Alerts and Updates for BPSC TRE Higher Secondary Mathematics

The Mathematics paper at a glance

Mathematics is the one subject at this level where a slice of Part II overlaps the subject itself: the reported general studies content includes elementary mathematics alongside general awareness, general science, the Indian national movement and geography. The reported Mathematics content for Part III spans number theory, algebra, trigonometry, coordinate geometry, calculus, statistics and probability. Sources disagree on negative marking, with most reporting a one-third deduction for a wrong answer and two reporting none. Reported minimum qualifying marks are 40 per cent for general candidates, 36.5 per cent for backward and extremely backward classes and 32 per cent for SC and ST, with one outlet giving 34 per cent for EBC. On a 150-mark paper the general floor of 60 marks is far below the 83 reported as the Mathematics unreserved cut-off last round, which confirms that in this subject the competition, not the threshold, sets the entry price. Read the structure below as the pattern for the written examination, not as a settled number of stages. BPSC's calendar of 14 August 2026 places TRE 4.0 under two-phase PT plus Mains exams; the Chief Minister announced a single-phase exam on 27 August 2026; and BPSC has published no corrigendum resolving the two as of 22 September 2026. The question paper described here is the one candidates must prepare for either way, because a single-phase exam would use it and a two-phase exam would use it as the main paper.

Dates and windows

This calendar is common to every subject and every level in TRE 4.0; there is no separate Mathematics notification, form or exam date. The exam window and the application closing date are the two items still unconfirmed, and both should be rechecked on the BPSC portal before being relied on.

What this means for your preparation

Mathematics candidates most often misjudge this exam by assuming that a subject they know well will carry them. On the reported TRE 3.0 numbers it did not: the unreserved cut-off of 83 out of 150 was the highest in the class 11-12 table, more than twice the 40 reported for Physics in the same round. With only 657 posts against 1,758 for Physics and 3,695 for Chemistry, Mathematics is the scarce subject in the science group, and the cut-off reflects that scarcity rather than any special difficulty in the paper.

657 posts, the tightest of the science subjects

The PW subject-wise table gives Mathematics 657 posts out of 16,101 at higher secondary level, roughly four per cent of the class 11-12 pool and about a third of the Physics allocation. Two structural facts follow. First, the supply of applicants is large, because every science and commerce graduate route in Bihar produces mathematics post-graduates and the subject has no laboratory bottleneck. Second, the posts are then split by category and by the reported 35 per cent horizontal reservation for women domiciled in Bihar. An unreserved male candidate is realistically competing inside a few hundred seats across the entire state.

Reading the 83-mark cut-off correctly

Adda247 reports TRE 3.0 Mathematics cut-offs of 83 for unreserved men, 66 for unreserved women, 63 EWS, 69 BC, 61 EBC and 39 SC, out of 150. Under the TRE 4.0 split, 83 is unreachable from the subject block alone, because Part III is only 80 marks and the reported qualifying language part contributes nothing. Even a perfect 80 in Mathematics would need three general studies marks on top. In practice an unreserved candidate is looking at something like 62 to 68 in the subject block plus 18 to 22 in general studies. That arithmetic makes general studies non-optional, not a supplement.

What the 80 subject questions are likely to cover

The reported Mathematics content is number theory, algebra, trigonometry, coordinate geometry, calculus, statistics and probability, and Careerpower places it at graduation to post-graduate standard rather than at plus two level. The eligible degree titles are reported as Mathematics or Applied Mathematics at post-graduate level. No unit-wise weighting has been published, so an even split across those seven heads is the defensible planning assumption. Candidates who trained on a pure mathematics syllabus should note that statistics and probability are named explicitly and are the areas most often left thin by algebra-and-analysis specialists.

Speed is a scored variable here

One hundred and fifty questions in 150 minutes gives one minute per question across the whole paper, and Mathematics is the only subject at this level where a substantial share of questions demand working rather than recall. Since the 30 language and 40 general studies questions are largely recall and can be cleared quickly, the realistic budget is to finish Parts I and II in about 45 minutes and leave 105 minutes for the 80 subject questions. Candidates who solve in the order printed tend to lose the general studies marks they cannot afford to lose, given the cut-off arithmetic above.

Negative marking changes the guessing calculus

Adda247, PW, Careerpower's notification page and Notifyhere report a deduction of one third of a mark for a wrong answer in TRE 4.0, with Notifyhere adding that unattempted questions are also penalised; Careerpower's syllabus page and Teaching Pariksha report no deduction. BPSC's own wording has not been read here. Mathematics candidates are relatively insulated either way, because a worked answer can usually be verified rather than guessed, but the asymmetry matters in general studies, where a one-in-four blind guess is break-even at best under a one-third penalty and clearly negative if the eliminated options are not genuinely eliminated.

Common questions

How many Mathematics posts are there in BPSC TRE 4.0 for classes 11 and 12?

The subject-wise vacancy table published by PW, with the same figures appearing on Notifyhere, gives Mathematics 657 posts out of the 16,101 higher secondary vacancies. The individual subject numbers in that table add up exactly to 16,101, which is a useful consistency check. For comparison the same table gives Physics 1,758 and Chemistry 3,695, so Mathematics is the smallest of the three core science subjects at this level by a wide margin.

What was the BPSC TRE Mathematics cut-off for class 11-12 last time?

Adda247 reports TRE 3.0 Mathematics cut-offs of 83 for unreserved men, 66 for unreserved women, 63 EWS, 69 BC, 61 EBC and 39 SC, out of 150 marks. Careerpower's cut-off page reports the same unreserved and EWS figures with 51 for BCL. These are reported numbers rather than a figure read from a BPSC order, and TRE 4.0 cut-offs will move with the new 80-40-30 split and the number of applicants.

How many Mathematics questions are in the BPSC TRE higher secondary paper?

Eighty of the 150 questions come from the subject concerned, so Mathematics candidates answer 80 Mathematics questions for 80 marks. The other 70 questions are 40 general studies and 30 language, with the language part reported as qualifying only. The reported general studies content includes elementary mathematics, which means a Mathematics candidate picks up some overlap there, though at a far lower level than Part III.

What is the BPSC TRE Mathematics syllabus for plus two teacher posts?

The reported content areas are number theory, algebra, trigonometry, coordinate geometry, calculus, statistics and probability. Careerpower describes the Part III paper as set at graduation to post-graduate standard rather than at the class 11-12 curriculum level, while PW notes the subject content is tied to the prescribed SCERT and NCERT curriculum. No official unit-wise weighting has been published for TRE 4.0, so even coverage across those heads is the safer plan, including statistics and probability.

Can I apply for BPSC TRE Mathematics with an Applied Mathematics post-graduate degree?

Careerpower reports that Mathematics posts accept Mathematics or Applied Mathematics at post-graduate level. The general requirement reported for classes 11 and 12 is a master's degree in the subject concerned with at least 50 per cent marks plus a B.Ed, and Testbook additionally cites Bihar STET Paper-II. The precise list of accepted degree titles should be verified in advertisement 14/2026 before paying the fee, since equivalence disputes surface at document verification rather than at application.

How much time should I spend on the Mathematics section during the exam?

The paper is 150 questions in 150 minutes. Because the 30 language questions are qualifying only and the 40 general studies questions are largely recall, a workable split is around 45 minutes for Parts I and II together and about 105 minutes for the 80 Mathematics questions, which is roughly 80 seconds each. Attempting the paper in printed order tends to strand the general studies block, and on the reported cut-offs those marks are the ones that decide selection.