CAG CPD exam: eligibility, papers, increment benefit and 6 chances

Independent study site, not affiliated with CAG. ProSyllabus is not part of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India or the IA&AD. Every rule below names the CAG page, syllabus or circular it comes from; your field office is responsible for checking eligibility and data; the ERO validates registration and the HoD approves candidature. The study plan near the end is our own advice and is labelled as such.

What the CPD scheme is

CAG's examination page explains that, in view of the increasing changes in the nature of audit, SAS-passed Gazetted Group 'B' officers are to be kept abreast of the latest developments in auditing and tested periodically on basic as well as advanced topics. The tool for this is the Continuous Professional Development scheme, introduced with effect from the year 2013 as a Computer Based Test in Multiple Choice Question mode.

The scheme has three tests, CPD I, CPD II and CPD III, and they are open to SAS-passed Gazetted Group 'B' officials from both Audit and Accounts & Entitlement (A&E) offices. The page also says that no departmental training is imparted to eligible candidates for the CPD tests. The syllabus names the standards, guidelines and books to read for each paper.

Each CPD test is called a stage in the syllabus. Stage I is CPD I, Stage II is CPD II and Stage III is CPD III. The revised syllabus gives every paper the same frame: 2 hours and a maximum of 100 marks.

Who can sit CPD I, II and III

The eligibility rules are short, and all three are on the CAG examination page. The clock for CPD II and CPD III starts when you qualify the earlier test, not when you first sit it.

Two practical consequences follow. First, an AAO who qualifies CPD I in the first eligible sitting still waits four years for CPD II, so there is no gain in sitting CPD II papers early; there is no route to them. Second, because the gaps run from qualifying, a paper left pending in CPD I delays CPD II as well. Our advice follows from that: the four-year interval for CPD II starts only when CPD I is qualified, so clearing both CPD I papers early brings CPD II forward.

Papers, pass mark, exemption and the six chances

The CAG page sets the pass rule per paper, not on the aggregate: the minimum required for passing a CPD test is 50% in each paper. A candidate who scores 50% or more in any paper is treated as "passed" in that paper and "exempt" from future appearance in it. In practice this means you can clear C-1 in one sitting and C-2 in the next, and you only re-sit the paper you still need.

Every eligible candidate gets six chances each for qualifying CPD I, CPD II and CPD III. Count them carefully: the Exam Wing letter of 1 June 2026, which covers the SAS, RA, IE and CPD examinations together, says a candidate's chance is counted once she or he registers, and there is no scope for withdrawal. A registration you later regret still costs a chance.

Negative marking: 0.25 marks for each wrong answer

So the arithmetic is: marks for right answers, minus a quarter mark for each wrong one. The saved CAG texts do not say how a question left unanswered is treated; our score check, our table and our mocks count it as zero. The check below and the table after it show what that does to a score on a 100-mark paper.

Read the table this way. 50 right and nothing wrong passes at exactly 50. So do 55 right with 20 wrong, and 60 right with 40 wrong: each block of four wrong answers costs one mark. But 52 right with 10 wrong falls to 49.50 and misses. Our reading: near the pass mark, accuracy matters more than the number attempted.

Should you guess?

Assume four options per question, which is what our mocks use; the saved CAG sources do not state the number of options per question. A blind guess is right one time in four, so on average it earns 0.25 of a mark and loses 0.75 × 0.25 = 0.1875, a small net gain of 0.0625 per question. If you can rule out two options, the average becomes 0.5 − 0.5 × 0.25 = 0.375 per question. On these assumptions, ruling out options before answering raises the expected marks of an answer. This is our arithmetic, not a CAG instruction.

The benefit: one advance increment per CPD test

CAG's page states the benefit plainly. A candidate who qualifies each CPD test is granted one advance increment in the respective scale, with effect from the first of the month in which the examination is held. The advance increment is sanctioned by the respective Head of Department, who in turn obtains the Headquarters' ex post facto approval.

How often the CPD examination is held, and when

The CPD tests now run twice a year, alongside the SAS, RA and IE examinations, as Examination-1 (recently May or June) and Examination-2 (recently late January to early February). In 2016 the circulars still spoke of a single "Annual" SAS/RA/IE/CPD-I examination, held in August. These are the recent sittings on record:

Notice that the two CPD I papers sit on different days in both recent date sheets. In June 2026 C-2 came first and C-1 three days later; in May 2025 the order was the other way round. Plan your last fortnight so that you are not revising both papers the night before the first one.

How registration works

Registration is managed through your office. The Exam Wing letter No. 478 of 1 June 2026 sets out the steps. The Head of Department nominates a Group Officer as Examination Registration Officer (ERO). The ERO enters the basic data from the service book in Part I of the registration form; a fresh candidate then completes Part II (the examination details), while an existing candidate fills Part II after the ERO activates it. The ERO verifies and validates the form, and the HoD approves the candidature.

The windows are short. In 2026 the gap between the registration circular and the first paper was under three weeks, so tell your ERO early that you intend to sit, and check that your service-book data are right before the window opens.

The syllabus of each CPD paper

All six papers in one place, condensed from CAG's revised CPD syllabus and the 2021 C-6 revision. The syllabus names its own suggested reading for each paper; for C-2 it simply says "Standards and Guidelines issued by the authorities concerned".

How many questions are in a CPD paper?

CAG does not publish it. The syllabus gives only the time (2 hours) and the maximum marks (100) for each paper, and the exam FAQ gives the 0.25 deduction. Our own mocks use 100 questions of 1 mark each in 2 hours with the 0.25 deduction; that is our format, chosen to match the published time and marks, not a statement about CAG's paper.

A 12-week plan for CPD I (our advice)

The plan assumes you sit CPD I alongside a full-time job, with about eight to ten hours a week. It runs C-2 and C-1 side by side from the first week: C-2 because its six syllabus headings each cover a set of standards or guidelines, and C-1 because its numerical units need steady practice. Adjust the weeks to your own sitting once it is notified.

What CAG does not publish