If you're a UP student aiming for a government job, you've heard this name a hundred times: PET. Not an exam for one post, but the gate you have to cross before you can even apply for dozens of UP government jobs. Lekhpal, VDO, Junior Assistant, Forest Guard, Gram Panchayat Adhikari, and many more Group B and Group C posts all ask for a valid PET score first.
That's what makes PET tricky to explain to beginners. It's not a recruitment exam by itself. Think of it as a qualifying round that UPSSSC (Uttar Pradesh Subordinate Services Selection Commission) runs once a year. Clear it, get a score, and that score becomes your ticket to apply for the actual jobs for the next three years. This guide breaks down everything you need, from the latest notification status to the syllabus and a real prep plan.
Latest Notification and Important Dates
As of the first week of August 2026, UPSSSC has not released the official PET 2026 notification yet. Multiple exam-prep sites expect it to drop around August-September 2026, with the exam itself likely in October or November 2026, but none of this is confirmed by UPSSSC. Treat every 2026 date below as tentative until you see it on upsssc.gov.in.
For reference, here's how the last completed cycle (PET 2025) played out. Use this to understand the rough timeline the commission usually follows.
| Event | PET 2025 (completed) | PET 2026 (tentative) |
|---|---|---|
| Notification released | May 2025 | Expected August-September 2026 |
| Application start | 14 May 2025 | Not announced |
| Application last date | 17 June 2025 | Not announced |
| Fee payment / correction deadline | 24 June 2025 | Not announced |
| Admit card | Late August 2025 | Not announced |
| Exam date | 6-7 September 2025 | Expected October-November 2026 (tentative) |
| Result / merit list | Released in 2025-26 | Not announced |
Keep checking upsssc.gov.in directly, since third-party sites often carry outdated guesses. We'll update this page the day the real notification lands.
What PET Actually Is (and Isn't)
PET stands for Preliminary Eligibility Test. It is not a job by itself. It's a common screening exam, a bit like a general aptitude filter, that UPSSSC uses instead of running a separate prelims for every single recruitment. Once you get your PET score, it stays valid for three years. During that window, whenever UPSSSC opens applications for a post like Lekhpal or VDO, you use your existing PET score to apply directly for the mains exam of that post. No need to sit for a fresh screening round each time.
So your day-to-day "work" after PET depends entirely on which post you eventually get selected for through the full recruitment process: a Lekhpal manages land records in villages, a VDO runs panchayat-level development work, a Junior Assistant does office and clerical duties, a Forest Guard patrols forest areas. PET only decides whether you're eligible to compete for these roles.
Vacancy Details
PET itself has no fixed vacancy number, because it isn't hiring for one department. Every year, tens of lakhs of candidates (often 20-30 lakh plus) sit for PET across UP, hoping to keep their score fresh and valid. The actual number of jobs depends on which departments release vacancies later using that PET score, things like:
- UP Lekhpal
- Village Development Officer (VDO) / Gram Vikas Adhikari
- Junior Assistant across various UP government departments
- Forest Guard and Wildlife Guard
- X-Ray Technician, Pharmacist and other paramedical posts
- Various Group C clerical and technical posts under UPSSSC
Because so many departments recruit off one PET score, competition at the PET stage itself is massive but the passing bar isn't extremely high. The real fight happens later, in the mains exams for specific posts. You can browse current openings and requirements on the exam guides section to see which post-specific exams are open right now.
Eligibility Criteria
Age limit: 18 to 40 years as on the cut-off date notified each year (this was 1 July 2024 for the PET 2025 cycle). The exact reference date changes slightly every year, so always check the fresh notification.
Age relaxation (as per UP government norms, actual figures confirmed in each notification):
| Category | Relaxation |
|---|---|
| SC/ST | 5 years |
| OBC | 3 years |
| PwD (Divyang) | 15 years |
| Ex-servicemen | Service period + 3 years |
| Women (UR/OBC/SC/ST as applicable) | As per state government rules |
Educational qualification: You need to have passed Class 10 (High School) at minimum. Some categories of posts that use PET score ask for Class 12 or graduation later, but for PET registration itself, High School pass from a recognised board is enough.
Domicile: You should be a resident of Uttar Pradesh, or otherwise eligible as per UPSSSC's residency rules stated in the notification.
There's no cap on how many times you can attempt PET, as long as you're within the age limit.
Application Process and Fee
You apply online through the official UPSSSC portal. Here's the usual flow, based on the PET 2025 cycle:
- Go to upsssc.gov.in and find the active PET application link.
- Register as a new user with your basic details, mobile number and email.
- Fill in personal, educational and category details carefully.
- Upload your photograph (usually 50-100 KB) and signature (30-50 KB) as per the size specified.
- Pay the application fee online (net banking, debit/credit card, or SBI e-challan).
- Review everything and submit. Print the confirmation page for your records.
Application fee (PET 2025 cycle, for reference):
| Category | Fee |
|---|---|
| General / OBC | Rs 185 (Rs 160 registration + Rs 25 processing) |
| SC / ST | Rs 95 (Rs 70 registration + Rs 25 processing) |
| PwD | Rs 25 (processing fee only) |
Fees are usually similar year to year but always confirm the exact amount in the fresh notification before paying.
Exam Pattern
PET is a single-stage, offline (OMR-based) test. Here's how it's structured:
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Mode | Offline, OMR sheet |
| Total questions | 100 |
| Total marks | 100 |
| Duration | 2 hours |
| Negative marking | 0.25 marks deducted per wrong answer |
| Medium | Hindi and English |
Section-wise breakup:
| Section | Questions | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| Indian History | 5 | 5 |
| Indian National Movement | 5 | 5 |
| Geography (India and world) | 5 | 5 |
| Indian Economy | 5 | 5 |
| Indian Constitution and Public Administration | 5 | 5 |
| General Science | 5 | 5 |
| Elementary Arithmetic | 5 | 5 |
| General Hindi | 5 | 5 |
| General English | 5 | 5 |
| Reasoning | 5 | 5 |
| Current Affairs | — | 10 |
| General Awareness | — | 10 |
| Hindi Unseen Passages | 2 | 10 |
| Graph Interpretation | 2 | 10 |
| Table Interpretation | 2 | 10 |
Notice how nearly 40 marks come from data/passage-based questions (graphs, tables, unseen passages). That's a big chunk and it's exactly where most candidates lose easy marks by rushing. Slow down there.
Detailed Syllabus
Indian History: Indus Valley civilization, Vedic age, Buddhism and Jainism, Mauryan and Gupta empires, Delhi Sultanate, Mughal empire, Maratha power, arrival of Europeans, British consolidation.
Indian National Movement: 1857 revolt, formation of Congress, partition of Bengal, Gandhi's arrival and mass movements (Non-Cooperation, Civil Disobedience, Quit India), role of INA and Subhas Chandra Bose, independence and partition.
Geography: Physical geography of India (rivers, mountains, plateaus), climate and monsoon, natural resources, agriculture patterns, population and demography, world geography basics.
Indian Economy: Five-year plans, Green Revolution, banking basics, LPG reforms of 1991, GST, budget basics, poverty and unemployment concepts.
Indian Constitution and Public Administration: Preamble, fundamental rights and duties, directive principles, structure of Parliament, judiciary, panchayati raj system, UP state administration basics.
General Science: Class 9-10 level physics, chemistry and biology. Basic units, everyday chemistry, human body systems, common scientific phenomena.
Elementary Arithmetic: Number system, percentage, profit and loss, average, ratio and proportion, simple/compound interest, time and work. Practice these with free quantitative aptitude material to speed up calculation.
General Hindi: Sandhi, samas, vilom shabd, paryayvachi shabd, muhavare, shudh vartani (spelling correction), and basic grammar rules.
General English: Basic grammar (tenses, articles, prepositions), synonyms/antonyms, one-word substitution, error spotting, simple comprehension.
Reasoning: Analogy, classification, coding-decoding, blood relations, direction sense, series completion, ranking and order. A structured reasoning guide with UP-level questions will help here.
Current Affairs and General Awareness: Last 6-12 months of national and state news, government schemes, sports, awards, books and authors, UP-specific current affairs (state government schemes get asked often). Follow current affairs updates regularly instead of cramming at the end.
Graph and Table Interpretation: Bar graphs, line graphs, pie charts and data tables, mostly testing your ability to read and calculate quickly under time pressure, not advanced maths.
Use the general awareness guide to build a static GK base alongside your daily current affairs reading.
Salary and Career Growth
PET itself pays nothing, it's just the entry gate. Your actual salary depends on the post you land after clearing the specific recruitment exam that uses your PET score. Here's a rough idea for a few common posts:
| Post | Pay Level | Approximate in-hand (monthly) |
|---|---|---|
| UP Lekhpal | Level 3 | Rs 25,000 - 30,000 |
| VDO (Gram Vikas Adhikari) | Level 5 | Rs 32,000 - 38,000 |
| Junior Assistant | Level 2 | Rs 21,000 - 26,000 |
| Forest Guard | Level 3 | Rs 24,000 - 29,000 |
These figures include basic pay, DA and other standard allowances, and vary by posting location and department. Career growth also depends on the post: Lekhpals can move up to Kanungo and Naib Tehsildar over time, VDOs can progress to ADO and BDO ranks with experience and departmental exams.
Previous Year Cut-off
PET cut-offs move around based on how many people appear and how tough the paper is. Here's what's on record:
| Category | 2021 Cut-off | 2023 Cut-off (approx) |
|---|---|---|
| General/UR | 62.96 | 60-65 |
| OBC | 62.96 | 58-63 |
| EWS | 62.96 | 57-62 |
| SC | 61.80 | 55-60 |
| ST | 44.71 | 50-55 |
| Women (all categories) | 64.74 | 58-63 |
| PwD | 51.12 | 45-50 |
No PET exam was held in 2024, and full official cut-off figures for 2025 hadn't been separately published as a clean category table at the time of writing. Roughly, you should aim for 60+ marks to stay safely competitive across most categories, though your real target is a good percentile, not just an absolute number, since cut-offs shift with difficulty level every year.
Best Books and Preparation Strategy
PET syllabus is wide but shallow. It doesn't demand deep subject mastery like UPPCC does, it demands speed and consistency across many small topics. Here's a plan that works for most students starting from scratch with 3-4 months in hand:
Month 1: Build your base. Go through NCERT Class 9-10 for History, Geography, Civics and Science. Start daily current affairs reading (30 minutes a day is enough if you're consistent). Begin basic arithmetic and reasoning practice daily.
Month 2: Add depth. Cover Indian Economy and Constitution chapters properly. Increase arithmetic and reasoning question count daily. Start practicing graph and table interpretation questions specifically, this section catches people off guard.
Month 3: Full mock mode. Take at least 2-3 full-length mocks a week from the free mock test series. Review every wrong answer, not just the score. Time yourself strictly, since 100 questions in 120 minutes leaves under 1.2 minutes per question on average, and the data interpretation section eats more time than that.
Final 2-3 weeks: Only revision and mocks. No new topics. Focus on your weak sections from the mock analysis. Use topic-wise practice sets to hammer specific weak areas instead of random full papers every day.
For books: NCERT Class 9-10 (History, Geography, Civics, Science) covers most of the static portion. Lucent's General Knowledge is a solid single-source for the GK sections. Any standard arithmetic and reasoning practice book with UP-level questions works fine, you don't need anything fancy for PET.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Don't ignore the data interpretation section thinking it's "just maths." It's worth 40 marks and most candidates under-practice it because it feels tedious.
Don't leave current affairs for the last week. Six months of news crammed in a few days doesn't stick. Read a little daily instead.
Don't skip mock tests because you feel "not ready." The 2-hour, 100-question format needs its own muscle memory. Reading topics without timed practice leaves you unprepared for the actual pressure.
Don't forget that PET is only step one. Many students celebrate a good PET score and then stop preparing, only to struggle in the actual mains exam for Lekhpal or VDO. Keep building on your base even after PET.
FAQ
Is PET a job itself? No. It's a qualifying screening test. You need a valid PET score to apply for various UPSSSC Group B and C recruitments.
How long is a PET score valid? Three years from the date of the exam.
Can I improve my PET score in a later attempt? Yes. Many candidates reappear for PET even with a valid score to try for a higher percentile, since some posts have tough competition.
What is the negative marking in PET? 0.25 marks are deducted for every wrong answer.
Is PET the same difficulty as SSC CGL or SSC CHSL? No, it's easier and broader. If you've prepared for SSC CHSL or SSC GD Constable, you already have most of the base needed for PET.
Do I need to clear PET every year to keep applying for UP jobs? No, as long as your last PET score is within its 3-year validity window, you can use it.
What is the passing/qualifying mark for PET? There's no fixed universal qualifying mark. It works on merit and category-wise cut-off depending on how many candidates apply for a specific post later.
Can graduates apply for PET? Yes. The minimum requirement is Class 10 pass, so graduates and even postgraduates are eligible too.
Is PET conducted in offline or online mode? Offline, using OMR sheets at designated exam centres.
Where do I check the official notification? Only on upsssc.gov.in. Avoid relying only on third-party sites for exam dates.
Final Word
PET isn't the hardest exam you'll face on your government job journey, but it's the one that decides whether you even get a shot at the rest. Treat it seriously. Build your GK and current affairs base early, drill arithmetic, reasoning and data interpretation until they're fast and automatic, and take enough mocks that the exam format feels routine on the actual day.
Once your PET score is in hand, don't relax. Start looking at the specific post you want, whether it's Lekhpal, VDO or something else, and begin its dedicated preparation right away. Check the study plan section to structure your next steps once PET is behind you.
Related reads on Pareeksha:
- UP Lekhpal recruitment guide
- UP Police Constable exam guide
- UP VDO exam guide
- RRB Group D preparation
Official sources: UPSSSC official website for notifications and admit cards, and UP government portal for general policy updates on state recruitment.
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