Checked 29 September 2026. The Rules say the syllabus is set by the Chairman (Chief Executive since GSR 477(E) of 07.07.2021), and no LIC or Government document we found prints it. The two papers, their names and the 200-mark total are on record for 2022-23 in a CIC decision of 20.01.2025; question counts, timings and pass marks are reported by coaching sites only, and they disagree. An LIC circular or notification made public would replace every reported figure on this page.
The part of 1(b) that candidates search for most is the part LIC does not publish. The Promotion Rules say the test exists, that you must pass it, that it carries 50 of the 100 selection marks, and that "the syllabus or such test shall be as determined by the Chairman" (rule 7(1); the Chairman’s powers passed to the Chief Executive in 2021). That is all the Rules say. The number of questions, the minutes, the syllabus, the pass mark and the dates are set in LIC’s internal instructions and circulars, and we found no authenticated public copy of them on licindia.in or in any Government notification. One official record fills part of the gap: a Central Information Commission decision of 20.01.2025 reproduces LIC’s own statement that the 2022-23 written test had two papers, General English and Managerial Ability/Aptitude and Knowledge of Insurance, out of 200 marks together, scaled to 50. This guide separates what is official from what is hearsay, and puts the two coaching-site versions side by side so you can see where they disagree. ProSyllabus is an independent study site, not part of the Life Insurance Corporation of India. Every rule here is quoted or summarised from LIC’s published rules, an LIC recruitment notification or a court record; your Zonal Office decides every individual case.
LIC Promotion Rules 1987 and the CIC decision of 20.01.2025 (official); question counts from coaching sites (reported).
Official or hearsay: every claim, sorted
| Claim | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| A Promotion Test exists and must be passed for 1(b) | official | Schedule Sl. 1(b) |
| The test carries 50 of 100 selection marks | official | Schedule Sl. 1(b) |
| The syllabus is set by the Chairman (Chief Executive since 2021) | official | Rule 7(1); GSR 477(E) of 07.07.2021 is listed in the Rajya Sabha papers laid on 03.08.2021 (official); its "Chief Executive" substitution is shown in a legal-database consolidation (reported); the Staff Rules record the same change for themselves by GSR 481(E) of the same date |
| Only those with the required service may sit the test | official | Rule 7(2), first proviso |
| Southern Zone written test held on 21.08.2015 and 22.08.2015, results published by December 2015 | official | LIC’s statement recorded in the Madras High Court order of 10.12.2015 |
| Two papers: I General English; II Managerial Ability/Aptitude and Knowledge of Insurance; 200 marks together | official for 2022-23 | LIC’s CPIO reply of 06.02.2023, reproduced in the CIC decision of 20.01.2025; the two coaching sites agree on the papers |
| A 2022 1(b) exercise in the Kanpur Division, General minimum for promotion 72 of 100 | official | CIC decision of 20.01.2025 |
| 150 minutes per paper, same day, morning and afternoon | reported | Two coaching sites |
| 120 questions per paper (Paper II 60 + 60) | reported, and contradicted | study4insurance |
| 100 questions and 100 marks per paper (Paper II 50 + 50) | reported, and contradicted | ambitiousbaba, citing an "Appendix II of the Instructions" |
| Pass: 50% in each paper, 40% for SC/ST, no aggregate | reported | Both coaching sites |
| Online test; Paper I in English only, Paper II bilingual | reported | Both coaching sites |
| A sitting on 07.09.2025 | reported | study4insurance (read 29.09.2026); not confirmed by LIC |
| A Northern Zone notification of July 2026 and a 2025 "information handout" | unverified | Copies on a document-sharing site that we could not read; neither is on licindia.in, so we quote none of their figures |
The two coaching versions, side by side
Both versions below are from coaching sites that sell courses for this test. We could not check either against an LIC document. They agree on the shape and differ on the number that matters most for practice: how many questions each paper has.
| Feature | study4insurance (reported) | ambitiousbaba (reported) |
|---|---|---|
| Papers | I General English; II Managerial Ability/Aptitude and Knowledge of Insurance | The same two papers |
| Time | 150 minutes each; 10:30-13:00 and 14:30-17:00 | 150 minutes each; the same timings |
| Questions in Paper I | 120 | 100 (100 marks) |
| Questions in Paper II | 120: 60 Managerial Ability/Aptitude + 60 Knowledge of Insurance, 75 minutes each | 100: 50 + 50 (100 marks) |
| Pass mark | 50% each paper; 40% SC/ST | 50% each paper; 40% SC/ST |
| Where it says it comes from | No document named | "Appendix II of the Instructions for Implementation of ... Promotion Rules, 1987 ... after modification" |
Reported, not verified. Neither figure appears in any LIC or Government document we found. The difference is 20 questions per paper in the same 150 minutes.
Our reading: the ambitiousbaba version at least names a document, the Instructions for Implementation of the 1987 Rules, which a legal-database digest dates to Chairman’s Circular No. 7726/ASP/87 of 20.11.1987. That makes it a lead, not a source: we found no complete, current and authenticated copy of the Instructions or their Appendix II on an LIC or Government site (historical extracts appear in the legal-database digest, whose provenance is unknown), and "after modification" says the text has changed at least once. The study4insurance figures may describe a later round. Neither can be resolved without the circular for your round. The arithmetic of the conflict is ours: 150 minutes is 1.5 minutes a question at 100 and 1.25 minutes at 120. LIC’s 2022-23 figures (two papers, 200 marks together) fit the 100-mark-per-paper version, if each question carries one mark; that is our inference, not LIC’s statement.
Where other pages get this wrong
LIC has not published a pass mark for the 1(b) Promotion Test. The Rules say only "a pass in Promotion Test".
Commonly published instead: "50% in each paper for general candidates and 40% for SC/ST", stated as fact on coaching pages and repeated elsewhere.
Both coaching sites give the same figure, but agreement between two sales pages is not a source, and neither cites a document for it. It may be right. Treat it as a planning assumption and confirm it from the notification your Zonal Office issues.
What the 2015 court record shows
The most concrete public trace of a 1(b) round is in a court record, not an LIC page. In a 2015 case before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court about who could apply, LIC’s counsel described the Southern Zone exercise. The Zonal Office issued a notification on 21.07.2015 inviting applications for items 1(a), 1(b) and 1(c), AAO (Programmer) and AAO (Personal Assistant), with a last date of 05.08.2015. The written test was held on 21.08.2015 and 22.08.2015, and by the time the order was pronounced on 10.12.2015 the results had been published. The vacancies were "expected to be in the region of 150", after 200 notified the previous year under a notification of 01.08.2014.
| Exercise | Notification | Last date | Test | Vacancies stated | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southern Zone, 2014 | 01.08.2014 | 16.08.2014 | Not stated in the order | 200 | Madras HC order of 10.12.2015, LIC’s statement |
| Southern Zone, 2015 | 21.07.2015, items 1(a), 1(b), 1(c), AAO (Programmer), AAO (PA) | 05.08.2015 | 21.08.2015 and 22.08.2015 | About 150 expected | Madras HC order of 10.12.2015, LIC’s statement |
| Kanpur Division (North Central Zone), 2022 and 2022-23 | Not public | - | Written test out of 200 in two papers (2022-23) | Not stated; General minimum for promotion 72 of 100 | CIC decision of 20.01.2025, reproducing LIC’s CPIO reply of 06.02.2023 |
| Any zone, 2023 to 2026 | None hosted by LIC; copies said to be LIC notices circulate on document-sharing sites, unverified | - | A sitting on 07.09.2025 is reported by one coaching site only | - | Our search; study4insurance (reported) |
Notice what the 2015 record implies about timing, in our reading: one month from notification to test, and the test before the interview committee sits. A candidate who waits for the notice to start preparing has about four weeks.
After 2015: one official trace, and no LIC-hosted notice
We found no 1(b) promotion notification, test date, vacancy count or result after 2015 on licindia.in or in the Gazette. That is not the same as saying none was held: zonal promotion notifications are internal circulars. The one official trace is the CIC decision of 20.01.2025, which shows a 2022 and 2022-23 1(b) exercise in the Kanpur Division with its marks and cut-off. Copies said to be LIC notices (a Northern Zone notification of July 2026, a 2025 information handout) circulate on document-sharing sites; we could not read or authenticate them and quote nothing from them. A coaching site reports a sitting on 07.09.2025. Ask anyone quoting a later round where their copy came from. The zone registers show that promotions to AAO (Admn) have continued; they do not say through which channel.
Preparing when the syllabus is not public
Every coaching version names the same three areas: General English, Managerial Ability/Aptitude, and Knowledge of Insurance. That is the best available guess at content, and it is only a guess. What is certain is the structure around the test: half the selection marks are yours to earn in it, the work record you have already built is worth a quarter, and the interview is the last quarter. Use the checklist below to pin down, from the notification for your round, the facts no public source can give you. Ticks are saved in this browser only.
What to confirm from your Zonal Office notification
The first group is already fixed by the Rules: check that your notification matches them. The other two are left to LIC’s circulars for each round. Tick each when you have it in writing.
0 of 15 done
Ticks are saved only in this browser on this device.
What is the LIC AAO 1(b) exam pattern?
No authenticated public copy exists. The Rules say only that the syllabus is set by the Chairman (now Chief Executive) and that the test carries 50 of 100 selection marks. LIC’s own reply in a 2025 CIC record shows the 2022-23 test had two papers, General English and Managerial Ability/Aptitude and Knowledge of Insurance, totalling 200 marks. Coaching sites report 150 minutes per paper but disagree on whether each has 100 or 120 questions.
What is the pass mark for LIC AAO 1(b)?
Not published by LIC. Coaching sites report 50% per paper for general candidates and 40% for SC/ST, with no aggregate; that is unverified.
Is there negative marking?
Not stated in any public LIC document, and the coaching sites we read do not say. Confirm it from your round’s notification.
When was the last LIC AAO 1(b) test?
The latest in an official public record is the 2022-23 written test in the Kanpur Division, whose marks LIC’s CPIO gave in 2023 (CIC decision of 20.01.2025; no date is stated). The last with dates is the Southern Zone test of 21 and 22 August 2015 (Madras High Court record). A coaching site reports a sitting on 07.09.2025, which LIC has not confirmed publicly.
Are previous 1(b) question papers available?
Not from LIC. Coaching sites sell "memory-based" questions; those are reconstructions by candidates, not official papers.
Does the test follow the Insurance Institute of India syllabus?
No official document says so. The III Fellowship is an eligibility condition for 1(b), not the test syllabus. Knowledge of Insurance appears in the coaching versions of Paper II only.
Where can I get the official syllabus?
From the notification or circular your Zonal Office issues for the round, or through your establishment section. It is set by LIC’s internal instructions (from Chairman’s Circular 7726/ASP/87 of 20.11.1987, as amended); we found no complete, current, authenticated copy on an LIC or Government site.
Sources
- official — LIC Class III and Class IV Employees (Promotion) Rules, 1987 ("Annexure - 2", LIC’s own copy): GSR 824(E) of 25.09.1987 as amended by GSR 462(E) 30.04.1990, 229(E) 23.04.1991, 393(E) 04.05.1993, 226(E) 22.04.1997, 833(E) 30.12.1999, 779(E) 21.10.2011 and 690(E) 12.09.2012. Rules 3 to 10 and the Schedule, serials 1 to 17
- official — Court record: Madras High Court (Madurai Bench), W.P.(MD) Nos. 15510 to 15517 of 2015, order of 10.12.2015: reproduces Schedule serial 1 and records LIC’s statements on the Southern Zone AAO promotion exercises of 2014 and 2015, including vacancies "expected to be in the region of 150" (cited by writ numbers only; Indian Kanoon copy of the court’s order)
- official — Court record: Central Information Commission decision of 20.01.2025, File No. CIC/LICOI/A/2023/140951 (LIC Divisional Office, Kanpur), reproducing LIC’s CPIO reply of 06.02.2023 on the 2022 AAO 1(a) and 1(b) exercise and the 2022-23 1(b) written test (Indian Kanoon copy; cited by file number only)
- official — Rajya Sabha, papers laid on the table, 03.08.2021, item (12): "G.S.R. 477 (E), dated the 7th July, 2021, publishing the LIC Class III and Class IV employees (Promotion) Amendment Rules, 2021" (proves the amendment exists; not its text)
- official — LIC (Staff) Rules, 1960, updated to 17.08.2023 (last amendment GSR 611(E) of 17.08.2023): rule 16 and rule 52(2) as current
- reported — Indian Kanoon consolidation of the 1987 Promotion Rules ("last updated 22nd July, 2021"): shows the "Chief Executive" substitution made by GSR 477(E) of 07.07.2021 but still prints age 35 and has no item 1(c)
- reported — Indian Kanoon text filed as the Promotion Rules, of unknown provenance: a digest of LIC circulars from Chairman’s Circular 7726/ASP/87 of 20.11.1987 (work-record scaling over 3 years with integer rounding, integer interview marks, contingency list, tie-breaks)
- reported — study4insurance, "LIC AAO 1(b) syllabus" (coaching site; read 29.09.2026): 120 + 120 questions, 150 minutes each, 50%/40% pass per paper, exam 07.09.2025
- reported — study4insurance, "LIC AAO 1(b) exam syllabus" (coaching site; read 29.09.2026): two papers, Paper II 60 + 60, eligibility list including Associateship and CII (UK)
- reported — ambitiousbaba, "LIC AAO (1B): Exam Pattern & Syllabus" (coaching site, page dated 18.07.2026; read 29.09.2026): quotes an "Appendix II of the Instructions"; 100 + 100 questions, 100 marks each, 50%/40% pass per paper
- official — LIC RTI Center, "The Norms set" (s.4(1)(b)(iv)), listing the Promotion Rules 1987 among LIC’s published norms; page last updated 21.08.2025
official = a document published by the conducting body. reported = a news or coaching site we could not check against an original. Where sources disagree this page says so rather than picking one.
