Civil Services Preliminary Exam 2011 exam pattern has changed and gave way to Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) this year, which was conducted on June 12. Analysis of CSAT 2011 by education experts has shown many positive trends. The candidates were quite excited with the paper.

The first question paper maintained the tradition of being based on General Knowledge. However, the second question paper was based on the Aptitude Test, as announced earlier by the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC), and the questions asked in the paper were of the nature that candidates were usually asked at the Interview Level.

Civil Services Preliminary Exam 2011 analysis shows that eight questions of the Aptitude Test were kept out of the Negative Marking system. Earlier, the preliminary exams for Civil Services used to be focused around the optional subject chosen by the candidate.

Previously,

Civil Services Prelims carried a total of 450 marks and the total number of questions that were asked used to be 270. These included:

• 150 questions based on General Knowledge, each carrying one mark, and
• 120 questions based on the Optional Subject chosen by the candidate, each carrying 2.5 marks.

Now,

In the changed pattern, CSAT 2011 or Civil Services Preliminary Exam 2011 only carried 400 marks. Only 180 questions were asked this year. Out of these:

• 100 questions based on General Knowledge were asked, each carrying two marks, and
• 80 questions based on Aptitude Test were asked, each carrying 2.5 marks.

Negative Marking

Except for Question Nos. 73 to 80 in the second paper, all the questions had negative marking. For each wrong answer, 1/3 mark will be deducted from the total scores of the candidate.

Civil Services Preliminary Exam 2011 Analysis

Analysis of CSAT 2011 shows that the questions that were asked in the Aptitude Test were based on Reasoning, Decision Making, Mathematics, English, and Comprehension.

The questions in the first paper were quite deep. There was no scope of guessing about the right answers and the best approach would have been to only do questions that a candidate would have been sure about. Most of the questions in the first paper were based on Geography, Indian Constitution, Science, Economics, and International Politics.

Check out institutes that offer test preparation programs for Government Exams!

Source: Ruchi Shrimali (Shiksha Team)

Date: June 13, 2011