TNPSC Group 4 Syllabus 2026: Complete Unit-Wise Topics & Question Weightage

TNPSC Group 4 — officially the Combined Civil Services Examination – IV (Group IV Services), Syllabus Code 496 — is a single paper at SSLC standard, split across three parts: General Studies (75 questions), Aptitude and Mental Ability (25 questions), and the Tamil Eligibility-cum-Scoring Test (100 questions). This guide covers both the exam pattern — how the paper is structured, marked, and qualified — and every unit of the syllabus exactly as it appears in the official TNPSC document, so you know precisely how the exam works and where to focus your preparation.

TNPSC GROUP 4 NOTIFICATION PDF

TNPSC Group 4 Syllabus 2026 PDF Download

Candidates can check the TNPSC Group 4 Syllabus 2026 PDF below for the complete subject-wise syllabus and topics prescribed for the examination. The syllabus covers Tamil Eligibility-cum-Scoring Test, General Studies, and Aptitude and Mental Ability, with General English applicable to differently abled candidates as specified by TNPSC. Download the detailed syllabus PDF to understand the topics and plan your preparation accordingly.

TNPSC Group 4 Syllabus & Exam Pattern 2026 — Overview

TNPSC Group 4 Exam Pattern 2026

The TNPSC Group 4 written exam is a single objective-type paper, conducted offline in OMR format, at SSLC (10th standard) difficulty level. There’s no Mains stage and no interview — this one paper decides your entire rank.

• Question type: All 200 questions are Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
• Marking: Each question carries 1.5 marks (200 × 1.5 = 300 total marks)
• Negative marking: None — wrong answers don’t cost you marks, so attempt every question
• Duration: 3 hours for the entire paper
• Medium of questions: Part A (General Studies) and Part B (Aptitude) are available in both Tamil and English; Part C (Tamil Eligibility Test) is set only in Tamil
• Answer mode: OMR sheet — answers must be shaded with a ballpoint pen as instructed in the admit card

TNPSC Group 4 Qualifying Marks — The Two Gates You Must Clear

1. 40% in Part A of the Tamil test (60 out of 150 marks) — if you don’t clear this, Parts B and C of your own paper (General Studies and Aptitude) are not evaluated at all, regardless of how well you scored in them
2. 90 out of 300 overall — the minimum qualifying mark across all categories to be considered for the merit/rank list

Clearing both gates makes you eligible for the merit list — it doesn’t guarantee selection. Final selection depends on where your total score ranks against that year’s cut-off, which varies by category, vacancy count, and paper difficulty.

Why TNPSC Group 4 Exam Pattern 2026 Rewards Tamil Preparation

Because Part C alone carries 150 of the 300 total marks — and acts as a mandatory qualifying gate for the rest of your paper — Tamil isn’t “one section among three” the way the syllabus structure might suggest. It’s worth treating as the highest-priority section in your study plan, both for its own marks and because underperforming there can zero out your General Studies and Aptitude marks entirely.

Part A: General Studies (SSLC Standard — 75 Questions)

General Studies is split into six units, each carrying a different number of questions. Units IV, V, and VI (Indian Polity, Indian Economy & TN Administration, and Tamil Nadu History/Culture) together account for 55 of the 75 General Studies questions — by far the highest-weightage zone in this section.

Unit I: General Science (5 Questions)

Nature of the universe, measurement of physical quantities, general scientific laws of motion — force, pressure, and energy; everyday applications of mechanics, electricity, magnetism, light, sound, heat, and nuclear physics; elements, compounds, acids, bases, salts, petroleum products, fertilizers, pesticides, metallurgy, and food adulterants; core life-science concepts — classification of organisms, evolution, genetics, physiology, nutrition, health and hygiene, human diseases; environmental science; recent inventions in science and technology; current affairs.

Unit II: Geography (5 Questions)

Earth’s location and physical features; monsoon, rainfall, weather, and climate; water resources and rivers; soil, minerals, and natural resources; forest and wildlife; agriculture patterns; transport and communication; population density and distribution in Tamil Nadu and India; disasters and disaster management; environment and climate change; geographical landmarks; current affairs.

Unit III: History, Culture of India & Indian National Movement (10 Questions)

Indus Valley Civilization; the Guptas, Delhi Sultans, Mughals, and Marathas; South Indian history; National Renaissance and early uprisings against British rule; Indian National Congress; emergence of leaders — B.R. Ambedkar, Bhagat Singh, Bharathiar, V.O. Chidambaranar, Thanthai Periyar, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rabindranath Tagore, Kamarajar, Mahatma Gandhi, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Rajaji, Subhash Chandra Bose, Muthulakshmi Ammaiyar, Muvalur Ramamirtham, and other national leaders; various modes of agitation and movements in Tamil Nadu; characteristics of Indian culture — unity in diversity, race, language, custom; India as a secular state.

Unit IV: Indian Polity (15 Questions)

Constitution of India — Preamble, salient features, Union/State/Union Territory; citizenship, Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties, Directive Principles of State Policy; Union Executive and Legislature; State Executive and Legislature; local governments and Panchayat Raj; centre-state relations and the spirit of federalism; elections and judiciary in India, rule of law; corruption in public life and anti-corruption measures — Lokpal and Lokayukta; Right to Information; empowerment of women; consumer protection forums; human rights charter; political parties and political systems in Tamil Nadu and India; current affairs.

Unit V: Indian Economy & Development Administration in Tamil Nadu (20 Questions)

Nature of the Indian economy; five-year plan models and an assessment; Planning Commission and NITI Aayog; sources of revenue, Reserve Bank of India, Finance Commission, Union-State resource sharing, Goods and Services Tax; economic trends — employment generation, land reforms, agriculture, application of science and technology in agriculture; industrial growth; rural welfare programmes; social problems — population, education, health, employment, poverty; social justice and social harmony; education and health systems in Tamil Nadu; geography of Tamil Nadu and its economic impact; welfare schemes; current socio-economic issues; current affairs.

Unit VI: History, Culture, Heritage & Socio-Political Movements of Tamil Nadu (20 Questions)

History of Tamil society and related archaeological discoveries; Tamil literature from the Sangam age to contemporary times; Thirukkural — its significance as secular literature, relevance to everyday life, impact on humanity, universal values, and philosophical content; Tamil Nadu’s role in the freedom struggle, early agitations against British rule, and the role of women in the freedom struggle; various social reformers, reform movements, and social transformation in Tamil Nadu.

Part B: Aptitude and Mental Ability (SSLC Standard — 25 Questions)

Unit I: Aptitude (15 Questions)

Simplification, percentage, Highest Common Factor (HCF), Lowest Common Multiple (LCM), ratio and proportion, simple interest, compound interest, area, volume, and time and work.

Unit II: Reasoning (10 Questions)

Logical reasoning, puzzles, dice, visual reasoning, alpha-numeric reasoning, and number series.

Part C: Tamil Eligibility-cum-Scoring Test (SSLC Standard — 100 Questions)

This is the single largest part of the exam by question count and marks (150 out of 300), split into seven units.

Unit I — Grammar covers letter-splitting and joining, sandhi errors, distinguishing குறில்/நெடில், ல/ள/ழ, ன/ண, ர/ற usage, root-word identification, singular-plural usage, and tense/voice-related grammar concepts.

Unit II — Vocabulary covers antonyms, one-word-for-many expressions, words with multiple meanings, colloquial vs. literary usage, regional place-name variants, error correction, and pairing spoken-Tamil words with their literary equivalents.

Unit III — Writing Skills covers sentence construction and types, gender/number/case agreement (திணை-பால் மரபு), tense usage, punctuation marks, and Tamil grammatical conventions (மரபுத் தமிழ்).

Unit IV — Technical Terms (கலைச் சொற்கள்) covers Tamil equivalents of technical terms across science, education, medicine, agriculture, law, geography, technology, media, and IT (e.g., search engine → தேடு பொறி, Migration → வலசை, Allergy → ஒவ்வாமை, Gene → மரபணு).

Unit V — Reading Comprehension covers passage-based questions from newspapers, headlines, front-page news, government news, and articles, testing understanding of idioms, proverbs, and figurative expressions within context.

Unit VI — Simple Translation covers word and sentence translation between English/other languages and Tamil, including everyday terms like pendrive, printer, computer, and keyboard, plus translating titles, files, letters, and applications.

Unit VII — Literature, Tamil Scholars & Tamil Service covers 20 specific chapters of Thirukkural (ஒழுக்கமுடைமை, பொறையுடைமை, ஊக்கமுடைமை, விருந்தோம்பல், அறன் வலியுறுத்தல், ஈகை, and others), classical ethical texts (நாலடியார், நான்மணிக்கடிகை, பழமொழி நானூறு, முதுமொழிக்காஞ்சி, திரிகடுகம், இன்னாநாற்பது, சிறுபஞ்சமூலம், ஏலாதி, ஆவ்வையார் பாடல்கள்), the antiquity of Tamil, Dravidian languages, and the contributions of scholars like U.Ve. Saminatha Iyer, The.Po. Meenakshisundaram, Vi. Ilakkuvanar, Deivasa Bagavathar, and other Tamil literary figures.

Note: The syllabus for Unit VII is based on school textbooks up to SSLC standard.

Part C (Alternative): General English — For Differently Abled Candidates Only

Differently abled candidates may opt for General English (100 questions) in place of the Tamil test.

Unit VII (Literary Works) is drawn from a fixed list of prescribed poems and prose pieces at SSLC standard — including works like Sea Fever (John Masefield), Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening (Robert Frost), The Last Lesson (Alphonse Daudet), Learning The Game (Sachin Tendulkar), and From Zero to Infinity (a biography of Srinivasa Ramanujan), among others specified in the official syllabus.

How to Use TNPSC Group 4 Syllabus & Pattern for Preparation

1. Start with Part C (Tamil) since it’s the highest-weightage section and has a mandatory qualifying threshold — clearing this gate first protects your overall score
2. Prioritise Units IV, V, and VI in General Studies (Polity, Economy/TN Administration, and TN History/Culture) since together they carry 55 of 75 GS questions
3. Treat current affairs as a running thread, not a separate topic — it’s referenced at the end of almost every General Studies unit
4. Practice Aptitude daily in small doses — with only 25 questions, this section rewards speed and accuracy over deep theory
5. Revise Thirukkural’s 20 prescribed chapters specifically rather than the full text, since Unit VII draws from a defined subset