Government Job Eligibility Checker
Most eligibility problems are not complicated, they are just spread across a dozen notifications. Each board picks its own date for reckoning age, writes the limits differently, and treats a few categories by a separate rule. Enter your details once and this page checks them against every major central exam at the same time.
Why age is calculated differently for each exam
A government exam does not look at your age today. It fixes a single date, called the crucial date or the age reckoning date, and measures your age on that day. Almost every eligibility rejection traces back to a candidate using the wrong one.
SSC and UPSC settle on 1 August of the recruitment year. Railway recruitment boards settle on 1 January, which is earlier in the calendar year and therefore includes a different group of candidates. IBPS split the difference and used 1 July for Probationary Officer while using 1 August for Clerk in the same year. For someone born in late July, those choices do not agree.
Age is measured in completed years on that date, not in months since birth and not by rounding. A candidate who turns the minimum age the day after the reckoning date does not qualify, and there is no appeal against it.
Age relaxation by category
The central schedule adds a fixed number of years to the upper limit. It does not lower the minimum age.
| Category | Upper-age relaxation |
|---|---|
| General / EWS | No relaxation |
| OBC — Non-Creamy Layer | +3 years |
| SC / ST | +5 years |
| PwBD — General / EWS | +10 years |
| PwBD — OBC | +13 years |
| PwBD — SC / ST | +15 years |
A PwBD figure is already the combined number. A PwBD candidate in the SC or ST category gets 15 years, not 5 plus 10. Central notices list these as separate rows rather than adding them, and treating them as additive is a common error.
Exams covered
Each entry below uses the reckoning date and limits from its own notification. Where the notice publishes a fixed date-of-birth window instead of an age range, that window is used.
| Exam | Age (General) | Reckoned as on | Qualification | Official source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SSC CHSL (LDC, JSA, DEO) | 18 to 27 | 1 Aug 2026 | 12th pass | Staff Selection Commission |
| SSC CGL (Combined Graduate Level) | 18 to 32, by post group | 1 Aug 2026 | Graduate | Staff Selection Commission |
| SSC GD (Constable, Rifleman, Sepoy) | 18 to 23 | 1 Aug 2026 | 10th pass | Staff Selection Commission / CAPFs |
| UPSC Civil Services (Prelims) | 21 to 32 | 1 Aug 2026 | Graduate | Union Public Service Commission |
| Railway RRB Group D (Level 1) | 18 to 33 | 1 Jan 2026 | 10th pass | Railway Recruitment Boards |
| Railway RRB NTPC (Undergraduate) | 18 to 30 | 1 Jan 2026 | 12th pass | Railway Recruitment Boards |
| IBPS Probationary Officer / Management Trainee | 20 to 30 | 1 Jul 2026 | Graduate | Institute of Banking Personnel Selection |
| SBI Probationary Officer | 21 to 30 | 1 Apr 2026 | Graduate | State Bank of India |
| IBPS Clerk (Customer Service Associate) | 20 to 28 | 1 Aug 2026 | Graduate | Institute of Banking Personnel Selection |
| SSC MTS (Multi-Tasking Staff) | 18 to 27 | 1 Aug 2026 | 10th pass | Staff Selection Commission |
| NDA (National Defence Academy)Standards under revision — verify | 16.5 to 19.5 | 1 Jan 2026 | 12th pass | UPSC |
| Indian Army Agniveer (General Duty, Other than Tradesman)Standards under revision — verify | 17.5 to 21 | 1 Jul 2026 | 10th pass | Indian Army |
| RPF Constable (Railway Protection Force)Standards under revision — verify | 18 to 23 | 1 Aug 2026 | 10th pass | Railway Recruitment Boards / SSC |
Common questions
Which date does a government exam use to calculate my age?
Each recruitment names its own reckoning date, and they are not the same across boards. SSC and UPSC use 1 August of the recruitment year for most of their exams. Railway boards usually use 1 January. IBPS used 1 July for Probationary Officer and 1 August for Clerk, and SBI used 1 April. Because the difference can be seven months, using the wrong date changes the answer for anyone born near the boundary. This checker uses the date published in each notification rather than a single default.
How much age relaxation do I get for my category?
Under the central schedule an OBC non-creamy layer candidate gets 3 extra years, SC and ST get 5, and a person with benchmark disability gets 10 years or 13 when combined with OBC and 15 when combined with SC or ST. EWS carries no upper-age relaxation. Some posts apply a separate cap instead of adding years — a government employee with three years of continuous service can be considered up to 40, and the widows of certain categories up to 35 or 40.
Is age relaxation automatic?
No, and this is where most rejections happen. The relaxation only counts if you produce the matching certificate at document verification, in the format prescribed for central employment. If the certificate is missing, or is on a state format the board does not accept, the claim is ignored and your application is assessed as if you were General. Carry the original plus a self-attested copy.
Why does my result say the date of birth window rather than an age range?
Some notices publish the exact earliest and latest dates of birth allowed for each reservation group, instead of writing a minimum and maximum age. Railway NTPC is one such example. Recruitment portals check your date of birth directly against those boundaries, so the arithmetic approach can disagree with what the form actually does. Where a window is published, this checker follows it, and where the notice gives a different window for your category we do not hold that figure, so the result is marked as needing confirmation instead of being decided on the wrong window.
Why does one exam show several different age limits?
Because the notice does. SSC CGL is the clearest case: it splits its posts into groups, and those groups run from 18 to 27, 20 to 30, 18 to 30 and 18 to 32. A single age limit would fail candidates who are plainly eligible for the higher groups, so for exams structured this way the checker tests you against every group and tells you which one you fit.
Does clearing the age limit mean I will be selected?
No. Age and qualification are only the first filter. Attempts already used, physical standards where applicable, medical fitness, and subject-specific degree requirements all sit behind it. Treat a green result here as permission to apply, not as a prediction.
How current is this data?
Figures come from the most recent cycle of each official notification. Rules change slowly, which is why they can be held in a single file without daily editing, but a new notification always supersedes what is shown here. Two exams on this page carry a verification flag because their standards were under revision at the time of writing. Those results are shown as needing confirmation rather than as a settled answer.
When you clear age but still cannot apply
Some failures have nothing to do with age. Defence and police posts run a physical standard test for height, chest and running distance, and it is qualifying, so a shortfall ends the candidature even with a strong written score. UPSC Civil Services allows a final-year candidate to write the Prelims, but the degree must be in hand by the date fixed for the Main Examination application, and that date is usually months before the Prelims.
Banking exams are stricter still. IBPS Probationary Officer required the final result declared by 21 July 2026, which ruled out anyone whose university published marks later. Read the cut-off in the notification rather than assuming the exam date governs it.