Updates as of September 22, 2026
English is the largest single-subject language recruitment at the Secondary level in TRE 4.0, with 696 of the 3,877 class 9-10 posts, second only to Social Science at 756. The nine Secondary subjects with published numbers are Social Science 756, English 696, Urdu 660, Mathematics 570, Science 463, Hindi 361, Sanskrit 322, Physical Education 47 and Music 2.
Testbook (aggregator)The number of stages in TRE 4.0 is unresolved, and it is the single biggest open question in this cycle. BPSC's own exam calendar, dated 14 August 2026, lists TRE 4.0 at serial 30 with 32,388 vacancies under the heading 2 PHASE EXAMS (PT + MAINS), and records the exam date as TBD with the remark that the date of the PT shall be published after the completion of the advertisement period. On that document, TRE 4.0 is a two-stage recruitment with a screening preliminary test.
BPSC Exam Calendar dated 14 August 2026 (official)On 27 August 2026, nine days after Advertisement 14/2026 was issued, Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary announced that TRE 4.0 would be held in a single phase, scrapping the PT and Mains structure. The announcement followed a campaign by candidate representatives under the slogan One Exam, One Result. This is a state government statement rather than a BPSC order, and it directly contradicts the Commission's own calendar.
Testbook news report on the 27 August announcement (reported)As of 22 September 2026, BPSC has published no corrigendum on the TRE 4.0 examination pattern. The Commission's notices page carries corrigenda for the 72nd CCE and notices on the Stenographer examination and the new fifth answer option, but nothing on TRE. The 14 August calendar still shows PT plus Mains and has not been revised. The unresolved pattern is the most plausible reason the application window was postponed for procedural changes, and candidates should expect the revised pattern and the reopened window to be announced together.
BPSC notices page, checked 22 September 2026 (official)BPSC released the TRE 4.0 advertisement, numbered 14/2026, on 18 August 2026 for 32,388 teacher posts across four levels. Secondary, meaning classes 9 and 10, accounts for 3,877 of them, against 16,101 at Higher Secondary, 8,563 at Middle and 3,847 at Primary.
Testbook (aggregator)The online application was pushed back from 1 September to 21 September 2026 after the Commission made procedural changes; the closing date and the fee-payment deadline are reported only as October 2026 and the examination date has not been announced. Candidates should treat both as unconfirmed until BPSC posts the revised schedule.
NotifyHere (aggregator)Reported application fees conflict. Two trackers state a flat 100 rupees per teaching level applied for, with an extra 200 rupees for biometric verification where Aadhaar is not linked, while a third reports 750 rupees for General, BC, EBC and EWS and 200 rupees for SC, ST, PwD and Bihar-domiciled women. Verify on the portal before paying.
Career Power (aggregator)For TRE 3.0 at the class 9-10 level, English cut-offs are reported at 61 for unreserved men and 60 for unreserved women out of 150, with EWS and BC around 57 to 58 and SC at 39. A second aggregator reports an unreserved English cut-off of 59, so the figures are indicative rather than official.
Career Power (aggregator)A vacancy figure of 46,595 is circulating on job-alert aggregators for TRE 4.0. None of the aggregators carrying it cites an advertisement number or a date, and it is contradicted by both official BPSC documents that do carry a number: Advertisement 14/2026 of 18 August 2026 and the exam calendar of 14 August 2026, which state 32,388. Until BPSC publishes a corrigendum, 32,388 is the figure to plan against.
BPSC Exam Calendar dated 14 August 2026 (official)The Secondary English paper at a glance
| Part | Questions | Marks | Counts towards merit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Part I - Language | 30 | 30 | No, qualifying only |
| Part II - General Studies | 40 | 40 | Yes |
| Part III - English subject paper | 80 | 80 | Yes |
| Whole paper | 150 | 150 | 2 hours 30 minutes, offline OMR |
More than half the paper, 80 of 150 questions, is English language and literature at graduation level; the remaining 70 questions are shared with every other Secondary subject. One-third of a mark is deducted for each wrong answer. Part I is reported as qualifying with a minimum of 30 per cent, and offers English alongside Hindi, Urdu or Bangla, which creates an unusual overlap for English candidates described below. 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
| What | When | Status |
|---|---|---|
| BPSC exam calendar lists TRE 4.0 as a two-phase PT + Mains recruitment | 14 August 2026 | Confirmed |
| TRE 4.0 advertisement 14/2026 released | 18 August 2026 | Confirmed |
| Chief Minister announces a single-phase exam, scrapping PT + Mains | 27 August 2026 | Announced by the state government, not yet ordered by BPSC |
| BPSC corrigendum confirming the final examination pattern | Not published as of 22 September 2026 | Awaited |
| Online application originally to open | 1 September 2026 | Closed |
| Online application revised opening | 21 September 2026 | Tentative |
| Last date to apply and pay the fee | October 2026, exact date not published | Tentative |
| Written examination for classes 9-10 | Not announced; BPSC says it will be published after the advertisement period closes | Tentative |
| Result and merit list | Not announced | Tentative |
This calendar is common to every subject and every level in TRE 4.0; there is no separate application window or notification for English. Only the subject paper sat on examination day differs, so an English candidate follows exactly the same deadlines as a Mathematics or Urdu candidate.
What this means for your preparation
The commonest error is treating the Secondary English post as a lighter version of the class 11-12 English post. It is a different recruitment line with its own vacancy table, its own qualification and its own pay level: graduation with 50 per cent in English plus B.Ed and STET Paper-I, against post-graduation plus STET Paper-II for Higher Secondary. The second error is assuming that because the subject is English, the 30-mark language part is free marks.
Eighty questions decide the post, not 150
Merit at the Secondary level rests on Part II and Part III together, 120 marks, because Part I is reported as qualifying only. Within that, the 80-question English paper is the single block where a subject specialist can separate from the field, and it is the only block where a general aspirant cannot compete. Weight preparation accordingly: a candidate who scores 62 of 80 in English and 22 of 40 in general studies is in a far stronger position than one who reverses those figures, because the general studies pool is shared with every Social Science, Science and Mathematics candidate who has studied the same material for other examinations. Negative marking of one-third means blind guessing across the literature section is loss-making at anything below roughly a one-in-three confidence level.
Graduation-level literature, not school English
Part III is described as a graduation-level language and literature syllabus, not the class 9-10 textbook. In practice that means the English honours spine: periods and movements from Chaucer and the Elizabethans through the Romantics, the Victorians and modernism; major authors and their representative works; literary terms and figures of speech; criticism and basic literary theory; phonetics and the sounds of English; and applied grammar, transformation, voice, narration and error detection. The class 9-10 connection is pedagogic rather than textual, so preparing from the Bihar Board English reader alone will leave most of the 80 questions unanswerable. Candidates who came through a BA English programme should revisit their own period papers rather than buy a TGT digest.
The qualifying language part is a real trap
Part I offers English alongside Hindi, Urdu or Bangla and carries 30 questions that do not count towards merit but must be cleared, reported at 30 per cent. English candidates routinely lose time here on the assumption that it is their home ground, then discover that a share of the section is Hindi comprehension and grammar. Because the marks are discarded, every minute above the qualifying threshold is a minute taken from the 80-question subject paper in a 150-minute examination. Budget the section by the clock, roughly 20 to 25 minutes, clear it, and move on rather than polishing answers that will never appear in the merit calculation.
696 posts, but the widest competitor pool
English carries 696 of the 3,877 Secondary posts, the largest language allocation and second overall to Social Science. That headline is less generous than it looks, because English graduates are the most numerous applicant group in Bihar teacher recruitment and the post also attracts candidates from allied humanities streams who meet the graduation-in-subject condition. The reported TRE 3.0 unreserved English cut-off, 61 out of 150 in one account and 59 in another, sits below Mathematics at 72 and Social Science at 74 but the number of applicants per post is far higher. Read the cut-off as a floor set by the qualifying percentage, not as a target.
Sequence the paper around the fee and STET deadlines
Two administrative items decide whether preparation matters at all. The first is STET Paper-I, which is the Secondary-level certificate; a Paper-II certificate qualifies for classes 11-12, and candidates who hold only one of the two should confirm which level they are eligible to apply for before filling the form. The second is the application window itself, moved from 1 September to 21 September 2026 with a closing date still unpublished. Complete the one-time registration on the BPSC online portal early, since the fee is reported per teaching level applied for, and an English candidate eligible at both Secondary and Higher Secondary pays twice to keep both options open.
Common questions
How many BPSC TRE Secondary English vacancies are there in TRE 4.0?
Aggregator tables drawn from the advertisement put English at 696 posts out of 3,877 at the Secondary level, classes 9 and 10. That makes it the largest language subject at this level and the second largest subject overall behind Social Science at 756. Urdu follows closely at 660 and Hindi is well behind at 361. The overall TRE 4.0 figure is 32,388 posts across four levels. These subject splits are reported by aggregators reading the advertisement rather than restated on the BPSC home page, so confirm against the official vacancy annexure when applying.
What is the exam pattern for BPSC TRE Secondary English?
One offline objective paper of 150 questions and 150 marks in 2 hours 30 minutes. Part I is language, 30 questions, reported as qualifying at 30 per cent and offering English with Hindi, Urdu or Bangla. Part II is general studies, 40 questions. Part III is the English subject paper, 80 questions. One-third of a mark is deducted for each incorrect answer. Because Part I does not count towards merit, the effective competitive total is the 120 marks of Parts II and III combined.
Is the BPSC TRE Secondary English syllabus at class 9-10 level or graduation level?
Graduation level. The subject paper for English at the Secondary level is described as a graduation-level language and literature syllabus prescribed by the Commission, not the class 9-10 school textbook. Expect literary history and periods, major authors and works, literary terms and criticism, phonetics, and applied grammar and usage. The class 9-10 reference in the post title describes the classes the successful candidate will teach, not the difficulty of the question paper. Candidates preparing only from Bihar Board school readers consistently underestimate Part III.
Do I need STET Paper-I or Paper-II for the Secondary English post?
Reported eligibility for Secondary, classes 9 and 10, is graduation with about 50 per cent marks in the subject concerned plus B.Ed, together with STET Paper-I. Higher Secondary, classes 11 and 12, requires a post-graduate degree plus B.Ed and STET Paper-II. Some trackers instead describe a CTET or BTET Paper-II route for Secondary, so the two accounts disagree and the advertisement's own eligibility clause should be read before applying. Age limits are reported as 21 to 37 for general men, 40 for general women and BC and EBC, and 42 for SC and ST.
What was the BPSC TRE Secondary English cut-off last time?
For TRE 3.0 at the class 9-10 level, one aggregator reports English cut-offs of 61 for unreserved men, 60 for unreserved women, about 58 for EWS and BC and 39 for SC, out of 150. Another reports an unreserved English figure of 59 without naming the cycle. Neither is an official BPSC publication and the two do not agree, so treat them as an indication that English closes lower than Mathematics or Social Science but far above the SC and ST floor, rather than as a score to aim at.
How is BPSC TRE Secondary English different from the class 11-12 English post?
They are separate posts in the same advertisement with separate vacancy tables, qualifications and pay. Secondary English has 696 posts within a Secondary block of 3,877 and asks for graduation plus B.Ed; Higher Secondary sits in a much larger block of 16,101 posts and asks for post-graduation plus B.Ed, with the other STET paper. Reported starting pay for Secondary is around 31,000 to 32,000 rupees basic against a higher band for Higher Secondary. Applying at both levels is possible but the fee is reported as payable per level.
