SSC CGL Exam In September 2025 To Be Held In Single Shift, Centres Within 100 Km

Following protests and criticism from students over issues in the exams conducted between July 24 and August 1, the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) is planning major reforms.

In an interview with Navbharat Times (NBT), SSC Chairman S Gopalakrishnan announced significant changes, including the introduction of normalisation in the Tier 1 exams and conducting the Tier 2 exam in a single shift for the upcoming exam in September 2025.

The SSC Chairman has announced a new rationalisation formula for Tier 1 exams.

Gopalkrishnan said the biggest concern among candidates was that with exams being held in 10, 20 or even 40 shifts, the difficulty level of the papers might vary. “One shift’s paper might be slightly easier, while another’s could be tougher," he said, leading to apprehensions over marks.

In response to students’ concerns, he said a new formula of normalisation will be introduced for the Tier 1 exams to ensure a level-playing field for all students.

Further, the main exam, or the Tier 2 exam, will now be conducted in a single shift. 

As per Gopalakrishnan, four organisations will be responsible for conducting the exam. Till now, only one vendor had been responsible for conducting the exam.

“The new vendor's job is to conduct the exam at the centre, security will be the responsibility of another agency, a third agency will handle application management, and someone else will be given the responsibility of preparing the question papers. SSC will keep an eye on the question paper pattern,” he said.

On being questioned about the difficulties faced by students in Aadhaar authentication, he explained the step was introduced to curb malpractices.

“One of the main problems in SSC has been malpractice in exams. To prevent this fraud, the rule of authenticating with Aadhaar has been implemented, which will remain from giving the exam till joining the job,” the Chairman said. 

Responding to students’ complaints about the allotment of exam centres outside the state, he acknowledged the issue.

“Right now, the maximum distance in is up to 200 km; now it will be limited to a maximum of 100 km,” he said.

Gopalakrishnan clarified that there was no plan to return to a pen and paper mode to conduct the exam. Doing so will only increase the chances of paper leaks and delays in the examination system, he said.