. The preliminary test screens and is then discarded; the six marked mains papers are the entire merit list.
Stage or paper	Subject	Type	Duration	Marks
Preliminary test	General Studies and Mental Ability, 150 questions	Objective — screening only	2½ hours	150, not counted
Mains — General English	Qualifying paper at secondary school standard	Descriptive — qualifying only	3 hours	150, not counted
Mains — Paper I	General Essay	Descriptive	3 hours	150
Mains — Paper II	History, Culture and Geography	Descriptive	3 hours	150
Mains — Paper III	Indian Society, Constitution and Governance	Descriptive	3 hours	150
Mains — Paper IV	Economy and Development	Descriptive	3 hours	150
Mains — Paper V	Science and Technology, and Data Interpretation	Descriptive	3 hours	150
Mains — Paper VI	Telangana Movement and State Formation	Descriptive	3 hours	150

The current scheme has no interview

The commission’s scheme of examination totals 900 marks across the six marked mains papers, and contains no interview, oral test or personality test. Older Group 1 cycles did carry one, and a good deal of preparation advice still assumes it, but under the scheme notified for the current cycle nothing outside the written papers can move your rank. Confirm it in your own notification before planning around either answer.

The rules that decide who progresses

The prelims admits fifty candidates per vacancy — the ratio is 1:50 in each multi-zone, relaxed where reserved-category numbers require it. The paper is a filter with a wide mouth, not a competition to be topped.
General English can end a candidacy on its own — it is qualifying at secondary school standard — 40% for OC, EWS and sportspersons, 35% for BC, 30% for SC, ST and PH candidates — and it is the paper candidates prepare for last.
The mains carries an aggregate minimum too — the same 40, 35 and 30 per cent thresholds apply to the aggregate across all mains papers. If SC and ST candidates do not come up to them, selection is considered on rank irrespective of marks.
Every mains paper is compulsory — absence from any one of them disqualifies the candidature entirely.
Answer in one language throughout — the examination is set in English, Telugu and Urdu, and every paper except General English must be answered wholly in the language you chose. Mixing is not permitted.
The official documents prescribe no negative marking — the notification contains no deduction clause for a wrong answer. That is the absence of a provision rather than a promise, so check your own notification.

Study plan

How to prepare for TGPSC Group 1

A plan for an examination decided entirely in writing

Write from month one, not after the prelims result the prelims is worth nothing and the mains is worth everything. Candidates who postpone writing practice until they have cleared the screening paper spend the decisive interval learning a skill instead of sharpening it.
Treat the Telangana movement as a full paper because it is one — 150 marks of narrative history with its own periodisation, agreements, actors and disputes, which no national general-studies book covers at the depth Paper VI asks.
Build one set of notes that serves several papers Telangana’s history feeds Paper II, its society Paper III, its economy Paper IV and its statehood movement Paper VI. Four papers, one state, one body of reading.
Practise the data interpretation block as arithmetic it sits inside the science and technology paper and is closer to timed arithmetic than to science, which is where science graduates lose marks they assumed were safe.
Do not neglect General English it carries no merit marks and it removes candidates every cycle. A few hours a week is enough; nothing is not.
Rehearse the handwriting load six three-hour descriptive papers inside a week is a physical task as much as an intellectual one. Legibility and speed at the end of hour three are trainable, and only by training them.

Sources

Official notifications and sources

Checked 11 September 2026. Vacancies, eligibility, fees, qualifying marks and the scheme of examination are taken from Notification No. 02/2024 and the commission’s Group-I scheme and syllabus; the chronology and the litigation caveat are from the commission’s own selection notification. The commission publishes no Group 1 previous-year question papers — its old question papers archive holds none for this examination in any year.

Official sources for this page

TGPSC notifications TGPSC scheme and syllabus documents TGPSC selection lists TGPSC results, keys and OMR sheets TGPSC old question papers archive

Exam resources

Everything for TGPSC Group 1

Six resource pages, each kept in step with the latest official notification.

TGPSC Group 1 SyllabusTGPSC Group 1 syllabus — the prelims general studies paper and every mains paper, including Telangana Movement and State Formation.TGPSC Group 1 Exam PatternTGPSC Group 1 exam pattern — how the prelims screens, how the six descriptive mains papers are marked, and why the mains decides the result.TGPSC Group 1 Previous PapersTGPSC Group 1 previous papers — what to read from them, and why papers labelled TSPSC are still the right material.TGPSC Group 1 Mock TestsTGPSC Group 1 mock tests — how to use objective mocks for the prelims and written answer practice for the mains.TGPSC Group 1 PreparationTGPSC Group 1 preparation — a realistic plan across the prelims and the six mains papers, with the Telangana layer built in from the start.TGPSC Group 1 Study MaterialTGPSC Group 1 study material — what to read for the general studies spine, and how to assemble the Telangana layer.

More Telangana preparation

All Telangana examsEvery exam in this category Previous-year papersPast papers with solutions Current affairsDaily, weekly and monthly Exam updatesNotifications and results

Questions

TGPSC Group 1 — FAQs

What is the TGPSC Group 1 exam pattern?

TGPSC Group 1 runs in two examined stages. The preliminary examination is an objective general studies and mental ability paper of 150 questions and 150 marks, used only to screen candidates for the mains — its marks do not count towards the final merit. The main examination is descriptive and written by hand, with a qualifying language paper alongside marked papers covering general essay, history and culture, society and governance, economy and development, science and technology with data interpretation, and the Telangana movement and state formation. The scheme notified for the current cycle carries no interview: the six marked mains papers total 900 marks and decide the merit list on their own. Confirm the paper count, marks and duration in the notification for your cycle.

Is TSPSC Group 1 the same as TGPSC Group 1?

Yes. The commission was renamed from TSPSC to TGPSC in 2024 when the state style changed, and the examination carried across unchanged. Previous papers, syllabus documents and study material published under the TSPSC name remain current and are the right material to prepare from.

Which posts are filled through TGPSC Group 1?

Group 1 fills senior state-cadre posts including Deputy Collector, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Commercial Tax Officer, Regional Transport Officer, District Panchayat Officer, Mandal Parishad Development Officer and District Registrar, among others. The exact post list and the number of vacancies in each are set by the notification for that recruitment.

How important is the Telangana Movement paper in Group 1?

It is examined as a subject in its own right in the mains, and it also appears in the prelims. Because no national general-studies material covers it at the depth the paper asks, it is simultaneously the section where an unprepared candidate loses most and the section where a prepared one gains most. Treat it as a full subject from the first month rather than as a topic to be covered later.

Can I write TGPSC Group 1 in Telugu?

The mains may be written in English or Telugu, with the medium chosen at the time of application. Choose on the basis of which language you can write quickly and precisely under time pressure, because switching later means rebuilding your terminology, reading material and answer structures.

How long does the whole TGPSC Group 1 process take?

A long time. In the 2024 cycle the notification issued in February 2024, the mains was written in October 2024, the ranking list appeared in March 2025 and provisional selection followed in September 2025 — and that list is still subject to pending litigation. Plan preparation as a long project, and use the interval after the prelims for mains writing practice, because that is the gap in which the result is actually decided.

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