RPSC Exam (Rajasthan Public Service Commission): Eligibility Criteria, Age Limit, How To Apply, Application Procedure, Fees, Important Dates, Preparation Tips And Strategy

The RPSC RAS Question Papers are usually set by the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC). Via the RAS Exam, the RPSC recruits for Group A, and Group B vacancies in the state administrative are officially setup. There are a few subjects and topics viz history and Rajasthan culture that the aspirants would need to prepare thoroughly for the RPSC exam.

For success in this highly competitive RPSC RAS exam, understanding the syllabus and the exam pattern and going through the previous years’ question papers is quite vital.

Rajasthan PSC Eligibility Criteria

Nationality

Any candidate applying for the RPSC Exam must be a citizen of India Candidates belonging to Rajasthan are given priority. Candidates from other states can also apply but will be considered in the General category and will not be given any reservation in seats.

Educational Qualification

A candidate must hold a graduation degree from any stream from a reputed organization to appear for RPSC 2020 exam.

Organization

University incorporated by an Act of the Central Legislature or
University incorporated by an Act of the State Legislature or
Other Educational Institution established by an Act of Parliament or declared to be deemed as one under section 3 of UGC Act, 1956 or
Possess an equivalent qualification recognized by the Government in consultation with the RPSC.

Age Limit

The Minimum Age of candidate must be 21 years, and the maximum age must be 40 years. For Non-Gazetted posts, the age limit is from 25 years to 45 years. Candidates are also given age relaxation based on the category they belong to. Let’s have a look at the same.

The age limit in the RAS exam for General Candidates

Min Age – 21 years
Max Age – 40 years

Age Relaxation is given as below

SC/ST/OBC (Male – Rajasthan) – Age Limit relaxed by five years
SC/ST/OBC (Women – Rajasthan) – Age Limit Relaxed by ten years
General Women – Age Limit relaxed by five years
Widow/Divorced women – No Upper Age Limit
PWD (General) – Age Limit relaxed by ten years
PWD (OBC) – Age Limit relaxed by 13 years
PWD (SC/ST) – Age Limit relaxed by 15 years

Rajasthan Public Service Commission Exam Stages

The RAS Exam is loosely modeled on the nature of the UPSC IAS Exam.

Preliminary / Stage 1– Unlike UPSC IAS Exam, RPSC RAS has only one paper in the first stage- preliminary exam, having 150 objective questions for 200 marks. The duration of the prelims exam is 3 hours.
Mains / Stage 2– There are four theory papers in RAS Mains for 200 marks each.
Personality Test / Interview / Stage 3 – It is of a total of 100 marks.

How to Apply for the RPSC RAS Exam

To apply through online mode for the RAS exam, all candidates have to select the “Recruitment Portal” on the official website.
All candidates can apply for these exams after completing the One-Time-Registration process.
The Application Id will also be generated once the candidates fill the application form and pay the fee as per the guidelines.

RPSC RAS Fees

The price for the RPSC RAS exam is as follows:

General – Rs 350
OBC – Rs 250
SC/ST – Rs 50

Rajasthan PSC RAS Application Procedure

To apply through online mode for the RAS exam, all candidates have to select the “Recruitment Portal” on the official website.
All candidates can apply for these exams after completing the One-Time-Registration process.
The Application Id will also be generated once the candidates fill the application form and pay the fee as per the guidelines.

Difference between RPSC RAS and UPSC IAS Exam

The Rajasthan PSC RAS Exam is loosely modeled on the nature of the UPSC IAS Exam.

RPSC RAS Exam includes three stages:

Prelims – Unlike UPSC IAS Exam, RPSC RAS has only one paper in the first stage having 150 objective questions for 200 marks. The duration of the prelims exam is 3 hours.
Mains – There are four theory papers in RAS Mains for 200 marks each.
Personality Test/Interview – It is of a total of 100 marks.

RPSC RAS Exam Highlights

RAS Notification	July 21, 2021
Registration Start	July 27, 2021 (postponed)
Last Date to Apply	August 28, 2021 (postponed)
RAS Exam	to be announced
Vacancies	988

RPSC RAS Posts

The RPSC RAS exam is the common entry point for the following posts and services:

State Services	Subordinate Services
RAS – Rajasthan Administrative Service	Rajasthan Industry Subordinate Service
RPS – Rajasthan Police Service	Tehsildar
Rajasthan Account Service	Raj. Planning Subordinate Service
Rajasthan Industry Service	Raj. Temple Subordinate Service
Rajasthan Cooperative Service	Raj. Commercial Tax Subordinate Service
Rajasthan State Insurance Service	Raj. Excise Subordinate Service
Rajasthan Commercial Tax Service	Raj. Fertilizer and Civil Supplies Subordinate Service
Rajasthan Jail Service	Raj. Cooperative Subordinate Service
Rajasthan Planning Service	Raj. Women and Child Dev Subordinate
Rajasthan Women And Child Development	Jail Welfare Officer
Rajasthan Fertilizer and Civil Supplies	Social Welfare Officer
Rajasthan Rural Development Service	Raj. Labour Welfare Subordinate Service
Rajasthan Women Dev	District Minority Welfare Officer
Rajasthan Minority Service	Raj. Programme Officer
Rajasthan Excise (General)
Rajasthan Excise (Preventive Force)

Updates for the RPSC RAS Exam

The RAS Mains 2021 is scheduled to be held on 25 and 26 June 2019. However, reports suggest that it may be delayed.
The Mains 2021 question papers will be based on the new exam pattern introduced in 2018.
In previous years’ RAS question papers, there will be Maths questions in the Mains stage of the exam.
Similarly, the pattern of RAS Prelims was different before the RAS Exam 2013. Earlier, there used to be two papers in the Prelims exam.
There is only one Prelim question paper in the new pattern and four Mains question papers in the RAS Exam.

Tips to Optimize the Rajasthan PSC Exam Previous Years Question Papers

As a first step, candidates should go through the question papers and align the questions with the different sections of RAS Syllabus.
If your preparation journey has just started, the old question papers can help you understand the exam pattern and gauge the questions’ difficulty level.
Candidates should practice solving the previous years’ question papers before their RAS Pre or Mains exam.
If you are also preparing for the Civil Service Exam conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), you can refer to the UPSC Previous Years’ Question Papers.
Perusing the question papers can also help candidates get an idea about distributing topics in the exam.

Official Download links

RPSC RAS Question Papers- https://rpsc.rajasthan.gov.in/PreviousQuestionPapers.aspx
RPSC RAS Results and Cut Offs- https://www.rpsc.rajasthan.gov.in/results
RPSC RAS Answer Key- https://www.rpsc.rajasthan.gov.in/answerkeys

With the above links’ help, candidates can find results, cut-offs, answer keys, and question papers of all examinations conducted by the Rajasthan Public Service Commission.

Rajasthan PSC Exam Previous Years Question Papers

RPSC RAS Prelims question papers – https://www.rpsc.rajasthan.gov.in/

Rajasthan PSC Exam Preparation Tips

To start with reading the notification published by RPSC. Read the eligibility criteria. If you find yourself eligible, read the exam scheme. Exam scheme includes scientific paper based pre-exam, subjective based mains exam, and personality test. Read the complete plan carefully like marks, no of questions, etc. This has been changing every time in the last two exams. So it is essential to know the scheme for the current session.

Then go for detailed syllabus study for pre as well as mains. Most of the items are the same in both pre and mains. Decide the books which you want to study. Also, you can go for coaching study material. Now a day, a lot of online study material is also available. Make your study plan and follow it.

Begin with clarity, and when you start preparing for RPSC RAS exam, you should:

Be very clear in your decision as the preparation requires your complete dedication.
Go through the syllabus (and previous year question papers after that) to get a clear idea about what this exam is.
Understand your strengths and weakness in academics (SWOT analysis) as that would help you I gaining confidence
Doing the above steps will make you clear and confident about what you are doing.

Recommended Books

Remember this – you do not have to be a specialist on any topic of the exam. Instead, you should keep the syllabus as your reference and develop your knowledge accordingly. Do not fall for the pile of thick books. Instead of “book-based learning,” go for “knowledge-based learning.”

If you appear as a Hindi medium student, you have a lot of readily available books you can get from the market. Choose wisely.

If you are an English medium student, the material is scarce in the market. However, living in the online world is proving beneficial here. Check this out as it will be helpful for you.

Tips in Selecting the Test Series

Choose wisely here. There are many test series in the market. Instead of giving any name, let me try to provide you with the qualities of a good test series. A good test series should:

Be following the RPSC RAS scheme.
Have questions matching the standards of RAS previous year question papers
Provide correct answer with an explanation for every question in case of preliminary exam test series
Provide quality answer within the set word limit for every question in case of mains test series
Check this out, which is following the points mentioned above, and might help you.

Current Affairs Reading Materials

Current Affairs is just the awareness you have of what’s going on in the world around you. Typically, reading of newspaper will keep you updated on that. Still, if you can get some magazine that specifically covers the events in a monthly format, it will help in saving your effort.

Be aware, there are tons of magazines, and you are preparing for RAS. So the magazine you choose must have events covered for Rajasthan, be it a local, national or international event. Check this out. In the end, it’s not at all tough to become a RAS officer. Just be very clear that you want to be the one, and rest will be a matter of disciplined approach.

Rajasthan PSC Exam Preparation Strategy

Your preparation strategy should be crisp and straightforward:

You should be very clear about the syllabus.
You should be very clear about where you are currently standing in terms of knowledge.
Prepare a detailed time plan such that:
You have monthly goals defined.
For every monthly goal, you should have weekly purposes defined.
For every weekly goal, you should have a daily goal decided.
It will also take some time to arrive at a point where you have the above three goals ready. But believe me, time put in to prepare these goals is a pure investment of your time as it will become straightforward for you to follow it. Achieve every daily goal of yours, and you will pass the exam with flying colors.
Your goals should be realistic and should cover the gaining of knowledge (by studying course material) and testing that knowledge PLUS revision.

Summary

RPSC stands for Rajasthan Public Service Commission, and it is the standard body that conducts the recruitment for various government posts in the state of Rajasthan. RPSC exams are generally similar to the UPSC, and the same preparation can be extended for the RPSC exam.

However, there are a few subjects and topics viz history and Rajasthan culture that the aspirants would need to prepare thoroughly for the RPSC exam. The RPSC RAS Question Papers are usually set by the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC). Via the RAS Exam, the RPSC recruits for Group A, and Group B vacancies in the state administrative are officially setup.