West Bengal Civil Service (WBCS) Exam Syllabus – Prelims

• 23 Jul 2025

The West Bengal Civil Service (WBCS) Exam serves as the gateway to a prestigious administrative career in the state. This stage is designed to test candidates’ foundational knowledge across a wide array of subjects, ensuring a comprehensive assessment of their aptitude and awareness.  

Introduction 

• Included Papers:  
  • General Studies Paper-I 
  • General Studies Paper-II   
• Type: Objective  
• No. of Questions & Marks: 200 MCQs in each paper, consisting of 200 marks   
  • GS Paper-II– qualifying in nature, with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33% 
• Duration: Each paper will be 2 hours 
• Level of the Examination: The papers will be of the standard expected from a graduate of a recognised university.

Note: It is mandatory for the candidates to appear in both papers for evaluation.  A candidate will be disqualified in case he/she does not appear in both papers.     

Syllabus of WBCS Prelims GS Paper-I 

SI No.	Subjects	Marks Assigned
i	English Composition	20
ii	General Science	20
iii	Current Events of National and International Importance	20
iv	History of India	20
v	Geography of India with special reference to West Bengal	20
vi	Indian Polity and Economy	20+20=40
vii	Indian National Movement	20
viii	General Issues on Environmental Ecology, Bio-Diversity and Climate Change- that do not require subject specialization	40
Total		200

Syllabus of WBCS Prelims GS Paper-II 

SI No.	Topics	Marks Assigned
i	Comprehension	60
ii	Interpersonal Skills including communication skills	10
iii	Logical Reasoning and Analytical Ability	35
iv	Decision Making and Problem Solving	30
v	General Mental Ability	30
vi	Basic Numeracy (Numbers and their relations, Orders of Magnitude, etc.), Data Interpretation (Charts, Graphs, Tables, Data Sufficiency) -  Class X Level	35
Total		200

• The Preliminary Examination is meant to serve as a screening test only for the selection of candidates for the Main Examination. Both the papers are qualifying in nature.
• Only those candidates who will be declared qualified at the Preliminary Examination in a year shall be eligible to appear at the West Bengal Civil Service (Executive), etc. (Main) Examination of that year.