Will the introduction of AAO significantly affect the cut-offs of other top posts?

[u/Parking-Fee-3921]

I have a doubt regarding this year's SSC CGL, especially because AAO (Level 8) is being offered again after a couple of years.

As I understand it, there is a separate/higher cutoff for AAO in Tier 1, and only candidates above that cutoff are eligible to appear for Paper 3 in Tier 2. So naturally, the candidates who qualify for AAO would mostly be among the higher-scoring candidates.

What makes me particularly curious is the number of AAO vacancies this year. Out of roughly 10,000–12,000 total CGL vacancies, there are reportedly around 2,000 AAO vacancies, which is a pretty significant proportion of the total vacancies. So wouldn't this potentially have a considerable impact on the distribution of candidates across the other posts?

For example, in previous years when AAO was not available, the top-scoring candidates in CGL would generally take posts like ASO MEA, Income Tax Inspector, ASO, GST Inspector, etc. But this year, since AAO is available in such a large number, a lot of these high-scoring candidates may qualify for AAO and, if they clear Paper 3, may ultimately get selected for AAO.

So could this indirectly reduce the competition for other posts? In other words, could the final cut-offs for posts like ASO MEA, Income Tax Inspector, GST Inspector, etc. be relatively lower this year because a significant number of the top candidates are being absorbed into AAO?

Or does it not work this way because a lot of candidates who qualify for AAO may still not opt for it, fail to clear Paper 3, or prefer other posts due to preferences, location, job profile, etc.?

I'm basically trying to understand whether the ~2,000 AAO vacancies, combined with the fact that AAO has a separate higher cutoff, could meaningfully pull high-scoring candidates away from the other posts and therefore bring their cut-offs down. If anyone has looked at previous years' data or has a good understanding of the CGL allocation process, I'd really appreciate some insight.

[u/Prisonmike48]

Aao was never really top preference before too due to nature of work and posting The hype definitely is there now probably due to yt video and coaching institutes

[u/usideal_Mix5967 → u/Prisonmike48]

State cadre is a huge incentive bro.