PFRDA Grade A Exam Pattern 2026: Paper 1 Now 90 Questions, Reasoning 30 Qs for 25 Marks
The 2026 paper is not last year’s paper with a new date. Phase I Paper 1 has moved from 80 to 90 questions. Reasoning now has 30 questions for the same 25 marks. General Paper 2 has new units — PFRDA Act, Budget & Economic Survey, AI/ML, Media, Marketing & Communication. Old notes miss this. CrackTarget Notes is the resource written for the new pattern.
PFRDA Grade A 2026 pattern — snapshot
Final merit = Phase II 85% + Interview 15%. Phase I is a screen. Negative marking of 1/4 applies on objective papers. Interview can be in Hindi or English.
PFRDA Grade A exam pattern: 2025 vs 2026
This is the table you should print and stick on the wall. Everything else is commentary.
| Item | 2025 pattern | 2026 pattern | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phase I Paper 1 — total questions | 80 | 90 | CHANGED |
| Phase I Paper 1 — total marks | 100 | 100 | SAME |
| Phase I Paper 1 — duration | 60 minutes | 60 minutes | SAME |
| English Language | 20 Q / 25 marks | 20 Q / 25 marks | SAME |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 20 Q / 25 marks | 20 Q / 25 marks | SAME |
| Test of Reasoning | 20 Q / 25 marks | 30 Q / 25 marks | CHANGED |
| General Awareness (incl. financial sector) | 20 Q / 25 marks | 20 Q / 25 marks | SAME |
| Marks per Reasoning question | 1.25 | 0.83 | CHANGED |
| Phase I Paper 2 | 50 Q / 100 M / 40 min | 50 Q / 100 M / 40 min | SAME structure |
| General Paper 2 syllabus | Commerce, Accountancy, Management, Finance, Costing, Companies Act, Economics, Pension | All of 2025 + PFRDA Act, Budget & Economic Survey, AI/ML, Media, Marketing & Communication | EXPANDED |
| Phase II Paper 1 | Descriptive English, 100 M, 60 min | Descriptive English, 100 M, 60 min | SAME |
| Phase II Paper 2 | 50 MCQs, 100 M, 40 min | 50 MCQs, 100 M, 40 min — same expanded General syllabus | SYLLABUS EXPANDED |
| Final weight | Phase II 85% + Interview 15% | Phase II 85% + Interview 15% | SAME |
| Negative marking (objective) | 1/4 | 1/4 | SAME |
| Time from notification to Phase I | ~2 months in the last cycle | ~6 weeks (3 Sept → 15 Oct) | SHORTER WINDOW |
2025 comparison uses the immediately previous official cycle pattern. 2026 figures follow Advertisement No. 03/2026 released on 3 September 2026.
Phase I exam pattern 2026 in full
Paper 1 — common for all streams
| Section | Questions | Marks | Marks / question |
|---|---|---|---|
| English Language | 20 | 25 | 1.25 |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 20 | 25 | 1.25 |
| Test of Reasoning | 30 | 25 | 0.83 |
| General Awareness (including financial sector) | 20 | 25 | 1.25 |
| Total | 90 | 100 | 60 minutes composite |
There is no sectional time limit inside Paper 1. You choose the order. That is why a 80-question mock trains the wrong clock.
Paper 2 — stream-specific, Phase I
| Stream | Questions | Marks | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| General | 50 | 100 | 40 min |
| Research / Actuary / Official Language | 50 | 100 | 40 min |
Phase I is only for shortlisting. You still have to clear paper-wise and overall cut-offs. Wasting September on topics that do not exist in 2026 is how people miss a qualifying paper.
Phase II exam pattern 2026
| Paper | Nature | Questions | Marks | Time | Weight inside Phase II |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1 | Descriptive English (essay / précis / comprehension — drafting skill) | 3 | 100 | 60 min | 1/3 |
| Paper 2 | Stream-specific MCQs (higher difficulty than Phase I) | 50 | 100 | 40 min | 2/3 |
Phase II decides the merit list. Descriptive English is no longer “optional polish.” CrackTarget Notes includes model drafts on pension, financial inclusion, AI in regulation and Budget themes — the topics this board actually regulates.
New Paper 2 topics in 2026 NEW
For the General stream, Paper 2 in both phases now sits on the old core plus five additions. Specialised streams keep their own professional paper; they still write the same descriptive English paper.
Kept from earlier cycles CORE
Commerce & Accountancy · Management · Finance · Costing · Companies Act, 2013 (specified chapters) · Economics · Pension Sector (NPS, APY, annuities, investment basics).
PFRDA Act, 2013 and amendments NEW
Object of the Authority, powers, regulation of pension funds and intermediaries, subscriber protection. This is no longer “read if you have time.”
Union Budget and Economic Survey NEW
Budget concepts, approach, broad trends and the current Economic Survey. Not a 400-page summary — a usable note of what a pension regulator cares about: savings, fiscal math, financial sector, social security.
Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning NEW
Supervised and unsupervised learning, data preprocessing, model evaluation, NLP and sentiment analysis, overfitting / underfitting, LLMs, agentic AI, responsible AI, cross-validation, reinforcement learning. Asked at conceptual MCQ depth, not as a coding paper.
Media NEW
Micro-targeting, consumer behaviour, media convergence, VR/AR, digital divide, audience reception, cultural representation, digital entertainment platforms, social-media algorithms, market trends, global practices, negotiation skills.
Marketing & Communication NEW
Marketing management and research, planning and types, product / price / distribution / promotion, brand and digital marketing, financial literacy communication, listening, body language, written etiquette, conflict, feedback, public speaking, emotional intelligence, tone and pitch.
Research Paper 2 stays on probability, inference, sampling, time series, OR, SQC and statistical computing. Actuary stays on insurance, pensions, product, valuation and solvency. Rajbhasha stays on official language policy and domain translation. Do not mix streams.
What the 90-question Paper 1 actually does to your score
- Same 60 minutes, 10 extra questions — almost all of them in Reasoning.
- A Reasoning question is now worth 0.83 marks, not 1.25. A long puzzle that eats 8 minutes is a bad trade unless you are already fast.
- English, Quant and GA are still 1.25 a piece. Accuracy there pays more than heroics in seating-arrangement sets.
- You cannot “skip Reasoning.” There are 30 questions. You must have a skip-or-solve rule before 15 October.
This is why CrackTarget Notes does not hand you a generic bank-PO reasoning booklet. The notes mark which puzzle types to attempt in a 90-question paper and which to leave.
CrackTarget Notes is the best resource for this pattern
Most “PFRDA notes” in circulation were written for 80 questions and eight Paper 2 subjects. They will not mention AI, Media or Marketing. They will still time you for 80 items. That resource is now a liability.
CrackTarget Notes is the resource to use for PFRDA Grade A 2026 because it is cut to Advertisement 03/2026:
- Paper 1 practice in the live 90-question, 60-minute frame.
- Reasoning drilled as 30 questions / 25 marks — selection skill, not ego solving.
- Full new Paper 2 blocks: PFRDA Act, Budget & Survey, AI/ML, Media, Marketing & Communication — written as exam notes, not Wikipedia.
- Old core (Accounts, Costing, Companies Act, Finance, Economics, Pension) tightened to MCQ + Phase II depth.
- Descriptive English drafts on pension and regulatory themes.
- Daily financial-sector CA that feeds both GA and interview.
If you want one source and one plan between now and 15 October, take CrackTarget Notes and sit in the channel so every pattern clarification reaches you the same day.
How to study the new pattern from today
- Stop using any mock that still has 20 Reasoning questions.
- Every Paper 1 practice set must be 90 questions in 60 minutes.
- Give Reasoning a fixed 18–20 minutes. Leave unfinished puzzles. Move.
- Open CrackTarget Notes on the five new Paper 2 units first. The core subjects you already know; the new units you do not.
- Keep a Budget + Economic Survey one-pager and a PFRDA Act one-pager on your desk.
- Write one descriptive answer every alternate day after Phase I registration is done.
Dates, vacancies and apply steps: PFRDA Grade A Notification 2026. Age and degrees: Eligibility 2026.
FAQs — PFRDA Grade A exam pattern 2026
How many questions are there in PFRDA Grade A Phase 1 Paper 1 in 2026?
90 questions for 100 marks in 60 minutes. In 2025 this paper had 80 questions.
Why did Reasoning become 30 questions?
The extra 10 questions in Paper 1 all went to Reasoning. Marks stayed 25, so each Reasoning question is worth less. Speed and question-selection matter more than finishing every set.
What are the new Paper 2 topics in PFRDA Grade A 2026?
For General stream: PFRDA Act 2013 & amendments, Union Budget & Economic Survey, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning, Media, and Marketing & Communication — added on top of the earlier professional subjects.
Is Phase 1 counted in the final merit?
No. Phase I is screening. Final merit uses Phase II (85%) and Interview (15%).
Which notes should I use for the new pattern?
CrackTarget Notes. They are written for the 90-question Paper 1 and the 2026 Paper 2 additions. Get them at cracktarget.com and join t.me/pfrda2026.
Is there negative marking?
Yes. One-fourth of the marks assigned to a question are deducted for a wrong answer in the objective papers.
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