UPSC Section Officer / Stenographer Grade C — LDCE
The UPSC Section Officer / Stenographer Grade C LDCE is a Limited Departmental Competitive Examination — a promotion route written by serving government employees. The question papers published for recent cycles run to three papers, with Paper II set separately for each service category and Paper III devoted to noting, drafting and precis writing. RankRacer maps the exam as 6 subjects and 29 topics: the CCS service rules, the General Financial Rules and DFPR, the Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure, the RTI Act, and the Constitution and parliamentary practice, alongside a General English subject.
| Criteria | Details |
|---|---|
| Who Can Appear | This is a departmental promotion examination (LDCE) — it is written by serving government employees, not by open-market applicants. |
| Detailed Conditions | Feeder grade, minimum qualifying service, and age conditions are fixed by the conducting authority in each notification cycle. RankRacer does not reproduce them — read the official notification for the cycle you are applying to. |
| Service Categories | Candidates appear under a service category, and Paper II is set separately for each. The papers published for the 2024 cycle cover Categories I and VIII (Procedure and Practice), Category 2 (IFS), Category 3 (Railways), and Category 10 (AFHQ). |
Seven topics: CCS (Pension) Rules 2021, CCS (Leave) Rules 1972, CCS (Conduct) Rules 1964, CCS (CCA) Rules 1965, CCS (LTC) Rules, Fundamental Rules & Supplementary Rules, and the POSH Act 2013.
Six topics: General Financial Rules 2017, Delegation of Financial Powers Rules 2024, the Suspense Manual, the Manual of Goods Procurement, the CPWD Works Manual, and the Make in India Order 2017.
Five topics: the Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure, Record Management, the Allocation of Business Rules, the Transaction of Business Rules, and e-Office Procedure.
Five topics: general provisions of the Right to Information Act, obligations of public authorities, Information Commissions, appeals and penalties, and the RTI Rules 2012.
Six topics: Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles, the Union Executive, Parliament, Parliamentary Committees, and Parliamentary Procedures.
Comprehension, grammar and precis writing. Listed as a subject for this exam; no topic breakdown is mapped on RankRacer yet.
It is the Limited Departmental Competitive Examination for Section Officer and Stenographer Grade C. Being an LDCE, it is a promotion examination written by serving government employees rather than an open-market recruitment exam. On RankRacer the exam is mapped to 6 subjects and 29 topics covering service rules, financial rules, office procedure, the RTI Act, and the Constitution and Parliament.
The question papers published for the 2024 cycle are Paper I, Paper II, and Paper III. Paper III is Noting, Drafting and Precis Writing. Paper II is set separately for each service category. The same three-paper structure appears in the papers published for earlier cycles going back to 2009–11. The number of questions, marks, and duration are fixed by the notification for each cycle and are not reproduced here.
Because Paper II is written for a specific service category. The 2024 cycle published separate Paper II papers for Categories I and VIII (Procedure and Practice), Category 2 (IFS), Category 3 (Railways), and Category 10 (AFHQ). Category-wise Paper II papers were also published for the 2014, 2016–17, 2018, 2019–20, 2021–22, and 2023 cycles. Check which category applies to your post before you practise from a past paper.
This page maps the UPSC SO/Steno LDCE syllabus in full — 6 subjects covering the rules, manuals and Acts the exam is built on. Niti, RankRacer's AI tutor, can take your questions on them. No account needed to ask.