APPSC Group 1 vs Group 2: how do the two exams differ, and where do they meet?

APPSC Group 1 vs Group 2: the difference in one table

APPSC Group 1 and Group 2 both open with an objective Screening whose marks are set aside. After that they part. Group 1 has seven descriptive Mains papers, five of which count for 750 marks, and a 75-mark interview. Group 2 has two objective Mains papers for 300 marks, and a computer test you only need to pass.

The two rows that change how you prepare are the interview and the marks that decide rank. Group 1 rank comes from writing and speaking. Group 2 rank comes from choosing the right option, with a third of a mark lost for each wrong one.

Which posts come through Group 1, and which through Group 2?

APPSC Group 1 fills 166 vacancies across 13 posts in 2026. Deputy Superintendent of Police (Civil) has 36, Divisional Development Officer 35 and Deputy Collector 12. Group 2 fills 673 posts across 12. Deputy Tahsildar, 200, and Deputy Mandal Parishad Development Officer, 176, are together a little over half of them.

Group 1 is the smaller list and the higher one in the pay scales, as the next section shows. The Group 1 split comes from the brief notification itself. The Group 2 split comes from the government order, because the Group 2 notification is not out yet.

Both counts can move. The Group 1 brief notification called its 163 provisional, and the detailed notification lists 166. The 673 is the order's count until the notification restates it. The last notifications moved too: Group 1 notification 12/2023 advertised 81 posts and became 89, and Group 2 notification 11/2023 advertised 899 and became 905. The post-by-post lists are on the Group 1 exam page and the Group 2 posts and salary page.

Salary difference between Group 1 and Group 2

APPSC Group 1 posts in notification 07/2026 start on a basic pay of ₹54,060 to ₹65,360 a month under the 2022 pay scales. Group 2 posts start on ₹25,220 to ₹45,830. The lowest Group 1 entry basic is ₹8,230 above the highest Group 2 entry basic in the published scales.

What that comes to each month, roughly. Add dearness allowance of 37.31 percent and house rent allowance of 16 percent in a district headquarters, and a Deputy Collector or DSP comes to about ₹94,991 a month before deductions. A Deputy Tahsildar comes to about ₹68,330. These are our estimates from the published scales and rates. They leave out deductions, the city allowance and any special pay. The scale for Goods and Services Tax Officer, 40 of the Group 2 posts, is not in our sources, so it is left out of the table.

Can I apply for both Group 1 and Group 2 in 2026?

APPSC runs Group 1 and Group 2 as separate notifications, each with its own online form and fee. In 2026 the two timelines touch. Group 1 applications run from 6 to 27 October, and the Group 2 notification is due on 15 October under G.O.Ms.No.81, which falls inside that window. Keep both dates in view.

Both 2026 timelines on one rail, as of 23 September 2026. Dates come from the commission's brief notification and the government orders; nothing here is a forecast.

The last cycle ran the two exams on separate days. The Group 2 Screening was on 25 February 2024 and the Group 1 screening on 17 March 2024, 21 days apart. The Mains were a little over two months apart, 23 February 2025 for Group 2 and 3 to 9 May 2025 for Group 1. The final lists came three days apart, on 27 and 30 January 2026, and each cycle took about 25.7 months from notification to selection.

At the last cycle's fees, applying to both in full cost ₹700: ₹370 for Group 1 and ₹330 for Group 2. SC, ST, BC, PwBD, ex-servicemen and white-card holders were exempt from the examination part. The fee has not changed since 2016, and each new notification states its own.

Age limit and degree for Group 1 and Group 2

APPSC applies one age rule to both exams. G.O.Ms.No.187 of 14 September 2026 sets the upper age for non-uniform posts at 44, for recruitment notified up to 30 September 2027, with the category relaxations on top. The minimum in the last notifications was 18. Both exams ask for a bachelor's degree, and the exceptions belong to particular posts.

Work out your age once, against the APPSC age limit page, and it answers for both exams. The detailed notifications will show how each post applies the new limit.

Syllabus overlap between Group 1 and Group 2

APPSC's two syllabuses share their core. Each of the four Group 2 Mains subjects, 75 marks each, maps mainly to a Group 1 Mains paper: AP history and culture to Paper II, the Constitution to Paper III, the economy to Paper IV, and science and technology to Paper V. A few parts sit elsewhere: the Preamble, Fundamental Duties and basic structure are in Group 1 Prelims Paper I, as are national income and planning, and the unit on parties, elections and anti-defection law is in no Group 1 paper. Group 1 adds the essay, geography, governance, law and ethics, and two language papers.

The screenings share ground as well. Group 1 Paper I gives 30 marks each to history, polity, economy and geography, and Paper II gives mental ability 60, science and technology 30 and current events 30. The Group 2 Screening of February 2024 had five blocks of 30 marks: history, geography, Indian society, current affairs and mental ability. It had no polity or economy block, which Group 1 Paper I has.

What differs inside a shared subject is the output. A Group 2 question on a part of the Constitution asks you to pick one of four options. A Group 1 question on the same part asks you to write the answer, in a paper of 180 minutes. The reading can be the same; the practice cannot.

Why there is no percentage here. We have not counted how many Group 1 chapters Group 2 covers against both official syllabus annexures, so this page gives the overlap by paper and subject, and no figure. The chapter-by-chapter Group 2 map is on the Group 2 syllabus page.

Is Group 1 or Group 2 easier?

APPSC publishes nothing that ranks one exam as easier, and marks in two different exams are not on one scale. What the documents show is two kinds of test. Group 2 is objective from start to end and has no interview. Group 1 asks for written answers worth 750 marks, two language papers you must pass, and a 75-mark interview.

The last cycle gives the size of each. Group 1 notification 12/2023 had 91,463 at the screening on 17 March 2024, by press reports. Its own list sent 4,496 to the Mains, press reports put the interview call at 182, and 87 were selected on 30 January 2026. Group 2 notification 11/2023 had 404,037 at the screening on 25 February 2024, by press reports of the commission's figures. Its own list sent 92,250 to the Mains, and 891 were selected on 27 January 2026.

Those counts describe each exam, and they do not say which one suits you. A better guide is your own week. Try one timed set of objective questions with the negative marking counted, and one written answer checked against its question. The kind of work you can keep doing each week tells you more than a label.

How to prepare for Group 1 and Group 2 together

Plan APPSC Group 1 and Group 2 on one syllabus spine. Read each shared subject once, at the depth the Group 1 Mains asks for, and treat the Group 1 papers that Group 2 does not have as an extension. Then practise the two outputs apart: timed objective questions for both screenings and the Group 2 Mains, and written answers for Group 1.

Start with the ground both screenings share: history, geography, current events and mental ability. Last time the two screenings were 21 days apart, so this reading serves both dates. Bring in polity and economy early too. The Group 1 screening has sections for them, and in Group 2 they are 150 of the 300 Mains marks.

Read the four shared Mains subjects at Group 1 depth. Understanding a chapter well enough to explain it in writing also prepares you to pick the right option on it, so the Group 1 reading does work for both exams. Then add what Group 1 alone asks for: the essay, governance, law and ethics, the Telugu and English papers, and later the interview. Group 2 alone asked for Indian society in its 2024 Screening and a computer test after the Mains.

Keep two practice records. For objective sets, count right answers, wrong answers and guesses, because a wrong answer costs a third of a mark. For written answers, keep the answer and the question side by side and check what the question asked for. The dates of the two notifications will set how you divide the weeks, and both are on the rail above.

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