Table of Contents
PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION
Syllabus for Civil Services Preliminary Examination organized by Union Public Service Commission
- PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION
- According to the new examination system, the preliminary examination currently consists of two question papers. The first question paper is of ‘General Studies’ while the second is called ‘Civil Services Aptitude Test’ or ‘CSAT’ and is in the form of qualifying paper.
- Both the papers are of 200-200 marks. The first paper (General Studies) consists of 100 questions of 2–2 marks, while the second paper (CSAT) has 80 questions of 2.5–2.5 marks.
- In both the papers, the system of ‘negative marking’ is applicable, under which 3 answers are wrong, and 1 equal answer is deducted. In CSAT, marks are not deducted for incorrect answers in questions related to decision making.
- Since now the CSAT paper has only been qualified, any candidate is required to get only 33 percent marks (about 27 questions or 66 marks) in the CSAT paper to pass the preliminary examination. If he scores less than this, he is considered a failure. Now the cut-off is decided only on the basis of first question paper i.e. General Studies.
Question Paper-1
Paper-I of Preliminary Examination is related to ‘General Studies’. Its syllabus is as follows-
- Current events of national and international importance
- History of India and the Indian National Movement.
- Geography of India and the World: Indian and World Geography – Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.
- Indian polity and governance- Constitution, political system, panchayati raj, public policy, rights related issues etc. (Indian Polity and Governance – Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues etc.).
- Economic and social development – sustainable development, poverty, inclusion, demography, social sector initiatives etc. (Economic and Social Development, Sustainable Development – Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector initiatives etc.).
- General issues related to environmental ecology, biodiversity and climate change, which do not require thematic expertise (General issues on Environmental Ecologh2y, Bio-diversity and Climate Change – that do not require subject specialization).
- General Science.
Question Paper-2
Paper-2 of Preliminary Examination is related to ‘CSAT’. Its syllabus is as follows-
- Comprehension.
- Interpersonal skills including communication skills including communication skills.
- Logical reasoning and analytical ability.
- Decision-making and problem-solving.
- General mental ability.
- Basic numeracy (numbers and their relation, sequence of order etc.) (level of tenth grade); Interpretation of statistics (charts, graphs, tables, sufficiency of data etc. – tenth grade level) [Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc.) (Class X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables , data sufficiency etc. (Class X level)]
Note – The objective type questions are asked in thePreliminary Examination,under which one has to select the correct option out of the four possible options (a, b, c and d) given for each question.