SC-1, SC-2, SC-3 in Telangana MBBS counselling: the SC sub-categorisation explained

If your caste certificate says SC and you open a recent KNRUHS allotment list, you will find three different SC columns where you expected one: SC-1, SC-2 and SC-3. This is the sub-categorisation of the Scheduled Caste reservation, and it changes which cutoff you should be reading.

One reservation, three groups

The SC quota is now divided among three sub-groups, and each sub-group has its own seats and its own cutoff. Your competition is not "all SC candidates" any more; it is the candidates in your specific sub-group. A cutoff labelled SC-2 tells you nothing about your chances as an SC-1 candidate, and vice versa.

The groups are very different sizes

This is where it gets practical. In the 2025-26 merit list, the SC-1 pool had just 42 candidates. A category rank of 40 in SC-1 means something entirely different from a category rank of 40 in a pool of hundreds. Small pools produce jumpy cutoffs: a single candidate's decision can move the closing rank by a lot, so treat sub-group cutoffs as noisier than the big-pool numbers.

Older lists just say SC

Allotment lists from 2020-21 through 2022-23 predate the split and show a single SC column. Those old SC cutoffs describe a merged competition that no longer exists. They are still useful as rough history, but do not compare them directly with today's SC-1, SC-2 or SC-3 numbers. The groups, the seats and the pools are all different.

What to do as an SC candidate

• Find out which sub-group your certificate places you in before you read a single cutoff.
• Compare your category rank only against your own sub-group's cutoff, never against the merged SC number from older lists.
• Expect more year-to-year wobble in small sub-groups, and keep your safe options genuinely safe.
• Remember the open path: your state merit rank against open cutoffs is a second, independent chance, whatever your sub-group.

Our rank predictor carries the sub-group split through its data, so SC candidates are matched against the right pool, not a blended average.