Haryana CET 2025: exam pattern, marks, negative marking, age limit

Every figure on this page is copied from an official document linked next to it, with the date we last checked it. Pattern, age limit and dates are from the CET 2025 (Group C) notification. Last verified: 24 October 2026.

At a glance

Selection stages: Common Eligibility Test (CET) for Group C posts: written test (OMR based) → Second stage (CET Phase-II): written and/or skill examination for advertised Group C posts
First stage: Questions / Marks / Time: 100 / 100 / 105 min
Negative marking: No negative marking
First stage dates: 26 July 2025 to 27 July 2025

Weekly live mock: Sunday, 8 November 2026, 10:00–12:00 IST · 50 questions in 60 minutes, one paper for everyone · Sit it in the Android app →

Exam pattern

Common Eligibility Test (CET) for Group C posts: written test (OMR based)

Applies to: Everyone who wants direct recruitment to a Group C post covered by the CET policy, including posts of police service, prisons and home guards. Teaching posts and Ex-Agniveer posts are outside the policy. The CET has no vacancies of its own.

CET written test

Section	Questions	Marks each	Marks	Time (min)
General Awareness, Reasoning, Quantitative Ability, English, Hindi and Computer Knowledge (75% weightage)	75	1	75	—
History, Current Affairs, Literature, Geography, Environment and Culture of Haryana (25% weightage)	25	1	25	—
Total	100		100	105

Time allowed: 105 minutes. 1 hour 45 minutes, which includes 5 minutes for filling the fifth option. Persons with benchmark disabilities who are allowed a scribe get 20 minutes per hour of compensatory time, 35 minutes in all on top of the 105 minutes. Negative marking: No negative marking for a wrong answer. Every question has a fifth option (E, 'Not attempted'), and a candidate who does not want to answer a question must fill it. Leaving a question with no bubble filled costs one mark.

100 compulsory multiple-choice questions of 1 mark each, 100 marks in all. The paper is bilingual (English and Hindi) and is answered offline on an OMR sheet. Each question has four answer options plus the fifth 'not attempted' option.
The CET policy gives 75% weightage to General Awareness, Reasoning, Quantitative Ability, English, Hindi and (for Group C) Computer Knowledge, and 25% to the History, Current Affairs, Literature, Geography, Environment, Culture etc. of Haryana. The notice does not print a question count for each subject. The policy prints the split as weightage, not as a question count; with 100 questions of 1 mark each, it comes to 75 and 25 questions, as shown above.
Questions are of Senior Secondary (10+2) level, except Hindi and English, which are of Matriculation level.
Minimum marks to qualify: 50% for the General category and 40% for reserved categories (both vertical and horizontal). The exam ran in four shifts, and marks across shifts are normalised by the percentile (equi-percentile) method that HSSC published for CET 2022.
CET marks are valid for three years from the date the result is declared. There is no limit on attempts: a candidate may sit again to improve the score, and an improved score gets a fresh three-year validity. For shortlisting, the highest score of all CET attempts counts, in the category claimed in the current application.
The CET does not by itself lead to a job. CET marks decide who is called to the second stage for advertised posts. Final selection is made on the marks of that second-stage written and/or skill examination.

Second stage (CET Phase-II): written and/or skill examination for advertised Group C posts

Applies to: CET-qualified candidates who apply against a later post-wise advertisement of the Commission. For Group C posts other than police service and teaching posts, at most 10 times the number of advertised posts are allowed to sit the exam, taken in order of CET marks. For police service posts, candidates are called in CET merit order for a Physical Measurement Test and then a Physical Screening Test, both qualifying, before the written test.

Written examination (as in Advt. No. 06/2026, the latest Group C Phase-II advertisement)

Time allowed: 105 minutes. Marks: 100. Negative marking: Same rule as the CET: no negative marking for a wrong answer, but one mark is deducted for each question left without the fifth ('not attempted') bubble filled.

Advt. No. 06/2026 (22 June 2026) prints: 100 compulsory multiple-choice questions, 100 marks, 1 hour 45 minutes, bilingual (English and Hindi), offline on an OMR sheet. Each Phase-II advertisement sets its own pattern and group-wise syllabus.
For both groups in Advt. No. 06/2026, the syllabus weightage is: general awareness, reasoning, mathematics, science, Haryana-related history, current affairs etc. 20%; computer 10%; subject-related syllabus 70%. The advertisement says the weightage is tentative and may vary.
Minimum marks in the written and/or skill examination: 50% for General category posts and 40% for reserved category posts. Selection, recommendation and waiting lists are made on these marks, with any added score such as NCC for police service posts.
Ties in the final result go to the older candidate. If the date of birth is also the same, the candidate with higher CET (Phase-I) marks is placed higher.

Source: CET (Common Eligibility Test) – Advt. No. 01/2025, Advertisement for CET for Group-C posts, Haryana Staff Selection Commission, dated 26 May 2025, read with the CET Policy (Notification No. 42/119/2019-5HR-II dated 31 December 2024, amended 11 July 2025) and the Haryana Staff Selection Commission (Process of Recruitment of Group C and D posts) Rules, 2025 ↗ · Last verified: 24 October 2026 · Report an error

Free Haryana CET mock tests in this official pattern →

Syllabus: subjects tested

The subjects in short, as the official syllabus lists them. The exam body's own notification is final.

General Awareness: Your awareness of the environment and its relevance to society, current events, and matters of everyday observation, including questions on India and its neighbouring countries: history, Indian polity and Constitution, art and culture, geography, economics, general policy, national and international organisations and institutions, environment, globalisation, climate, events and general science.
Reasoning: Verbal and non-verbal questions: semantic, symbolic, number and figural analogies, symbolic operations, trends, space orientation, semantic, number and figural classification, observation, relationships, concepts, Venn diagrams, drawing inferences, punched-hole pattern folding and unfolding, semantic and figural series, figural pattern folding and completion, number series, embedded figures, critical thinking, problem solving, emotional intelligence, arithmetical number series, arithmetical reasoning, word building, social intelligence, and coding and decoding.
Quantitative Ability: Number system, including simplification, decimals, fractions and relationships between numbers; LCM and HCF, ratio and proportion, percentage, roots, average, profit and loss, discount, simple and compound interest, mensuration, partnership, mixture and alligation, time and work, time and distance, tables and graphs, trigonometry, basic algebra and geometry.
English Language: Spot the error, fill in the blanks, synonyms and homonyms, antonyms, spellings and misspelt words, idioms and phrases, one-word substitution, improvement of sentences, active and passive voice, direct and indirect narration, shuffling of sentence parts and of sentences in a passage, tenses, cloze passage and comprehension passage.
Hindi Language: Letters, vowels, consonants, ayogvah and foreign sounds; words, pad and padbandh; nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs; vikari and avikari words, postpositions, conjunctions, interjections and nipat; number, gender, case (karak) and tense; sandhi, prefixes, suffixes and samas; synonyms, antonyms, words with several meanings, words with one meaning, word pairs, and tatsam and tadbhav words; alankar; idioms and proverbs; sentences, sentence correction and spelling; punctuation; and one word for many words.
Computer Knowledge: Computer basics: organisation of a computer, the CPU, input/output devices, computer memory and its organisation, back-up devices, ports, Windows Explorer, keyboard shortcuts, the Windows operating system and the basics of MS Word, MS Excel and PowerPoint; and working with the internet and e-mail: browsing and searching, downloading and uploading, and managing an e-mail account.
General Knowledge of Haryana: The history, literature, geography, economy, civics, polity, environment, art, culture, customs, norms, society, current affairs and events of Haryana. Under the CET policy this part carries 25% of the weightage, and the six subjects above together carry the other 75%.

Full syllabus, stage by stage → · Official website ↗

Age limit and qualification

At least 18 and not more than 42 years of age on the closing date of registration. The advertisement prints that date as 12 June 2025; the Commission later extended the closing date to 14 June 2025 and did not say separately whether age is also counted on the new date. Upper-age relaxation follows the Haryana Government instructions of 25 March 2022: 5 years each for Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes; 10 years for persons with disabilities (5 more if also SC, ST, BC or EWS); 5 years for widowed, divorced or judicially separated women, unmarried women and wives of military personnel disabled in service; length of military service plus 3 years for ex-servicemen; and completed years of ad hoc, contract, work-charged or daily-wage service in Haryana Government. With relaxation, the upper limit cannot go beyond 52 years (except for ex-servicemen). Age is counted as on 12 June 2025.

Posts	Requirement
CET for Group C posts	10+2 or equivalent, or Matric with an additional qualification. A candidate due to appear in the exam for this qualification during 2025 may also apply. Whether a diploma or ITI certificate counts as equal to 10+2 is decided under the Haryana Government notification of 22 February 2021.
Nationality	A citizen of India, or a subject of Nepal or Bhutan who holds a certificate of eligibility issued by the Government.
Hindi or Sanskrit requirement	The CET policy prints the condition of Hindi or Sanskrit as a subject in Matric only for the Group D CET. For Group C it appears in the post-wise essential qualifications of the second-stage advertisements; for example, Advt. No. 06/2026 requires Hindi or Sanskrit as a subject in Matric or higher education for every post it lists.
Reserved categories	Reservation (DSC/OSC, BC-A/BC-B non-creamy layer, EWS, ex-servicemen, persons with disabilities, eligible sports persons and others) is given only to bona fide residents of Haryana. Reserved-category candidates from other states are treated as General category.

CET: at least 50% for the General category and 40% for reserved categories (both vertical and horizontal). Second-stage written and/or skill examination: again 50% for General category posts and 40% for reserved category posts.

Important dates

Event	Date	Source
Online registration on onetimeregn.haryana.gov.in (closing date extended from 12 June 2025)	28 May 2025 to 14 June 2025	official notice ↗
Last date for fee payment (extended from 14 June 2025)	16 June 2025	official notice ↗
Admit cards issued	17 July 2025	official notice ↗
CET written exam (OMR based)	26 and 27 July 2025, two sessions a day: 10:00 to 11:45 am and 3:15 to 5:00 pm	official notice ↗
Provisional answer keys published; objections online (Rs 250 per objection)	Answer keys uploaded on 29 July 2025. The notice gives the objection deadline as 11:59 pm on 01.08.2024; the year is evidently a misprint for 2025.	official notice ↗
Correction portal for category claims, opened on a High Court order (extended from 24 October 2025)	17 October 2025 to 28 October 2025	official notice ↗
CET 2025 (Group C) result declared	5 December 2025	official notice ↗
Detailed roll-number-wise result (marks and status) posted on hssc.gov.in	16 April 2026	official notice ↗
OMR answer sheets shown in each appeared candidate's login	4 July 2026 to 3 August 2026	official notice ↗
Latest Group C second-stage advertisement (Advt. No. 06/2026): online applications from CET 2025 qualified candidates	24 June 2026 to 30 June 2026	official notice ↗

Practice questions by section

Free questions, each with its answer, in the subjects this exam tests. Every topic opens a list of question pages.

State GK

Haryana General Knowledge 361 questions

General Studies

Reasoning

Quantitative Aptitude

English

Computer Knowledge

Computer Knowledge 112 questions

All practice questions by topic →

Free notes (PDF)

Notes for every topic in this exam’s syllabus, one PDF per subject: each lesson ends with a quick-revision box, and each PDF ends with a revision sheet. Written by an AI assistant and not reviewed by a subject-matter expert.

Quantitative Aptitude (89 pages, 1.1 MB)
Reasoning (74 pages, 954 KB)
English (65 pages, 819 KB)
Hindi language (in Hindi, 67 pages, 1.5 MB)
General Awareness (208 pages, 2.3 MB)
Haryana GK (18 pages, 295 KB)
Computer Knowledge (18 pages, 314 KB)

Notes for every subject →

Haryana CET admit card, result and answer key: every notice →

Recent current affairs for this exam

All current affairs →

Prepare

Frequently asked questions

What are the selection stages of Haryana CET?

Common Eligibility Test (CET) for Group C posts: written test (OMR based) → Second stage (CET Phase-II): written and/or skill examination for advertised Group C posts, as per the CET 2025 (Group C) notification.

How many questions are in the Haryana CET first stage?

Common Eligibility Test (CET) for Group C posts: written test (OMR based): 100 questions for 100 marks in 105 minutes, as per the CET 2025 (Group C) notification.

Is there negative marking in Haryana CET?

Common Eligibility Test (CET) for Group C posts: written test (OMR based), as per the CET 2025 (Group C) notification: No negative marking.

Is there negative marking in Haryana CET Second stage (CET Phase-II): written and/or skill examination for advertised Group C posts?

Second stage (CET Phase-II): written and/or skill examination for advertised Group C posts, as per the CET 2025 (Group C) notification: No negative marking.

What is the age limit for Haryana CET?

What are the minimum qualifying marks in Haryana CET?

When is the last date to apply for Haryana CET?

Latest Group C second-stage advertisement (Advt. No. 06/2026): online applications from CET 2025 qualified candidates: 24 June 2026 to 30 June 2026 (now closed). As per the CET 2025 (Group C) notification.

What are the Haryana CET first-stage exam dates?

Common Eligibility Test (CET) for Group C posts: written test (OMR based): 26 July 2025 to 27 July 2025, as per the CET 2025 (Group C) notification.

Which subjects does the Haryana CET exam test?

The official syllabus lists: General Awareness; Reasoning; Quantitative Ability; English Language; Hindi Language; Computer Knowledge; General Knowledge of Haryana.

How this page is made

These facts are transcribed from the official documents linked above and checked against them on the date shown. If anything here differs from the official notification, the official notification is right. Please tell us through the Contact page. See also our editorial standards. Contact · Editorial standards