HPAS 2022: Mains Exam Date, Application Form, Admit Card & Pattern

HPAS is conducted by Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission to recruit candidates for the Himachal Pradesh Administrative Service. The HPAS officers are the fulcrum of the administrative setup of Himachal Pradesh. They work under the guidance of IAS officers and also help the newly joined IAS officers to understand the work culture. Departments like Land, Revenue, General Administration, Agriculture and the likes are the most important where these administrative officers get their postings.

The HPAS exam notifies the vacancies for the following positions:

• Himachal Pradesh Administrative Service
• Himachal Pradesh Police Service
• District Controller
• Block Development Officer
• Assistant Registrar
• Tehsildar

HPPSC HPAS Exam 2022 Highlights

Also Read: HPAS 2022 Syllabus

HPAS is the most prestigious exam conducted by HPPSC. It recruits the top layer of the state bureaucracy. HPAS notification defines the HPAS eligibility criteria.

Nationality

The candidate must be a citizen of India. An Indian citizen can join the HPAS and other state-allied services.

Educational Qualification for HPAS

The minimum educational qualification essential to appear in the HPAS is a graduate degree from any recognised university. It does not mention any minimum percentage required in the bachelor’s degree course. Candidates appearing in the final year of their graduation course can also appear in the HPAS exam, but their examination process should end before the commencement of this exam. They have to produce the mark sheet of the qualifying exam after the exam ends or within two months of the exam.

Age limit for HPAS

The age limit defined the HPAS notification published by HPPSC. The lower age limit is 21 years and the upper age limit is 35 years. HPPSC counts the age from January 1 of the examination year so the age will be counted from January 1, 2022. The candidates born on or after 02-01-2001 are underage whereas applicants born on or before 01-01-1987 are overage. But there are relaxations provided to the candidates belonging to certain reserved categories.

Age relaxation is also available to Ex-servicemen candidates of H.P. as per provisions in Rules/ Instructions of H.P. Govt.
The candidates should note that age, as entered the matriculation certificate, will only be considered for the above purpose.

Also Read: HPAS Exam Pattern

HPAS Exam Dates

The HPAS exam dates are very important because it is the toughest exam of Himachal Pradesh and it requires a rigorous preparation of over one year. 
HPPSC give updates about the HPAS exam dates from time to time, helping the candidates to moderate their preparation strategy.

HPAS Exam Dates

The dates given above are tentative and will be updated as announced by the HPPSC. The HPPSC issues the HPAS admit card three weeks before the commencement of the exam.

Also Read: Best Books for HPAS

HPAS follows the same process of selection as followed by UPSC and various other Public Service Commission. There is a three-stage selection process in the HPAS exam. 

Stage 1: HPAS prelims exam

The HPPSC conducts the HPAS prelims exam at the exam centre across the state. The prelims exam is an offline pen paper-based exam. There are two objective type question papers in the HPAS prelims exam. The Paper I General Studies and Paper-II Aptitude test are the two papers of HPAS preliminary exam. Both papers are of 250 marks, and the time allotted for both papers is two hours.

HPPSC defines 33% of the total as the qualifying marks for the paper II Aptitude Test. The marks of paper II are not considered for the HPAS prelims exam result. There is a provision of negative marking in the HPAS prelims exam. For each question for which a wrong answer has been given by the candidate, one-third of the marks assigned to that question will be deducted as the penalty. 

It is worth mentioning here that there are qualifying marks as given above and the cut-off as derived after the examination authorities.

HPPSC HPAS answer key

After the HPAS Prelims exam, the HPPSC releases the HPAS Prelims answer key(provisional) for the candidates to check their answers and also to raise objections on the wrong questions(if any). The candidates are given one week time to raise objections in the specified format released along with the answer key.

Stage 2: HPAS main exam

The HPAS Prelims result filters the candidates for the HPAS main exam. The number of candidates to be admitted to the main examination will be about 20 times the total number of vacancies to be filled in the year through this examination. 

The main exam is the second stage of the selection process. The HPAS main exam has eight descriptive papers. There are six compulsory papers and two papers on the optional subject as chosen by the candidates.

The HPAS Main exam details are as follows:

Compulsory papers

Optional Papers

 List of Optional Subjects
 There are 31 optional subjects from which the candidate can choose the optional subject.

The compulsory papers of English and Hindi are qualifying in nature and the qualifying marks for the compulsory English and Hindi papers is 40% marks in each paper. For the other compulsory papers, 45% of aggregate marks are required to clear the HPAS Main exam.

The HPAS main exam will be conducted in Shimla only.

Stage 3: HPAS Interview/Viva-voce

The HPAS Viva-voce is the last stage of the exam. The candidates who clear the HPAS mains exam are called for the interview. The maximum marks allotted for the Interview/Viva-voce is 150 marks. The interview will be conducted at the HPPSC office premises in Shimla. 

After the interview, a final merit list will be prepared by adding the marks of candidates obtained in the HPAS Main written exam and Interview. 
The number of candidates selected will depend upon the number of vacancies. 

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Q. Are there any reservations for the EWS category in HPAS?

Q. What is the age limit for the HPAS exam?