When to guess on a Lok Sewa paper, and when not to
A wrong answer deducts twenty per cent of the question's marks. That single number decides whether guessing helps you or quietly costs you the exam.
Every Lok Sewa candidate has been told about negative marking, and most have absorbed it as a general instruction to be careful. That is not what the rule says. The rule is a number, and the number has a specific consequence for how you should behave on a question you are unsure about.
What the rule actually is
A wrong answer to an objective question deducts twenty per cent of the marks assigned to that question. On a two-mark question that is a deduction of 0.4. An unanswered question receives no mark and no deduction. The Nayab Subba first paper carries fifty questions of two marks each for one hundred marks in forty-five minutes, with a pass mark of forty-five. The Section Officer objective paper carries one hundred questions for one hundred marks in an hour and a half, with the same forty-five pass mark and the same twenty per cent deduction.
Outcome per two-mark question
- Correct+2.0
+2.0 marks
- Left blank0.0
0.0 marks
- Wrong−0.4
minus 0.4 marks
relative magnitude · actual marks shown on each bar
A correct answer scores two marks. An unanswered question scores zero. A wrong answer scores minus 0.4, being a deduction of twenty per cent of the question's two marks.
The arithmetic of a pure guess
Take a four-option question worth two marks where you know nothing at all. One time in four you gain two marks. Three times in four you lose 0.4. Across four such questions you gain two and lose 1.2, for a net gain of 0.8 marks. Guessing blind is positive, but only just, and the margin is thin enough that a small bias in the paper's distractors could erase it.
Now eliminate one option. You are guessing from three, so one time in three you gain two and twice you lose 0.4. Across three questions that is two gained against 0.8 lost. The case is no longer marginal.
| What you can rule out | Chance of being right | Expected value | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nothing at all | 1 in 4 | +0.2 marks | Marginally worth answering |
| One option | 1 in 3 | +0.4 marks | Answer it |
| Two options | 1 in 2 | +0.8 marks | Answer it without hesitating |
| You are confident | Near certain | Close to +2.0 | Answer and do not revisit |
The failure the arithmetic does not describe
All of the above assumes you know when you are guessing. The larger source of lost marks is the question you answer confidently and get wrong, because you misremembered a date, or because the stem contained a negation you read past.
Deductions from confident wrong answers are invisible to you during the exam. You cannot flag them, because you did not know. The only defence is built beforehand: practising with the same deduction applied, so that your sense of confidence is calibrated against something real rather than against how the sentence felt.
Working the paper with the deduction in mind
- 1
First pass: answer what you know
Move quickly, answer only what you are confident about, and mark everything else. On a forty-five-minute paper this pass should take under half the time.
- 2
Second pass: eliminate, then answer
For each marked question, try to rule out one option. If you can, answer it. The arithmetic is on your side the moment the field drops below four.
- 3
Third pass: read the negations again
Go back to the questions you answered confidently and quickly, and check for not, except and incorrect in the stem. This is where confident wrong answers live.
- 4
Last minute: fill the remaining blanks
If time is nearly gone, a blank is worth zero and a guess is worth slightly more than zero. Fill them.
Frequently asked questions
- How much is deducted for a wrong answer in Lok Sewa?
- Twenty per cent of the marks assigned to that question. On a two-mark question that is 0.4 marks. Unanswered questions carry no deduction.
- Is guessing worth it with negative marking?
- Yes, marginally, even with no knowledge at all, and clearly once you can eliminate a single option. The deduction is small relative to the mark on offer.
- What is the pass mark for the Nayab Subba first paper?
- Forty-five out of one hundred. The paper is fifty questions of two marks each in forty-five minutes.
- How is the Section Officer objective paper structured?
- One hundred multiple-choice questions for one hundred marks in one hour and thirty minutes, with a pass mark of forty-five and the same twenty per cent deduction for wrong answers.