UPSC EPFO Exam Pattern & Syllabus 2025: Check Latest Updates, Interview Qualifying Marks, Negative Marking

EPFO Exam Pattern & Syllabus 2025: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) releases the EPFO exam pattern on its official website along with the notification. The EPFO notification contains the exam pattern & syllabus of the recruitment test. The exam is conducted in a pen & paper mode. 

Candidates preparing for the EPFO exam 2025 must be familiar with the syllabus and exam pattern. For the post of EPFO PA, the recruitment test is conducted for a duration of two hours. Objective type questions are asked in the test. The EPFO PA recruitment test consists of the following topics - English Language, General Awareness, Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning & Computer Aptitude.  

As per the EPFO syllabus released by UPSC for EO/AO posts, the question paper will have questions from General English, General Accounting Principles, Indian Polity & Economy, Indian Freedom Struggle, Social Security in India, General Mental Ability & Quantitative Aptitude, General Science & Knowledge of Computer Applications, Industrial Relations & Labour Laws, and Current Events & Development Issues.

EPFO Exam Pattern for Personal Assistant

For the selection of candidates for EPFO PA posts, 100% weightage (300 marks) is allocated to the Recruitment Test. Based on the recruitment test, candidates are shortlisted to appear in the Skill Test. The Skill test is mandatory but qualifying in nature. The final selection will be done on the basis of merit in the recruitment test. The exam pattern for the recruitment test is given below.

The key highlights for the recruitment test are given below - 

• The test will be conducted for a duration of 2 hours.
• All questions will carry equal marks.
• The test will be objective type questions with multiple choices of answer.
• The medium of question paper is in English and Hindi except for those questions in English Language.
• There will be negative marking in the examination. Every wrong answer will carry a deduction of 1/3rd of the marks assigned to that question.
• No marks will be deducted for an unanswered question.

UPSC EPFO Syllabus 2025 for Personal Assistant 

The syllabus for the EPFO PA recruitment test consists of the topics mentioned below:

i) English Language
ii) General Awareness
iii) Quantitative Aptitude
iv) Reasoning & Computer Aptitude

EPFO Exam Pattern for Enforcement Officers/Account Officers

UPSC conducts the EPFO exam in a pen & paper mode to recruit candidates for the post of Enforcement Officer/Account Officer in the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO). The EPFO selection process consists of two stages: a written examination and an interview round. The  Candidates can check the EPFO exam pattern in the table below:

Note: Candidates with a physical disability will be given a compensatory time of 20 minutes in the written examination. They will also be given the facility of a scribe.

Once the written examination is over, EPFO results will be announced by UPSC. The selected candidates are called for the interview round. The weightage for the written examination and interview round for the EPFO exam is in the ratio of 75:25.

Check highlights of the EPFO exam pattern below: 

• The test will be of two hours duration
• All questions will carry equal marks.
• The test will be objective type questions with multiple choices of answer.
• The medium of the test will be both Hindi and English.
• There will be penalty for wrong answers. Every wrong answer will carry a deduction of  one-third of the marks assigned to that question. If no answer is marked for a question,  there will be no penalty for that question. 

EPFO APFC Exam Pattern

• The test will be of two hours duration
• All questions will carry equal marks.
• The test will be objective type questions with multiple choices of answer.
• The medium of the test will be both Hindi and English.
• There will be penalty for wrong answers. Every wrong answer will carry a deduction of  one-third of the marks assigned to that question. If no answer is marked for a question,  there will be no penalty for that question. 

EPFO Interview Qualifying Marks

The commission has set the minimum qualifying marks for the interview round. This is irrespective of whether the selection is done solely by the interview round or a written examination followed by the interview round. Candidates can check the EPFO interview qualifying marks in the table below:

EPFO Syllabus for Enforcement Officer & Account Officer (EO & AO)

There are two parts to the EPFO written exam: Part A and Part B. Part A is General English and has 20 questions. While Part B contains 100 questions covering a variety of subjects, including general science, social security, general accounting principles, Indian politics, the economy, and the freedom struggle in India. The table below summarizes the complete EPFO EO/AO syllabus:

EPFO APFC Syllabus

The APFC syllabus of the EPFO exam broadly comprises the following topics:
(a) General English- To evaluate a candidate’s understanding of English language &
workman–like use of words.
(b) Indian Culture, Heritage & Freedom Movements & Current Events
(c) Population, Development and Globalization
(d) Governance and Constitution of India
(e) Present Trends in Indian Economy
(f) Accounting and Auditing, Industrial Relations, Labour Laws, Insurance
(g) Basic Knowledge of Computer Applications, General Science
(h) Elementary Mathematics, Statistics and General Mental Ability.
(i) Social Security in India. 

Conclusion

EPFO exam pattern & syllabus is important to understand for exam preparation. The UPSC EPFO Exam preparation must include thoroughly studying the outlined syllabus, revising it, and solving previous question papers.