Rajasthan BSTC (Pre D.El.Ed) · Pillar guide
This BSTC guide explains the Rajasthan Pre D.El.Ed entrance exam in one place: what BSTC is, who conducts it, the 200-question pattern, eligibility, counselling, how competition has changed since 2015 and how to practise with old papers. Every date and number below comes from an official notice or a named news report.
बीएसटीसी (प्री डीएलएड) राजस्थान की प्रवेश परीक्षा है। नीचे पैटर्न, तारीखें, पुराने पेपर और तैयारी की पूरी जानकारी है।
- Last verified: 3 November 2026
- Latest exam: 20 May 2026
- 200 MCQs · 600 marks
- Edited by Anil Kumar
BSTC at a glance
| Exam name | Pre D.El.Ed (formerly BSTC), Rajasthan |
|---|---|
| Leads to | Two-year D.El.Ed (General or Sanskrit), the usual route to primary-teacher eligibility |
| Latest exam verified | 20 May 2026 (VMOU Kota); result 10 June 2026 |
| Question paper | 200 MCQs, 600 marks, 3 marks per question, no negative marking |
| Duration (older papers) | 3 hours |
| Sections | Mental Ability, Rajasthan General Awareness, Teaching Aptitude, Language |
| Qualifying marks reported | 50% (General), 45% (reserved categories) |
| Seats in recent cycles | 25,977 (2025); about 25,970 expected (2026) |
| Official sites | vmou.ac.in, predeledraj2026.com |
Quick answer
BSTC (now Pre D.El.Ed) is the entrance exam for the two-year Diploma in Elementary Education in Rajasthan. It has 200 multiple-choice questions for 600 marks, and admission is based on your merit rank in the exam.
What is BSTC (Pre D.El.Ed)?
BSTC is the entrance test for admission to the elementary teacher-training diploma in Rajasthan. The name comes from the older “Basic School Teaching Certificate”. The qualification is now officially a Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed), and the test is called Pre D.El.Ed. In everyday searches, news and coaching material, people still say BSTC.
The diploma lasts two years and prepares candidates for teaching at the elementary level. The Indian Express describes it as the gateway for candidates who want to become primary-school teachers in the state. There are two streams: D.El.Ed (General), where the language paper is Hindi, and D.El.Ed (Sanskrit), where the language paper is Sanskrit. Candidates can apply for one stream or for both.
Because the exam is a state-level entrance test, a seat is not decided by your Class 12 marks. It is decided by your score in the Pre D.El.Ed exam, your preferences in counselling and the seats available in colleges. That is why old papers and a clear syllabus matter so much.
यह परीक्षा दो वर्षीय डी.एल.एड. (सामान्य या संस्कृत) में प्रवेश के लिए होती है और चयन परीक्षा के अंकों की वरीयता पर आधारित है।
BSTC 2026: the latest cycle
The Pre D.El.Ed 2026 exam was held on Wednesday, 20 May 2026 by Vardhman Mahaveer Open University (VMOU), Kota. According to The Indian Express, more than six lakh candidates registered, 4,97,178 appeared at 1,774 examination centres, and the result was announced on 10 June 2026. VMOU published its own notice on the result, and scorecards were issued on the official portal using roll number and date of birth.
| Exam date | 20 May 2026 (Wednesday) |
|---|---|
| Conducted by | Vardhman Mahaveer Open University (VMOU), Kota |
| Candidates who appeared | 4,97,178 (more than six lakh registered) |
| Examination centres | 1,774 |
| Result declared | 10 June 2026 |
| Seats expected | About 25,970 (local media reports quoted by The Indian Express) |
| Qualifying marks reported | 50% General; 45% for SC, ST, OBC, MBC, PwD and certain special categories |
Read the official result notice at vmou.ac.in and use the official portal predeledraj2026.com for scorecards. We have not found a notification for the next cycle as of 3 November 2026.
Who conducts the BSTC exam?
One common mistake on the internet is to say that a single board or university always runs BSTC. In fact the state has handed the exam to different bodies, and some pages online get this wrong (for example, by naming a school board). Here is what the reports we read say:
| Year | Conducting body |
|---|---|
| 2015 and 2016 | Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati University (MDSU), Ajmer |
| 2017 | University of Kota |
| 2018 | Govind Guru Tribal University (GGTU), Banswara |
| 2019 | Department of Education, Bikaner (Times of India) |
| 2020 | Directorate of Elementary Education (DEE), Bikaner (Times of India) |
| 2021 | Department of Education, Rajasthan (News18) |
| 2022 | Office of the Coordinator and Registrar, Education Departmental Examinations, Bikaner (Times of India) |
| 2023 | Office of the Coordinator, Rajasthan (Hindustan Times, Times of India) |
| 2024, 2025 and 2026 | Vardhman Mahaveer Open University (VMOU), Kota |
Since the body changes, the official website also changes every year. Old websites such as the ones used in 2015, 2017 and 2019 did not load when we tested them on 3 November 2026, and the 2018 address now forwards to an unrelated commercial site. Never enter your details on a BSTC website you reached from an unknown link.
BSTC exam pattern and syllabus
The official 2025 syllabus published for the exam lists the structure below. The same 200-question, 600-mark split is reported for the 2016 to 2024 exams and appears on the 2018 question booklet cover, which says each section has 50 questions, there is no negative marking and the time allowed is three hours.
| Section | Questions | Marks per question | Total marks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mental Ability | 50 | 3 | 150 |
| General Awareness of Rajasthan | 50 | 3 | 150 |
| Teaching Aptitude | 50 | 3 | 150 |
| Language: English (compulsory) | 20 | 3 | 60 |
| Language: Hindi (General) or Sanskrit (Sanskrit course) | 30 | 3 | 90 |
| Total | 200 | 600 |
Section C scoring in 2018
The 2018 question booklet cover states that marks for Section C are given in preference order (3, 2, 1 and 0). Sections A, B and D carry 3 marks per question. Read the instructions of the cycle you appear in, because scoring rules can change.
What each section covers
Mental Ability (50)
Reasoning, analogy, discrimination, relationship, analysis and logical thinking.
Rajasthan awareness (50)
Historical, political, art-culture-literature, economic, geographical, folk-life, social and tourism aspects of Rajasthan.
Teaching Aptitude (50)
Teaching-learning, leadership quality, creativity, continuous and comprehensive evaluation, communication skills, professional attitude and social sensitivity.
English (20)
Comprehension, spotting errors, narration, prepositions, articles, connectives, sentence correction, kinds of sentences, sentence completion, tenses, vocabulary, synonyms, antonyms, one-word substitution and spelling errors.
Hindi or Sanskrit (30)
Grammar and usage, word knowledge and comprehension in the language of your course (Hindi for General, Sanskrit for Sanskrit).
Language marks add up to 150: English (20 questions, 60 marks) is compulsory for everyone, and 30 questions (90 marks) are in Hindi for the General course or Sanskrit for the Sanskrit course. The 2017 University of Kota notification and the 2018 booklet instructions both said that a candidate who applied for both courses had to solve the Sanskrit part of the language section.
Eligibility, age and fees
Rules are fixed in each year’s notification, so always read the current one. The rules below come from reports of earlier cycles and show what candidates were asked to meet:
- Qualification: Class 12 or an equivalent examination with at least 50% marks for General candidates and 45% for reserved categories (Indian Express, 2018 and 2019 reports).
- Age: not more than 28 years on 1 July of the exam year in 2017, 2018 and 2019, with relaxation for certain categories.
- Residence: the 2019 coverage describes candidates as Indian citizens and residents of Rajasthan.
- Application fee in 2017 and 2018: ₹400 for one course and ₹450 for two courses (University of Kota notification, 2017; Indian Express, 2018).
- Counselling fee: ₹3,000 in 2017 (University of Kota notification) and again in 2025 (Times of India).
Check the current notification
Age limit, fee and eligibility can change. These points are from earlier cycles, not a promise for the next one. Use the official notification of the university conducting the exam.
Year-wise BSTC summary (2015 to 2026)
The table gives the facts we could verify for each cycle. A dash means we did not find a reliable figure. Click a year to open our detailed paper page where one exists.
| Year | Exam date | Conducted by | Appeared | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 2015 | 19 April 2015 | MDSU Ajmer | — | — |
| 2016 | 8 May 2016 | MDSU Ajmer | 4,78,819 | declared about three to four weeks after the exam |
| Year 2017 | 30 April 2017 | University of Kota | 3,91,027 | 3 June 2017 |
| Year 2018 | 6 May 2018 | GGTU Banswara | — | 6 June 2018 |
| Year 2019 | 26 May 2019 | Dept. of Education, Bikaner | nearly 7 lakh | 3 July 2019 |
| Year 2020 | 31 August 2020 | DEE Bikaner | 6,72,821 | 7 October 2020 |
| Year 2021 | 31 August 2021 | Rajasthan Dept. of Education | — | 27 September 2021 |
| Year 2022 | 8 October 2022 | Coordinator Office, Bikaner | 5,99,294 | 1 November 2022 |
| Year 2023 | 28 August 2023 | Coordinator Office | about 6 lakh | 29 September 2023 |
| Year 2024 | 30 June 2024 | VMOU Kota | about 5.95 lakh | 17 July 2024 |
| Year 2025 | 1 June 2025 | VMOU Kota | 5,49,161 | 14 June 2025 |
| 2026 | 20 May 2026 | VMOU Kota | 4,97,178 | 10 June 2026 |
Our year pages cover 2015 and 2017 to 2025. A page for 2016 (MDSU, 8 May 2016, 4,78,819 candidates appeared) and for the years before 2015 is not yet published because we have not finished verifying those exams. See the old BSTC paper hub for the full list.
Competition and seats: what the numbers show
The number of candidates who appeared has stayed between roughly 3.9 lakh and 7 lakh since 2016. The table lists only the figures we could match to a named report. For 2023, the minister announced that 6,19,063 candidates were expected to sit the exam, but we did not find a final appeared figure, so we leave it out of the table.
| Year | Candidates who appeared | Where we read it |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 4,78,819 | Bhaskar report on MDSU result |
| 2017 | 3,91,027 (4,32,499 registered) | Rajasthan government release, 3 June 2017 |
| 2019 | Nearly 7 lakh (over 7.5 lakh registered) | Indian Express live blog, 3 July 2019 |
| 2020 | 6,72,821 | Times of India, 7 October 2020 |
| 2022 | 5,99,294 | Times of India, 1 November 2022 |
| 2024 | About 5.95 lakh (about 6.24 lakh registered) | The Quint, 17 July 2024 |
| 2025 | 5,49,161 (about 6.05 lakh registered) | Times of India, 15 June 2025; Dainik Bhaskar |
| 2026 | 4,97,178 (over 6 lakh registered) | Indian Express, 11 June 2026 |
Seats rose after 2017, when about 18,570 seats in 300 colleges were reported, to 25,977 seats in 377 institutions in 2025. Dividing candidates by seats gives a rough idea of competition:
| Year | Appeared | Seats reported | Our calculation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 3,91,027 | 18,570 | about 21 candidates per seat |
| 2025 | 5,49,161 | 25,977 | about 21 candidates per seat |
| 2026 | 4,97,178 | about 25,970 | about 19 candidates per seat |
This is only a rough guide. Not every candidate takes counselling, and many seats stay vacant in some colleges. Even so, the pattern is steady: about one in twenty candidates can expect a seat if every seat were filled by merit. Scoring well is what moves you up the merit list.
Old BSTC papers: what to download and how to trust it
Old papers are the best free practice material because they show the real wording, difficulty and section order. The old BSTC paper hub lists each year with the date, the conducting body and the official sources. Individual pages cover the years below:
Three rules keep your practice honest:
- Prefer the official answer keyUniversities release an answer key after the exam (for example, VMOU released provisional and final keys in 2024). Third-party “solved” papers are made from memory or by coaching staff and can contain wrong answers.
- Check the paper date and seriesThe booklet cover shows the exam date and series (for example, the 2018 booklet is “NKP-2018, Series A”). A paper from another series has a different question order.
- Use PDFs only from sources you trustDo not download “BSTC paper” files from pop-up or redirect sites. We link to official portals and explain each year instead of hosting files we cannot confirm as public.
BSTC preparation strategy that uses the paper pattern
The 600 marks are evenly split: Mental Ability, Rajasthan awareness and Teaching Aptitude carry 150 marks each, and Language carries 150. No section is a “bonus”. A balanced plan beats spending months on one subject.
| Section | Suggested time | Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Mental Ability | 40 min | Practise series, analogy and coding in short timed sets. Skip a stuck puzzle and return. |
| Rajasthan awareness | 25 min | Quick recall. Revise history, art and culture, forts, tourism, geography and the economy of Rajasthan every week. |
| Teaching Aptitude | 40 min | Read the options carefully. Most questions ask what a good teacher should do in a classroom situation. |
| English | 20 min | Grammar and vocabulary first, then comprehension. |
| Hindi or Sanskrit | 25 min | Grammar, word knowledge and usage questions are quick marks if you have revised. |
| Check OMR and review | 30 min | Fill answers carefully. There is no negative marking, so never leave a question blank. |
The time split is our suggestion for practice, based on 200 questions in 180 minutes, which is about 54 seconds per question. Adjust it after your first two mock tests.
Because there is no negative marking in the cycles we checked, attempt every question. If you are unsure, remove obviously wrong options and pick the best guess.
ऋणात्मक अंकन नहीं होने से सभी प्रश्न हल करें, लेकिन पहले उन्हें करें जिनमें आप सुनिश्चित हैं।
After the exam: answer key, result and counselling
The steps are broadly the same every year, although dates and websites change:
- Answer key and objectionsIn 2024, VMOU released a provisional answer key within the first week after the exam and invited objections and then published a final key before the result (The Quint). In 2024, candidates could take the question paper and the carbon copy of the OMR sheet home, so they could check their own score; check the rules for your cycle.
- Result and scorecardScorecards are issued on the official portal using roll number and date of birth. The 2026 result came 21 days after the exam. The 2025 result came 13 days after the exam.
- Counselling registrationQualified candidates register online and pay the counselling fee (₹3,000 in 2025).
- Choice filling and allotmentYou choose colleges in order of preference. Seats are allotted by merit rank and availability.
- Documents and admissionCarry original certificates such as mark sheets, identity proof and category or PwD certificates for verification and report to the allotted institution on time.
Dates from earlier years: the 2019 result came on 3 July, the 2022 result on 1 November, the 2023 result on 29 September and the 2024 result on 17 July.
Official sources and how to avoid fake sites
Use only the website named in the current official notification. For the latest cycle that means the VMOU website and the portal named in its notice:
- VMOU Kota (official site)
- predeledraj2026.com for the 2026 scorecard (as named in news reports and the VMOU notice)
- panjiyakpredeled.in (official Pre D.El.Ed portal used in 2022 and 2023) used in 2022 and 2023
- University of Kota (official site) for the University of Kota, which conducted the 2017 exam
Do not pay for results or seats
No genuine agency sells BSTC results, rank improvement or “guaranteed admission”. If anyone asks for money or OTPs, ignore them. See our Disclaimer and About us page to know how we work.
BSTC FAQs
What is the full form of BSTC?
BSTC stands for Basic School Teaching Certificate (many reports also write Basic School Teaching Course). The course is now officially called Pre D.El.Ed, and D.El.Ed stands for Diploma in Elementary Education. The entrance exam is still widely searched as “BSTC”.
Is BSTC the same as Pre D.El.Ed?
Yes. Reports from 2019 describe the Pre D.El.Ed examination as “formerly known as BSTC”. The test is the state-level entrance exam for admission to the two-year D.El.Ed (General) and D.El.Ed (Sanskrit) courses in Rajasthan.
How many questions and marks are there in the BSTC exam?
The recent papers have 200 multiple-choice questions for 600 marks, each question carrying 3 marks. The official 2025 syllabus lists four sections: Mental Ability, General Awareness of Rajasthan, Teaching Aptitude and Language Ability. There was no negative marking in the cycles we checked.
Who conducts the BSTC exam?
The conducting body changes. MDSU Ajmer ran it in 2015 and 2016, the University of Kota in 2017, GGTU Banswara in 2018, the state education department offices in Bikaner for 2019 to 2023, and Vardhman Mahaveer Open University (VMOU), Kota in 2024, 2025 and 2026.
What was the date of the latest BSTC exam?
The latest exam we could verify is Pre D.El.Ed 2026, held on 20 May 2026 by VMOU Kota. The result was declared on 10 June 2026. 4,97,178 candidates appeared at 1,774 centres, according to The Indian Express.
What is the qualifying percentage in BSTC?
Reports for 2019 and 2026 say general-category candidates need at least 50 per cent marks and reserved categories 45 per cent. On a 600-mark paper that is 300 and 270 marks (our arithmetic). Admission itself depends on your merit rank and seat availability, not just on qualifying.
Where can I download old BSTC papers?
Rules differ by year: in 2024 candidates were allowed to take the question paper and a carbon copy of the OMR sheet home, while the 2017 notification asked them to hand the booklet to the invigilator. The conducting university releases an answer key, and solved copies circulate widely. We do not host copies we cannot confirm as public, but our BSTC paper 2017 page, BSTC paper 2018 page, BSTC paper 2019 page, BSTC paper 2020 page and BSTC paper 2021 page each have a free PDF that we typed and proofread ourselves, with an unofficial answer key. Start from our old BSTC paper hub, which explains each year and where to look, and always compare with the official answer key.
Is BSTC 2027 announced?
We have not found an official notification for the next cycle as of 3 November 2026. Dates have moved every year (April, May, June, August, October), so please check the official website of the conducting university and our updates before you plan.
How should I use old BSTC papers?
Treat each paper as a timed mock: 200 questions in 3 hours, then analyse mistakes section by section. Our old BSTC paper hub and the year pages explain how to do this step by step.
Are BSTC old papers enough to clear the exam?
They are the best guide to the type and difficulty of questions, but not enough alone. Use them together with the official syllabus, especially Rajasthan general awareness, which carries 150 of the 600 marks.
More BSTC guides
Before you apply
- BSTC kya hai
- BSTC eligibility 2026
- BSTC form kaise bhare
- BSTC fees
- BSTC exam pattern
- BSTC negative marking
- BSTC best books
- BSTC tough hai ya easy
- BSTC kaun conduct karta hai
- Special BSTC 2026
Compare and decide
- BSTC vs PTET
- BSTC vs B.Ed
- BSTC vs D.El.Ed
- BSTC aur B.Ed sath me
- BSTC degree ya diploma
- BSTC private se kar sakte hai
- BSTC ke baad kya kare
Dates and timing
Results, papers and counselling
Last verified: 3 November 2026
Edited by Anil Kumar. Every date, number and name on this page was read in the official notice or in a news report named under “Sources” below, and key facts were matched with a second source. Where we could not confirm something we say so instead of guessing. ParinamSetu is an independent site, not a government website: see our Editorial Policy and Disclaimer.
Sources and how we checked
We name our sources so you can check them yourself. Links go only to official websites; news reports are listed by publisher, headline and date.
- The Indian Express: “Rajasthan BSTC Pre Deled Result 2026 Highlights”, updated 11 June 2026 (2026 exam, appeared, centres, seats, qualifying marks).
- Vardhman Mahaveer Open University, Kota: notice on the Pre D.El.Ed 2026 result (vmou.ac.in/node/1736).
- Pre D.El.Ed 2025 syllabus PDF (the copy we read carries the VMOU Kota footer): four sections, 200 questions, 600 marks.
- Times of India: “Rajasthan BSTC Result 2025 Declared”, 15 June 2025 (exam 1 June 2025, 5.49 lakh candidates, 25,977 seats, counselling fee).
- Dainik Bhaskar, Kota: report on the 2025 Pre D.El.Ed exam in two shifts, 5,49,161 candidates.
- The Quint: “BSTC Rajasthan Pre-DElEd Result 2024”, 17 July 2024; Hindustan Times, 30 June 2024 (exam-day rules and take-home papers).
- Times of India and Hindustan Times on the 2023 exam and result (28 August and 29 September 2023).
- Times of India: Pre D.El.Ed 2022 result, 1 November 2022 (5,99,294 appeared).
- News18, 27 September 2021 (2021 result and pattern); Times of India, 7 October 2020 (2020 result and 6,72,821 appeared).
- Times of India (4 July 2019) and Indian Express (3 July 2019) on the 2019 exam and result; Scroll, 17 May 2019.
- Times of India, 7 June 2018 and Indian Express, 14 February 2018 and 26 April 2018 (2018 exam, GGTU, fee, pattern); India Today, 27 April 2018.
- Rajasthan government release published by Jan Samachar, 3 June 2017 (2017 exam, 3,91,027 appeared, 18,570 seats); India.com, 3 June 2017 (1,273 centres).
- Dainik Bhaskar on the MDSU 2016 result (4,78,819 appeared, 1,482 centres, topper 510 marks).
- University of Kota notification no. 01/2017 dated 13 February 2017 and the BSTC-2017 guidelines (scanned copy), for the 2017 pattern, timing, fee and exam-day rules.
- The 2018 question booklet cover (NKP-2018 Series A) viewed in a scanned copy, for section structure and instructions.
Found a mistake or a newer official notice? Tell us through the Corrections Policy page and we will check and fix it. You can also contact us.