RPSC RAS Prelims Foundation Course 2026

RAS Prelims 2026: Scheme, Eligibility and a Scoring Strategy

This chapter sets out RPSC's rules for the 2026 RAS/RTS cycle: who may apply, how the single preliminary paper and its five-bubble OMR sheet work, and what follows the screening test. It turns those rules into arithmetic for deciding when to attempt a question, gives study plans for the run-up to 6 December 2026, and ends with a 20-question baseline diagnostic across all eleven syllabus units.

KarmSakha preparation topics covered

• The 2026 advertisement: posts and dates
• Educational qualification and the final-year rule
• Age on 1 January 2027 and relaxations
• OTR fees and the absentee block
• Scheme of the preliminary paper and admission to Mains
• OMR rules: bubble 5 and empty rows
• Negative marking, expected value and net-score arithmetic
• The eleven syllabus units mapped to this book
• Mains and interview in outline
• Study plans and an error log

RAS/RTS 2026 at a Glance: Advertisement, Posts and Dates

The 2026 cycle runs on Detailed Advertisement No. 02/Exam/RAS&RTS/RPSC/EP-I/2026-27, dated 27 May 2026, issued by the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC), Ajmer, for the Department of Personnel. It covers 607 posts: 192 in the State Services and 415 in the Subordinate Services. Non-scheduled-area posts are filled under the Rajasthan State and Subordinate Services (Direct Recruitment by Combined Competitive Examinations) Rules, 1999, and scheduled-area posts under the Rajasthan Scheduled Area Subordinate, Ministerial and Class IV Service Rules, 2014. That is why several subordinate services appear twice, once as NSA and once as SA. The advertisement warns that the number of posts may be revised.

One preliminary paper feeds 47 service entries (21 State and 26 Subordinate, counting NSA and SA lines separately), a few of which carry zero posts this year. The best-known services sit at pay level L-14: the Rajasthan Administrative, Police and Accounts Services. The largest blocks are at the subordinate level, in the Tehsildar Service and the Cooperative Subordinate Service. Applications were taken online from 4 June to 3 July 2026 (midnight), through the RPSC website or the Recruitment Portal on the SSO portal, after One Time Registration (OTR) with Aadhaar or Jan Aadhaar-based KYC.

• 27 May 2026: advertisement; press note proposing 29 November 2026 for the prelims.
• 4 June to 3 July 2026: online applications.
• 2 July 2026: press note moving the prelims to 6 December 2026 (Sunday).
• 1-2 May 2027: Main examination.

Eligibility: Degree, Age on 1 January 2027 and Relaxations

The essential qualification is a degree from a university incorporated by a Central or State Act, from an institution established by an Act of Parliament or declared a deemed university under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, or an equivalent qualification recognised by the Government in consultation with the Commission. No minimum percentage or subject is prescribed. Final-year students may apply but must prove the degree before Mains. Age is reckoned on 1 January 2027: at least 21 and below 40. Non-gazetted employees must be at least 25 and below 45. Because the previous advertisement (2024) reckoned age on 1 January 2025, one extra year is allowed in the maximum age: an unreserved man qualifies until he reaches 41.

The relaxations all raise the upper limit; none lowers the minimum of 21. Category relaxations belong only to Rajasthan's own SC, ST, OBC, MBC and EWS candidates; reserved-category candidates from other states are treated as General. All relaxations except the disability one are non-cumulative, so a candidate who fits two of them gets one; the 5-year disability relaxation is added on top. One consequence is easy to miss: a reserved-category candidate who takes any concession other than the fee, such as relaxed age, is not considered against unreserved vacancies.

The fee is paid once, at One Time Registration (Personnel circular of 19 April 2023): Rs 600 for General and creamy-layer OBC and MBC candidates, and Rs 400 for SC, ST, non-creamy-layer OBC and MBC, EWS and Sahariya candidates and for persons with disabilities. Under the circular of 9 May 2025, a candidate absent from two recruitment examinations in one financial year has the OTR blocked; unblocking costs Rs 750, and two further absences in the same year block it again, with Rs 1,500 to unblock. Withdrawing an application before the examination does not count as an absence.

The Preliminary Paper: One Screening Test of 150 Questions

Under the Scheme and Syllabus dated 9 January 2026, the preliminary examination is one objective paper, General Knowledge and General Science, for 200 marks in three hours. Its 150 multiple-choice questions carry equal marks, so each is worth 200/150 = 4/3, about 1.33 marks. The standard is that of a Bachelor's degree, and the syllabus states that '1/3 mark will be deducted for each wrong answer'. The advertisement adds that the paper may be conducted online or offline. This chapter describes the pen-and-paper OMR mode; if RPSC announces an online mode, the admit-card instructions govern.

The paper is a screening test only: prelims marks are not counted in the final order of merit. The number admitted to Mains is fifteen times the approximate number of vacancies, plus everyone tied with the last candidate in that range. With 607 posts, that is about 15 × 607 = 9,105 candidates. If too few reserved-category candidates qualify on the general standard, the Commission may apply a relaxed standard, and those so admitted are considered only for posts reserved for their category. The prelims goal is a rank inside that zone, not a particular score.

The Five-Bubble OMR Sheet and the Option-5 Rule

The OMR instructions in the advertisement change how the paper should be attempted. Each question has five bubbles. Bubbles 1 to 4 carry the answer choices; bubble 5 means 'not attempting this question' and scores zero. Filling one bubble for every question is mandatory. A row left completely empty is penalised like a wrong answer, losing one-third of the question's marks, and too many empty rows disqualify the candidate altogether. So a blank row is never a neutral choice: it is strictly worse than bubble 5.

Ten per cent of 150 is 15, and the rule bites at 'more than' 10 per cent: 15 empty rows are tolerated, each still penalised, while 16 or more disqualify. The ten extra minutes are for checking three faults: empty rows, rows with two bubbles darkened, and runs of answers shifted by one row after a skipped question, the usual result of answering out of order. The habit that prevents all three is to bubble each answer as soon as it is decided and to darken 5 at once for any question you abandon.

• Darken exactly one of the five bubbles, with a blue ball-point pen.
• Not attempting: darken bubble 5 (zero marks).
• No bubble at all: one-third of the question's marks is deducted.
• Ten extra minutes are given to check the bubbling.
• No bubble in more than 10 per cent of questions: disqualification.

Scoring Arithmetic: Negative Marking and When to Attempt