The Civil Services offers fine opportunities to the youth for serving the country. Because of the remarkable success of the candidates from Kerala in the challenging Civil Services Examination in recent times, it has become a rage among the youth of the State.
We can divide the examination into three stages:
* The Preliminary
* The Main
* The Interview
The preliminary: Two two-hour long papers. Each paper carries 200 marks. There will be objective type multiple-choice questions, with four options against each question, and negative marks for wrong answers. Paper one focusses on knowledge, while paper 2 stresses on logic. Calculators are not allowed in the test. You should score at least 33 per cent marks in Paper 2. The marks scored in the preliminary examination will not count for final ranking. This is only a screening test for selecting the candidates for the main examination. The number of candidates to be admitted to the main examination will be about 13 times the vacancies.
Main examination: There are nine papers - conventional (essay) type. Non-programmable calculators are allowed.
Paper A: An Indian language chosen by the candidate from the eighth schedule of the constitution
Paper B: English
The marks scored in papers A and B will not count for ranking. You should score at least 25 per cent marks in each of these papers to be qualified for the Mains. The core of the Civil Services Examination lies in the remaining seven papers, each with 250 marks. The total marks scored in these seven papers and the marks in the interview (personality test) put together decide the rank in the test. The mark for the interview is 275.
The remaining seven papers are:
Paper I: Essay
Paper II: General Studies I (Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society)
Paper III: General Studies –II (Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations)
Paper IV: General Studies III (Technology, Economic Development, Biodiversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management)
Paper V: General Studies IV (Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude)
Paper VI: Optional Subject – Paper 1
Paper VII: Optional Subject – Paper 2
For papers VI and VII you may choose one optional subject from a list of 48 (25 subjects and literature of 23 languages).
For full information about the test, you may go to the UPSC web site links: www.upsc.gov.in – Examination – Notifications – Archival – Civil Services Prelim – 2015 (English).
