Alerts and Updates for Defence Accounts (CGDA) SAS Examination

SAS examination at a glance

Paper I covers Management in Government including the constitutional framework. Office Procedure and Documentation replaces the old Language Skills and Office Communications paper. A candidate passes on not less than 45 per cent in each paper and 45 per cent in aggregate; a paper scored at 50 per cent or more carries an exemption in Part-I and 60 per cent or more in Part-II. The 11 March 2025 circular marks only Papers VI and VII “with books” and says nothing either way about the rest, and its Part-I table sets out Papers I to IV while the remarks column refers to all five Part-I papers moving to CBT.

Dates and windows

CGDA publishes SAS notifications, roll numbers, admit cards and results on its own examination page. Nothing about a 2026 sitting appears there, so a date seen elsewhere has no departmental backing.

What this means for your preparation

The 11 March 2025 circular changed the instrument at both ends: Part-I became a computer based test with two papers reset as pure multiple choice, and Part-II stayed descriptive but got longer papers and a harder exemption bar. What you carry forward from an earlier attempt is also affected.

Part-II is with books, and that is a different skill

Papers VI and VII are marked with books, every Part-II paper now runs three hours instead of two, and all of them are descriptive on pen and paper, conducted in-house by the Department. An open-book paper times you on locating a regulation and applying it rather than on recalling it, so the preparation that pays is tabbing and indexing the service regulations and the works and stores material until any provision is seconds away.

Part-I is now entirely a computer based test

All Part-I papers moved to CBT mode, and two of them changed shape with it. The old Paper III on Language Skills and Office Communications has been replaced by a new Paper III on Office Procedure and Documentation set wholly on multiple choice, and Paper IV on Information Technology, previously theory and practical, is now wholly multiple choice too. Practise on a screen, at MCQ pace: 100 marks in two hours.

Check which of your old exemptions survived

The circular treats the two carried-forward exemptions differently and says so plainly. Exemption marks secured in Paper IV of the existing pattern are allowed to be carried forward into the revised pattern. Exemption marks secured in the earlier Paper III will not remain valid for SAS Part-I CBT candidates, because that paper has been replaced. If you were counting on an old Paper III exemption, plan to sit the new paper.

The Part-II exemption bar moved from 50 to 60 per cent

Passing is unchanged at 45 per cent in each paper and 45 per cent in aggregate, but the exemption threshold in Part-II is now 60 per cent where it was 50. Part-I exemptions remain at 50 per cent. If your plan was to bank Part-II papers one or two at a time across sittings, the target in each of them has gone up by ten marks and the plan needs recosting.

The syllabus for the two new papers has not been issued

The circular states that the syllabus and suggested study material for Paper III on Office Procedure and Documentation and for Paper X on Language Skills and Office Management will be notified separately. As of 21 September 2026 nothing of the kind appears on the CGDA examination page, and no 2026 SAS sitting is listed there either. Until it is published, the firm ground is the papers whose scope has not changed.

Common questions

Who is eligible to sit SAS Part-I?

A CGDA clarification of 14 August 2019, circular No. AN/SAS/16200/RESTRUCTURING/2019, requires two years of service in the grades specified in SAS Rule 3 as on the first of the month in which the examination is held, counting continuous temporary service, with probation cleared. It applies alike to departmental, SSC and inter-departmentally transferred candidates, and predates the 2025 revision.

Are books allowed in the SAS examination?

In Part-II, the circular of 11 March 2025 carries Paper VI on Service Regulations and Paper VII on Works, Stores and Internal Audit as with books. It does not mark the remaining Part-II papers either way. Part-I is now conducted entirely as a computer based test, so the question does not arise there in the same form.

What do I need to pass?

A candidate is declared to have passed SAS Part-I and SAS Part-II on securing not less than 45 per cent in each paper as well as 45 per cent in aggregate. Separately from passing, a paper scored at 50 per cent or more earns an exemption in Part-I, and 60 per cent or more in Part-II, the latter raised from 50 per cent in March 2025.

Do exemptions earned under the old pattern still count?

Partly. Exemption marks secured in Paper IV of the existing pattern are allowed to be carried forward into the revised pattern. Exemption marks secured in the earlier Paper III will not remain valid for SAS Part-I computer based test candidates, because that paper has been replaced by a new Paper III on Office Procedure and Documentation.

Is there negative marking?

The circular states there will not be any negative marking for wrong answers in any of the papers of the SAS Part-II examination. It does not address the question for the Part-I computer based papers, so do not assume the same rule runs there without checking the instructions issued with your own examination.

What is the new Paper X?

Paper X is a newly introduced Part-II paper on Language Skills and Office Management, carrying 100 marks over three hours, with pass marks of 45 and an exemption at 60 per cent. It was introduced by the circular of 11 March 2025, whose text says its syllabus and suggested study material would be notified separately.

When is the next SAS examination?

No SAS Part-I or Part-II date for 2026 appears on the CGDA examination circulars page as of 21 September 2026. The most recent SAS items listed there remain the SAS Part-II computer based test of September 2023 and its result. Treat any 2026 date circulating elsewhere as unconfirmed until CGDA publishes it.