What TNPSC Group 4 is
The Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission’s Combined Civil Services Examination IV, universally known as TNPSC Group 4, is the state’s highest-volume recruitment exam by applicant numbers, filling a wide range of Class 10 qualified posts across Tamil Nadu government departments in a single notification. The post most people search this exam for specifically is Village Administrative Officer (VAO), the ground-level revenue post responsible for village land records, but the same notification also fills Junior Assistant, Typist, Bill Collector, Field Surveyor, Forest Guard and several other posts under one written exam and one merit list, with your final post decided by your rank and preference order. This is a different tier from TNPSC Group 1, the state’s administrative civil service exam: Group 4 is a Class 10 qualified, entry-level route, not a gazetted officer track.
Who can apply
The core requirement is SSLC (Class 10) pass or an equivalent qualification, though the exact requirement can vary slightly by post within the same notification. The general age band is 18 to 32 years, with one notable exception: Village Administrative Officer and Forest Guard posts specifically carry a minimum age of 21, not 18, so a candidate targeting VAO who has only just turned 18 still needs to wait. Tamil language proficiency is treated as an advantage for the Tamil-only part of the written test, but is not stated as a hard eligibility bar for applying. Confirm both the post-specific qualification and the age band against the current notification before locking a preference.
How the exam runs
Group 4 is a single-paper, offline, OMR-based written examination running three hours, two hundred questions worth three hundred marks, with no negative marking, a meaningfully different risk profile from exams that penalise wrong answers. Part A is the Tamil Eligibility-cum-Scoring Test, one hundred questions at SSLC standard, conducted only in Tamil. Part B covers General Studies at SSLC standard and an Aptitude and Mental Ability Test, together worth the remaining marks, and is available in both Tamil and English. There is no interview at any stage; selection runs entirely on the written score, followed by certificate verification and counselling where your rank and preference order decide your final post and department.
Preparing the application
Photograph and signature specifications follow the standard format given in the current TNPSC notification. The photo resizer on this site adjusts an existing photo to the required size in the browser.
TNPSC uses a One-Time Registration (OTR) system: a one hundred fifty rupee OTR fee, valid five years across every TNPSC exam you apply to afterward, plus a separate one hundred rupee examination fee per notification. SC, ST, PwD and ex-servicemen candidates are exempt from both fees.
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.
After the written exam
Because Group 4 covers many posts under one merit list, your rank determines which posts are actually available to you at the counselling stage, not just whether you clear a cutoff. Review the full list of posts covered by the specific notification and rank your preferences with that in mind, since a candidate targeting VAO specifically needs a rank strong enough for VAO’s own cutoff, which can differ meaningfully from the overall Group 4 cutoff.
For anything this page cannot answer, treat the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission’s own official website, linked above, as the last word: current vacancies, post-wise splits and this cycle’s dates are published there each time a new notification opens.