This examination is held once a year, generally in the month of May. Blank application forms and other particulars are published in the Employment News in the month of December of the previous year. The last date for submission of applications is generally last week of January.

The Examination is conducted by the Staff Selection Commission for recruitment to the post of Grade 'D' Stenographers' in the scale of Rs. 4000-100-6000 for the following groups of Services/Offices.
Group 'X'

1. Central Secretariat Stenographers' Service-Grade D. 
2. Railway Board Secretariat Stenographers' Service Grade D.
3. Armed Forces Headquarters Stenographers' Service Grade D.
4. Grade III of Stenographers' Cadre of IFS `B'. 
5. Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.
6. Any other Department/Office not mentioned above. 

Group 'Y'

1. Subordinate Offices of the Government of India located all over India.
2. Office of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India and Accountant General (Audit) and Accountant General (Account and Establishment).
3. Controller General of Defense Accounts. 
4. Delhi Administration.
5. Any other Office/Organization not mentioned above.

Age: 

18 to 25 years on the lst January of the year of examination. Upper age limit relaxable upto five years for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes and certain other categories of persons according to orders in force.

Educational Qualifications: 

Matriculation or equivalent. 

Fee Payable: 

Rs. 15/- (Rs. Fifteen only). No fee for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes/Physically Handicapped and Ex-servicemen.

Scheme of Examination: 

The examination will consist of two parts:

Part I: Written Examination in the subject, as set out in Para 7 below, and
Part II: Stenography Test.

Written Examination: 

The subjects of the written examination, the time allowed and the maximum marks for each subject will be as follows:
Subject Max. Marks Time allowed 

General Awareness 100 2 hours 
Language Test 100

There is a single paper for both the subjects of the Objective multiple Choice Type questions. Candidates are required to qualify in each of the two subjects separately. 

The Commission has full discretion to fix the minimum qualifying marks in either or both the subjects. Only such candidates who attain, in each of the two subjects of the Written Examination, a minimum standard, as may be fixed by the Commission in their discretion, are eligible to take the Shorthand Test (Part II of the Examination). 

The candidates will have option to answer the language test either in Hindi or in English. The candidates who opt for Hindi medium in shorthand are required to take the language test in Hindi only and candidates opting for English shorthand are required to take the language test in English.

Standard of the Examination: 

The standard of the questions is approximately that of the Matriculation Examination of an Indian University.