Why Normalization in SSC CGL 2018 ? – Know More about it now

Dear SSC Aspirants,

Normalization has been introduced recently in the SSC CGL 2018 and this article would be a eye opener for the same. SSC (Staff Selection Commission) has released the notification of the SSC CGL 2018 on 5th May, 2018 and the registration have been started and aspirant can apply for the positions available in SSC CGL 2018. It has been mentioned in the notification that Normalization will be used this time for the SSC CGL 2018 exam. This is the first time SSC has announced the normalization for the SSC CGL 2018 Exam.

There weren’t much changes in the SSC CGL 2018 Exam pattern and it is same as that of the SSC CGL 2017 – 2018 Exam. The only change included in the SSC CGL 2018 Exam is the normalization of the marks for the Tier I and Tier II Exam for the SSC CGL Exam 2018.

The notification for the SSC CGL 2018 has been released earlier and we have already notified about that in our Bankersdaily website. Please click the link below to check the detailed notification, eligibility criteria, age limit and exam pattern.


Official Notification – SSC CGL 2018


Aspirants can check the Exam pattern of the SSC CGL 2018 of various Tiers from the tables mentioned below.

The Examination will be conducted in four tiers as indicated below:

Tier -I           –    Computer Based Examination

Tier -II          –    Computer Based Examination

Tier -III        –    Pen and Paper Mode (Descriptive paper)

Tier-IV          –   Computer Proficiency Test / Skill Test (wherever applicable)/ Document Verification


Scheme of Tier-I and Tier-II Examinations 

Tier Subject Number of Questions Maximum Marks Time allowed
I A.  General    Intelligence    and Reasoning 25 50

 60 Minutes (Total)

For VH/ OH (afflicted with Cerebral Palsy/ deformity in writing hand- 80 Minutes

B.    General Awareness 25 50
C. Quantitative Aptitude 25 50
D. English Comprehension 25 50

II Paper-I: Quantitative Abilities 100 200 120  Minutes (for each Paper)

For VH/ OH (afflicted with Cerebral Palsy/ deformity in writing hand- 160 Minutes

Paper-II: English Language and Comprehension 200 200
Paper-III: Statistics 100 200
Paper-IV:      General      Studies (Finance and Economics) 100 200 

Note-I: In Tier-I, there will be negative marking of 0.50 for each wrong answer.

Note-II: In Tier-II, there will be negative marking of 0.25 for each wrong answer in Paper-II (English Language and Comprehension) and of 0.50 marks for each wrong answer in Paper-I, Paper-III and Paper-IV.

Note-III: In Tier-II, Paper-I and Paper-II are compulsory for all the posts.

Note-IV: In Tier-II, Paper-III will be for only those candidates who apply for the post of Junior Statistical Officer (JSO) and who are shortlisted in Tier-I for this Post/ Paper.

Note-V: In Tier-II, Paper-IV will be for only those candidates who are shortlisted in Tier-I for Paper-IV i.e. for the posts of Assistant Audit Officer/ Assistant Accounts Officer.


Scheme of Tier-III Examination

Tier Mode of Examination Scheme of Examination Maximum Marks Time Allowed
III Pen and Paper mode Descriptive Paper in English or Hindi (Writing of Essay/ Precis/ Letter/ Application etc.) 100

60 Minutes

For VH/ OH (afflicted with Cerebral Palsy/ deformity in writing hand- 80 Minutes


It has been mentioned in the notification of SSC CGL 2018 that the marks of the Tier I and Tier II of the SSC CGL Exam will be normalized. Please note the below line which is mentioned in the SSC CGL 2018 notification which quotes “Marks scored by candidates in Tier-I and Tier-II examinations, if conducted in multiple shifts, will be normalized and such normalized scores will be treated as final and will be used for qualifying the candidates to next stage of examination and to determine final.”


Normalization - SSC CGL 2018 notification


It must be duly noted that no normalization methods have been specified by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) in the recently released SSC CGL 2018 notification. These methods were already discussed as there recent allegations on the board, as many shifts for the exams are conducted, one normalized method to finalize the marks should be used.

It has been the norm for the banking exams like IBPS PO & IBPS CLERK Exam and also for the other exams. Since this normalization method is introduced in this year SSC CGL Exam 2018, this brings the much needed relief for the aspirants as this is the savior for their preparations.


How is Normalization Done Usually ?

Universally many methods are used to normalize the marks for various examinations. Last year SSC CGL Exam 2017 had many shifts and mostly for many shifts the exams were in the easier and aspirants have answered the maximum number of Questions. After some shifts, the difficulty level of the exams were increased and due to this many aspirants were able to attend only less number of Questions.

This created a debate on the normalization process in the SSC CGL Exams and normalization will be the key to this difficulty Level of the Questions. According to the last year, the aspirants who had attended the exams in the first slots easily scored marks and those aspirants who appeared in the later stages of the exam found it difficult to crack the exams.

Introducing the Normalization will work in a greater way, whatever may be the cutoff marks or the marks obtained by the candidates in shifts, the marks of all the aspirants will be in a normalized way. So for Example if A writes exam in the Shift 1 and it is in the easier level and that aspirant would have solved more number of Questions and if B who writes the exam in shift encounters a difficult Question set and attend only a meager number of Questions when compared to the Student “A” will be compared with the normalized marks.

So this will be save the aspirants from the hassles of the Difficulty level of the SSC CGL Exam 2018. We haven’t mentioned any global methods because the SSC (Staff Selection commission) haven’t mentioned any methods for the Normalization.

Since there are only a handful number of days for the SSC CGL Tier I Exam, your preparations have to be in a different level to achieve the Tier I Examination and to attend the Tier II Examination.

Aspirants can check the LIVE video session where our SSC FOCUS TEAM have answered all the Queries regarding the SSC CGL 2018 notification and also about the normalization process. Please click the link below to view the video.


SSC CGL 2018 NOTIFICATION