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100+ Free BCS Written Political Science Practice Questions

Prepare for the BCS Written Post-Related Political Science, Subject Code 341, Total Marks 200 exam with instant access — no signup required.

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Key Facts: BCS Written Political Science Exam

341

BPSC subject code for post-related Political Science

BPSC BCS written syllabus

200 marks

Official written paper (Part I 100 + Part II 100)

BPSC BCS written syllabus

4 hours

Duration used for BPSC 200-mark written papers (confirm routine)

BPSC sitting practice

50% aggregate

Written-stage pass on 900 marks (plus per-paper minima)

BPSC BCS examination page

Tk. 200 / Tk. 50

50th BCS application fee (general / reduced categories)

50th BCS circular reporting citing PSC

Descriptive

Official item type (this bank is an English MCQ study adaptation)

BPSC written examination format

Subject code 341 is a 200-mark, 4-hour descriptive BPSC written paper (Part I 100, Part II 100). Written-stage pass is 50% aggregate on 900 marks, plus per-paper minima. Application fee is Tk. 200 general / Tk. 50 reduced categories (50th BCS), with no separate written fee. This page is a free English MCQ study adaptation, not the official paper.

Sample BCS Written Political Science Practice Questions

Try these sample questions to test your BCS Written Political Science exam readiness. Each question includes a detailed explanation. Start the interactive quiz above for the full 100+ question experience with AI tutoring.

1Aristotle's claim that man is by nature a 'political animal' (zoon politikon) is best understood as meaning that:
A.Human beings realise their full nature only in a political community (the polis)
B.All animals form states and therefore possess constitutions
C.Politics is merely a tool for private wealth accumulation
D.The best life is withdrawal from civic association
Explanation: In the Politics, Aristotle argues that humans are naturally social beings whose capacity for speech about justice is fulfilled in the polis. Isolation is either beast-like or god-like; the fully human life is civic. The claim is about the nature of the good life, not about every animal forming a state.
2Which set lists the four commonly taught elements of the modern state?
A.Population, territory, government, and sovereignty
B.Legislature, executive, judiciary, and press
C.Nation, class, ideology, and market
D.Party, bureaucracy, electorate, and constitution
Explanation: Standard political-science teaching (for example Garner) identifies the state with a permanent population, a defined territory, an organised government, and sovereignty. Parties, organs of government, and class are important, but they are not the four definitional elements of the state as such.
3In political theory, the most accurate contrast between the state and the government is that:
A.The state is a continuing sovereign association, while government is its temporary working agency
B.The state makes only foreign policy, while government makes only domestic law
C.The government is permanent while the state changes after every election
D.The state and the government are legally identical in every constitution
Explanation: The state is the permanent legal-political association possessing sovereignty; governments come and go through elections, succession, or coups while the state continues. Treating the two as identical, or assigning foreign policy only to the state, confuses the association with the team that currently exercises its authority.
4Jus soli and jus sanguinis as principles of citizenship refer respectively to:
A.Military service and tax payment
B.Religious affiliation and party membership
C.Residence in the capital and ownership of land
D.Citizenship by place of birth and citizenship by descent
Explanation: Jus soli ('right of the soil') confers nationality by birth in the territory; jus sanguinis ('right of blood') confers it by parentage. Modern states often mix the two. Neither principle is defined by religion, party, tax, or capital residence.
5A constitution is classified as rigid rather than flexible when:
A.Amendment requires a special, more demanding procedure than ordinary legislation
B.The courts are forbidden to interpret the text
C.The executive may rewrite it by ordinance at any time
D.It exists only in conventions and has no written document
Explanation: Bryce's classic distinction turns on the amendment process: a rigid constitution (United States; Bangladesh under Article 142, which requires a two-thirds vote of the total membership of Parliament) cannot be changed by ordinary law. Flexibility describes constitutions such as the United Kingdom's, alterable by ordinary statute. Judicial interpretation, ordinances, and unwritten form are separate issues.
6The French Fifth Republic is usually classified as a semi-presidential (French) model because:
A.All executive power is fused in a hereditary monarch who also chairs the cabinet
B.There is no prime minister and the president sits as a member of the National Assembly
C.The legislature elects both the president and the prime minister and can dismiss neither
D.A directly (or popularly) legitimated president coexists with a prime minister and cabinet responsible to parliament
Explanation: Duverger's semi-presidential type, exemplified by the 1958 Fifth Republic (direct presidential election from 1962), combines a president with significant autonomous powers and a government that must retain parliamentary confidence. Cohabitation, when the president and assembly majority differ, is a distinctive working of this dual executive. It is neither pure presidentialism nor classical parliamentary monarchy.
7In a unitary system, as distinct from a federation, sovereignty is:
A.Concentrated in a single central authority that may create or reshape local units
B.Exercised only by cantons that may secede at will
C.Divided by a rigid constitution between two co-equal orders of government
D.Held by the United Nations and merely delegated to member states
Explanation: Unitary states (United Kingdom; Bangladesh, described in Constitution Article 1 as a unitary Republic) locate legal sovereignty in one centre. Sub-national bodies exist by central law and can be reorganised by it. Federations divide sovereignty constitutionally between centre and units.
8Totalitarian rule is distinguished from ordinary dictatorship most clearly by:
A.The presence of a hereditary monarch with only ceremonial duties
B.Competitive multiparty elections and an independent press
C.A night-watchman state that refuses to regulate the economy
D.An official ideology and attempted control of both public power and private life
Explanation: Writers such as Friedrich and Brzezinski treat totalitarianism as an official ideology, a single mass party, terror, monopoly of communications and arms, and central direction of the economy—penetrating society, not merely holding the presidential palace. Ordinary dictatorship may be authoritarian and repressive without that total claim on private life.
9The three classical organs of government are the:
A.Legislature, executive, and judiciary
B.Party, army, and church
C.Cabinet, civil service, and central bank
D.Electorate, interest groups, and media
Explanation: From Locke and Montesquieu onward, the standard triad is the law-making, law-applying, and law-adjudicating organs. Parties, armies, banks, and media may be politically important but are not the three organs of government in this classification.
10Montesquieu's argument in The Spirit of the Laws is that political liberty is best secured when:
A.Legislative, executive, and judicial powers are placed in different hands so that power checks power
B.Judges also sit as legislators to keep statutes consistent
C.The army permanently supervises civilian ministries
D.All powers are fused in a single virtuous sovereign
Explanation: Montesquieu, observing England, held that liberty requires a separation of the legislative, executive, and judicial powers so that each can check the others. Concentration of the three in one person or body is the definition of despotism in his account, not a recipe for virtue.

About the BCS Written Political Science Exam

BCS Written Post-Related Political Science (subject code 341) is the 200-mark optional/post-related paper for technical and professional cadre and dual-cadre BCS applicants. The official paper is descriptive. This free bank is an English-language MCQ study adaptation of the BPSC syllabus—covering political theory, public administration, political thought, Bangladesh politics and 1971, constitution-making, foreign policy, regional organisations, and the UK, USA, PRC, and Japan systems—not an official translation, format simulation, or substitute for written answers.

Assessment

Official written paper: 200 marks in two parts of 100 marks each (Part I political theory, public administration, approaches, and thought; Part II Bangladesh politics, Liberation War, constitution-making, foreign policy, South and South-East Asia, and the UK, USA, PRC, and Japan systems). Descriptive, not MCQ. This page offers an English MCQ study adaptation of that syllabus.

Time Limit

4 hours (confirm the current BPSC written routine)

Passing Score

50% aggregate on the 900-mark written examination (BPSC official page); per-paper minima also apply as set by BPSC. Confirm the current circular.

Exam Fee

Tk. 200 general (50th BCS); Tk. 50 for ethnic minority, persons with disabilities, and third-gender applicants; no separate written or viva fee. Confirm the live circular. (Bangladesh Public Service Commission (BPSC))

BCS Written Political Science Exam Content Outline

50% of Part I in the official paper; about 16% of this bank

Part I A–B — Political science, constitutions, and organs of government

State, society, citizenship, law, constitutions, forms of government, representation, electorate, parties, interest and pressure groups, public opinion, elites, and local government.

within official Part I; about 18% of this bank

Part I C–E — Public administration and bureaucracy

Meaning and scope of public administration, public versus private administration, administrative principles, and legislative, executive, and judicial accountability of bureaucracy.

within official Part I; about 16% of this bank

Part I F–G — Approaches to politics and political thought

Systems through Marxist approaches, plus the prescribed Western, South Asian, East Asian, and Islamic thinkers through Marx and Mao.

50% of Part II in the official paper; about 26% of this bank

Part II A–C — Bangladesh politics, 1971, and constitution-making

Society and culture; Language Movement to Liberation War; political development 1972–2005; military rule; opposition; caretaker government; amendments.

within official Part II; about 16% of this bank

Part II D–E — Foreign policy and South and South-East Asia

1971 big-power diplomacy, Bangladesh foreign-policy objectives and process, neighbours and major powers, UN and Islamic world, SAARC and ASEAN.

within official Part II; about 8% of this bank

Part II F — Major political systems

United Kingdom, United States, People's Republic of China, and Japan.

How to Pass the BCS Written Political Science Exam

What You Need to Know

  • Passing score: 50% aggregate on the 900-mark written examination (BPSC official page); per-paper minima also apply as set by BPSC. Confirm the current circular.
  • Assessment: Official written paper: 200 marks in two parts of 100 marks each (Part I political theory, public administration, approaches, and thought; Part II Bangladesh politics, Liberation War, constitution-making, foreign policy, South and South-East Asia, and the UK, USA, PRC, and Japan systems). Descriptive, not MCQ. This page offers an English MCQ study adaptation of that syllabus.
  • Time limit: 4 hours (confirm the current BPSC written routine)
  • Exam fee: Tk. 200 general (50th BCS); Tk. 50 for ethnic minority, persons with disabilities, and third-gender applicants; no separate written or viva fee. Confirm the live circular.

Keys to Passing

  • Work through all 100 available questions
  • Review every answer and explanation
  • Track weak areas and revisit them
  • Use our AI tutor for tough concepts

BCS Written Political Science Study Tips from Top Performers

1Write Part I answers as comparisons (unitary/federal, presidential/parliamentary, public/private administration) rather than one-line definitions.
2For Part II, build a 1952–1971 timeline and a 1972–2005 amendment/military-rule timeline before you memorise names.
3Verify any Constitution article against the Ministry of Law text; if you cannot verify a number, explain the rule without it.
4Treat SAARC (Dhaka Charter, Kathmandu Secretariat) and ASEAN (Bangkok Declaration, original five) as separate organisations with different integration records.
5After MCQ drill, write at least one timed descriptive answer per syllabus heading; the official paper is not multiple choice.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the official BCS Political Science paper multiple choice?

No. BPSC examines subject code 341 as a 200-mark descriptive written paper (Part I 100 marks, Part II 100 marks). This site's questions are an English-language MCQ study adaptation to drill syllabus facts and concepts. They are not an official translation, a format simulation, or a substitute for writing practice.

What is BCS Political Science subject code 341?

It is the post-related Political Science paper in the BCS written examination, total marks 200, used by technical/professional cadre and dual-cadre applicants. The official BPSC syllabus splits it into Part I (theory, public administration, approaches, thought) and Part II (Bangladesh politics, 1971, constitution-making, foreign policy, regional politics, and four major systems).

What is the pass mark for the BCS written stage?

The BPSC official page states a 50% aggregate pass on the 900-mark written examination. Per-paper minima also apply as set by BPSC. Confirm the circular for the cycle you are sitting.

How long is the Political Science written paper?

BPSC 200-mark written papers are sat in a 4-hour session in longstanding practice used on this site. Always confirm the published written routine for your cycle.

Is there a separate fee for the written Political Science paper?

No. One BCS application fee covers preliminary, written, and viva. For the 50th BCS the fee is Tk. 200 general and Tk. 50 for ethnic minority, persons with disabilities, and third-gender applicants. Confirm the live circular.

Should I memorise Constitution article numbers?

Use article numbers only when you have verified them against the Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh (Ministry of Law text). This bank cites verified articles such as 1, 2A, 3, 6, 7, 8, 12, 25, 48, 55–56, 59, 65, 70, 94, 102, and 142, and otherwise tests the concept without a number.

In what language is this practice bank?

User-facing items are in English, keeping official names (Jatiya Sangsad, Bangabandhu, BAKSAL, asabiyya). The official written paper is not an English MCQ test. Use this bank to lock concepts, then practise descriptive answers.