APPSC Royalty Inspector 2026 — Official 450-Mark CBRT and Complete Geology Syllabus

Notification No. 33/2026 | Source: 9-page APPSC brief, pages 2–6 | Examination date not declared.

The Royalty Inspector test is one-level and computer-based, with two degree-standard objective papers. There is no screening round regardless of applications. General Studies & Mental Ability is the broad common paper; the 300-mark Geology paper is the technical differentiator.

1. Paper structure, time and negative marking

Negative marking: APPSC specifies one-third of the marks prescribed per question. Consequently, Paper I has ⅓ mark per wrong response, and Paper II has ⅔ mark per wrong response. With 150 questions each, the papers have equal question counts but unequal mark value; Geology contributes two-thirds of the written total. No official subtopic-weightage or vacancy-specific pass mark has been issued in this brief.

The Commission may use normalization if the single-level CBRT is held in multiple sessions. This possibility is not evidence that the exam will certainly have multiple shifts.

2. Paper I: 10 officially prescribed domains

The official scheme gives 150 questions across Paper I, not a fixed allotment for these ten areas. Studying Andhra Pradesh current events, history and geography is grounded in the listed syllabus, not generic advice pasted into every examination page.

3. Paper II Part I: General, Geomorphological and Structural/Field Geology

General Geology and Earth's internal dynamics

The official range begins with the Solar System and Earth: origin, age, inner constitution, and extends to volcanic eruptions, volcano products, earthquakes, isostasy, mountain building, continental drift, sea-floor spreading and plate tectonics. Compare concepts rather than memorising labels: earthquake intensity is not the same as magnitude, and crustal movement can produce structures later observed in the field.

Geomorphology and remote sensing

Study weathering, erosion cycles, drainage patterns and fluvial landforms, then compare aeolian, coastal, glacial and karst landscapes. Remote sensing is explicitly named. The syllabus does not say that an entire separate remote-sensing paper will be held; it is part of Geology.

Structural and Field Geology

Primary and secondary geological structures, dip/strike, folds, faults, joints, unconformities, lineation, foliation, overthrusts and nappes connect directly to map interpretation. The annexure mentions geological block diagrams, stereographic and equal-area projections, clinometer compass, topographic maps and geological cross-sections. Candidates should be capable of following an observed structure from compass measurement to mapped attitude and an interpreted section. This is a study interpretation of the published topics, not a prescribed practical field test.

4. Part II: Crystallography, Mineralogy and Economic Geology

Crystallography: Normal classes of the seven crystal systems, symmetry, elements of crystal structure and light-crystal interaction. Optical work includes a petrological microscope, Nicol prism, pleochroism, double refraction, birefringence, extinction angle, twinning, and differences between isotropic, uniaxial and biaxial minerals.

Mineralogy: The named common mineral families include quartz, feldspar, mica, pyroxene, amphibole, olivine, garnet, chlorite, carbonates and aluminosilicates, with physical, chemical and optical properties. The scope also includes silicate crystal chemistry and gemstones. Learning mineral names without diagnostic properties misses the core distinction in this section.

Economic Geology: Start with ore, ore mineral and gangue, classify deposits and study processes producing them. The Indian examples specified include aluminium, chromium, copper, gold, lead, zinc, iron, manganese and radioactive-element minerals, plus abrasive, refractory and ceramic minerals, coal and petroleum. The written source additionally mentions mineral prospecting. The syllabus does not give individual mineral commodities their own declared marks.

5. Part III: Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic Petrology

These are three distinctive mechanisms—crystallization, deposition and transformation—covered in the same official part. A comparison of texture and origin across these mechanisms is a useful preparation exercise, not an announcement of how many questions each will receive.

6. Part IV: Paleontology, Stratigraphy and India's geological framework

Paleontology: Fossils, fossilization, preservation and applications; the named study groups include Foraminiferida, Brachipoda, Bivalvia, Gastropoda, Cephalopoda, Trilobita, Echinoidea and Anthozoa, along with Siwalik mammals and Gondwana flora.

Stratigraphy: Fundamental principles and the distinction between lithostratigraphic, biostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic classification; the geological time scale; major physiographic divisions of India. The officially named Indian units include Dharwar, Vindhyan and Gondwana Supergroups and Siwalik Group, especially their subdivisions, lithology, fossils, distribution and economic importance.

This is not merely a memorisation test on formation names. Read the official syllabus as a connected exercise: what a formation contains, when it formed, how it is traced and what resources it may contain. However, no map-reading practical or identified number of stratigraphy questions is separately announced.

7. Written paper versus the computer practical

The annexure separately publishes the 100-mark CPT practical scheme. Its 60-minute assessment and category-wise minima should not be added indiscriminately to the 450 written marks to invent a 550-mark merit scale. Preparation for the separate office-automation tasks is provided in the connected CPT page.

Recruitment-specific hall ticket, question paper, initial answer key, final key, result and shortlist: No dates appear in this brief. Any future dates or procedural details must come from an actual APPSC notice for 33/2026, not from the older 25/2025 Royalty Inspector cycle.

APPSC Royalty Inspector 2026 — Official Computer Proficiency Test (CPT) Syllabus

Notification 33/2026, brief notification pages 6–9; G.O.Ms.No.26, General Administration (Ser.B), dated 24 February 2023.

CPT checks office automation and the practical use of computers and associated software. Unlike the Geology written paper, it assesses whether a candidate can handle digital documents, spreadsheets and presentations. The official table specifies 60 minutes, 100 marks and separate qualifying marks by category.

Exam format and minimum marks

📊 Compare the published qualifying thresholds

These figures are minimum qualifications in the CPT, not predicted written-exam cut-offs. In particular, the table's mention of PBD is a CPT qualifying bracket and does not itself establish a vacancy reserved for PBD in this recruitment.

The published five-part assessment pattern

🥧 The five published CPT components within 100 marks

The wording of the annexure says a typing speed assessment may be made mandatory for qualifying according to existing norms; it does not give a universal, fixed words-per-minute standard in the supplied notice. Therefore no assumed 25/30/35 WPM cut-off is added here.

Part-A: computer foundations — eight syllabus blocks

1. Computer equipment and input/output: Components, peripheral devices, storage, RAM, ROM, control unit and arithmetic-logic unit; the differences among input, processing and output functions.
2. Software families: System, application, embedded, proprietary and open-source software, with their stated purposes and attributes.
3. Operating systems: What an OS does; single- and multi-user operating-system ideas.
4. Windows and graphical interfaces: GUI versus CUI, folders/files, application launch and peripheral setup.
5. Linux and macOS basics: File and directory operations, user management, permissions and introductory commands.
6. Internet concepts: Browsers, IP address, networking requirements, protocols and file upload/download.
7. Email: Compose, send/receive, recipient addresses, mailing lists and everyday email operations.
8. World Wide Web: Web navigation, online searches and the use of web resources.

The topic list gives subject areas, not a separate mark count for each of the eight blocks.

Part-B: office software — operations that distinguish a practical test

Word processing and document preparation

The notice specifically allows MS Word or supported open-source equivalents such as LibreOffice/OpenOffice. Practise editing and saving, page setup, finding/replacing text, headers/footers, page numbers, tables, merged/split cells, margins, styles, hyperlinks, mail merge and print preparation. The scope includes both keyboard-driven editing and inserting diagrams, images, symbols and other objects.

Spreadsheets and data presentation

The spreadsheet section covers cell editing, formulas and functions, references, sorting, charts, formatting, conditional preparation and using worksheet data as a table or database. The test's assessment scheme separately allots 20% to making and formatting a spreadsheet and its graphs. This is a practical task, not merely reciting the definition of a spreadsheet.

Presentation building

Prepare slides using layouts and templates, text/graphics/tables, images, transitions and animations; know how to set up and deliver a slide show and print presentation elements. Twenty percent of the assessment pattern addresses creating and formatting a presentation.

How to practise without guessing the actual test

A compact self-test is to create a one-page formatted report, insert a table and image, complete a spreadsheet with a total/average and a chart, and build a short presentation from that same data. That exercise maps to the official practical areas but is not an APPSC sample paper and does not claim to predict the tasks on exam day.

Status: The brief includes no CPT date, admit card release date, actual test tasks, or candidate shortlist. Only the published structure and syllabus are treated as confirmed.