Civil Service Exam Coverage and Passing Score: What's on the 2027 CSE

The Civil Service Exam covers Verbal Ability, Numerical Ability, and General Information at both levels. The Professional level adds Analytical Ability, while the Sub-professional level adds Clerical Ability. You need a general rating of at least 80.00 to pass either one.

The exam is pen-and-paper, answered with a black ball pen, and calculators of any kind are banned.

Coverage by subject

Here is what each part tests, based on CSC's published scope:

• Verbal Ability (English and Filipino): word meaning, sentence completion, error recognition, sentence structure, paragraph organization, and reading comprehension.
• Numerical Ability: basic operations, number sequences, and word problems.
• Analytical Ability (Professional only): word analogy, symbolic logic and abstract reasoning, identifying assumptions and drawing conclusions, and data interpretation.
• Clerical Ability (Sub-professional only): filing and spelling.
• General Information: the Philippine Constitution, R.A. 6713 (the Code of Conduct for public officials), peace and human rights, and environment management and protection.

Number of items and time limit

The Professional level has 170 items in 3 hours and 10 minutes: 150 test items plus a 20-item Examinee Descriptive Questionnaire (EDQ) about your personal data. Only the 150 test items are scored.

The Sub-professional level has 165 items in 2 hours and 40 minutes: 145 test items plus the 20-item EDQ.

At the Professional level, that works out to about one minute per item. Skip the hard ones first, mark them in your test booklet, and come back. Never leave an item blank.

Where examinees lose points

These are the areas worth extra attention in your review:

• Math by hand. Drill fractions, percentages, and long division for 15 to 20 minutes a day, without a calculator.
• Filipino items. Verbal Ability is in English and Filipino, so review rin and din, ng and nang, and common Tagalog vocabulary.
• The Constitution. Focus on Article II, Article III, Articles VI to VIII, Article IX, and Article XI.
• R.A. 6713. Memorize the eight norms of conduct and key timelines, such as responding to requests within 15 working days and filing your SALN on or before April 30.

How to test yourself

Reading alone won't show you your weak subject. Take a timed practice test early, note which part pulls your score down, and spend most of your review there. Our free 20-item practice test shows how the question types feel, and our questions are original, so they are practice for the exam and not actual exam items.