If you are applying for an FPSC job, there is an objective test to prepare for. Every one of the 91 posts in Consolidated Advertisement No. 03/2026 is "Objective Type Test (MCQ)". The rules around it are not the same from post to post, though, and one of them will change how you answer questions: a wrong answer costs you marks.
Key takeaways
- 69 of the 91 posts are 100 marks in 100 minutes. The other 22 are 200 marks in 200 minutes.
- On every post, a wrong answer loses 0.25 marks. A blank loses nothing.
- Passing is 40% of the total on most posts. On 22 posts you must reach the bar in each part, and on 4 of those the bar is 50%.
- The marks are split between sections, and the split differs by job family. Read your own post before you plan anything.
Marks and time
The numbers come straight from the advertisement, which FPSC issued on 11 August 2026.
| Posts | Marks | Minutes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard paper | 69 | 100 | 100 |
| Long paper | 22 | 200 | 200 |
On Mock CSS each question is worth one mark, so a 100-mark post gives you a 100-question mock. Time works out to about a minute a question either way.
Negative marking
Every post in the advertisement deducts 0.25 marks for each wrong answer. Leaving a question blank costs nothing.
This is the biggest difference from the CSS MPT, where a wrong answer is the same as a blank. If you have been practicing for the MPT, you probably guess on everything. Do not carry that habit over unchanged. There is a full comparison in FPSC Test vs CSS MPT.
Here is the arithmetic. Say a question has four options, as the questions on Mock CSS do, and you know nothing about it:
- A right guess (one chance in four) earns 1 mark.
- A wrong guess (three chances in four) loses 0.25.
- On average that is 0.25 - 0.1875 = 0.0625 marks. Almost nothing.
Now say you can throw out one option you are sure is wrong. Your odds go to one in three, and the average rises to about 0.17 marks. Throw out two and it is a clear gain. So the rule is simple: do not leave an easy elimination on the table, and do not guess blind when you cannot rule anything out. A blind guess is not a disaster: forty of them are worth about 2.5 marks on average, but with a lot of swing either side of that.
If you want to see what negative marking has cost you on past mocks, the Premium results show it, along with whether your guesses paid off. That is covered in What Sure, Unsure and Guess Do.
How passing works
There are three rules in the advertisement, and which one applies depends on your post.
- 40% overall. 69 posts, all of them 100 marks. You need 40 marks out of 100 in total. A weak section can be covered by a strong one.
- 40% in each part. 18 posts, all 200 marks. You need 80 marks out of 200 overall, and the 40% bar applies to every part of the paper separately.
- 50% in each part. 4 posts, 200 marks. The same idea at a higher bar: 100 out of 200, in every part.
The second and third rules are the ones that catch people. You can score well overall and still fail because one part came in under the line. If your post uses either rule, you cannot afford a section you are happy to ignore.
What the sections look like
Almost every paper has an English part. After that it depends on the post. These are the most common layouts in the advertisement:
- English 20 and Professional Test 80. 38 posts. Both parts on a 100-mark paper.
- English 20, Subject Test 50 and Professional Test 30. 24 posts, also 100 marks.
- English 40, General Intelligence/Ability 60 and Professional Test 100. 15 posts, 200 marks.
The rest are one-offs: Education posts with English and Education in a 20 to 80 split, two Urdu lecturer posts with no English part at all, and a medical post built around core courses. Each post's sections and sub-sections are on its page at FPSC syllabus, and The 91 FPSC Posts by Job Family groups them by field so you can find yours quickly.
Before you start studying
Find your post in the syllabus pages and write down three things: total marks, the passing rule, and the section weights. Everything else follows from those. If you are not sure how to read a syllabus page, How to Read an FPSC Syllabus and Choose Your Post takes you through one from top to bottom.
Then sit a timed mock built for that post. The 0.25 penalty is always on in FPSC mocks, so you practice under the real rule, and the result shows quickly where your marks are going.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. All 91 posts in Advertisement 03/2026 deduct 0.25 marks for each wrong answer. A question you leave blank loses nothing.
It depends on the post. On 69 posts it is 40% overall (40 out of 100). On 18 posts it is 40% in each part of a 200-mark paper, and on 4 posts it is 50% in each part.
100 minutes for a 100-mark post and 200 minutes for a 200-mark post. Check your own post, since the advertisement lists them separately.
Yes. FPSC mocks on Mock CSS deduct 0.25 for a wrong answer, with no way to switch it off, and use the passing rule of the post you chose. Mock CSS is an independent platform and not connected to FPSC, so check FPSC's own notices for your test date and any change to a rule.