Complete UIIC AO Syllabus 2026 for the new two-tier pattern — Prelims and Mains section-wise topics, marks, Hindi Officer Professional Knowledge & descriptive.
Quick answer
UIIC has moved Administrative Officer (Scale I) recruitment to a two-tier format for 2026 — a Preliminary Examination followed by a Main Examination, then a Descriptive Test and Interview.
Prelims is common to both streams: English (30), Reasoning (35), Quantitative Aptitude (35) — 100 marks in 60 minutes.
Mains differs by stream. Generalists face a five-section, 250-mark objective paper. Hindi Officers face a 200-mark paper in which a single Professional Knowledge section carries 100 marks — half the paper.
One thing to be clear about before you read further: UIIC does not publish a topic-wise syllabus. The notification names the sections and nothing more. The topic breakdowns below are compiled from the standard scope of these sections in public sector insurance and banking examinations, and are clearly marked as expected coverage rather than official.
Important: how to read a “UIIC AO syllabus”
Search this query and you will find a dozen pages presenting detailed topic lists as though UIIC published them. It didn’t.
Here is exactly what the notification gives you:
| What UIIC officially states | What it does not state |
|---|---|
| Section names | Topics within each section |
| Number of questions per section | Difficulty level |
| Marks per section | Number of questions per topic |
| Duration per section | Recommended books or sources |
| Medium of examination | Cut-off marks |
The one section where the notification goes further is Professional Knowledge for Hindi Officers, where it explicitly names the content: Hindi and English grammar and vocabulary, knowledge of the Act and Rules regarding Official Language implementation, and translation in both directions. That is official, and it is quoted as such below.
Everything else in this guide is expected coverage — reliable, because these sections have a well-established scope across insurance sector recruitment, but not guaranteed. We have marked each section accordingly.
Also Read: UIIC AO Recruitment 2026 Notification Out
Exam pattern 2026 — reference tables
Tier I: Preliminary Examination (both Generalists and Hindi Officers)
| Section | Questions | Marks | Duration | Medium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language | 30 | 30 | 20 min | English |
| Reasoning | 35 | 35 | 20 min | English / Hindi |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 35 | 35 | 20 min | English / Hindi |
| Total | 100 | 100 | 60 min |
Sectionally timed. Sectional plus overall cut-off. Marks do not count towards the final merit list.
Tier II: Main Examination — Generalists
| Section | Questions | Marks | Duration | Marks/min |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language | 40 | 50 | 30 min | 1.67 |
| Reasoning | 50 | 60 | 40 min | 1.50 |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 50 | 60 | 40 min | 1.50 |
| General Awareness (financial sector) | 40 | 60 | 30 min | 2.00 |
| Computer Knowledge | 20 | 20 | 10 min | 2.00 |
| Total | 200 | 250 | 150 min | |
| Descriptive Test | 2 | 30 | 30 min | Qualifying only |
Tier II: Main Examination — Hindi Officers
| Section | Questions | Marks | Duration | Marks/min |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language | 25 | 25 | 20 min | 1.25 |
| Reasoning | 25 | 25 | 30 min | 0.83 |
| Professional Knowledge | 50 | 100 | 50 min | 2.00 |
| General Awareness | 25 | 25 | 10 min | 2.50 |
| Computer Knowledge | 25 | 25 | 10 min | 2.50 |
| Total | 150 | 200 | 120 min | |
| Descriptive Test | 5 | 50 | 60 min | Counts in merit |
Negative marking of 1/4 applies in both Prelims and Mains. Full stage-by-stage rules are covered in our separate guide to the UIIC AO selection process.
Prelims syllabus (expected coverage)
Prelims is a screening filter. The scope is narrower and the difficulty lower than Mains, but the 20-minute sectional locks make speed the binding constraint.
1. English Language — 30 questions, 20 minutes
- Reading Comprehension (usually one or two passages)
- Cloze Test
- Para Jumbles / Sentence Rearrangement
- Error Spotting and Sentence Correction
- Fill in the Blanks (single and double)
- Phrase / Sentence Replacement
- Vocabulary — synonyms, antonyms, word usage
- Para Completion
2. Reasoning Ability — 35 questions, 20 minutes
- Puzzles — floor, box, scheduling, day/month based
- Seating Arrangement — linear, circular, parallel rows
- Syllogism
- Inequality (direct and coded)
- Blood Relations
- Direction Sense
- Order and Ranking
- Alphanumeric Series
- Coding-Decoding
- Data Sufficiency
Puzzles and seating arrangement typically account for the largest block. Twenty minutes for 35 questions means roughly 34 seconds per question — set selection matters more than solving ability.
3. Quantitative Aptitude — 35 questions, 20 minutes
- Simplification and Approximation
- Number Series (missing and wrong term)
- Quadratic Equations
- Data Interpretation — tabular, bar, line, pie, caselet
- Arithmetic: Percentage, Profit & Loss, Ratio & Proportion, Average, Time & Work, Time Speed & Distance, Simple & Compound Interest, Mixtures & Alligation, Partnership, Boats & Streams, Pipes & Cisterns, Ages
- Mensuration
- Permutation, Combination and Probability
Mains syllabus — Generalists (expected coverage)
The Mains paper covers the same subjects as Prelims at greater depth, plus two sections that do not appear in Prelims at all: General Awareness and Computer Knowledge.
1. English Language — 40 questions, 50 marks
Everything in the Prelims list, plus:
- Longer and denser Reading Comprehension, often on economic or business themes
- Sentence Connectors
- Word Swap and Word Rearrangement
- Column-based fillers (match phrases across columns)
- Idioms and Phrases
- Inference and tone-based questions
2. Reasoning — 50 questions, 60 marks
Everything in the Prelims list, plus higher-difficulty variants:
- Complex and multi-variable puzzles
- Input-Output (machine input)
- Logical Reasoning — statement and assumption, statement and conclusion, cause and effect, course of action
- Critical Reasoning — strengthening and weakening arguments
- Data Sufficiency (two and three statement)
3. Quantitative Aptitude — 50 questions, 60 marks
Everything in Prelims, plus:
- Advanced Data Interpretation — missing DI, arithmetic DI, caselet DI, bar-line combination
- Data Sufficiency
- Quantity comparison
- Higher-weight arithmetic word problems
4. General Awareness (with special reference to Financial Sector) — 40 questions, 60 marks
The notification’s own wording — “with special reference to Financial Sector” — tells you where to concentrate. Expected coverage:
Insurance awareness (weight this heavily for an insurance company exam)
- IRDAI — role, functions, structure, recent regulations
- Types of insurance: life, general, health, motor, marine, fire, crop
- Insurance terminology: premium, sum assured, underwriting, reinsurance, actuary, claim settlement ratio, bancassurance, third-party liability, IDV, no-claim bonus
- Public sector general insurers and GIC Re
- Insurance Act 1938, IRDAI Act 1999
- Government insurance schemes: PMFBY, PMJJBY, PMSBY, Ayushman Bharat, Atal Pension Yojana
Banking and financial awareness
- RBI — functions, monetary policy, rates (repo, reverse repo, CRR, SLR, MSF, bank rate)
- SEBI, NABARD, SIDBI, EXIM Bank, NPCI
- Money market and capital market instruments
- NPAs, Basel norms, priority sector lending
- Digital payments: UPI, NEFT, RTGS, IMPS
- Banking abbreviations
Current affairs (typically last 6 months)
- National and international news
- Union Budget and Economic Survey
- Government schemes
- Appointments, awards, obituaries
- Summits, agreements, MoUs
- Sports, books and authors
- Static GK: capitals, currencies, national parks, dams, headquarters of financial institutions
5. Computer Knowledge — 20 questions, 20 marks
- Fundamentals of computers, generations, hardware and software
- Input and output devices
- Memory — primary, secondary, cache, units
- Operating systems
- MS Office — Word, Excel, PowerPoint
- Internet and networking basics — LAN, WAN, protocols, browsers
- Database basics and DBMS
- Computer abbreviations and shortcut keys
- Cyber security, malware, firewalls
- Number systems and logic gates (occasional)
A note on how much time to give this section. In 2024, Computer Knowledge carried 40 marks. In 2026 it carries 20. Its ceiling has been halved, so cap your preparation hours accordingly. But at 20 marks in just 10 minutes, its marks-per-minute rate of 2.0 is still the joint-highest on the Generalist paper alongside General Awareness. Do not skip it — it remains among the cheapest marks available. Just stop treating it as a major scoring pillar.
Also Read: PSU Recruitment via GATE 2027: Complete List of Public Sector Undertaking Companies Hiring
Mains syllabus — Hindi Officers
This is where UIIC actually specifies content, and where online coverage is thinnest.
3. Professional Knowledge — 50 questions, 100 marks (official scope)
The notification defines this section as: Test of Hindi and English grammar / vocabulary & knowledge of Act / Rules regarding Official Language implementation, Translation (English to Hindi and Hindi to English).
Half the objective paper. Expected coverage under each of the three named heads:
(a) Hindi grammar and vocabulary — व्याकरण एवं शब्द ज्ञान
- संधि और संधि विच्छेद
- समास
- उपसर्ग और प्रत्यय
- संज्ञा, सर्वनाम, विशेषण, क्रिया, काल, वाच्य
- कारक और विभक्ति
- पर्यायवाची और विलोम शब्द
- अनेक शब्दों के लिए एक शब्द
- मुहावरे और लोकोक्तियाँ
- शब्द युग्म / श्रुतिसम भिन्नार्थक शब्द
- वर्तनी शुद्धि और वाक्य शुद्धि
- तत्सम, तद्भव, देशज, विदेशी शब्द
- रस, छंद, अलंकार (occasionally tested)
- पारिभाषिक शब्दावली — administrative and banking/insurance terminology
(b) English grammar and vocabulary
- Parts of speech, tenses, articles, prepositions
- Subject-verb agreement
- Active and passive voice, direct and indirect speech
- Error detection and sentence improvement
- Synonyms, antonyms, one-word substitution
- Idioms and phrases
- Commonly confused words
(c) Official Language Act and Rules — राजभाषा नियम (highest-value block)
This is the sub-topic that most candidates under-prepare and where the marks are most concentrated:
- Constitutional provisions: Articles 120, 210, 343 to 351 of the Constitution of India
- Official Languages Act, 1963 and its 1967 amendment
- Official Languages (Use for Official Purposes of the Union) Rules, 1976 — including subsequent amendments
- Region classification: A, B and C — which states fall where, and the correspondence targets applicable to each
- Section 3(3) — the fourteen categories of documents requiring mandatory bilingual issue
- Annual Programme (वार्षिक कार्यक्रम) of the Department of Official Language
- Rajbhasha Vibhag (Department of Official Language), Ministry of Home Affairs — structure and role
- Kendriya Hindi Samiti, Hindi Salahkar Samiti, Nagar Rajbhasha Karyanvayan Samiti (NARAKAS)
- Rajbhasha inspection, quarterly reports, Hindi Divas, Hindi Pakhwada
- Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology (CSTT) — वैज्ञानिक तथा तकनीकी शब्दावली आयोग
- Central Translation Bureau (केंद्रीय अनुवाद ब्यूरो)
- Incentive schemes for Hindi noting and drafting
- Devanagari script and numeral provisions
(d) Translation — अनुवाद
- English to Hindi and Hindi to English
- Administrative, banking and insurance register
- Official correspondence terminology
- Common pitfalls: literal versus idiomatic rendering, register mismatch, technical term standardisation
Other Hindi Officer sections
English Language (25 Q / 25 marks) and Reasoning (25 Q / 25 marks) follow the same expected scope as the Generalist Prelims lists above, at comparable difficulty.
General Awareness (25 Q / 25 marks in 10 minutes) and Computer Knowledge (25 Q / 25 marks in 10 minutes) both run at 2.5 marks per minute — the highest efficiency on the entire Hindi Officer paper. These are 50 marks available in 20 minutes. Do not let Professional Knowledge preparation crowd them out.
Descriptive Test syllabus
Generalists — 30 marks, 30 minutes, 2 questions, English only
| Component | Marks |
|---|---|
| Letter Writing | 10 |
| Essay | 20 |
Expected letter types: formal and business letters, complaints, applications, letters to editors, official correspondence. Expected essay themes: insurance and financial sector topics, technology, social issues, economy, current affairs.
Qualifying only. Marks do not enter the merit list for Generalists. Clear the cut-off and move on.
Hindi Officers — 50 marks, 60 minutes, 5 questions
| Component | Marks |
|---|---|
| English Essay | 10 |
| Hindi Essay (हिंदी निबंध) | 10 |
| Letter Writing in Hindi (हिंदी पत्र लेखन) | 10 |
| English to Hindi Translation | 10 |
| Hindi to English Translation | 10 |
These marks count towards the merit list. Expected Hindi letter formats include कार्यालय ज्ञापन, कार्यालय आदेश, परिपत्र, अधिसूचना, अनुस्मारक and अर्ध-सरकारी पत्र — the standard official correspondence forms. Practise these in format, not just in content.
Answers are typed on the computer. Candidates must know Inscript or Remington (GAIL) keyboard layout. Five components in sixty minutes averages twelve minutes each, which is unforgiving if you are hunting for keys.
Where to concentrate: a weightage-driven plan
Generalists
| Priority | Section | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | General Awareness | 60 marks in 30 min — highest efficiency, and pure recall means no time risk |
| 2 | Quantitative Aptitude | 60 marks, and the section that grew most from 2024 |
| 3 | Reasoning | 60 marks, plus it carries you through Prelims |
| 4 | English | 50 marks, and gates both Prelims and the Descriptive |
| 5 | Computer Knowledge | Only 20 marks, but cheap — a short, late-stage revision block |
Because Prelims marks are discarded, treat Prelims preparation as a subset of Mains preparation. There is no separate Prelims syllabus worth building — study for Mains depth and Prelims takes care of itself, with the addition of targeted speed drills for the 20-minute sectional locks.
Hindi Officers
| Priority | Section | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Professional Knowledge | 100 of 200 objective marks — this is the exam |
| 2 | Descriptive Test | 50 marks that count in merit, unlike the Generalist paper |
| 3 | GA + Computer | 50 marks in 20 minutes combined — best efficiency on the paper |
| 4 | English + Reasoning | 50 marks, but you must still clear sectional cut-offs |
Within Professional Knowledge, the Official Language Act and Rules block deserves disproportionate time. Grammar and vocabulary you likely already have from your Master’s degree. Rajbhasha rules, region classification and Section 3(3) are learnable in weeks and are where scores separate.
Prelims vs Mains: what actually differs
| Dimension | Prelims | Mains |
|---|---|---|
| Sections | 3 | 5 |
| Total marks | 100 | 250 (Gen) / 200 (Hindi) |
| Duration | 60 min | 150 min (Gen) / 120 min (Hindi) |
| Difficulty | Moderate | Moderate to high |
| GA and Computer | Absent | Present |
| Marks per question | Uniform (1 mark) | Non-uniform |
| Counts in merit | No | Yes |
That non-uniform marks point is worth absorbing. In Generalist Mains, Quant is 50 questions for 60 marks and GA is 40 questions for 60 marks — so questions carry different values, and the 1/4 negative marking penalty is correspondingly heavier in high-value sections. A wrong answer in GA costs more than a wrong answer in Computer Knowledge.
Frequently asked questions
What is the UIIC AO syllabus for 2026? UIIC does not publish a topic-wise syllabus. The notification specifies sections only: English, Reasoning and Quantitative Aptitude in Prelims; those three plus General Awareness and Computer Knowledge in Generalist Mains; and English, Reasoning, Professional Knowledge, General Awareness and Computer Knowledge in Hindi Officer Mains. Topic lists circulating online, including ours, are compiled from the established scope of these sections in insurance sector exams.
Is the Prelims syllabus different from the Mains syllabus? The subjects overlap entirely — Prelims covers three of the Mains sections at lower depth. Mains adds General Awareness and Computer Knowledge, which do not appear in Prelims at all.
Which section carries the most marks in UIIC AO Mains 2026? For Generalists, Reasoning, Quantitative Aptitude and General Awareness are tied at 60 marks each. For Hindi Officers, Professional Knowledge alone carries 100 of 200 marks.
What is included in the Professional Knowledge section for Hindi Officers? The notification specifies Hindi and English grammar and vocabulary, knowledge of the Act and Rules regarding Official Language implementation, and translation from English to Hindi and Hindi to English.
How much General Awareness should be insurance-related? The notification describes the section as General Awareness “with special reference to Financial Sector”. Given this is a general insurance company recruitment, insurance awareness and banking and financial awareness deserve the largest share of your preparation within this section.
Is there Computer Knowledge in UIIC AO Prelims? No. Prelims has only three sections — English, Reasoning and Quantitative Aptitude. Computer Knowledge appears only in Mains.
How many questions are there in UIIC AO Prelims and Mains? Prelims has 100 questions for 100 marks. Generalist Mains has 200 questions for 250 marks. Hindi Officer Mains has 150 questions for 200 marks.
Is there sectional timing in UIIC AO 2026? Yes. Every section in both Prelims and Mains is separately timed. Unused time in one section cannot be carried into another.
Does the Descriptive Test have a syllabus? For Generalists it is one letter (10 marks) and one essay (20 marks) in English. For Hindi Officers it is five components — English essay, Hindi essay, Hindi letter, and translation in both directions — at 10 marks each.
What keyboard layout is required for the Hindi descriptive paper? Inscript or Remington (GAIL). Answers are typed on the computer within 60 minutes.
<p>The post UIIC AO Syllabus & Exam Pattern 2026: Complete Prelims + Mains Guide (New Two-Tier Pattern) first appeared on Karmasandhan.</p>
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