MPPSC guidance: how the paper is cracked, from your own numbers
Madhya Pradesh State Service Examination. Conducted by Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission (MPPSC). Vikram knows this paper from the site's own pattern pages — and reads your scores, your mocks and what you haven't touched before saying a word.
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Carries the marks · Indian ConstitutionHow to Write GS2 Mains AnswersMarks ~15 Open the chapter
The paper · MPPSC300 marksWrong answers cost marks
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Ends in a plan
Stages
3
First paper
300 marks
Marking
Wrong answers cost marks
Your guide
Vikram, free
How it's decided
MPPSC, stage by stage
Annual in intent. The 2026 cycle was notified on 31 December 2025 (Advertisement No. 29/2025), with Prelims on 26 April 2026 and Mains scheduled for 7-12 September 2026 on published schedules. Always confirm the live exam calendar on the Commission's site rather than assuming a fixed rhythm.. Prelims: OMR-based objective, two papers on the same day. Mains: pen-and-paper descriptive papers, GS I-IV answerable in Hindi or English. Interview: in-person personality test before a board..
Prelims — General Studies (Paper I) + aptitude (Paper II)Screening gate only
Two objective papers on the same day. Paper I's marks decide who advances to Mains; Paper II is qualifying only. Prelims marks do not count toward the final merit list.
Mains — 6 written papers, 1,400 marksThe real scoring stage
General Studies I, II and III (300 each) + General Studies IV (200) + General Hindi (200) + Hindi Essay and Draft Writing (100). Each GS paper has a Part A and a Part B of five units, with Madhya Pradesh-specific units in every one of the first three papers.
Personality Test (Interview)Final marks, about 175
A board interview on administrative aptitude, awareness of Madhya Pradesh and general personality. Final merit is the Mains total plus the interview. Some 2026 guides print the interview at 185 marks, so confirm the figure in the advertisement.
The papers
3 papers, and how each is marked
Prelims — General Studies (Paper I) and aptitude (Paper II)
300 marks2 hours per paperNegative marking
Screening — Paper I ranks you into Mains, Paper II only needs a qualifying score
Marking: Reported for the 2026 cycle: 3 marks per correct answer and −1 for each wrong answer in Paper I. Earlier cycles used smaller per-question marks; confirm the scheme on the current advertisement.
History & CultureGeographyPolity & GovernanceEconomyEnvironment & EcologyScience & TechnologyReading Comprehension (aptitude)Logical Reasoning (aptitude)Decision Making (aptitude)Numeracy & DI (aptitude)
Paper I decides selection for Mains; Paper II is a qualifying aptitude paper covering comprehension, reasoning, decision-making and numeracy.
Mains — General Studies I to IV
1100 marks3 hours per paper
Merit — 1,100 of your 1,400 Mains marks
GS Paper I — History & Geography300 marks · 180 minGS Paper II — Constitution, Governance & Sociology300 marks · 180 minGS Paper III — Economics, Science & Public Health300 marks · 180 minGS Paper IV — Ethics, Psychology, Management & Personality200 marks · 180 min
GS I: History (Part A) and Geography (Part B). GS II: Constitution and Governance (Part A) and Sociology (Part B). GS III: Economics (Part A) and Science, Technology and Public Health (Part B). GS IV: Philosophy, Psychology and Public Administration (Part A) and Entrepreneurship, Management and Personality (Part B).
Mains — General Hindi & Hindi Essay
300 marksGeneral Hindi 3 hours
Language papers — 300 marks, examined in Hindi only
General Hindi (not modelled here)200 marks · 180 minHindi Essay & Draft Writing (not modelled here)100 marks · 120 min
General Hindi (comprehension, précis, translation, grammar and official drafting) and Hindi Essay and Draft Writing are language-skill papers, outside this hub's chapter format.
Where the marks come from
Where your MPPSC score comes from
Prelims (a General Studies paper plus a qualifying CSAT-style aptitude paper) only screens you into Mains.
GS I-III — the state-and-national General Studies core900 marks · 64.3%
Nearly two-thirds of Mains marks, and the papers where the state chapters of this hub pay off most: every part carries one or two units that are wholly about Madhya Pradesh.
GS IV — ethics, psychology and management200 marks · 14.3%
Half the paper is the national ethics syllabus (aliased from UPSC CSE) and half is entrepreneurship, management and personality, which most candidates have never studied formally.
General Hindi & Hindi Essay300 marks · 21.4%
Language-skill papers outside this hub's chapter format. Given their weight, give them dedicated practice, and confirm whether General Hindi counts toward merit in the current notification.
What changed this cycle
Things last year's advice gets wrong
The 2026 cycle reworked the Prelims marking, as reported by several preparation guides: Paper I is set at 3 marks per question with a deduction of 1 mark for each wrong answer (the first negative marking in recent MPPSC history), and the aptitude paper is qualifying only.
Optional subjects have been removed from Mains, leaving six compulsory descriptive papers. That makes Madhya Pradesh-specific units a guaranteed share of every General Studies paper rather than a bonus.
The 2026 Prelims result (May 2026) shortlisted roughly 3,800 candidates for Mains, released in two lists because of a pending court matter on OBC reservation, as reported. The reservation dispute is unresolved, so do not treat any single list as final policy.
India's criminal-procedure and evidence framework changed on 1 July 2024: the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita replaced the CrPC and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam replaced the Indian Evidence Act — relevant wherever law and order appears in the papers.
The chapters that carry the marks
Where a plan for MPPSC usually starts
The highest-weight chapters in each subject, linked to their notes. Weights are estimates from previous papers where the conducting body publishes none. Your guide weighs these against your own scores.
Prelims, Mains and the interview as one long campaign, for UPSC and the state commissions. Pick one to start, or just talk — Vikram has read your profile either way.
1. Prelims — General Studies (Paper I) + aptitude (Paper II) — Screening gate only. 2. Mains — 6 written papers, 1,400 marks — The real scoring stage. 3. Personality Test (Interview) — Final marks, about 175.
How is the MPPSC paper marked?
Prelims — General Studies (Paper I) and aptitude (Paper II): 300 marks, 2 hours per paper. Marking: Reported for the 2026 cycle: 3 marks per correct answer and −1 for each wrong answer in Paper I. Earlier cycles used smaller per-question marks; confirm the scheme on the current advertisement.
Is there negative marking in MPPSC?
Yes. Reported for the 2026 cycle: 3 marks per correct answer and −1 for each wrong answer in Paper I. Earlier cycles used smaller per-question marks; confirm the scheme on the current advertisement.
What decides the final merit in MPPSC?
Prelims (a General Studies paper plus a qualifying CSAT-style aptitude paper) only screens you into Mains. Mains is where merit is decided, and it is an all-compulsory, all-General-Studies design: GS I (History and Geography), GS II (Constitution and Governance, and Sociology) and GS III (Economics, and Science, Technology and Public Health) carry 300 marks each, GS IV (Philosophy, Psychology and Public Administration, and Entrepreneurship, Management and Personality) carries 200, and two Hindi papers add 300 more.
What has changed in MPPSC recently?
The 2026 cycle reworked the Prelims marking, as reported by several preparation guides: Paper I is set at 3 marks per question with a deduction of 1 mark for each wrong answer (the first negative marking in recent MPPSC history), and the aptitude paper is qualifying only. Guides disagree on some details (question counts, qualifying percentages), so treat the exact scheme as something to confirm on the current advertisement.
What does the MPPSC guide know about me?
Only what you have done on the site: your scores by subject and chapter for MPPSC, what you have never been tested on, the kinds of mistake you make across topics, your mocks, your projected score, your error book, your last two weeks and your goals. You can open the exact page Vikram reads before you start.
Is it free?
Talking to Vikram, the AI guide, is free — up to four talks a day. Real guides who have cleared or teach MPPSC set their own prices, and many offer a free call or a short demo.
Every fact on this page comes from the exam's blueprint on this site. How the guide uses it: how Guidance works.
