If you have a GNM or BSc Nursing degree and you're from Bihar, you've probably already heard about BTSC Staff Nurse. It is one of the biggest nursing recruitments Bihar has run in years, and for many candidates who've been doing contract duty in government hospitals, this is the exam that finally gets them a permanent government job.
This post covers everything about the BTSC Staff Nurse recruitment cycle: vacancy numbers, dates, eligibility, exam pattern, syllabus and how to prepare. We'll also tell you honestly where things stand right now, because a lot of blogs online are still recycling old information without checking the latest status.
Quick Answer
BTSC Staff Nurse recruitment (Advt. No. 23/2025) was for 11,389 posts under the Bihar Technical Service Commission. Applications closed in June 2025, the written exam was held from 30 July to 3 August 2025, and the result was declared on 11 December 2025. As of August 2026, a fresh Staff Nurse notification has not been announced — document verification and final selection work from the 2025 cycle is still going on for some candidates, so keep checking btsc.bihar.gov.in for updates before the next cycle opens.
Latest Notification and Important Dates
The current BTSC Staff Nurse cycle (Advt. No. 23/2025) has already gone through its exam and result. There's no new notification as of July 2026, so treat the table below as the reference cycle until BTSC releases fresh dates.
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| Notification released | 25 April 2025 |
| Application window | 25 April 2025 – 13 June 2025 (extended) |
| Admit card | 23 July 2025 |
| Written exam | 30, 31 July, 1 and 3 August 2025 |
| Answer key | 7 August 2025 |
| Result declared | 11 December 2025 |
| Document verification | Ongoing into 2026 (tentative, batch-wise) |
| Next cycle notification | Not announced yet (tentative) |
If you're prepping now, don't wait for a fresh notification to start. BTSC posts usually come back within a year or two once the current batch is absorbed. Use this waiting period to build your base with free mock tests and topic-wise practice.
What the Job Actually Is
A BTSC Staff Nurse works in government hospitals and health centres across Bihar, handling direct patient care under the Health Department. You'll be posted at district hospitals, sub-divisional hospitals, primary health centres (PHCs) or medical college hospitals depending on vacancy and your merit rank.
Day to day, the job means administering medicines and injections, monitoring vitals, assisting doctors during procedures, managing wards, maintaining patient records, and handling emergency cases when needed. In busy government hospitals, staff nurses often carry heavy patient loads, especially in maternity and general wards. It's physically demanding work, but it's also one of the most respected and stable jobs a nursing graduate can get in Bihar, with a clear path to promotion over the years.
Vacancy Details
11,389 posts were advertised in the 2025 cycle, spread across general and reserved categories, with a good share reserved for women. Here's the rough category-wise split from the official breakup:
| Category | Approximate Vacancies |
|---|---|
| Unreserved (UR) | 3,134 |
| EWS | 784 |
| SC | 2,853 |
| ST | 121 |
| MBC (Most Backward Class) | 3,117 |
| BC | 933 |
| BC Female | 447 |
| Total | 11,389 |
Around 2,659 posts were specifically marked for women candidates. These numbers can shift slightly during the recruitment process as reservation rules and rosters get finalised, so always check your final category-wise count on the official BTSC website closer to result and DV time.
Eligibility
You need a GNM diploma or BSc Nursing degree recognised by the Indian Nursing Council, plus registration with the Bihar Nurses Registration Council, and you must fall in the 21 to 37 year age bracket (with relaxation for reserved categories).
Educational Qualification
- GNM (General Nursing and Midwifery) certificate from an INC-recognised institute, OR
- BSc Nursing degree from a recognised university
- Registration with the Bihar Nursing Registration Council, Patna, is compulsory at the time of application or shortly after
Age Limit
Age is calculated as on 1 August of the exam year (1 August 2025 for the last cycle).
| Category | Minimum Age | Maximum Age |
|---|---|---|
| General (Male) | 21 years | 37 years |
| General (Female) / Women all categories | 21 years | 40 years |
| BC/EBC/EWS | 21 years | 40 years |
| SC/ST | 21 years | 42 years |
Domicile
This is a Bihar state recruitment, so most reserved-category fee concessions and certain relaxations apply only to candidates domiciled in Bihar. Candidates from other states can apply too, but they pay the general category fee regardless of their category back home.
Physical fitness standards aren't as strict as police or defence exams, but you should be medically fit to handle ward duties, night shifts and patient handling work.
Application Process and Fee
You apply online through the official BTSC website, upload your documents, pay the fee, and submit. Simple on paper, but don't leave it for the last day — the server usually slows down near the deadline.
| Category | Application Fee |
|---|---|
| General / OBC / EWS / Outside Bihar | ₹600 |
| SC / ST (Bihar domicile) | ₹150 |
| Female (Bihar domicile, all categories) | ₹150 |
| PwD (Bihar domicile) | ₹150 |
Steps to apply:
- Go to the official BTSC website (btsc.bihar.gov.in) once the notification is live.
- Register with your basic details and get login credentials.
- Fill in your educational, personal and category details carefully.
- Upload photo, signature, GNM/BSc certificate and Bihar Nursing Council registration proof.
- Pay the application fee online.
- Review the form thoroughly before final submission — corrections after submission are usually not allowed.
- Download and save the confirmation page for your records.
Exam Pattern
The BTSC Staff Nurse exam is a single-stage written test of 100 objective questions worth 75 marks, combined with 25 marks for prior work experience as a contractual staff nurse.
| Component | Marks | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Written Exam | 75 | 100 MCQs, 1 mark each, 2-hour duration |
| Work Experience | 25 | 5 marks per year of contractual govt. service, max 5 years |
| Total | 100 | Merit list based on combined score |
Negative marking is 0.25 for every wrong answer, so guessing blindly can hurt you. If you're not sure of an answer, it's often better to skip it than lose a quarter mark on a random guess.
Minimum qualifying marks in the written exam vary by category — roughly 40% for General, 36.5% for BC, 34% for EBC, and 32% for SC/ST/Women/PwD candidates. Clearing this minimum doesn't guarantee a seat; the actual merit cut-off is usually higher because of the sheer number of applicants.
Detailed Syllabus
The syllabus is drawn from your GNM/BSc Nursing curriculum, so if you've studied nursing formally, none of this should feel unfamiliar. It's more about revision than learning fresh.
Nursing Foundation and Fundamentals — basic nursing procedures, vital signs, patient hygiene, infection control, hospital administration basics.
Medical-Surgical Nursing — care of patients with cardiovascular, respiratory, renal, gastrointestinal and endocrine disorders; pre and post-operative care; emergency and trauma nursing.
Community Health Nursing — public health programmes, immunisation schedules, national health missions, epidemiology basics, maternal and child health programmes run in Bihar and by the central government.
Obstetric and Gynaecological Nursing — antenatal, intranatal and postnatal care, high-risk pregnancy management, family planning methods.
Pediatric Nursing — child growth and development milestones, common childhood illnesses, neonatal care, vaccination schedules.
Mental Health and Psychiatric Nursing — common psychiatric disorders, therapeutic communication, care of psychiatric patients.
Nutrition — diet planning for different age groups and conditions, malnutrition, therapeutic diets.
Pharmacology — drug classifications, dosage calculations, side effects, drug administration routes.
General Knowledge and Current Affairs — Bihar-specific GK, national and state health schemes, basic current affairs. This section trips up many nursing candidates because they focus only on clinical subjects and skip GK. Don't make that mistake — spend time on current affairs and Bihar-focused general awareness, since even 8-10 marks here can decide your final rank.
For general awareness and reasoning-adjacent portions that sometimes appear in these exams, our General Awareness guide and Reasoning guide are useful add-ons, even though the paper is nursing-heavy overall.
Salary, Pay Scale and Career Growth
A BTSC Staff Nurse gets a starting pay in Level 7 of the Bihar pay matrix, with a base pay band of ₹9,300 to ₹34,800 and grade pay of ₹4,600. In hand, after allowances like DA and HRA, most staff nurses report a monthly take-home in the ₹35,000 to ₹42,000 range depending on posting location and applicable allowances.
Beyond the starting pay, staff nurses in Bihar government service get regular DA revisions, promotional avenues to positions like Nursing Sister, Ward Sister, and eventually Matron or Nursing Superintendent with enough years of service and departmental exams. It's a stable career with pension benefits under the new pension scheme, medical facilities, and job security that private hospital jobs rarely match.
Previous Cut-off
Official category-wise cut-offs for the 2025 cycle weren't published as a single confirmed list at the time of writing, but based on result trends and expert estimates, the qualifying and merit cut-offs (out of 75 written marks) roughly looked like this:
| Category | Expected Cut-off Range (out of 75) |
|---|---|
| General/UR | 39-42 |
| EWS | 38-40 |
| BC | 35-37 |
| EBC | 34-36 |
| SC | 32-34 |
| ST | 31-33 |
| Women (all categories) | 31-34 |
| PwD | 30-32 |
Keep in mind these are approximate ranges, not the official cut-off. With work experience marks added for many candidates, the effective merit score needed to make the final list was often higher than the written cut-off alone suggests.
Best Books and Preparation Strategy
You don't need a mountain of new books for this exam. Your GNM or BSc Nursing textbooks are your main resource — go back to them rather than buying five different guides that repeat the same content.
Core books to keep:
- Your GNM/BSc Nursing textbooks for Medical-Surgical, Community Health, OBG, Pediatric and Psychiatric Nursing
- A standard nursing MCQ practice book (there are several popular ones sold at nursing exam coaching shops)
- A current affairs magazine or app for the last 6 months, focused on Bihar and health-related schemes
A simple month-wise plan if you have 3-4 months:
Month 1: Revise Medical-Surgical Nursing and Nursing Foundation thoroughly — these carry the most weight. Attempt daily MCQs from topic-wise practice to check your recall.
Month 2: Cover Community Health, OBG and Pediatric Nursing. Start reading current affairs daily, don't leave it for the final week.
Month 3: Finish Pharmacology, Nutrition and Mental Health Nursing. Begin full-length mock tests weekly through pareeksha.in's mock test series.
Final month: Only revision and mocks. Take at least 2-3 full-length tests a week, review every mistake, and time yourself strictly for the 2-hour format.
Build a proper study plan instead of studying randomly. And if you're also eyeing other Bihar or central exams as backup, check our broader exam guides section.
Common Mistakes and Honest Advice
The biggest mistake nursing candidates make is assuming clinical knowledge alone is enough. It isn't. General awareness and current affairs questions cost people ranks every single year because they're treated as an afterthought. Give this section real time.
Another common mistake: ignoring the negative marking rule. With 0.25 negative marking, wild guessing on questions you're unsure about can actually pull your score down. Practice enough mocks that you develop a gut sense for when to attempt and when to skip.
Also, don't underestimate the work experience component if you already have contract nursing service. Keep your experience certificates, service records and joining letters organized well in advance — this paperwork often causes last-minute panic during document verification, and delays or missing documents have cost candidates their selection in past cycles.
Finally, don't wait passively for the next notification without preparing. BTSC recruitment cycles can be unpredictable in timing, but the syllabus doesn't change much. Candidates who kept revising steadily during the gap years are always the ones who clear it fastest when the next notification lands.
Related reads on Pareeksha
If you're preparing for multiple Bihar government exams alongside BTSC Staff Nurse, these guides might help:
- Bihar Police Constable recruitment guide
- BPSC 72nd CCE guide
- SSC CGL guide if you're also considering central government options
- RRB NTPC guide for railway job aspirants keeping backup options open
FAQ
Is BTSC Staff Nurse notification out in 2026? No fresh notification has been released as of July 2026. The last cycle (Advt. No. 23/2025, 11,389 posts) had its exam in 2025 and result in December 2025. Check btsc.bihar.gov.in regularly for the next cycle.
How many vacancies were there in BTSC Staff Nurse 2025? There were 11,389 total vacancies across UR, EWS, SC, ST, BC and MBC categories, with about 2,659 posts reserved for women.
What is the age limit for BTSC Staff Nurse? Minimum age is 21 years. Maximum age is 37 years for General male candidates, 40 years for women/BC/EBC/EWS, and 42 years for SC/ST candidates, as on 1 August of the exam year.
What qualification is needed for BTSC Staff Nurse? You need a GNM diploma from an INC-recognised institute or a BSc Nursing degree, along with registration from the Bihar Nurses Registration Council.
What is the salary of a BTSC Staff Nurse? The pay scale is Level 7 with a band of ₹9,300 to ₹34,800 and grade pay of ₹4,600. In-hand salary after allowances is typically around ₹35,000 to ₹42,000 a month.
How many questions are in the BTSC Staff Nurse written exam? The written exam has 100 objective questions worth 75 marks, to be attempted in 2 hours, with 0.25 negative marking for each wrong answer.
Is there an interview in BTSC Staff Nurse selection? No. Selection is based on written exam marks (75) plus work experience marks (25), for a total of 100 marks. There's no separate interview round.
What is the application fee for BTSC Staff Nurse? ₹600 for General/EWS/OBC and outside-Bihar candidates, and ₹150 for SC/ST, female and PwD candidates domiciled in Bihar.
Does experience as a contract nurse help in BTSC Staff Nurse selection? Yes. Candidates get 5 marks per year of contractual staff nurse service in Bihar government or non-private health facilities, up to a maximum of 25 marks, which is added to the written exam score.
Where can I practice for BTSC Staff Nurse exam? You can use free mock tests on pareeksha.in and topic-wise practice sets to build speed and accuracy before the exam.
Final word
BTSC Staff Nurse is a solid opportunity if you have your nursing qualification ready and you're willing to put in focused revision. The syllabus isn't new to you, it's mostly what you studied in college, so this exam rewards steady revision over last-minute cramming. Keep an eye on btsc.bihar.gov.in for the next notification, keep your documents ready, and use the waiting period to sharpen your general awareness and mock test speed. That's usually the gap between a good rank and a missed one.
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