What the Nagaland NCS/NPS exam is
The Nagaland Public Service Commission’s Combined Competitive Examination recruits into Nagaland Civil Service (NCS), Nagaland Police Service (NPS) and Allied Services posts through one combined exam, the state’s own civil service route sitting alongside UPSC CSE as a separate, state-level option for a Nagaland candidate.
Who can apply
The qualification requirement is a Bachelor’s degree in any discipline from a recognised university; final-year candidates awaiting their result are also eligible to apply. Reservation policy heavily favours candidates from a recognised Naga Tribe, Kuki, Kachari, Garo or Mikir community who qualify as Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland, certified through a District Authority (an Additional Deputy Commissioner or above); a candidate outside these categories can apply only to whatever unreserved posts exist in a given cycle. The general age band is 21 to 32 years as on the 1st of January of the notification year, with relaxation for serving government employees based on years of service, capped at five years.
How the exam runs
The Preliminary Examination is a single paper, one hundred questions worth two hundred marks, two hours, covering General Science, History and Geography (including Nagaland specifically), Indian Polity and Economy, the Indian National Movement, General Mental Ability and Current Events. This is a screening stage; it does not itself count toward final merit. The Main Examination is a set of written, descriptive papers whose exact subjects and marks are set out in the specific notification. Candidates who clear the Main proceed to an Interview worth a reported seventy five marks, though confirm this figure against the current notification since NPSC has revised its exam structure between recent cycles.
Preparing the application
Photograph and signature specifications follow the standard format given in the current NPSC notification. The photo resizer on this site adjusts an existing photo to the required size in the browser.
The application fee runs approximately three hundred rupees; confirm the exact figure and any category-wise variation against the specific notification, since reported figures have varied slightly between sources.
On exam day
Carry the printed admit card and an original government photo identification matching the name and photo on the admit card. No electronic devices are permitted inside the examination hall.
Confirm the reservation structure before applying
Because reservation for this exam is structured around Indigenous Inhabitant status rather than a general open category, confirm your own eligibility for the specific post category you intend to apply for before investing preparation time, since this shapes which posts are realistically available to you far more than it does for most exams on this site.
For anything this page cannot answer, treat the Nagaland Public Service Commission’s own official website, linked above, as the last word: post-wise vacancies, the Main Examination’s exact structure and this cycle’s remaining dates are published there. For how this exam compares with the rest of the region’s state PSC exams, see Northeast India state PSC exams, a complete guide.