Percentile, Cut-off and Normalisation Explained for AP Recruitment Exams

After an Andhra Pradesh recruitment exam, candidates hear a handful of words repeated in every conversation: raw marks, normalised marks, percentile, cut-off, rank, merit list, tie-break. They are used loosely, often as if they meant the same thing, and the confusion costs people real decisions. Some candidates give up after comparing a raw score with a friend who sat a different shift. Others expect a cut-off number that the recruiter never publishes. Others assume that a reserved-category candidate who scores high cannot compete for open posts. This guide separates these ideas one by one, using the official notifications and bulletins of the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC), the State Level Police Recruitment Board (SLPRB) and the School Education department (Mega DSC 2025).

Every exam fact is labelled "As on October 2026" and traced to a document that was opened for this guide. Where a rule could not be verified, the text says so. The worked examples that use invented numbers are labelled illustrative. They describe no real exam, no real shift and no real candidate. Where an official document prints a cut-off figure, this guide would use it, but for the recruitments reviewed, no notice that prints category cut-off marks could be opened, so none are quoted.

Four numbers that are often confused

A single exam can produce four different numbers for the same candidate. Each answers a different question.

Number	What it tells you	Who computes it
Raw marks	Correct answers (less any penalty) on the paper you sat	The recruiter, from your answer sheet or screen record
Normalised marks	Your raw marks adjusted so that different shifts are comparable	The recruiter, only when the exam has more than one shift
Percentile	The share of the candidate group that scored below you	Usually a coaching or practice platform, not the recruiter
Rank	Your position in a merit list, after sorting by the final score and applying tie-break rules	The recruiter, within each list

The order matters. Raw marks come first. If there are several shifts, normalisation turns them into comparable scores. Sorting by that score gives a rank, and the rank decides who is selected against the vacancies. Percentile sits to the side, because as on October 2026 the notifications opened for this guide do not use it as a selection measure. It is a practice tool, explained in the companion guide on negative marking, time management and mock strategy, where its arithmetic is worked out.

What each recruiter actually uses

Recruiter and stage	What decides your progress	Source
APPSC Group-I, Screening Test	Marks, to shortlist 50 times the vacancies for the mains	Notification 07/2026 (06.10.2026), Para 15.1
APPSC Group-I, Mains and Interview	Marks in the written papers and interview, with minimum qualifying marks on aggregate	Notification 07/2026, Paras 15.3 and 15.5
SLPRB SI and Constable, Preliminary	Qualifying only; the marks have no relevance in the final selection	Notifications of 16.09.2026
SLPRB, Physical Efficiency Test	Qualifying standards; for some posts, marks that count toward the total	Notifications of 16.09.2026
SLPRB, Final written	Relative merit on final written marks, or on aggregate with PET marks for some posts	Notifications of 16.09.2026
Mega DSC 2025	80 percent computer-based test, 20 percent APTET or CTET weightage, with normalisation across shifts	Information Bulletin, Paras 15, 32 and 34

Three of these deserve a closer look because they work in opposite ways. In the APPSC screening test, the marks matter only up to a point: the Commission picks a number of candidates equal to 50 times the vacancies for the mains, and a higher screening score inside that group does not add to the final selection, because the notification says selection is based on merit in the mains and the interview. In SLPRB preliminary tests, the marks are a gate and nothing more. In Mega DSC, the CBT score is a direct component of the final merit score.

Qualifying marks and cut-offs are not the same thing

A qualifying mark is a floor set in advance by the rules. A cut-off is the score of the last selected candidate, and it exists only after the results. A candidate can be above the qualifying mark and below the cut-off, and that is the common case.

As on October 2026, the qualifying marks printed in the documents opened for this guide are as follows.

Document	Open and EWS	Backward Classes	SC, ST and PBD	Applies to
APPSC Group-I Notification 07/2026, Para 15.5	40 percent	35 percent	30 percent	Aggregate in the selection stage; SC, ST and PBD column as printed
SLPRB SI and Constable notifications, 16.09.2026	40 percent	35 percent	30 percent	Each paper of the preliminary and final written tests, as stated per post
APTET June 2026 Bulletin	60 percent (90 of 150)	50 percent (75 of 150)	40 percent (60 of 150)	TET pass mark, which feeds the DSC weightage
APPSC Computer Proficiency Test, as printed in the ASO notification 20/2026	40 of 100	35 of 100	30 of 100	A practical test for the post

The percentages turn into marks by simple multiplication. For a 100-mark SI preliminary paper, the floors are 40, 35 and 30. For the 200-mark Constable preliminary paper, they are 80, 70 and 60. For a 120-mark Group-I screening paper, a 40 percent floor would be 48 marks. In SI final written examination, the notification requires the minimum in each paper, and it says that a candidate who fails to secure it in even one paper is disqualified; for the two descriptive papers, the marks are qualifying only and do not count in the final selection.

Two cautions follow. First, the Mega DSC 2025 bulletin, in the text read for this guide, prints qualifying marks for the TET score but does not print a minimum for the CBT. Second, every notification carries a line to the effect that securing the minimum does not confer a right to selection. The Group-I notification says it in so many words, and the DSC bulletin says that mere inclusion in the merit-cum-roster list gives no right to employment. The floor gets you into the pool, and the vacancies decide the rest.

There is also a rule about relaxed standards. The Group-I notification says that if SC and ST candidates do not come up for selection with the minimum prescribed, selection is considered on the basis of rank in the written examination irrespective of the marks secured, citing G.O.Ms.No.631 of 5 September 1977. Para 10.3 adds that the Commission may apply relaxed standards in the screening test for SC, ST, BC or physically challenged candidates if it thinks that enough candidates of those communities would not otherwise qualify. These are Commission powers, exercised after the results, and no figure is fixed in advance.

How a category cut-off is born

A cut-off is a by-product of three things: the number of vacancies in a category, the number of candidates, and the marks they scored. Nobody sets it. The mechanism is easy to see with an example.

The vertical reservation in direct recruitment is applied on a roster. As explained in the sibling guide on reservation, the 100-point roster and local status, a unit of 100 vacancies is divided as 15 for Scheduled Castes, 6 for Scheduled Tribes, 29 for Backward Classes, 10 for Economically Weaker Sections and 40 for open competition, and the roster assigns every vacancy in sequence to one of these. The roster point numbers and the unit figures are cited here from that guide, which read them from the government orders, and this guide did not re-open those orders, so check the roster in the notification of your post. The principle that the notifications state directly is the one that matters here. The Group-I notification, Para 15.6, says that open competition vacancies are considered on merit irrespective of caste, community or gender, that the vertical reservation applies to the social-reservation vacancies, and that candidates selected under horizontal reservation are adjusted against their own social category.

An illustrative example follows. Suppose a department notifies ten posts, and the first ten roster points give five open posts, two SC posts, one BC-A post, one ST post and one BC-B post. Fourteen candidates are on the merit list, with these invented marks out of 100.

Candidate	Category	Marks
A	OC	91
B	BC-B	90
C	SC	89
D	OC	88
E	BC-A	87
F	OC	86
G	SC	84
H	BC-B	83
I	ST	80
J	SC	78
K	BC-A	77
L	OC	76
M	ST	70
N	BC-B	69

Step one fills the five open posts from the whole list in order of marks, whatever the category: A, B, C, D and E. Notice that B, C and E belong to reserved communities and take open posts on their own merit. The open cut-off is 87, the marks of E.

Step two fills the reserved posts from the candidates who remain. The two SC posts go to G (84) and J (78), because C already took an open post. The one BC-A post goes to K (77), because E took an open post. The one ST post goes to I (80). The one BC-B post goes to H (83), because B took an open post. The cut-offs by category are then SC 78, BC-A 77, ST 80 and BC-B 83.

Several lessons follow from one small table. The cut-offs do not follow a fixed order: here the ST cut-off is higher than the SC and BC-A cut-offs, and in another year with other candidates it would not be. Candidate F, a general-category candidate with 86, is not selected, while G, with 84, is, because F competes only for the open posts and G also has the SC posts. A reserved candidate who scores above the open cut-off, as C did, is counted in the open list, and the reserved post passes to the next candidate of that community. For this reason, the open cut-off is the number to watch if you want to be certain of a seat, and the category cut-off is the number to watch if you qualify only through your category.

Horizontal reservations for women, persons with benchmark disabilities, ex-servicemen and meritorious sportspersons are adjusted within these lists, and the order of operations is covered in the sibling guide. For this guide's purposes, the point is that after the vertical lists are made, shortfalls in a horizontal quota are corrected by adjustment, and a candidate selected under a horizontal quota is placed in the social category to which he or she belongs, as the Group-I notification states.

Local and non-local candidates

Local status adds a second filter, and it affects who competes for which posts. As on October 2026, the Group-I notification and both SLPRB notifications apply the Andhra Pradesh Public Employment (Organisation of Local Cadres and Regulation of Direct Recruitment) Order, 2025, republished as G.O.Ms.No.45, General Administration (SPF and MC) Department, dated 20.04.2026. The Group-I notification says that the benefit of 95 percent local reservation goes to the local candidates of each multi-zone or zone, and that the post organised as a State cadre has no local reservation.

The SLPRB notifications state the split in the words of G.O.Ms.No.172, General Administration (Ser.D) Department, dated 02.09.2026: the first 5 percent of posts are filled on merit in open competition from local and non-local candidates together, and thereafter the remaining 95 percent are filled by local candidates only. A non-local candidate therefore competes only for the 5 percent open pool. The SI notification adds that a non-local candidate is treated as belonging to the open category and pays the open category fee. In addition, the special-category vacancies of the police recruitment are applicable only to candidates local to the State, as per G.O.Ms.No.173 of the Home Department dated 16.09.2026.

An illustrative example makes the arithmetic clear. If a recruitment fills 100 posts, 5 posts go to the best candidates in a combined list of locals and non-locals, and the other 95 go to locals. A non-local candidate ranked 4th in the combined list gets one of the five. A non-local ranked 30th gets none, however high the score may be in absolute terms, because the 95 are not open to non-locals. A local candidate ranked 4th in the combined list takes one of the five, which leaves the 95 for other locals.

The definition of "local" comes from the same notification. The Group-I notification says a candidate is local to an area where he or she studied for not less than four consecutive academic years before and including the year of appearing for the seventh class or equivalent examination, or resided there if not studying. If that test does not place the candidate in a local area, a seven-year test applies, and the area where the candidate studied or resided for the maximum period is used. Study certificates for classes one to seven, or a residence certificate from a revenue officer not below the rank of Mandal Revenue Officer, are the proof. This replaces the earlier wording under the 1975 Order, and the sibling guide explains the difference in detail.

Tie-break rules

When candidates have equal marks, rules decide the order. The rules differ by recruiter, and in each case they are printed in the notification or bulletin. Candidates cannot change them after the exam, which is a reason to read them before it.

Mega DSC 2025. The Information Bulletin, Para 33, gives this order, to be followed in sequence:

1. Date of birth: the elder candidate is given the higher rank.
2. If the date of birth is also the same and the candidates are of different genders, the female candidate ranks above the male.
3. If two or more have the same date of birth and there is no female among them, or more than one, the community order applies: ST, then SC (Group-I, Group-II, Group-III), then BC-A, BC-B, BC-C, BC-D, BC-E, and then OC.
4. If the tie persists, the date of passing the professional or training qualification (B.Ed, D.Ed or equivalent, Pandit Training and so on) is taken into consideration. If a tie still persists, the date of passing the Inter examination for SGT and PET posts, or graduation for School Assistant and Language Pandit posts, is considered.

The bulletin names the date of passing in steps 4 and 5 but, in the text read for this guide, does not state in so many words whether the earlier or the later date ranks higher, so confirm that point in the bulletin of the recruitment you apply for. An illustrative example (invented candidates and dates) shows the first three steps. Candidates P, Q and R have equal marks. P is a woman born on 12 March 1996, Q is a man born on 12 March 1996, and R is a woman born on 2 January 1997. Step one puts P and Q above R, because they are older. Step two, which applies since P and Q share a date of birth and differ in gender, puts P above Q. The order is P, Q, R. The community and qualification steps are never reached.

SLPRB posts. The Constable and SI notifications say that when two or more candidates in a particular category obtain equal marks, preference is given to the candidate who was born earlier. For meritorious sportspersons, a separate tie rule applies when candidates hold equal priority at the highest level: preference for the greater number of similar high-level sports achievements, then for the greater number of achievements at the next lower level, and finally for the candidate who is elder in age.

APPSC. The Group-I notification, Para 15.8, says that candidates with equal total marks in the mains are bracketed, and ranked within the bracket by age, the oldest being considered first. If the ages are equal, the candidate who possesses the educational qualification at an earlier date is considered. Where a preferential educational qualification is prescribed for the post, it takes priority over age.

The common thread is that age is the first tie-breaker in all three. This has a practical meaning. Two candidates with the same score will be ordered by something that no preparation can change, which makes the last mark in the exam worth more than it looks. A half-mark question, as in the DSC papers, matters at this level.

Normalisation across shifts

Some exams are too large for one sitting. When a computer-based test is spread across several sessions, the question papers differ, and one session may be harder than another. Comparing raw marks across them would be unfair, so the recruiter applies a statistical adjustment. This is normalisation.

As on October 2026, the Mega DSC 2025 documents state the facts as follows. The notification says that a normalisation procedure would be adopted for the Mega DSC, and the Information Bulletin, Para 32, prints the formula. A press note issued by the School Education department about the conduct of the examinations says that the Mega DSC covered 69 categories of posts, of which 60 were examined in a single session, 8 in two sessions, and only one, the SGT post, in 10 sessions because of the volume of applications. It says that 3.36 lakh candidates submitted 5.77 lakh applications. It states that normalisation applies only to examinations held in more than one session, that this was specified in G.O.Ms.No.15 and 16 of 19.04.2025, and that it is wrong to think that normalisation applies only to examinations with negative marking. It adds that the process had been applied before, in DSC 2018, Special DSC 2019 and the APTET examinations of August 2022, February 2024 and October 2024. The APTET June 2026 Information Bulletin prints the same formula, with the same terms, so the method is not limited to DSC.

The formula, in words

The bulletin's formula gives the normalised mark of the j-th candidate in the i-th shift as follows:

normalised mark = ((Mt_all minus Mq_all) / (Mt_i minus Mq_i)) x (M_ij minus Mq_i) + Mq_max

The terms, as defined in the bulletin, are:

• Mt_all: the average marks of the top 0.1 percent of candidates considering all shifts, with the number of candidates rounded up.
• Mq_all: the sum of the mean and the standard deviation of marks of all candidates in the examination, considering all shifts.
• Mt_i: the average marks of the top 0.1 percent of candidates in the i-th shift, rounded up.
• Mq_i: the sum of the mean and the standard deviation of marks of the i-th shift.
• M_ij: the actual marks obtained by the candidate in the i-th shift.
• Mq_max: described in the bulletin as the sum of the mean marks of candidates in the shift having the maximum mean and standard deviation of marks. As I read it, this is the mean-plus-standard-deviation figure of the shift for which that figure is highest. The wording is compressed, so check it in the bulletin.

The bulletin adds that calculations are made up to five decimal places.

The shape of the formula is a straight line. Inside a shift, the adjustment multiplies the distance of your marks from the shift's mean-plus-standard-deviation point by a ratio, and then adds a fixed anchor. The ratio compares the spread of the whole exam, measured from its top end to its mean-plus-standard-deviation point, with the spread of your shift, measured the same way. A harder shift has a smaller spread at the top, so the ratio is larger than one and the marks of its candidates are stretched. An easier shift has a larger spread, so the ratio is below one and the marks are compressed. Because the line is straight, it does not change the order of candidates within a shift. It changes the position of shifts relative to one another.

A worked example, with invented numbers

The numbers below are illustrative and are not from any DSC shift. Suppose the whole examination has Mt_all of 76 and Mq_all of 52. Shift A, an easier one, has Mt_A of 78 and Mq_A of 55. Shift B, a harder one, has Mt_B of 72 and Mq_B of 47. Shift A has the highest mean-plus-standard-deviation figure, so Mq_max is 55.

For shift A, the ratio is (76 minus 52) / (78 minus 55), which is 24/23, or 1.04348. For shift B, the ratio is 24 / (72 minus 47), which is 24/25, or 0.96.

Candidate	Shift	Raw marks	Working	Normalised marks
X	A	60	1.04348 x (60 minus 55) + 55	60.21739
Y	B	55	0.96 x (55 minus 47) + 55	62.68000
Z	B	52	0.96 x (52 minus 47) + 55	59.80000

Candidate Y scored 55 raw, five fewer than X, but in a harder shift, and ends with a higher normalised mark, 62.68 against 60.22. Candidate Z, also in shift B, scored 52 raw and ends with 59.80, below X. The adjustment has lifted the whole of shift B and moved the order across shifts, while Y stays above Z, as in the raw marks. That is the intended behaviour: it removes the luck of the draw of a harder or easier shift, but it does not reward anyone for a harder shift beyond the correction.

Two practical consequences follow. First, you cannot know your normalised mark from your raw mark alone, because it depends on the distribution of marks in all shifts, which no candidate sees. Estimates circulated on social media are guesses. Second, you cannot compare your raw marks with those of a friend in another shift. What you can do is compare yourself with candidates of your own shift and aim to raise your own raw marks, which is the one input you control.

In Mega DSC 2025, the normalised CBT marks, out of 80, were combined with the APTET or CTET weightage out of 20 to give a total out of 100 for School Assistant and SGT posts, and for School Assistant (Physical Education) and PET posts, the CBT carried 100 marks with no TET component, as the bulletin says. The bulletin, in the text read, does not spell out how the TET score is converted to the 20-mark weightage, so this guide does not give a formula for it.

Deleted questions are a different adjustment

Normalisation should not be confused with the correction made when questions are deleted from a single-sitting paper. The Group-I notification, Para 12.6, says that when questions are deleted from any paper, scaling, a proportionate increase, is applied to that part of the paper up to the maximum marks prescribed, with marks rounded to two decimals. For example (illustrative), if a part carries 30 marks, two of its 30 questions are deleted, and a candidate scored 18 on the remaining 28, the scaled mark is 18 x 30 / 28, which is 19.29. This is a simple ratio, not a statistical adjustment across groups, and it applies even when there is only one shift.

The key itself can change. The Group-I notification says the Commission publishes an initial key, objections are filed within three days at Rs. 100 per objection, three subject experts examine them, and the key so finalised is final. The DSC bulletin, Para 30, describes a similar sequence of initial key, online objections and a final key. Your own estimate of your marks should therefore wait for the final key.

How to read a result or cut-off notice

Official results come in several forms, and each rewards a slightly different reading. A checklist helps.

1. Identify the document. Note the notification number and date, the stage (screening, mains, preliminary, final, merit list), and the post code. A result for one post code says nothing about another.
2. Find out what is being listed. A list of hall ticket numbers "provisionally qualified" for the next stage is a pass list, not a merit list. For example, the web note of 10 April 2024 for Group-II Notification No.11/2023 said that the list of candidates provisionally qualified for the mains, on the basis of the objective test held on 25 February 2024, was hosted on the Commission's website, and that the mains would be held on 28 July 2024. It is a list of who goes forward, and the marks inside the cut are not the point.
3. Check whether marks or a rank is printed. The Mega DSC 2025 merit lists print a total score and a rank. In a district list for a post that was opened for this guide, the columns are candidate ID, name, father's name, date of birth, gender, caste, EWS status, local or non-local status, ex-serviceman status, disability status, total score and rank. The total score is printed to five decimal places, which fits the bulletin's rule on calculation. The list is long, running to hundreds of pages for a single district and post, so use the search function of the viewer and the candidate ID.
4. Know what the rank is a rank in. The header of each list names the post, subject, medium and the district, zone or state. The same candidate may appear in several lists, and the rank in each is a rank in that list only.
5. Read the status of the call. The DSC press notes say that candidates who come within the zone of consideration for the posts they applied for receive call letters through their personal Mega DSC login and must attend certificate verification in person with originals, and that attending verification gives no right to selection, which depends on merit, eligibility, reservation and the rules. A candidate who is absent or ineligible loses candidature, and the next candidate in the merit list is called.
6. Look for the cut-off, and expect not to find one. In the recruitments reviewed, the recruiters print lists and ranks. No notice with category cut-off marks was opened, so none is quoted here. Cut-off figures reported on other sites are secondary information, and should be read as such.
7. Re-read the fine print. Para 13.1 of the Group-I notification says the recruitment is made to the notified vacancies only and that there will be no waiting list. In DSC, the bulletin says that a candidate who fails to produce genuine certificates, or who is absent for verification, forgoes the right of selection and the next eligible candidate is considered. These two rules together explain why merit lists get shorter or longer between rounds.

A short glossary can prevent confusion.

Term	Meaning in the notifications and bulletins
Provisionally qualified	Allowed to the next stage, subject to verification of eligibility
Zone of consideration	The set of candidates in merit order who are called for verification against the vacancies of a post, in the DSC press notes
Merit-cum-roster list	The list of candidates in merit order, adjusted to the roster for reservation
Bracketed (APPSC mains)	Candidates with equal total marks, ordered within the bracket by age
Local candidate	A candidate who meets the study or residence test of the Presidential Order 2025
Total score (DSC list)	Normalised CBT marks plus TET weightage, printed to five decimals

Using percentile sensibly in preparation

Because the recruiters publish marks and ranks, and not percentiles, a percentile from a mock test is only a rough guide. It is the share of mock takers who scored below you, and the group of mock takers is not the group of candidates in the real exam. To turn it into something useful, pair it with the number of posts. If a recruitment has a large number of candidates for each post, a high percentile is a start, not a safe position, because even the top few percent of a large group may be more than the vacancies. If the recruitment has a smaller group, the same percentile means more. The arithmetic is in the strategy guide: rank is about one plus the number of candidates multiplied by the share above you.

The better use of fixed-paper mocks is to track your own trend. Take the same kind of paper regularly, record net score, attempts and accuracy, and watch your position on each paper. If your raw score rises and your percentile on papers of similar difficulty also rises, you are moving ahead of the group, and that is what the real result will reward.

Common misreadings

Belief	What the documents say
Percentile decides selection	The notifications opened select on marks and rank, and do not use percentile
Normalisation applies only if there is negative marking	The department's press note says it applies to any examination held in more than one session
A reserved candidate cannot compete for open posts	Open posts are filled on merit irrespective of caste, community or gender, as in Group-I Para 15.6
Non-local candidates compete for all posts	In the police notifications, the open 5 percent is shared by locals and non-locals, and the rest is for locals
Passing the qualifying mark means selection	Each notification says it confers no right to selection
The cut-off is announced before the result	It is the score of the last selected candidate, and it exists only after selection
The first tie-breaker is the score in the toughest section	In DSC, APPSC mains and SLPRB lists, age comes first
Raw scores can be compared across shifts	They cannot, which is the reason for normalisation

Key facts for exams

• As on October 2026, Mega DSC 2025 selection for School Assistant and SGT posts: 80 percent computer-based test and 20 percent APTET or CTET weightage; School Assistant (Physical Education) and PET: CBT only, 100 marks.
• The DSC 2025 normalisation formula uses the average of the top 0.1 percent of candidates and the mean plus standard deviation, for all shifts and for the candidate's shift, with calculations to five decimal places.
• Normalisation applies when an examination is held in more than one session.
• DSC tie-break order: elder candidate, female over male, then ST, SC, BC-A to BC-E, OC, then date of passing the professional qualification and then Inter or graduation.
• APPSC Group-I screening admits 50 times the vacancies to the mains; the aggregate minimum is 40 percent for OC, 35 percent for BC and 30 percent for SC, ST and PBD.
• SLPRB preliminary written tests are qualifying; marks have no relevance in final selection.
• Local reservation under the 2025 Order: first 5 percent on open merit among locals and non-locals, remaining 95 percent for locals, as printed in SLPRB notifications citing G.O.Ms.No.172 of 02.09.2026.
• Open competition posts are filled on merit irrespective of caste, community or gender, and a reserved-category candidate selected in open does not use up the community post.
• APTET pass marks: 90 for OC and EWS, 75 for BC, 60 for SC, ST, PwBD and ex-servicemen, out of 150.

Ten practice questions

1. Which of the following is a measure of the share of a candidate group scoring below you? (a) Raw mark (b) Percentile (c) Normalised mark (d) Roster point Answer: (b).

2. In the Mega DSC 2025 bulletin, normalisation is applied to: (a) every examination, even in a single shift (b) examinations held in more than one shift (c) only examinations with negative marking (d) only the TET Answer: (b), as the department's press note states.

3. In the normalisation formula, "Mt" in the all-shift term refers to: (a) the lowest mark (b) the median mark (c) the average marks of the top 0.1 percent of candidates (d) the maximum possible marks Answer: (c).

4. For the Mega DSC 2025 School Assistant selection, the CBT weightage is: (a) 50 percent (b) 70 percent (c) 80 percent (d) 100 percent Answer: (c), with 20 percent for APTET or CTET.

5. In the DSC tie-break order, if two candidates have equal marks, the first criterion is: (a) Community (b) Gender (c) Date of birth, elder first (d) Date of passing Inter Answer: (c).

6. In the SLPRB notifications of 16.09.2026, the open competition share, in which locals and non-locals compete together, is: (a) 5 percent (b) 30 percent (c) 70 percent (d) 95 percent Answer: (a); the remaining 95 percent is for locals only.

7. A candidate selected in the open competition list on own merit, in APPSC recruitment: (a) uses up a community post (b) does not use up the community post (c) loses the category (d) is moved to the roster point of the community Answer: (b).

8. In APPSC Group-I notification 07/2026, the number of candidates admitted to the mains is: (a) 10 times the vacancies (b) 25 times the vacancies (c) 50 times the vacancies (d) equal to the vacancies Answer: (c).

9. In the illustrative cut-off example in this guide, the open cut-off is the marks of: (a) the first candidate (b) the fifth candidate in the overall order (c) the last SC candidate (d) the lowest candidate Answer: (b), 87.

10. In the illustrative normalisation example, the ratio for shift B is: (a) 0.96 (b) 1.00 (c) 1.04348 (d) 24 Answer: (a), which is 24 divided by 25.

Frequently asked questions

Does AP recruitment use percentile? In the notifications and bulletins opened for this guide, selection is on marks and rank. Percentile is a practice measure.

What is the formula for DSC normalisation? The Mega DSC 2025 bulletin prints a formula that uses the average of the top 0.1 percent of candidates and the mean plus standard deviation, across all shifts and within the candidate's shift. The structure is explained above, and the bulletin has the exact notation.

Why is my raw mark different from my merit list score? In an examination with several shifts, the raw mark is normalised, and for School Assistant and SGT posts the TET weightage is added. The list prints the total score.

Are cut-off marks officially published? In the documents reviewed, lists and ranks are published, and category cut-off marks were not found. Treat reported cut-offs as unofficial.

What is the tie-break rule? For DSC, the elder candidate first, then female over male, then the community order, then the dates of passing qualifications. For SLPRB, the candidate born earlier. For APPSC mains, age, then the earlier educational qualification.

What does local status change in the result? Under the 2025 Order as printed in the police notifications, 5 percent of posts are open to locals and non-locals on merit and 95 percent are for locals only.

Can a reserved-category candidate get an open post? Yes. Open posts are filled on merit irrespective of caste, community or gender, and the community post then goes to the next candidate of that community.

Where can I check the official documents? On psc.ap.gov.in for APPSC, slprb.ap.gov.in for police recruitment, and the AP TET and DSC portal and cse.ap.gov.in for teacher recruitment.

Related guides

• Negative marking, time management and mock strategy for APPSC, DSC and AP Police
• AP DSC exam pattern and marks
• AP DSC 2026 notification guide
• AP DSC SGT guide
• AP reservation, 100-point roster and local status
• APPSC OTPR update and local status
• APPSC Group-I guide
• AP Police recruitment 2026 update
• AP Police SI guide
• AP TET guide

Practise on pareeksha.in

To see how scores and positions behave, attempt full-length papers under exam conditions and note your net score and accuracy for each. Pareeksha.in offers 10 Lakh+ MCQs, 100+ Exams and 5,000+ Full-Length Mocks, and the mock papers are fixed, so you can compare your result with the distribution of the same paper. Start with the free mini mock, then try full-length papers in the online test series. A mock percentile shows your position among mock takers and does not predict an official rank or result.

Sources and verification

Official documents opened for this guide, all as on October 2026:

• AP Mega DSC 2025 Notification 01 (School Education), dated 20 April 2025, and the Information Bulletin (School Education), Paras 15, 16, 30, 32, 33, 34 and 35, on the AP TET and DSC portal (tet2dsc.apcfss.in).
• School Education department press notes on Mega DSC 2025: the note on examination conduct and the normalisation process, the note of 21.08.2025 and the note of 22.08.2025 (tet2dsc.apcfss.in).
• A published Mega DSC 2025 merit list (SGT, one district), opened only to read its column headings; no candidate's data is reproduced here.
• APTET June 2026 Information Bulletin (tet2dsc.apcfss.in), for the pass marks, the statement on negative marking and the printed normalisation formula.
• APPSC Notification No.07/2026 for Group-I Services (psc.ap.gov.in), Paras 6, 7, 12 and 15, and Annexure II.
• APPSC Notification No.20/2026 (Assistant Statistical Officer), for the Computer Proficiency Test scheme.
• APPSC web note of 10.04.2024 for Group-II Notification No.11/2023 (psc.ap.gov.in).
• SLPRB Notification Rc.No.81/SLPRB/Rect.1/2026 (Sub-Inspector) and Rc.No.91/SLPRB/Rect.2/2026 (Constable and other posts), dated 16.09.2026 (slprb.ap.gov.in).

Not verified: any official cut-off marks notice, as none could be opened; the text of the government orders cited in the notifications, which are read only as printed there; the roster point numbers and the unit split of 15, 6, 29, 10 and 40, which are cited from the sibling reservation guide and were not re-opened; how the TET score is converted to 20 marks; the exact reading of the bulletin's last normalisation term; the direction of the date-of-passing tie-break in the DSC bulletin; and any DSC 2026 notification. The worked examples are invented for illustration and describe no real exam.