Our analysis, not official
Counting worksheet
How we counted the Professional Knowledge questions per subject for the Mains weightage table.
How we counted
- Two memory-based IT Officer Mains papers, recalled by candidates: the exams of 29 January 2023 and 14 December 2024, 60 questions recalled from each. Both copies come from one coaching publisher, and recalled papers may be incomplete or inexact. Counted 31 October 2026; each question counted under one subject.
- Each question is counted once, under one subject. A question that fits two subjects (marked *) is counted under the first.
- Average = the subject’s questions in both papers ÷ 120 × 50, rounded. Range = each paper’s count × 50 ÷ 60, rounded.
- We list the question kind only, never the question text.
Questions per subject
| Subject | Jan 2023 | Dec 2024 | Average (of 50) |
|---|---|---|---|
| OOP and programming | 11 | 13 | 10 |
| Database management (DBMS) | 6 | 17 | 10 |
| Networking | 14 | 6 | 8 |
| Operating systems | 10 | 6 | 7 |
| Information and cyber security | 6 | 9 | 6 |
| Data structures and algorithms | 3 | 7 | 4 |
| Computer organisation | 5 | 1 | 3 |
| Software engineering | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Computer fundamentals | 1 | 0 | <1 |
| Web technologies | 1 | 0 | <1 |
| Cloud and emerging tech | 1 | 0 | <1 |
| Banking technology | 0 | 0 | – |
| Total | 60 | 60 |
Paper of 29 January 2023
| Q | Subject | Question kind |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Networking | Number of networks in a class (Class C) |
| 2 | Database management (DBMS) | Derived attribute |
| 3 | OOP and programming | C++ boolean output |
| 4 | Operating systems | uname (kernel version) |
| 5 | Computer fundamentals | NFA to DFA (subset construction) |
| 6 | Database management (DBMS) | Shared lock |
| 7 | Operating systems | Banker's algorithm and safe sequences |
| 8 | Networking | 100BASE-TX segment length |
| 9 | Database management (DBMS) | Lock compatibility (S and X) |
| 10 | Web technologies | HTML table element |
| 11 | Operating systems | Starvation |
| 12 | Operating systems | Hyper-V (Microsoft) |
| 13 | OOP and programming | Python identifier rules |
| 14 | Information and cyber security | DES effective key length (56 bits) |
| 15 | Data structures and algorithms | Linear vs non-linear data structures |
| 16 | Networking | Subnet mask for N subnets (borrowing bits) |
| 17 | OOP and programming | Inheritance (defining one type from another) |
| 18 | Information and cyber security | Cross-site scripting (XSS) |
| 19 | Computer organisation | Intel 8089 pin count |
| 20 | Networking * | Protocols of the web (HTTP/HTTPS family) |
| 21 | Database management (DBMS) | Third normal form (3NF) |
| 22 | Networking | Bit-oriented protocol |
| 23 | Networking | Class C first-octet range |
| 24 | Networking | PDU names per OSI layer |
| 25 | OOP and programming | C program output |
| 26 | Operating systems * | BitLocker |
| 27 | Computer organisation | Program counter |
| 28 | OOP and programming | Ternary (conditional) operator in C |
| 29 | Information and cyber security | Snooping attack (eavesdropping / sniffing) |
| 30 | Information and cyber security | Offsite recovery (hot, warm, cold sites) |
| 31 | Computer organisation | General-purpose register |
| 32 | OOP and programming | Reserved words (keywords) in C |
| 33 | Software engineering | Unit testing |
| 34 | OOP and programming | Code snippet output (programming) |
| 35 | OOP and programming | C program output (uninitialised variable) |
| 36 | Operating systems | FCFS scheduling (waiting / turnaround time) |
| 37 | Networking | Full duplex |
| 38 | Operating systems | Disk scheduling head movement |
| 39 | Database management (DBMS) | NoSQL databases |
| 40 | Data structures and algorithms | AVL tree height for n nodes |
| 41 | Networking | traceroute -n |
| 42 | Networking | Trunk link / VLAN |
| 43 | Networking | Hop limit after N routers |
| 44 | Operating systems | Partition styles (MBR and GPT) |
| 45 | Networking | SMTP uses TCP |
| 46 | Networking | OSI layer functions |
| 47 | Computer organisation | Decimal to binary |
| 48 | Information and cyber security | Server hardening practices |
| 49 | OOP and programming | Java static keyword |
| 50 | Computer organisation | CISC characteristics |
| 51 | Operating systems | uname -s (kernel name) |
| 52 | Networking | Private IPv4 addresses |
| 53 | OOP and programming | Namespaces |
| 54 | Operating systems * | Dirty bit |
| 55 | OOP and programming | Nested loop final value (programming) |
| 56 | Software engineering | Extreme Programming features |
| 57 | Information and cyber security | Network-based IDS |
| 58 | Database management (DBMS) | Data mart |
| 59 | Cloud and emerging tech | SaaS (cloud service model) |
| 60 | Data structures and algorithms | Divide and conquer |
Paper of 14 December 2024
| Q | Subject | Question kind |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Networking | Store-and-forward delay |
| 2 | OOP and programming | C++ pointer operations |
| 3 | Data structures and algorithms | DP time complexity (LIS) |
| 4 | OOP and programming | Python file append mode |
| 5 | OOP and programming | C++ endl and setw |
| 6 | Operating systems | ls -t (sort by modified time) |
| 7 | Operating systems | File system formats (NTFS, FAT, ext) |
| 8 | Database management (DBMS) | OLAP slice |
| 9 | Software engineering | Acceptance testing |
| 10 | Database management (DBMS) | Fact constellation schema |
| 11 | OOP and programming | Abstraction / encapsulation (OOP) |
| 12 | OOP and programming | Python list output |
| 13 | OOP and programming | Python tuple slicing output |
| 14 | OOP and programming | Composition vs aggregation |
| 15 | OOP and programming | Global variable in C++ |
| 16 | OOP and programming | C program output (compound assignment) |
| 17 | OOP and programming | Strings (sequence of characters) |
| 18 | Operating systems | Bash for loop syntax |
| 19 | Operating systems | Repairing the MBR (bootrec) |
| 20 | OOP and programming | Python re module |
| 21 | OOP and programming | Python in operator on dictionaries |
| 22 | OOP and programming | sys.argv (command-line arguments) |
| 23 | Information and cyber security | Next-generation firewall generation |
| 24 | Information and cyber security | Allowlisting (deny by default) |
| 25 | Database management (DBMS) | SQL LIKE patterns |
| 26 | Networking | NAT |
| 27 | Networking | ARP |
| 28 | Networking | FTP compressed mode |
| 29 | Data structures and algorithms | Infix to postfix |
| 30 | Data structures and algorithms | Hash table load factor |
| 31 | Information and cyber security * | Firewall blocking ports |
| 32 | Networking | IMAP |
| 33 | Networking | Port mirroring |
| 34 | Database management (DBMS) | MySQL BEFORE INSERT trigger |
| 35 | Information and cyber security | HTTP flood |
| 36 | Database management (DBMS) | Foreign key on insert |
| 37 | Information and cyber security | What a firewall does not stop (insiders) |
| 38 | Database management (DBMS) | Tuple relational calculus |
| 39 | Database management (DBMS) | GROUP BY |
| 40 | Data structures and algorithms | Sort with the same time in every case |
| 41 | Information and cyber security | Cyber Kill Chain: weaponization |
| 42 | Data structures and algorithms | BST insertion and traversal |
| 43 | Information and cyber security | CSRF |
| 44 | Database management (DBMS) | Natural join |
| 45 | Data structures and algorithms | Fewest swaps (selection sort) |
| 46 | Database management (DBMS) | Window functions (PARTITION BY) |
| 47 | Computer organisation | Binary to hexadecimal |
| 48 | Operating systems | $ in shell scripts (variables) |
| 49 | Operating systems | /bin/bash |
| 50 | Data structures and algorithms | Memoization |
| 51 | Database management (DBMS) | n-th highest salary (LIMIT / OFFSET) |
| 52 | Information and cyber security * | Stateful firewall |
| 53 | Database management (DBMS) | SQL INSTR() |
| 54 | Database management (DBMS) | Transactions on X and Y (final values) |
| 55 | Database management (DBMS) | Atomicity (ACID) |
| 56 | Database management (DBMS) | Highest normal form from FDs |
| 57 | Database management (DBMS) | TRC existential quantifier (∃) |
| 58 | Database management (DBMS) | DROP vs TRUNCATE |
| 59 | Database management (DBMS) | ON DELETE CASCADE |
| 60 | Information and cyber security | Evil twin |