Civil Services Prelims has been replaced by the newly introduced Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT), which includes two objective papers with one General Studies and one General Aptitude Paper (replaces the optional subject).Tips for Students for Cracking Civil Services Exam 2011, with new pattern by Mr. Rajat Sen, Member, Career Launcher, Civil Services Team. Examination that is scheduled for 19 June, 2011.
Civil Services Exam is fast approaching. And this time in a new format. The proposed change in the format of preliminary examination has thrown thousands of aspirants in a tizzy. Civil Services Prelims has been replaced by the newly introduced Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT), which includes two objective papers with one General Studies and one General Aptitude Paper (replaces the optional subject).
The reason behind introduction of this section as specified by the Alagh Committeeis, “The present testing of the optional subject is based on College/University curriculum. Re-examining the candidates in their own subjects appears to have doubtful utility.
The universities have already done the work and retesting, possibly even at a lower level that what candidates have completed earlier, appears to be unnecessary. What is important is the relevance of a subject to the job requirements of a Civil Servant, especially in the changing scenario.”
Number System
A glance on the statistics of this exam indicates its own number system. In 2010, aspirants in a 6 digit figure (2,69,036) appeared for the exam, a 5-digit figure (12,491) qualified the preliminary round, those in a 4-digit figure (2,589) qualified for the mains examination, a 3-digit figure (920) were recommended, and a mere 2-digit figure will get the most coveted IAS positions. This sublimes to mere 0.3% selected (out of total students appeared).
What Now
As seen above, the civil services exam has limited seats to be decided among lakhs of candidates, making it very tough to crack. Most candidates have to appear for it multiple times before they clear it. Any change in the format of the exam is likely to cause considerable psychological impact on the human mind and this change too has sent fearful signs across a large section of students.
A majority of students with a non-technical background are fearful about their old nemesis, Mathematics. But this fear may be baseless as the changes lay greater emphasis on the 'aptitude' of candidates, which mainly involves reasoning skills and not just Mathematics. The most important thing that an aspirant can take from this new avatar of civil services is inspiration rather than fear. Now when hardly 2 weeks are left for the preliminary examination, this confidence will play a major role in preparation as it will be instrumental in alleviating fear and reducing pressure in this intense competitive exam.
However, this confidence will only come when one is fully prepared for the exam. As we know, CSAT comprises of two papers which, now, have equal weightage. So one’s arsenal should be replete with techniques which to counter the problems posed by the respective paper.
Paper I:
GeneralStudies
This paper has been the traditional “waterloo” for the manyof the “good” candidates since long. Though only a few still associate it withgeneral knowledge, most of the students don’t understand the reasoning partassociated with this paper. Though theUPSC has officially introduced “aptitude” testing from 2011, but generalstudies aptitude has indirectly been a part of the curriculum from the past 4-5years. The kind of questions that the UPSC has been testing aspirants on,require strong reasoning skills along with basic factual information. So ineffect many students have already been preparing for the General StudiesAptitude Test (GSAT). Now towards the fag end of one’s preparation of generalstudies for prelims, consolidation is required.
As we know paper I includes
(i)Static part with traditional areas like Indian National Movement, IndianPolity, Basic Economic Understanding, Geography, and
(ii) Dynamic part whichinclude current affairs and general knowledge and has no proper definition andsyllabus.
Static areas are traditionally scoring areas and the higherthe candidate scores in this area, lesser is the dependence on the uncertainareas of current affairs and general knowledge. These areas should bethoroughly revised from the notes one has prepared and concepts should bechecked again to certain one’s position. For further improvement, more and more questions and practice testsshould be solved till the examination date. This will certainly widen theirknowledge horizon and give them confidence.
For the undefined areas, students should understand thepractical and theoretical issues along with basic details. Since thepreparation time is limited now, all areas that have been marked by thecandidate can be revisited again with special focus on main keywords of theissue. This would help them achieve a good strike rate in the type of questionswhich demand reasoning along with factual data. Finally, solving as manyquestions as possible from good sources, will give required to give thefinishes to the preparation.
Paper II:
This section includes English language skills, Mathematicalskills, Reasoning skills, Analytical ability and Interpersonal skills.
Unlikepaper I which has a static part, unfortunately this paper provides no such respite.But the sense of reasoning and aptitude testing has continuity from paper I.
As most of the candidates are not smart with all the aspectsspecified above, one can smartly choose the area where scores can be optimizedas much as possible. At the current stage of preparation, the areas which havebeen traditionally strong should be consolidated with a good workbook forpractice. The importance of solving good questions is very important in thispaper as once a particular logic is mastered, it gives loads of confidence forfurther questions. Unlike paper I where quantity of questions is a majordeterminant for static section, paper II cannot be tamed without solvingquality questions, though few in number. Thus, smart work at this time can be amajor determinant in cracking this section.
In the quantitative section, understanding of numbers isvital as such questions form a fair portion of total marks. Candidates mustwork hard to smart this section. Methods to improve time management of suchquestions should necessarily be looked at, as this section is historicallynotorious for eating a chunk of time. This decreases overall ability ofstudents to attempt maximum questions.
Students who don’t have a background in English students, whoare not well versed with this language, should never panic and must keepconfidence in the mode and pattern of preparation that has been followed tilldate. As specified by UPSC, testing requires skills till “class X level”, sothere are lesser things to worry about. Studying must not be made complex byfollowing deeper aspects which are not demanded by the syllabus.
Overall, both the papers can be dealt section wise and onecan afford to miss certain sub-section if other areas are fairly strong. Againtime management is very vital in such exams where each mark makes a bigdifference. So, practice done, in the coming days, should be synchronized withthe time management.
Overall, the paper demands an all-round ability which shouldpeak at the right time. And as the time for battle is around the corner, onemust put all energies into the preparation and concentrate on all the vitalaspects of the examination.
Civil Services Exam is fast approaching. And this time in a new format. The proposed change in the format of preliminary examination has thrown thousands of aspirants in a tizzy. Civil Services Prelims has been replaced by the newly introduced Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT), which includes two objective papers with one General Studies and one General Aptitude Paper (replaces the optional subject).
The reason behind introduction of this section as specified by the Alagh Committeeis, “The present testing of the optional subject is based on College/University curriculum. Re-examining the candidates in their own subjects appears to have doubtful utility.
The universities have already done the work and retesting, possibly even at a lower level that what candidates have completed earlier, appears to be unnecessary. What is important is the relevance of a subject to the job requirements of a Civil Servant, especially in the changing scenario.”
Number System
A glance on the statistics of this exam indicates its own number system. In 2010, aspirants in a 6 digit figure (2,69,036) appeared for the exam, a 5-digit figure (12,491) qualified the preliminary round, those in a 4-digit figure (2,589) qualified for the mains examination, a 3-digit figure (920) were recommended, and a mere 2-digit figure will get the most coveted IAS positions. This sublimes to mere 0.3% selected (out of total students appeared).
What Now
As seen above, the civil services exam has limited seats to be decided among lakhs of candidates, making it very tough to crack. Most candidates have to appear for it multiple times before they clear it. Any change in the format of the exam is likely to cause considerable psychological impact on the human mind and this change too has sent fearful signs across a large section of students.
A majority of students with a non-technical background are fearful about their old nemesis, Mathematics. But this fear may be baseless as the changes lay greater emphasis on the 'aptitude' of candidates, which mainly involves reasoning skills and not just Mathematics. The most important thing that an aspirant can take from this new avatar of civil services is inspiration rather than fear. Now when hardly 2 weeks are left for the preliminary examination, this confidence will play a major role in preparation as it will be instrumental in alleviating fear and reducing pressure in this intense competitive exam.
However, this confidence will only come when one is fully prepared for the exam. As we know, CSAT comprises of two papers which, now, have equal weightage. So one’s arsenal should be replete with techniques which to counter the problems posed by the respective paper.
Paper I:
This paper has been the traditional “waterloo” for the manyof the “good” candidates since long. Though only a few still associate it withgeneral knowledge, most of the students don’t understand the reasoning partassociated with this paper. Though theUPSC has officially introduced “aptitude” testing from 2011, but generalstudies aptitude has indirectly been a part of the curriculum from the past 4-5years. The kind of questions that the UPSC has been testing aspirants on,require strong reasoning skills along with basic factual information. So ineffect many students have already been preparing for the General StudiesAptitude Test (GSAT). Now towards the fag end of one’s preparation of generalstudies for prelims, consolidation is required.
As we know paper I includes
(i)Static part with traditional areas like Indian National Movement, IndianPolity, Basic Economic Understanding, Geography, and
(ii) Dynamic part whichinclude current affairs and general knowledge and has no proper definition andsyllabus.
Static areas are traditionally scoring areas and the higherthe candidate scores in this area, lesser is the dependence on the uncertainareas of current affairs and general knowledge. These areas should bethoroughly revised from the notes one has prepared and concepts should bechecked again to certain one’s position. For further improvement, more and more questions and practice testsshould be solved till the examination date. This will certainly widen theirknowledge horizon and give them confidence.
For the undefined areas, students should understand thepractical and theoretical issues along with basic details. Since thepreparation time is limited now, all areas that have been marked by thecandidate can be revisited again with special focus on main keywords of theissue. This would help them achieve a good strike rate in the type of questionswhich demand reasoning along with factual data. Finally, solving as manyquestions as possible from good sources, will give required to give thefinishes to the preparation.
Paper II:
This section includes English language skills, Mathematicalskills, Reasoning skills, Analytical ability and Interpersonal skills.
Unlikepaper I which has a static part, unfortunately this paper provides no such respite.But the sense of reasoning and aptitude testing has continuity from paper I.
As most of the candidates are not smart with all the aspectsspecified above, one can smartly choose the area where scores can be optimizedas much as possible. At the current stage of preparation, the areas which havebeen traditionally strong should be consolidated with a good workbook forpractice. The importance of solving good questions is very important in thispaper as once a particular logic is mastered, it gives loads of confidence forfurther questions. Unlike paper I where quantity of questions is a majordeterminant for static section, paper II cannot be tamed without solvingquality questions, though few in number. Thus, smart work at this time can be amajor determinant in cracking this section.
In the quantitative section, understanding of numbers isvital as such questions form a fair portion of total marks. Candidates mustwork hard to smart this section. Methods to improve time management of suchquestions should necessarily be looked at, as this section is historicallynotorious for eating a chunk of time. This decreases overall ability ofstudents to attempt maximum questions.
Students who don’t have a background in English students, whoare not well versed with this language, should never panic and must keepconfidence in the mode and pattern of preparation that has been followed tilldate. As specified by UPSC, testing requires skills till “class X level”, sothere are lesser things to worry about. Studying must not be made complex byfollowing deeper aspects which are not demanded by the syllabus.
Overall, both the papers can be dealt section wise and onecan afford to miss certain sub-section if other areas are fairly strong. Againtime management is very vital in such exams where each mark makes a bigdifference. So, practice done, in the coming days, should be synchronized withthe time management.
Overall, the paper demands an all-round ability which shouldpeak at the right time. And as the time for battle is around the corner, onemust put all energies into the preparation and concentrate on all the vitalaspects of the examination.
