As on 10 October 2026, APPSC has not notified Group-II for 2026, and the last official scheme (Notification 11/2023) is the one to prepare against. This page builds a plan from that scheme: five Screening blocks of 30 marks, four Mains sections of 75, one-third negative marking at both stages, and a qualifying Computer Proficiency Test. Study advice here is ours; arithmetic is labelled. For the scheme itself see the exam pattern; for topic lists see the syllabus.
1. Know where the marks are
| Stage | Block or section | Marks | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Screening (gate, 150) | Indian History | 30 | 20% of the gate |
| Screening | Geography | 30 | 20% |
| Screening | Indian Society | 30 | 20% |
| Screening | Current Affairs | 30 | 20% |
| Screening | Mental Ability | 30 | 20% |
| Mains (merit, 300) | Paper-I A Social and Cultural History of AP | 75 | 25% of merit |
| Mains | Paper-I B Indian Constitution | 75 | 25% |
| Mains | Paper-II A Indian and AP Economy | 75 | 25% |
| Mains | Paper-II B Science and Technology | 75 | 25% |
| After Mains | Computer Proficiency Test | 100 | Qualifying only |
Two facts shape everything else. First, the Screening Test is a gate: its marks do not carry into merit, so you need to be dependably above the shortlist line in every block, not brilliant in two. Second, the Mains is the race, and every section is exactly a quarter of it: a candidate who loves history and polity, reads economy halfway and drops Science and Technology has given away 25% of the merit before sitting down.
2. Time per question and when to guess
- Time: 150 questions in 150 minutes at both stages, 60 seconds each. Direct-fact questions take 30 seconds; statement and data questions take two minutes. Bank time on the first kind.
- Guessing (arithmetic): +1 for right, −1/3 for wrong. A pure guess among four options averages zero; a choice between two averages +1/3. Attempt when you can eliminate two options, skip when you cannot, and check your own 50-50 record over five mocks before you trust it.
- Two passes: mark the sure and quickly solvable questions in the first 90 to 100 minutes, return to the narrowed-to-two group, and keep the last ten minutes for the OMR sheet.
3. One reading list for both stages
Apart from Mental Ability, every screening block has a Mains counterpart. Read once, at Mains depth, and test in screening format.
| Read for | Screening block | Mains section |
|---|---|---|
| Indian history, with the national movement in its Andhra form | Indian History 30 | Paper-I A Unit 3 |
| Constitutional and statutory safeguards for SCs, STs, minorities, women | Indian Society 30 | Paper-I B |
| Agriculture, industrial regions, AP cropping patterns | Geography 30 | Paper-II A Units 3 and 5 |
| Budgets, policies, launches, state schemes | Current Affairs 30 | The "recent" lines in Paper-II A and B |
| Reasoning and numeracy | Mental Ability 30 | None; screening only |
This is why the plan below starts with Mains subjects even though the Screening Test comes first: half the screening preparation falls out of Mains reading, and the reverse is not true.
4. Split your time by weight
Our suggestion, combining the marks, the size of each syllabus and usefulness at both stages. Adjust to your own weak spots.
| Area | Share of study time | Why |
|---|---|---|
| AP social and cultural history | 20% | Mains 75; Unit 3 is very large; overlaps with screening history |
| Indian Constitution | 18% | Mains 75; overlaps with Indian Society |
| Indian and AP economy | 18% | Mains 75; overlaps with economic geography; "recent" figures |
| Science and Technology, environment | 16% | Mains 75; three of five units are environment |
| Geography and Indian Society | 12% | Screening 30 + 30 |
| Mental Ability | 8% | Screening 30; a little every day |
| Current Affairs | 8% | Screening 30 + "recent" items in Mains |
5. A 16-week plan you can start before the notification
For five to six hours a day. Once the notification arrives, shorten or stretch the last phase to the exam date. Daily, every week: 20 Mental Ability questions and 30 minutes of current affairs with a separate AP strand.
| Weeks | Main subject (about 3 hours) | Second subject (about 1.5 hours) |
|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | AP history Units 1 and 2 | Constitution Unit 6 |
| 3–4 | AP history Unit 3 | Constitution Unit 7 |
| 5–6 | AP history Units 4 and 5 | Constitution Units 8 and 9 |
| 7–8 | Economy Units 1 and 2 | Constitution Unit 10 |
| 9–10 | Economy Units 3, 4 and 5 | Indian Society |
| 11–12 | Science and Technology Units 1 and 2 | Geography: physical, economic, human |
| 13–14 | Science and Technology Units 3, 4 and 5 (environment) | Indian History: ancient and medieval |
| 15 | Revision: history and Constitution; section-wise tests | Two full screening mocks |
| 16 | Revision: economy and S&T; error diary | Two full mocks and analysis |
How to run it: do 25 to 30 questions the day you finish each unit; a short test every Sunday on that week's units; build a timeline for history, an Articles table for the Constitution and a dated key-figures table for the economy; update the "recent" items last, close to the exam. Each Sunday also carries 20 minutes of CPT practice.
6. When the notification comes: the 90-day screening plan
On the day the notification is published, read its scheme page and compare it with the exam pattern. Then switch to the screening format. Our 90-day screening plan gives the week-by-week table; its shape is:
| Phase | Days | Aim | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foundation | 1–30 | First pass of every block; understand, do not memorise | 80% reading, 20% questions |
| Depth | 31–60 | Second pass, topic tests, past papers, error log | 50% reading, 50% questions |
| Mocks and revision | 61–90 | Full papers in the real format, analysis, revision | 50% mocks and analysis, 50% revision |
If the 2026 cycle leaves fewer than 90 days, compress the foundation phase, not the mock phase: the 2023 cycle gave about eleven weeks between notification and Screening Test. Working candidates with three to four hours a day should stretch the table rather than squeeze it.
Mock schedule
| Period | Test | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Days 1–30 | Topic tests, 20–30 questions | One or two a week |
| Days 31–60 | Block-wise tests, 30–50 questions; one full mock near day 45 | Weekly |
| Days 61–80 | Full mocks, 150 questions in 150 minutes, on an OMR sheet | Two a week |
| Days 81–88 | Full mocks | One every two days |
| Days 89–90 | Rest and light revision | None |
Two hours of analysis per full mock: score by block, cause of each lost mark (did not know, forgot, misread, guessed), time per block, accuracy on attempted questions.
7. After the Screening Test: the 60-day Mains plan
Do not wait for the result. Our Mains syllabus and strategy post lays out a 60-day plan for six to seven hours a day:
| Days | Focus | Output |
|---|---|---|
| 1–3 | Diagnosis: tick the syllabus, list weak units | A unit list in priority order |
| 4–14 | Paper-I A, first round | Timeline; dynasty and movement tables; one revision sheet per unit |
| 15–22 | Paper-I B, first round | Article and body tables; committee and commission sheet |
| 23–30 | Paper-II A, Indian economy | Concept notes with one worked example per concept |
| 31–36 | Paper-II A, AP economy | Latest-year figures with source and year; scheme sheet |
| 37–44 | Paper-II B | Mission, programme and policy tables with dates and bodies |
| 45–50 | Second round | Revise tables; redo wrong questions |
| 51–57 | Full papers | One 150-question paper a day, then analysis |
| 58–60 | Light revision | No new material |
Weekly test of 50 questions on that week's units; below 70%, go back before moving on.
8. Subject tactics from the syllabus
- AP social and cultural history: a three-column timeline (period, dynasty or movement, one cultural marker). Anchor Unit 3 on a few pillars and place everything before or after them. Remember each literary work with author, genre and patron. Treat the press and the library movement in Unit 4 as full topics.
- Indian Constitution: a four-column table for every body and commission: source (Article or Act), appointing authority, removal, one landmark case or recommendation. Keep a running constitutional-versus-statutory list. Units 8 and 9 are one theme, Centre-State relations, read them together.
- Economy: concepts first, figures last. Write "as on month year" beside every number; refresh the Union budget, AP budget and AP industrial and IT policy pages in the last month.
- Science and Technology: read it as policy. One page per unit listing the institutions, laws and missions by name, with year and function. Environment is three of the five units.
- Indian Society: three layers: concepts and definitions, each issue with its legal response, and a group-by-group table of constitutional safeguards and main statutes.
- Geography: a blank outline map, daily, until rivers, projects, ports, mineral belts and crop zones come without a book.
- Mental Ability: timed sets from week one; squares to 30, cubes to 20, fraction-percentage equivalents; 45 seconds for easy questions, 90 for hard ones.
- Current Affairs: one daily source, a three-line note per item, and a one-page monthly summary; keep the AP strand separate.
9. The Computer Proficiency Test from month one
The CPT is 100 marks in 60 minutes, qualifying at OC 40, BC 35, SC/ST/PH 30, and compulsory for appointment. Twenty minutes a day of typing, word processing and spreadsheets, and one timed practical a fortnight, removes the last gate. Candidates who are new to computers should start this in week one of the 16-week plan.
10. If you are working
With three to four hours a day, our suggestion:
| Time | Task |
|---|---|
| 45 minutes | New reading on the week's main subject |
| 45 minutes | Notes or questions on the same subject |
| 40 minutes | Mental Ability with a timer |
| 30 minutes | Current affairs, AP strand separate |
| 40 minutes | Revision of yesterday and the error log |
| Weekend | One full mock (two from day 61) and the weekly revision |
Keep one buffer day a week so one missed day does not collapse the plan.
11. A weekly mock-analysis routine
Tag every wrong or skipped question:
- Concept gap: learn it, then do ten questions on it.
- Fact slip: add to the revision sheet.
- Time: practise that block against the clock.
- Careless: slow the first read; circle the qualifier (only, always, first).
- Bad guess: guess only after eliminating two options.
Count tags weekly; the largest is next week's work. Compare percentile, not only raw marks: on Pareeksha everyone in a cohort sits the same fixed paper, so your percentile shows where you stand on identical questions. See how it works.
12. Mistakes this scheme punishes
- Preparing to the old three-paper pattern. Any plan with a "Paper-III" is pre-2023.
- Treating Science and Technology as general science. It is mostly environment and policy, and it is 75 marks.
- Dropping Indian Society. A full 30-mark screening block that looks easy and is rarely revised.
- Memorising "recent" figures first. They change; concepts first, figures last.
- Blind guessing. With a one-third penalty, a run of guesses cancels correct answers.
- Leaving the CPT to the end. Qualifying, but compulsory.
- Trusting unofficial dates and post counts. For posts, dates and age, rely on psc.ap.gov.in alone.
- Delaying OTPR. The update is compulsory from 30-09-2026 and takes longer to fix than a unit takes to read.
13. Before you apply
- Update OTPR now, with district, zone and multi-zone particulars.
- On notification day, read the scheme of examination and the syllabus annexure first; then the post list and its conditions; then the age line.
- Match yourself to posts, apply inside the window, and keep the payment reference.
- Re-plan the last phase to the Screening Test date the notification gives.
14. Practising on Pareeksha
- Free: the 10-question mini-mock in the screening format, and the Daily Dangal quiz for daily GS and current affairs.
- Pro: full-length mocks in the online test series, previous-year papers and topic-wise practice. See plans.
- Notes in Telugu: the Group-II guide, the 90-day screening plan, the Mains strategy and the previous papers analysis, with unit notes on the Andhra movement to 1956 and 2014 and freedom struggle and social reform in Andhra.
Related: Syllabus · Exam pattern · Cut-off · Group-II guide · Andhra Pradesh state guide