The Candidate must fulfill the following eligibility criteria:

Gender: No gender discrimination i.e. both male and female candidates including special persons can apply.

Nationality: Candidate must be a citizen of Pakistan or a permanent resident of the State of Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan.

Qualification
Minimum Bachelor’s degree in any discipline.

(i) Second Division or Grade “C” Bachelor’s degree in any faculty of one of the Pakistani Universities or an equivalent degree or comparable educational qualifications of a foreign University recognized by Higher Education Commission, Islamabad.

Note:

(i) A candidate who has obtained a Third Division (or `D’ grade) in his/her Bachelor’s Degree will be eligible for the Examination in cases where he/she has obtained a higher Division in Master’s Degree.

(ii) The decision as to which foreign degrees or comparable educational qualifications are equivalent to corresponding Pakistani degree rests solely with the Commission.

Age Limit
As per rules age limit for CSS Examination is 21 to 30 years. Upper age limit will be same as 30 years and cut-off date for age calculation will be 31st December of the current year.

The upper age limit will be relaxed by two years up to the age of 30 years in respect of :

(a) The candidates belonging to the Scheduled Caste and Buddhist Community subject to production of a certificate (Annex-A of Application Form) to be issued by Political Agent/DCO/ District Magistrate in support of their claim.

(b) The candidates belonging to the recognized Tribes who are permanent residents of the areas mentioned-below and whose families have been living in these areas. Such candidates must attach a certificate (Annex-B of Application Form) to be issued by Political Agent/ DCO/District Magistrate in support of their claim:

Balochistan.
Tribal Areas of D.I.Khan and Peshawar Divisions (including former Frontier States of Dir, Swat, Chitral and Amb).
Former excluded (Baluch) area forming part of the Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur Districts.
Former Tribal Areas of Mardan and Hazara Divisions.
Upper Tanawal Area of Hazara Division
(c) The candidates who are permanent residents of Azad Kashmir Territory, subject to submission of a certificate (Annex-C of Application Form) to be issued by Kashmir Affairs Division, Government of Pakistan, Islamabad.

(d) The candidates who are permanent residents of Gilgit – Baltistan including Gilgit, Diamir, Baltistan, Ghizar and Ghanche, subject to submission of a certificate (Annex-B of Application Form) to be issued by the Political Agent/DCO/ District Magistrate.

(e) The candidates who are disabled namely, physically impaired, hearing/speech impaired (deaf & dumb) and visually impaired (blind), subject to submission of certificate of disability issued by the competent authority designated for the purpose by the Federal/Provincial Government.

(f) In Service Government Servants, Armed Forces Personnel, Contract employees, including the Government servants of AJ&K, who possess a minimum of two years continuous Government service as on 31st December, 2013, subject to submission of Departmental Permission Certificate (Annex-E) from the competent authority. Employees of Nationalized Banks, State Bank of Pakistan, WAPDA, Regulatory Authorities, Autonomous bodies and other semi autonomous bodies are not entitled to age relaxation.

There are following 04 stages of the CSS Exam with 1500 marks in total:

• Written Examination – 1200 marks
• Medical Test
• Psychological Test
• Viva Voce – 300 marks

Written Exam

Written exam consists of compulsory and optional papers comprising of 1200 marks in total i.e., 600 marks for compulsory subjects and 600 marks for optional subjects (to be selected from the following groups).

Compulsory Subjects (100 x 6= 600 marks)

Optional Subjects

GROUP – 1 (To select one subject of 200 marks only)

GROUP – 2 (A): (To select one subject of 200 marks only)

GROUP – 2 (B): (To select two subjects of 100 marks only)

GROUP – 3: (To select one subject of 100 marks only)

GROUP – 4: (To select one subject of 100 marks only)

GROUP – 5 (To select one subject of 100 marks only)

GROUP – 6 (To select one subject of 100 marks only)

GROUP – 7 (To select one subject of 100 marks only)

Psychological + Interview
Candidates qualifying the written exam will be shortlisted for psychological test and viva voce. The minimum score required to qualify the written part is 600 marks.
Psychological assessment is the name given to a process of evaluating and assessing an individual. The psychologists integrate information collected from multiple sources such as Tests of Personality, Ability, Intelligence and Command task. The findings revealed from these tests are further supported and confirmed by relating them to background information, behavioural observation and one-to-one interview with the psychologists.

Types
Psychological tests for recruitment can be divided into two main categories: Ability Tests and Personality Tests.

1. Ability Tests
The ability tests measure intellectual and reasoning abilities of the candidates. These consist of multiple choice questions (MCQs) or short Q&A format. These limited time tests can be passed only if you are speedy as well as accurate in your answers. The different types of ability tests can be categorized as follows:
a. Abstract Ability: These tests attempt to assess the ability of the candidate in identifying the underlying logic of a pattern and then determine the solution.

2. Personality Tests
It is usually said that personality tests do not have any right or wrong answers. This is but only half true. No doubt you will not be given scores on the test but what you say reflects a lot about the personality you possess and your confidence, decision-making skills, leadership abilities, etc., will be assessed through personality tests. These can also be classified into two types:

a. Non-projective Personality Tests: In these tests, the candidates are required to respond in true and false to a series of statements relating to their feelings, thoughts, emotions and behaviour in a variety of situations.
b. Projective Personality Tests: The projective tests included in CSS exam usually include story writing and completion of sentences.

Autobiography
The candidates may be asked to write an autobiography in which they are expected to write as to who they are and what they aspire to be.

Questions Relating to the Candidate
In this part, the candidates may be asked several questions relating to their personality, experiences, relations with others, interests and attitudes.

Group Discussion
The main purpose of group discussion for selection is to assess the abilities of the candidates to work as a team.

Command Task
In command task, the candidates are given a task which they have to perform in conditions that are as near to the work environment as possible.

Interview with the Psychologists
In the end, the candidates are required to appear before the psychologists for a brief interview. It is more of a discussion with the psychologists

COMPULSORY SUBJECTS:

• English essay 
• Precis Current Affairs 
• Pak Affairs
• General Science 
• GSA General Knowledge 

OPTIONAL SUBJECTS:

• Public Administration

• Criminology

• Philosophy

• Political Science

• Gender Studies

• History of USA

• Punjabi

• Physics

• Anthropology