Important Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) for Civil Services examination
Students often have many doubts about the preparation for the IAS exams. Any number of questions crop in their mind before they think about the preparations of the Civil Service exam. We are trying answer here some of the frequently asked questions FAQ's on how to prepare for the IAS exams.
Can a candidate who has completed his education from an open school/ University apply for Commission's Examination?
Yes. Candidates having pass bachelor degree from the UGC recognized University are eligible to write the exam. The minimum educational qualifications prescribed for the exam is a bachelor's degree.
Is a candidate who has done his graduation without passing class X and class XII is eligible for the Civil Service Examination?
Yes.
A foreign graduation degree eligible for UPSC Exam ?
Degree (graduation) from any of the Universities incorporated by an Act of the Central or State Legislature or University approved by University Grants Commission are alone considered valid and eligible for UPSC Exam.
Age
Candidate belonging to a community included in the OBC list of states but not in the Central list of OBCs is eligible for age relaxation, reservation etc. for IAS exam?
No. Only candidates belonging to communities which are included in the Central list of OBC's are eligible.
Exam details
If a candidate has applied for the Prelims Exam but has not appeared in the exam, will it be counted as an attempt?
No. An attempt is counted only if a candidate has appeared in at least one paper of the Prelim exam.
Is it necessary to have a strong command over English to clear the UPSC Exam?
Definitely No! But you must have decent communication skills in English. You are allowed to write UPSC exams in your mother tongue. But the essay paper is in English only.
The IAS exam requires preparation for 20 hours every day for 365 days. Is this true?
No. Its more about what you read and how than the amount of time. If you have not cleared prelims before, Civilserviceindia.com strongly recommends you to devote at least 75 - 80 % of your preparation time in the last 6 months before Prelims (December – May) entirely on Prelims topics.
What will happen if FIR is filed against a candidate ?
FIR is not hindrance for any candidate to write UPSC Exam. After the final selection, UPSC makes police verification about the candidate. Those clearing the verification alone will be selected. So the candidate must ensure the police case against him closed/ acquitted.
Prelims
What is the structure of UPSC Civil Service Prelims Exam? (2015 Pattern)
Prelims exam is objective in nature. There will be two papers – 200 marks each. Paper 1 is related to General Studies and Paper 2 is related to Mental Ability and Aptitude. For selection to the main exam, only marks of Paper 1 will be counted, provided the candidate has 33 percent marks in Paper 2.
Will there be an individual cut-off for two papers in Civil Service Prelims?
The minimum cut off marks for Paper 2 is 33 percent. The Commission may fix a minimum cut-off mark for Paper 1 too.
Will there be negative marks or different marks for Preliminary Questions?
There will be negative marking for incorrect answers for all questions except some of the questions where the negative marking will be inbuilt in the form of different marks being awarded to the most appropriate and not so appropriate answer for such questions.
Are subject-wise/paper wise marks of each candidate made accessible/available to him/her for Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination?
No. This is because the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination is simply a short-listing (elimination) exercise to select candidates for the Main Examination and as such the scores obtained in this Examination are not communicated to candidates. However, an individual candidate desirous of knowing his/her marks may seek such information from the Commission pursuant to RTI Act 2005.
Mains
Can a candidate choose an optional subject, which he has not studied at graduate/PG level?
Yes.
Is it, compulsory for a candidate to take the same optional subject in the Main Exam, which he had in the UG/PG level?
No
A candidate can write different papers of Mains Exam in different languages?
No, Candidates have the option to write their answers either in English or in any one of the languages mentioned in the Eighth schedule.
Are answer books segregated/sorted based on community of the candidate?
NO. This is not done at any stage of the evaluation process.
On what criterion the answer books of the written examination is sent for evaluation?
After the Mains exams, the answer books that are collected from different centers is brought to the UPSC office in New Delhi. The answers books are then first mixed and then reshuffled. After that computerized randomized fictitious code number is given to each answer-book. It is only when this process is over the answer books are being sent for evaluation.
Can I know the 'question-wise' marks awarded to me for a paper?
No. The evaluation process does not end after initial evaluation by an Examiner. Moderation wherever applied is done on the total award initially given and not on each answers. Therefore, once the evaluation process is complete, neither 'raw marks' nor 'answer-wise' marks subsist. What matters at the end of the evaluation process is the candidate's total score in a paper. The final score is normally made available to the candidate on the Commission's website.
If the overall marks of two or more candidates are equal, how is relative merit between such candidates decided?
'Tie-breaking' principles are applied to decide inter se merit among candidates having the same overall marks. Candidate securing more marks in the Compulsory Papers and the Personality Test put together is to be ranked higher; In case where the marks mentioned at (i) above are equal, the candidate senior in age is to be ranked higher; and in case where the (i) and (ii) above are same, then the candidate getting more marks in the compulsory papers is to be ranked higher.
What is the structure of UPSC Civil Service Mains Exam? (Latest Pattern)
The Main Examination will consist of written examination and an interview test. The written examination will consist of 9 papers of the conventional essay type. Two papers (out of 9) will be of qualifying in nature. Marks obtained for all the compulsory papers (Paper–I to Paper-VII) and Marks obtained in Interview for Personality Test will be counted for ranking.
Which stream/subject should I choose for graduation to clear UPSC exam?
Most of the questions in the general studies paper in Prelims and Mains are related to Humanities background. But it is neither necessary nor advisable to take Humanities as your graduation stream just to clear UPSC exam. Graduation should be based on your taste – it can be humanities, science, engineering, literature or management. For graduation, select any stream you like to study for 3-4 years. You are free to choose any optional subject for UPSC Mains and it may not be the one you studied for graduation.
Will there be minimum qualifying marks for UPSC Mains Compulsory Papers?
The Commission has the discretion to fix qualifying marks in any or all the subjects of the examination. For 2015, the minimum mark is 25% for Indian language and English language. For GS1, GS2, GS3 and GS4 the minimum mark expected is 10%.
Will UPSC deduct marks for bad handwriting?
If a candidate’s handwriting is not easily legible, a deduction will be made on this account from the total marks otherwise accruing to him.
Interview
Can a candidate write the Mains Exam in English and take the interview in Hindi or any other Indian language?
Yes. The candidate can take the interview in any language mentioned in the Eighth schedule, the UPSC will arrange a translator of that language in the interview boad.
Will there be minimum qualifying marks for UPSC Interview?
The interview will carry 275 marks (with no minimum qualifying marks).
 for Civils Services Examination){kind=link}
0 Comments