‘Not possible for any aspirant to answer more than 45% of the questions’
Increased focus on questions related to science and technology, biodiversity and climate change, and History of India and Indian National Movement was seen in this year’s Civil Service Preliminary exam conducted by UPSC on Sunday.
Compared to last year, questions on History of India and Indian National Movement increased to 21 from 14 while questions on science and technology went up to 12 from 8. Climate change and bio-diversity questions saw an increase of 14 questions from 11 last year. Indian polity and governance saw lesser questions; as did economic and social development.
The questions were so wide-ranging that intuition and guesswork became imperative. “It is not possible for any aspirant to know the answers to more than 45% of the questions and the standard of testing has been raised,” said V. Gopalakrishna, director of Brain Tree.
Many questions in the history section were factual, polity questions were standard and environment were tough while current affairs questions were relatively easy, said Ram Babu of La Excellence.
The paper this year was different and tough, he pointed out.
The results are expected before July 20 with about 10,500 candidates likely to be shortlisted for the Main Examination, said Mr. Gopalakrishna.
Based on the difficulty level, the qualifying mark is expected to hover in the 105 to 110 range for General Category aspirants, 100 to 105 for OBC and 85 to 90 for SC/ST category.
Jammers at centres
Only 47% of the total candidates, who applied in Hyderabad, attended the exam. District Collector Yogita Rana said 48,939 candidates were allotted to Hyderabad, out of which 23,890 appeared in the morning session and 22,809 in the afternoon session. She said jammers were put in place in all 101 centres to arrest malpractice using modern gadgets.
The Collector inspected question paper distribution process at PG College of Law at Nizam College at 6.30 a.m. and gave instructions to inspecting officers. She also visited centres at Govt. Junior College, Nampally, and Sujatha Degree College.
