Postal Assistant Exam 2014 Pattern, Syllabus, Papers & Books

Written exam for selection of Postal Assistants/ Sorting Assistants is conducted by Department of Posts, Govt. of India from time to ti...

Written exam for selection of Postal Assistants/ Sorting Assistants is conducted by Department of Posts, Govt. of India from time to time. Just like previous years, Department of Posts has issued recruitment notification for 8243 Postal Assistants & Sorting Assistants, details of which can be found in my previous blog post titled: Postal Assistant Recruitment 2014 Notification, Eligibility & Forms.

While that post helps you to apply for the Postal / Sorting Assistant Exam with information on the exam dates, the eligibility & the application forms, the focus of this article is on to give you the study materials for Postal Assistant Exam 2014 – the sample papers & books for the same.

But before I point you to the sources of the study materials, let us know the exam pattern/format of Postal Assistants exam.

Format/Pattern of Postal Assistants exam 2014:

The selection process for these positions in Department of Post consists of a 100 mark written test followed by a qualifying Computer Typing Test.
The sections of Postal Assistant Exam and the mark distribution can be seen in the table at right. The four test sections of the exam consists of 25 questions each with 1 mark per question. There is no negative marking. Total duration of the Postal Assistant Exam is 2 hours.

Syllabus:
Syllabus for Postal Assistants exam is given below:
General Knowledge: Questions on current events, sports, history, geography, basic economics, general polity, Indian Constitution, science environment etc.
Mathematics: Maths of matriculation standard which may cover number system, simplification, decimals, corrections, simple and compound interest, per centage, average, profit & loss, discount, menstruation, time & work and time & distance etc.
English: Grammar (prepositions, adverbs, conjunction,direct/ indirect speech, singular & plural, tenses, antonyms/synonym.
Reasoning and analytical Ability.

Cut-off for Postal Assistant exam 2014:

No cut-off has been prescribed for the Postal Assistants exam and the merit list would be prepared based on the relative performance of all the candidates.

Minimum qualifying mark in aptitude test is 40% aggregate for OC (i.e. open category), 38% for OBC & 33% for SC/ST. In addition you have to qualify individually in for each section of aptitude test (i.e. score 10 mark by OC, 9 mark by OBC & 8 mark by SC/ST in each test).

Final merit shall be prepared on the basis of the aggregate marks obtained in the Aptitude Test only subject to their qualifying in Computer/Typing test.

Postal Assistants exam Computer Typing Test pattern:

The computer test for Postal Assistant consists of following two parts:

1.0 Test of computer typing: You have to type a passage (of 450 words in English or 375 words in Hindi) within a duration of 15 minutes. Minimum typing speed should be 30/25 w.p.m. respectively.

2.0 Test of data entry knowledge: This test consists of data comprising of figures and letters to test the knowledge of data entry. This again has to be completed within a duration of 15 minutes.

Sample papers for Postal Assistants exam:

You must be searching for Sample/Model/Previous years papers of Postal Assistants exam and your searches may not have yielded very good results.

As there are not too many good papers on net for the Postal Assistants exam, yet based on my experiences on recruitment exams, I would like to draw the similarity between this exam and Data Entry Operator Exam conducted by SSC (Staff Selection Commission). Not only the test sections of the exams are similar, but even the minimum eligibility (Class-12th pass) of both the exams are also similar. Hence may be you can use these section-wise sample papers of SSC DEO exams to prepare for the Postal Assistants exam.

You can find the similarities between the two exams from the comparison below:

Practice material for Computer Typing Test in Postal Assistants exam:

Computer Typing Test although has a weightage of 10%, it can still make that big difference between those who makes the final cut and those who does not.

You can judge your own Computer Typing/Data Entry skill from following two blog post, pointing you to the free websites for training:

Data Entry Operators Skill Test: It introduces you to the skill test.

Test Your Data Entry Skill Online/Download software: It points you to those resources which helps you test yourself.

Prep/Guide Books for Postal Assistants exam:

I searched on net and could find following two guide books for Postal Assistant/Sorting Assistants exam: These books are available in most of the good book stores. You can also order these books from Flipkart.com which offers free home delivery if the order exceeds Rs. 500/=. You can choose to pay through Credit Card/Debit Card/Internet Banking. You can also choose to pay through “Cash-on-Delivery” i.e. you pay in cash only when the same is delivered at your doorstep.

Department Of Posts: Postal Assistant Sorting Assistant Recruitment Exam by R. Gupta's
List Price: Rs. 120; Offer Price: Rs. 114;  Discount: Rs. 6 (5%)

Hindi Guide Books for Postal Assistants exam:

Bhartiya Daak Vibhag: Daak Sahayak/Chhantayi Sahayak Bharti Pariksha 2012-2013 (Hindi) Publisher: Arihant
List Price: Rs. 150; Offer Price: Rs. 105;  Discount: Rs. 35 (30%)

Bhartiya Daak Vibhag - Daak Sahayak/Chantayi Sahayak Bharti Pariksha 2013 - 2014 (Hindi) Publisher: Arihant
List Price: Rs. 165; 
Bhartiya Dak Vibhag Dak Sahayak / Chhantai Sahayak Bharti Pariksha: 15 Abhyas Patra (2012 - 2013) (Hindi); Publisher: G.K. Publications
List Price: Rs. 110.

Hope with above prep materials – the sample papers and books for Postal Assistant/Sorting Assistants exam, you can crack the exam easily. Please keep visiting this blog as I would be on the lookout for more sample papers and books for this exam and would post them as and when I find them..

Best wishes!

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