How many questions to attempt in SSC CHSL 2026 Tier-I? Good attempts by the numbers
There is no single number of "good attempts" in SSC CHSL Tier-I. What decides your marks is attempts and accuracy together: with +2 for a right answer and −0.5 for a wrong one, 70 attempts at 90% accuracy (122.5 marks) beat 90 attempts at 70% accuracy (112.5 marks). The right number for you is the most questions you can answer while keeping your accuracy, section by section, inside each 15-minute timer. Below is the arithmetic, so you can set your own target from your mocks. For the exam dates and how to apply, see our SSC CHSL 2026 guide.
The marking you are working with
The SSC CHSL 2026 notice (para 13.8) sets Tier-I as four subjects of 25 questions and 50 marks each: English Language, General Intelligence, Quantitative Aptitude and General Awareness. You get 60 minutes in all, with a sectional timer of 15 minutes for each subject. Para 13.8.2 sets a negative mark of 0.50 for each wrong answer, and a right answer is worth 2 marks. An unanswered question scores nothing.
So your score is:
Net marks = 2 × right − 0.5 × wrong
What one attempt is worth at each accuracy
If you attempt a question and your accuracy is a, that attempt is worth on average 2 × a − 0.5 × (1 − a) = 2.5a − 0.5 marks.
| Accuracy | Marks per attempt, on average |
|---|---|
| 100% | 2.00 |
| 90% | 1.75 |
| 80% | 1.50 |
| 70% | 1.25 |
| 60% | 1.00 |
| 50% | 0.75 |
| 40% | 0.50 |
| 20% | 0.00 |
An attempt stops paying only below 20% accuracy, so CHSL Tier-I punishes wrong answers less than people fear. But every 10 points of accuracy are worth 0.25 marks on every attempt, which adds up fast across 80 or 90 of them.
Attempts × accuracy → net marks
| Attempts ↓ / Accuracy → | 90% | 80% | 70% | 60% | 50% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 | 105 | 90 | 75 | 60 | 45 |
| 70 | 122.5 | 105 | 87.5 | 70 | 52.5 |
| 80 | 140 | 120 | 100 | 80 | 60 |
| 90 | 157.5 | 135 | 112.5 | 90 | 67.5 |
| 100 | 175 | 150 | 125 | 100 | 75 |
Moving down one row (10 more attempts) at the same accuracy adds 7.5 to 17.5 marks. Moving one column left (10 points more accurate) at the same attempts adds 15 to 25 marks. For most students, accuracy is the cheaper lever.
For reference, para 17.1 of the notice sets the minimum qualifying marks in Tier-I at 30% for UR (60 of 200), 25% for OBC/EWS (50) and 20% for all other categories (40). These are only the floor. The marks needed to be shortlisted for Tier-II are set separately, category-wise and for different post groups (para 17.3), and are not known in advance, so do not plan around a guessed cut-off. Plan to score as much as your accuracy allows.
When a guess pays
A guess is worth it when your chance of being right is above 0.5 ÷ (2 + 0.5) = 20%. With four options:
| Options left after ruling some out | Chance | Average marks from the guess |
|---|---|---|
| 4 (no idea) | 25% | +0.125 |
| 3 (one ruled out) | 33% | +0.33 |
| 2 (two ruled out) | 50% | +0.75 |
Between two options a guess is clearly worth taking: on average you gain three-quarters of a mark. Even a blind guess is slightly positive on average, but only just, and ten blind guesses can still land anywhere from −5 to +20. The practical rule: guess when you have ruled out at least one option for a real reason; leave a question blank only when you could not even read it properly. Check in mocks how often your "50-50" guesses come out right; if well below half, your eliminations are weaker than they feel. Our article on negative marking compares this rule across exams.
Why chasing attempts hurts
An attempt count without accuracy tells you nothing, and pushing for a number changes how you work.
Rushing costs more than skipping. A question you know but get wrong through haste costs 2.5 marks compared with getting it right: the 2 you lost plus the 0.5 penalty. Skipping a hard question costs nothing.
Here is the same student two ways. Calmly, they attempt 70 and get 63 right: 126 − 3.5 = 122.5. Told to "attempt 85", they reach 84 attempts, but the hurry drops accuracy to 75%: 63 right and 21 wrong, 126 − 10.5 = 115.5. Fourteen more attempts, seven fewer marks.
The timer does not forgive. Two minutes forced into one tough Quant question come out of that same section; they cannot be won back in General Awareness.
Extra attempts are not the problem; careless ones are. If the extra questions come at the end of a section, after you have done everything you are sure of, and you have ruled out an option on each, they add marks. The order matters: sure questions first, guesses last.
A per-section attempt plan under the 15-minute timers
Each subject has its own 15 minutes, which is 36 seconds a question. Unused time in one subject cannot be moved to another, so set a target for each section separately, from your own mocks. Here is how a plan might look for a student whose recent mocks show these accuracies:
| Section | Target attempts | Expected accuracy | Right / wrong | Net marks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language | 22 | about 90% | 20 / 2 | 39 |
| General Intelligence | 21 | about 85% | 18 / 3 | 34.5 |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 18 | about 83% | 15 / 3 | 28.5 |
| General Awareness | 18 | about 72% | 13 / 5 | 23.5 |
| Total | 79 | 66 / 13 | 125.5 |
An example, not a promise. Build yours like this:
- Take your last three mocks. For each section, note attempts and accuracy. Use the average, not your best day.
- Add 1 or 2 attempts only where accuracy is above 80%. Below 75%, keep attempts flat and fix accuracy first.
- General Awareness: you either know an answer or you do not, so answer in one pass in 7–8 minutes, then use the remaining minutes on two-option guesses. Spare minutes cannot go to Quant, so spend them here.
- English: usually the highest-accuracy section. Do grammar and vocabulary questions first, then cloze and comprehension.
- General Intelligence: do the quick types (analogy, classification, coding) first; leave long puzzles for the end.
- Quantitative Aptitude: two passes. Anything you cannot set up in 20 seconds waits for the second pass.
- In the last minute of each section, go back over the questions you marked and guess those where you have ruled out an option.
Our SSC CHSL sectional timing guide covers pacing inside each 15 minutes in more detail.
Finding your number
Your target can only come from your own timed mocks. Our 10 free SSC CHSL Tier-I mocks run with the real 15-minute section timers and +2/−0.5 marking, in English and Hindi, and each result shows attempts, accuracy and marks lost by section. When a section's accuracy holds for three mocks running, raise its target by one or two.
Useful links
- SSC CHSL 2026 notice (PDF, ssc.gov.in)
- Free SSC CHSL mock tests
- SSC CHSL 2026: exam date, pattern and how to apply
- Negative marking: when does guessing pay?
- How to calculate your SSC CHSL score from the answer key
- How to analyse a mock test
Frequently asked questions
How many questions should I attempt in SSC CHSL Tier-I?
As many as you can while keeping accuracy above about 80%. At 80% accuracy, 80 attempts give 120 marks; at 90%, 70 attempts give 122.5. Set the number per section from your last three mocks.
What are good attempts in SSC CHSL 2026?
"Good attempts" depends on accuracy. 80 attempts at 90% (140 marks) beat 100 attempts at 70% (125 marks). Use the table above with your own mock accuracy rather than a figure quoted for someone else's shift.
Should I guess in SSC CHSL if I am not sure?
Yes, if you have ruled out at least one option. With +2/−0.5, a guess between two options gains 0.75 marks on average and between three, 0.33. A completely blind guess is only marginally positive.
Can I use leftover time from General Awareness for Maths in SSC CHSL?
No. Each subject has its own 15-minute timer, so time left in one subject cannot be moved to another. Use it to recheck or guess within the same section.