New syllabus from 2011 prelims
The new syllabus will have two common papers with equal weightage (200 marks each).
The first paper under the new syllabus will be more or less like the current general awareness paper, with additional issues such as climate change and biodiversity. It will will test civil services aspirants on current events of national and international importance, Indian history, Indian and world geography, Indian polity and governance, economic and social development and general science, besides environmental ecology, biodiversity and climate change that do not require subject specialization.
The second paper, being introduced by replacing the optional (subject) paper, will have aptitude, data interpretation and English language comprehension skills. The second paper comprises general comprehension; inter-personal skills, including communication skills; logical reasoning and analytical ability; decision making and problem solving; general mental ability; basic numbers and their relations (secondary level) and data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables and data sufficiency). The English language comprehension skills will also be of secondary level.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS BASED ON REVISED PATTERN OF CS(P) EXAMINATION EFFECTIVE FROM 2011 - link to UPSC official website
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Poll
What is your opinion on the new pattern of preliminary exam?
It is time for much needed change (440)
Oh no! My preparation has been thrown into doubt (139)
Doesn't bother me. Everyone is placed at the same level of advantage or disadvantage (119)
Total votes: 698
New pattern for Preliminary Exam from 2011
The government has approved the proposal for Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) in place of Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination. In CSAT, one of optional subjects that a candidate could have chosen out of 23 optionals is being replaced with a common paper on aptitude.
Here is a look at the proposed reforms:
- There shall be two objective type papers carrying equal marks, unlike present, in which General Studies paper carries 150 marks and optional paper carries 300 marks. So now, it shall be two papers carrying 200 marks each.
- Instead of one compulsory paper of General Studies and one Optional paper, both the papers shall be compulsory.
- Both the papers will be common to all candidates as the UPSC gets rid of the current scaling system. The problem of scaling is over and now no candidate will take any undue advantage over others because of a particular optional of his or her choice.
- The compulsory paper other than General Studies, will test “aptitude for civil services”. It means testing the ability for decision making without compromising moral and ethical values. Therefore it is the ability of value based decision making instead of taking just facts based decision. It will reflect the candidates ability to analyse than ability to memorise.