Punjab ADA Question Paper [2022]: PDF Download & Solving Tips

Overview: If you're preparing for Punjab ADA 2026, your effort will be complete only when you practice previous years' Punjab ADA question paper.  

• Previously, the PPSC Assistant District Attorney exam was held on 6 November 2022. We have a question booklet copy for it.  
• Remember, the Punjab ADA exam scheduled on 2nd August 2026 will be conducted by PSSSB not PPSC.  

Here, we share the 2022 Punjab ADA question paper and tips on using it for your preparation.  

Punjab ADA Question Paper (2022) PDF Download 

Download the Punjab ADA previous year paper PDF below  

Download Punjab ADA 2022 Question Paper

What Does the Punjab ADA Question Paper (2022) Contain? 

The paper follows PPSC's written competitive exam scheme. There is no interview stage for this post, so this single MCQ paper decided the entire merit list in 2022. Every mark in it is carried to the final merit list.  

The 120 questions are drawn from two broad areas:  

Law (Subject-based Section)  

The core of the paper. Questions test provisions and principles from subjects such as:  

• Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 
• Indian Penal Code, 1860 
• Indian Evidence Act, 1872 
• Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 
• Constitution of India  

These are provision-heavy questions, the kind where knowing the exact section, its ingredients, and its exceptions decides your answer. Strengthen this area with our compilation of important CrPC, IPC and Evidence Act questions and Constitution of India questions for law exams.  

General Aptitude Section  

General knowledge, logical reasoning, and mental ability in the non-law section trips up more law graduates than the law section does. It rewards regular, light practice rather than last-minute cramming.  

Marking Scheme: Every correct answer earns 4 marks; every wrong answer costs 1 mark, and a skipped question cost nothing. In 2022, if PSSSB withdrew a question, all candidates received 4 marks for it regardless of whether they attempted it.  

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Importance of Solving This Punjab ADA Question Paper  

It is tempting to think one paper cannot tell you much. The opposite is true: scarcity makes it the single most concentrated source of intelligence about this exam. Here is what it reveals that no textbook can:  

• PPSC's question style: How does the Commission frame a law MCQ. Whether it quotes the bare provision, tests an exception, or builds a short fact-situation, is visible only in the actual paper. 
• Distractor patterns: Wrong options in law MCQs are rarely random. They are usually adjacent to section numbers, similar-sounding doctrines, or the general rule offered where the exception applies. Recognising these patterns is a trained skill, and this paper is your training ground. 
• The real difficulty level: Aspirants who appeared in 2022 generally rated the paper moderate to difficult. Feeling that difficulty yourself, under a timer, recalibrates your preparation far better than any opinion can. 
• Time pressure: 120 questions in 120 minutes means one minute per question, including reading time. Most first-timers discover they are slower than they assumed.  

How to Use This Punjab ADA Question Paper for Your Preparation?  

With ten papers, you can afford to burn a few on casual practice. With one paper, you cannot. Our faculty recommends using it three times, at three different stages, for three different jobs.  

Diagnosis 

Attempt the full paper under exam conditions before you begin serious study. Score it honestly with the −1 penalty. Your score does not matter here; your subject-wise error map does. You will know on day one whether Evidence Act or reasoning is your weak zone, and you can build your structured judiciary study plan around real data instead of guesswork.  

Syllabus Alignment  

This time do not "solve" the paper, study it. Go question by question and:  

• Tag each question with its subject and, for law questions, the exact Act and section. 
• Count the questions per subject yourself. That count is your best available weightage estimate for this exam. 
• Read the tagged provision in the Bare Act, including its illustrations and exceptions, make sure to check the Punjab ADA syllabus 2026.  

Final Simulation  

Re-attempt the paper under full exam conditions: 2 hours, OMR-style answering, no pauses. One honest caution from our mentors: because you have seen the paper before, this score measures retention, not prediction. Expect it to be inflated, and use it to check speed, accuracy discipline, and OMR handling rather than to forecast your result.  

How to Attempt the Punjab ADA Question Paper with Negative Marking?  

According to the marking scheme: 4 marks for a correct answer, minus 1 for a wrong one. This creates a specific attempt logic. Understand it once and your score improves without studying anything new.  

• A wrong answer versus a skip costs you 1 mark  
• A wrong answer versus a right answer is a 5-mark swing  
• If you can confidently eliminate even one option, attempting is mathematically sound. If you are choosing blindly between all four options, the tiny statistical edge is not worth the risk near the cut-off, where a handful of marks separates hundreds of candidates.  

A practical rule our faculty gives students: Attempt when you can eliminate, skip when you cannot. Then use your practice attempts to learn your personal accuracy rate. Some aspirants genuinely gain from borderline attempts; others bleed marks. For a deeper framework, read our guide on how to handle negative marking in law exams.   

Continue preparation with the best Punjab ADA books for 2026 >> 

Remember: The 2022 Punjab ADA Question Paper Tests the Old Codes, Not the New Laws 

This something that matters a lot when you're practicing Punjab ADA pervious year papers.  

The 2022 paper was set before the three new criminal laws came into force on 1st July 2024. So, its criminal-law questions are framed on the IPC, CrPC and the Indian Evidence Act.  

Recent PSSSB ADA syllabus documents, however, list both the old codes and the new Sanhitas. Verify the exact position in the current notification on ppsc.gov.in and prepare for both regimes.  

Here is how to convert the old paper into new-law practice instead of discarding it:  

The 2022 paper tested	Replaced by (from 1st July 2024)	How to use the question today
Indian Penal Code, 1860	Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023	Solve the IPC question, then note the matching BNS provision. Example: punishment for murder - Section 302 IPC → Section 103 BNS.
Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973	Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023	Map each CrPC section to its BNSS counterpart. Example: FIR - Section 154 CrPC → Section 173 BNSS.
Indian Evidence Act, 1872	Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA), 2023	Note the corresponding BSA provision alongside your answer.

Mistakes to Avoid When Solving Previous Year's Punjab ADA Question Paper  

Avoid these mistakes, and you are ahead of most of the competition:  

• Solving it on day one and never returning. One casual attempt wastes the only paper you have. Follow the 3-pass method instead (mentioned above). 
• Scoring without the −1 penalty. A self-score of 320 without negative marking can collapse to 280 with it. Always simulate the actual marking scheme. Understand the Punjab ADA 2026 pattern before you practice. 
• Reading answers passively. Checking "B was correct" teaches you nothing. Back-mapping the question to the Bare Act does. 
• Ignoring the GK and reasoning section. Law graduates habitually over-prepare law and under-prepare the non-law section, then lose easy marks there. Practice regularly with resources like our Punjab GK questions. 
• Treating the 2022 paper as the current syllabus. The paper shows question style; the latest official notification defines question scope. Recent cycles have expanded the syllabus, including the new criminal laws. So, anchor your coverage to the current notification, not the old paper. 
• Memorising 120 answers instead of 120 topics. The same answer will not repeat; the same topics and framing patterns will. 

Here are the key takeaways:  

• Solving previous year Punjab ADA question paper is an important part of the preparation.  
• Use it three times: as a day-one diagnostic, a mid-prep syllabus decoder, and a final-fortnight simulation. 
• Score honestly with the −1 penalty and attempt only when you can eliminate at least one option. 
• Bridge old law to new law: the 2022 paper tests IPC/CrPC/IEA; map every criminal-law question to its BNS/BNSS/BSA counterpart.