The departments that ran the 2019 and 2020 Sachivalayam recruitments did not publish a single post-wise, district-wise cut-off table, and we have not found one that we could verify against an official document. This page therefore quotes no cut-off figures and makes no estimate. What it does is explain, from Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Notification No. 01/2019 and the Revenue Department's 2020 VRO Grade-II notification, exactly how candidates were filtered, so that you know what a cut-off for your post, district and category would mean when one is published. The marks scheme is on the exam pattern page.
Two different numbers: qualifying marks and cut-off
| Term | Meaning | Figure |
|---|---|---|
| Qualifying marks | The minimum to be considered at all, fixed in the notification | 40% OC, 35% BC, 30% SC, ST and PH (Notification 01/2019) |
| Cut-off | The mark of the last candidate selected in one district, one post, one category and one gender line | Known only after selection; never published as a single table for 2019-20 |
On 150 marks the floors are 60, 52.5 and 45 (arithmetic). A candidate at the floor was eligible to be ranked; whether that candidate was selected depended on how many posts the district had in that line and how many scored higher.
How selection worked in 2019-20
The sequence below is assembled from the two notifications and G.O.Ms.No.148. It is the mechanism, not a statement about any particular mark.
| Step | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Written test | One OMR test of 150 marks with negative marking (one-fourth, reported; 0.25 in the 2020 notification) | Notification 01/2019; VRO 2020 |
| 2. Key and marks | Preliminary key, objections, final key; marks displayed on the website, no separate memorandum | VRO 2020 |
| 3. Qualifying floor | Candidates below 40 / 35 / 30 per cent for their category dropped out | Notification 01/2019 |
| 4. District merit list | Each district a unit of appointment; merit drawn within the district | VRO 2020; G.O.Ms.No.148 (Collector appoints) |
| 5. Reservations | Rule 22 (SC, ST, BC, persons with disabilities, ex-servicemen and other categories) and Rule 22A (women) applied to the district's posts | VRO 2020 |
| 6. Local status | Only candidates with local status for the district (under the Presidential Order then in force) competed for its local posts | VRO 2020 |
| 7. Tie-break | Age, the older candidate higher; then the earlier date of the qualifying certificate | Notification 01/2019; VRO 2020 |
| 8. Verification and fitness | Certificates verified; appointment subject to medical fitness | VRO 2020 |
| 9. Appointment | District Selection Committee selects; District Collector appoints; two years' probation | VRO 2020; G.O.Ms.No.148 |
The 2020 notification also said that the Government reserved the right to decide cut-off marks. That line matters: a cut-off could be set administratively, not only read off the last selected candidate.
Why there is no single cut-off
Count the lines. Every district was a unit of appointment, each with its own vacancy count for each post; within each, community lines (OC, BC-A to BC-E, SC, ST, EWS where applied), women's reservation under Rule 22A, persons with disabilities, ex-servicemen; and separate notifications by separate departments for each post. The last-selected mark in Srikakulam for Panchayat Secretary (BC-D, women) and the last-selected mark in Chittoor for the same post (OC, general) are two unrelated numbers set by two unrelated sets of candidates. Any website that gives "the Sachivalayam cut-off" as one figure is either quoting one line without saying which, or inventing it.
What moves a district-and-category cut-off
Our explanation of how such cut-offs behave in general, not a department's statement.
- Posts in the line. A district with many posts for a category has a lower last-selected mark than a district with two, other things equal. Districts with few posts for a post family can have the steepest cut-offs.
- Candidates in the line. Local status confines candidates to a district, so a district with more graduates per post has a higher mark.
- Paper difficulty. A hard Part A pulls every candidate down together; a lower mark then does not mean fewer selections.
- Negative marking. One-fourth per wrong answer lowers raw scores across the board compared with a no-penalty test, and widens the gap between careful and careless candidates.
- Category floors. Where a reservation line has fewer candidates above its floor than posts, the floor itself becomes the effective cut-off for that line.
How to read a cut-off when one is published
When a department publishes marks or a selection list, check these in order (our checklist):
- Which post and which department. A VRO figure says nothing about a Panchayat Secretary figure; the papers were different (50 + 100 against 75 + 75).
- Which district. The unit of appointment. A state-wide average, if someone computes one, is meaningless for your district.
- Which category and gender line. OC general, BC-A women, SC (PH) and so on. Read your own line.
- Out of what. 150, after negative marking. Check whether the figure is a raw score or a normalised one; the 2019-20 tests had a single paper per post, so no normalisation was needed.
- Which key. If a final key differed from the preliminary key, marks moved. Use the final key.
- Provisional or final. A provisional list before certificate verification can change; the final list after verification is the real cut-off.
- Carried-forward or fresh posts. Backlog posts in a category change that line's figure.
If the published document gives only hall-ticket numbers without marks, the cut-off for your line is simply the lowest mark among the selected candidates in that line, which you can only infer if candidates share their scores. Do not treat inferred figures as official.
The local-cadre rule has changed since 2019
The 2019-20 recruitments used the Presidential Order then in force, with the district as the local unit. APPSC's 2026 notifications now apply the AP Presidential Order 2025 (G.O.Ms.No.45 GA (SPF&MC), 20-04-2026), under which 95% of posts in a local cadre are reserved for local candidates and 5% are open, and OTPR records district, zone and multi-zone. Whether and how a 2026 Sachivalayam notification applies the new order to secretariat posts will be stated in that notification. The practical point: even if a 2019 figure existed, a change in the local unit would make it a weak guide.
Know your category and local status exactly
A cut-off applies by category and local line, so the first thing to settle is which line you are in. Have the community certificate, the study certificates (for local status) and, where relevant, the certificate of residence ready; the 2020 notification tied local status to the district a candidate could apply for, and a wrong claim leads to rejection. If a 2026 notification requires an OTPR profile (as APPSC notifications do), the district, zone and multi-zone entries there will decide your line and cannot be changed later.
Setting your own target without a cut-off
Without official figures, set targets from data you control. Our suggestions:
- Take full-length mocks in the 2019-20 format: 150 questions, 150 minutes, one-fourth negative, Part A and Part B timed separately if your post is technical. Track your percentile across the cohort, not only your marks; everyone in a cohort sits the same fixed paper, so your percentile shows where you stand on identical questions (see how it works).
- Clear the floor with a margin first. Being safely above 60 (OC), 52.5 (BC) or 45 (SC, ST, PH) out of 150 is the first milestone; it only makes you eligible.
- Then push Part A. It is common to every post, it is where reasoning and arithmetic practice converts fastest into marks, and in the general posts it is half the paper.
- Measure your guess accuracy. With four wrong answers cancelling one right one, a candidate who guesses blindly can lose several marks a paper. Tag every guessed question in mocks and count.
- Re-run the arithmetic when the notification comes. If the negative marking, the split or the qualifying marks change, your targets change with them.
Full mocks and topic practice on Pareeksha are Pro; the 10-question mini-mock (it opens when the Sachivalayam papers go live) and the Daily Dangal quiz are free. See the preparation strategy.
Common misreadings
- "Qualifying marks are the cut-off." They are floors. The selection mark for a district line was whatever the last selected candidate scored, or a figure the Government decided under its reserved right.
- "One cut-off for all Sachivalayam posts." There were as many cut-offs as there were district, post, category and gender lines, across several departments.
- "A 2019 figure from a website is official." We have found no official 2019 table. Treat any figure as unverified unless it links to the department's own document.
- "The 2026 cut-off will be the same." No notification exists, the local-cadre rule has changed, and post counts are unknown.
- "Marks in Part A and Part B are separate cut-offs." The 2019-20 notifications set qualifying marks on the total, not part-wise; a part-wise minimum would have to be stated in the new notification.
What this page does not have
- Official post-wise, district-wise or category-wise last-selected marks for the 2019 Panchayat Secretary recruitment or the 2020 VRO Grade-II recruitment.
- Any figure for the Ward Administrative Secretary, Digital Assistant, Welfare and Education Assistant, ANM, Engineering Assistant or other posts.
- Any estimate for 2026. We will add official figures with their source PDF when a department publishes them.
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