Staff Selection Commission (SSC) was to conduct Multi Tasking Staff Paper 1 examination on April 30, May 14 & 28 and June 04 & 11, 2017. However, irregularities were reported on the third exam day even before the exam could conclude. The paper was reportedly leaked. This was confirmed by SSC eventually and the exams were canceled.
Candidates had to wait long until SSC announced that it will be conducting the examination again. Following the series of notices, finally, on August 30, the Commission announced the dates for MTS re-examination. The new dates were announced at ssc.nic.in.
Now, the candidates all over India know that the examination will be held between September 16 to October 26, 2017. A candidate has to take his test on a single date which will be informed through the admit card. The Commission has not announced any specific date for the release of hall ticket but it is expected to be available from the 1st week of September 2017.
SSC released another notice today. It highlights a new examination pattern. The most striking feature of new SSC MTS exam pattern is that now the examination will be held in Computer Based Mode. After the answer key and the question paper leak, the switch in the mode of exam is coherent. Yet, this could prove to be a humongous hurdle for most of the candidates who are habitual of taking the examination in pen and paper mode.
SSC is well aware of the problem and has launched online mock test on its website to help candidates overcome this. It is available at the official website and the candidates can also avail it from here. Candidates simply need to click on the ‘Start the Exam’ and then submit the Roll Number and Password (Date of Birth). The SSC MTS practice test is very beneficial as it will make aware of the facets of the online examination.
Coming back to the new exam pattern, another main highlight is that the number of questions has been reduced. However, with it the duration the exam has also been decreased. Earlier, the candidates had 2 hours to solve 150 question but now the candidates will be required to attempt 100 questions within 90 minutes.
The time duration is 120 minutes for the Visually Handicapped / Cerebral Palsy candidates. SSC will also grant extra 20 minutes to those candidates who have the disability of more than 40% and due to which their writing capacity is affected. It should be noted that the candidates will only be eligible for the exam time if they have stated their condition while submitting the application form.
Deduction of questions has only been done in two sections, the General English and General Awareness section. Earlier, these sections had 50 questions each. However, now the candidates will only have to attempt 25 questions, in each.
Rest of the entire pattern is the same. The General Intelligence & Reasoning and Numerical Aptitude section still contain 25 questions, separately. The marking scheme of the examination is also the same as before, i.e. 1 mark will be allocated for each correct question and negative marking of 0.25 marks will be implemented for marking an incorrect answer.
SSC is conducting MTS exam to fill 8300 multi tasking vacancies, in various departments. The candidates who will qualify the paper 1 of the examination will be called for paper 2. It will be a descriptive paper, in which the candidates will be required to attempt 50 marks question on Short Essay/Letter in English or any language.
We wish good luck to all the candidates who will be appearing for SSC MTS 2017 Re-Examination. Let us know your queries in the comment section below. You may also state down your thoughts on MTS and SSC, in the section below.
