Andhra Pradesh Judicial Service · High Court of A.P.
AP’s Screening Test gets you in the room. Three written papers decide who leaves with the job.
The Screening Test is pass-or-go-home — it never touches your rank. We map the three written papers subject-by-subject across 500 real prelims questions, AP’s own local Acts, and the shift to the new criminal codes.
- Conducting body High Court of A.P., Amaravati
- Post Civil Judge (Junior Division)
- Eligibility LLB from a university in India
- Age Under 35 (+5 SC/ST/BC/EWS, +10 PwBD)
- Stages Screening → Written → Viva
- Language Answers in English; Telugu⇄English translation paper
Three stages, and only two of them count toward your rank.
The Screening Test is a pure filter. Your entire merit is built in Paper I, Paper II and the viva — plan your time accordingly.
Stage 1 · Screening
Screening Test (CBT)
Objective · 100 MCQs
One combined paper from Civil + Criminal laws. Marks only short-list you — they are NOT counted in final merit.
- One paper
- 100 marks · 2 hr
- Qualifying cut-off
- 40% and above
- Short-list ratio
- 1:10 of vacancies
Stage 2 · Selection
Written Examination
Descriptive · 3 papers
Each paper is 100 marks / 3 hours. Paper I (Civil) and Paper II (Criminal) decide your rank; Paper III is qualifying only.
- Paper I — Civil Laws
- 100 marks · 3 hr
- Paper II — Criminal Laws
- 100 marks · 3 hr
- Paper III — Translation + Essay
- 25 + 75 (qualify 40%)
Stage 3 · Final
Viva Voce
Personality + law
Final merit = Paper I + Paper II + Viva. The Screening Test and Paper III add nothing to your score.
- Viva marks
- 50
- Counts for merit
- Paper I + II + Viva
- Screening weight in merit
- Zero (filter only)
Can you apply? Check this before anything else.
Qualification
A Bachelor’s Degree in Law (LLB) from any university established by law in India.
Age
Must not have completed 35 years (as on the first day of the notification month). +5 years for SC/ST/BC/EWS; +10 for Persons with Benchmark Disabilities.
Bar enrolment
Not required for direct recruitment — a law degree is enough; you need not be a practising advocate.
Nationality
Must be a citizen of India, of good character and sound health.
Language
Answers are written in English. Paper III carries an English⇄Telugu translation test, so working Telugu is essential.
Attempts
No attempt limit is specified in the notification — only the age ceiling applies.
The full syllabus, paper by paper.
The Screening Test mixes Civil and Criminal subjects into one objective paper; the written exam splits them into Paper I and Paper II, with Paper III testing translation and a legal essay.
Prelims
One combined objective paper drawn from the Civil Laws and Criminal Laws syllabi — CPC, Contract, Hindu Marriage & Succession, Easements, Specific Relief, Limitation, TPA, Registration & Stamp, Evidence, A.P. Land Encroachment, plus IPC, CrPC, NI Act, DV Act, Criminal Rules of Practice, A.P. Excise, A.P. Gaming and JJ Act.
Written — 3 papers
- Paper I — Civil Laws100
- Paper II — Criminal Laws100
- Paper III — Translation (25) + Legal Essay (75), qualifying100
The subjects that decide the Screening Test, ranked by how hard AP tests them.
Share of the 500 classified questions across the 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016 and 2019 papers. CPC drives Mains Paper I and CrPC drives Paper II, so this is your map for both stages.
Code of Civil Procedure, 1908
19.4%The king subject — start here
Decrees vs orders, ex-parte decrees & Order 9, execution, amendment of pleadings (O.6 R.17), jurisdiction, abatement/LRs, review, foreign judgments. Volatile (13→29 a year) but never small.
Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (now BNSS)
13.4%Most stable heavyweight
Cognizance, FIR & police report (S.173), statements (S.161/164), bail & remand (S.167), maintenance (S.125). Includes the A.P. Criminal Rules of Practice — tested directly in 2019.
Indian Penal Code, 1860 (now BNS)
10.8%High value, wide band
Theft/robbery/dacoity/extortion, culpable homicide vs murder, common intention & unlawful assembly, abetment, general exceptions. Swung 5→19 questions a year.
Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (now BSA)
9.8%Steady across civil & criminal
Admissions, expert opinion, burden of proof, examination of witnesses, public vs private documents, presumptions, dying declarations. 7–9 most years, spiked to 17 in 2016.
Hindu Law (HMA 1955 + HSA 1956)
7.4%Reliable scorer — never skip
Valid marriage, grounds for divorce, S.13-B mutual consent, restitution, custody · Class I/II heirs, female succession (S.15), coparcenary after the 2005 amendment, notional partition.
Contract · TPA · Specific Relief · Limitation
23%The safe mid-tier — every year
Contract 7.0% (consent, agency, bailment) · TPA 6.6% (lis pendens, part performance, vested/contingent) · Specific Relief 5.4% (performance, bars, injunctions) · Limitation 4.0% (S.5/12/14/18). Predictable, high return.
What to study first, and what gives the most marks per hour.
- Do first CPC + CrPC
The two procedural codes are ~33% of prelims and drive both Mains papers. Highest marks per hour — non-negotiable.
- High return IPC + Evidence (BNS / BSA)
Add these and the four procedural/penal codes are 53% of the whole Screening Test. Learn them in their new-code form.
- Safe & predictable Hindu · Contract · TPA · Specific Relief
~26% combined, every single year, with repeating themes. The most reliable marks in the exam.
- Cheap & narrow Limitation · Registration · NI Act · Easements
Small pools but direct provision/period/effect questions — high return per page. Each can vanish then return (zero in 2016, back in 2019).
- State-specific A.P. local Acts
A.P. Land Encroachment, Excise, Gaming, Criminal Rules of Practice, DV & JJ Acts. The 2019 paper proves the setter now tests the full notified list.
The state-specific edge most all-India material skips.
A.P. local Acts + the Criminal Rules of Practice
AP’s real fingerprint: A.P. Land Encroachment Act 1905, A.P. Excise Act 1968, A.P. Gaming Act 1974, plus the A.P. Criminal Rules of Practice (court hours, notices, confession safeguards) which surfaced strongly in 2019. Questions are direct — definitions, authority, appeal period, presumptions, punishment. The Civil Rules of Practice is a notified sleeper barely seen yet.
Study the new codes — BNS, BNSS, BSA
Every available PYQ predates the 2023 overhaul. IPC → Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, CrPC → Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, Evidence → Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam. This trio is 34% of the prelims pool — a third of the exam — so re-map the section numbers; the concepts (cheating, dying declaration, bail, S.125 maintenance) carry straight forward.
Everything you need to practise AP Judiciary — free.
Past AP Screening-Test papers (2011–2019), solved and arranged like the real combined objective paper.
Open Mains Mains Questions & SolutionsThe AP 2021 mains (Civil + Criminal) with model answers for the application-oriented Paper I and Paper II.
Open Notes Free Notes & LecturesSubject-wise notes — CPC, CrPC, Evidence, Contract, Hindu Law and the A.P. local Acts.
OpenRead the actual AP papers this analysis is built on.
Start with the distribution files for the big picture, then solve full papers in timed blocks.
Method: every question in five Screening-Test papers (500 total, 100 each: 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2019) was read and classified by legal subject — not inferred from headings. The 2019 file has merged options in Q2–Q4 but all stems were still classifiable. Only one mains year (2021, Paper I + II; Paper III absent) is available, so treat mains patterns as indicative.
AP Judiciary — quick answers.
Who conducts the AP Judiciary exam?
The High Court of Andhra Pradesh at Amaravati recruits for the post of Civil Judge (Junior Division), governed by the A.P. State Judicial (Service & Cadre) Rules, 2007.
What is the eligibility for AP Judiciary?
A law degree (LLB) from any university established by law in India, and you must not have completed 35 years of age (relaxable by 5 years for SC/ST/BC/EWS and 10 years for Persons with Benchmark Disabilities). Bar enrolment is not required for direct recruitment.
Does the Screening Test score count in the final merit?
No. The Screening Test is only a short-listing filter. Final merit is built from Paper I (Civil), Paper II (Criminal) and the Viva Voce.
What is the Screening Test cut-off?
Candidates securing 40% and above are short-listed for the written examination in the ratio of 1:10 of vacancies.
How many papers are in the written examination?
Three, each 100 marks for 3 hours. Paper I (Civil Laws) and Paper II (Criminal Laws) count for selection; Paper III (translation + legal essay) is qualifying only at 40%.
Is Telugu compulsory for AP Judiciary?
Yes. Paper III includes an English-to-Telugu and Telugu-to-English translation test, so comfort with Telugu is required even though all other answers are written in English.
Should I study IPC/CrPC or the new criminal codes?
Study the new codes — the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA), 2023 — and re-map old previous-year section numbers, since every available PYQ predates the 2023 overhaul.
Do A.P. local Acts appear in the exam?
Yes. The A.P. Land Encroachment, A.P. Excise, A.P. Gaming Acts and the Criminal Rules of Practice are all on the syllabus and were tested directly in 2019 — usually as clean, direct provision questions.
Practise on questions built to this exact weightage.
Free mock series modelled on the AP pattern — a procedure-heavy Screening Test, the Civil and Criminal written papers, AP local Acts, and BNS/BNSS/BSA-mapped questions.