Postman, Mail Guard and MTS Exam: The 2022 Common Pattern, Paper by Paper

Since April 2022 the Department of Posts has run one common examination for two routes that used to be separate: MTS moving up to Postman or Mail Guard, and Gramin Dak Sevaks entering as MTS, Postman or Mail Guard. The Directorate’s letter of 05.04.2022 replaced the old annexures of 2019 with a four-paper pattern in which each post uses a different combination of papers. Getting that combination right is the difference between preparing for your merit list and preparing for someone else’s.

The exam is held without books. Papers I, II and III are written in one sitting of 150 minutes, and the Data Entry Skill Test is held on a later date for those shortlisted. Since a Directorate letter of 10.07.2024, a candidate who wants to be considered only for MTS does not sit Paper-III, so for them the exam is Paper-I alone. Circles are told to complete Postman and Mail Guard appointments before anyone selected as MTS is appointed.

The shape is very different from the PA/SA paper. Almost half the marks come from one book, the Post Office Guide Part I, and there is no reasoning at all. Each question is worth two marks, so a single slip costs twice what it does in the PA/SA paper. Paper-II adds 25 more questions of 2 marks on postal operations for Postman and Mail Guard candidates, in 30 minutes.

Deleted questions lower those figures, and circles do not all delete the same number. Uttarakhand’s 2026 result of 16.09.2026 deleted 5 Paper-I questions, so Paper-I became 90 and Paper-I + II 140, and it fixed the qualifying marks at 56 (UR, and OBC and EWS) and 46.20 (SC, ST and PwD) of 140, with 20 and 16.50 of 50 in Paper-III and 18.75 and 15 of 25 in the DEST. It applied the UR mark to OBC and EWS because the LDCE is a promotion.

One caution on OBC and EWS. The 2022 letter prints 37% for them, and that fits the GDS route, which the rules treat as direct recruitment. For MTS moving to Postman — a promotion — Tamil Nadu’s 2026 PA/SA result shows how circles now handle promotions: no reservation in promotion for OBC and EWS, so the UR mark applied. Check your own circle’s result memo for which mark it used in the promotion quota.

Candidates who reach the combined Paper-I + II mark and qualify in Paper-III separately are eligible for the DEST. The 2022 letter fixed the number called at five times the Postman and Mail Guard vacancies; the letter of 19.12.2022 changed the shortlist to three times the vacancies, and circle notifications now print three times for this exam too — Andhra Pradesh’s 2025 Postman / Mail Guard notification of 16.07.2025 says “3 times of the total vacancy of Postman and Mail Guard”. The DEST is held only in English, for 15 minutes, on a computer.

Paper-III tests the local language of the circle: 15 one-mark questions translating English words into the local language, 15 the other way, a letter of 40 to 50 words (10 marks) and a short paragraph (10 marks). Only Postman and Mail Guard candidates sit it now. In the divisions covering Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Meghalaya it is replaced by an English comprehension (10 questions of 2 marks), a letter in English (15 marks) and a paragraph (15 marks). A letter of April 2023 lets North East circle candidates choose Hindi, English, Manipuri, Mizo or Bengali.

Two letters removed language papers, and they are easy to mix up. The Directorate’s letter of 10.07.2024 removed Paper-III for the post of MTS only: in its words, candidates who want to be considered only for MTS “need not appear” in the local language test, while those who want Postman or Mail Guard must still sit it. The letter of 29.05.2024 removed the language paper from the separate PA/SA exam. Neither removes Paper-III for Postman or Mail Guard, so prepare for it if you are opting for either post.

In 2026 the Directorate issued the model notification for the common exam on 26.05.2026, circles notified on 01.06.2026, applications closed on 22.06.2026 and the exam was held on Sunday 12.07.2026. Tamil Nadu published its provisional Postman vacancies on 15.09.2026, and its letter shows the rule for Postman posts: half by the LDCE among MTS, half by the competitive exam limited to GDS.

Circle results for the 2026 exam began arriving in mid-September. Uttarakhand declared its MTS-to-Postman and Mail Guard LDCE result on 16.09.2026, after a DEST on 15.09.2026; Odisha issued a first supplementary result on 21.09.2026 (its DEST was on 30.08.2026); and North East Circle declared its LDCE and GDS competitive exam result on 28.09.2026. Look for yours on the India Post circle page, and for a supplementary list if a selected candidate declines.

Two things stand out. The GDS share is almost as large as the MTS share, so the GDS route into the Postman cadre is not a residual one, as it is for PA/SA. And Chennai City region alone has half the circle’s Postman posts, which is worth knowing when you rank regions and divisions in your preferences.