Civils Main exam delayed; scheduled from Dec. 1

The Civil Services (Main) examination has been postponed by nearly a month and will now be held from December 1 for a period of five days. Initially, the examination was scheduled to be conducted in the first week of November.

One of the reasons for the delay could be the changes in the syllabus for the Main examination, which were approved and notified after considerable delay.

“Many students were worried about the lack of time to prepare for the changed pattern of the examination. This extra time is only being fair to the aspirants and is welcome,” says Gopala Krishna, who heads a prominent coaching institute in the city.

Previously, the examination used to be held for a period of 20 days or more. Now, the entire process will last only five days.

“This was done as the number of optionals had come down to a single subject from the earlier two,” says R.C. Reddy, director of another city institute. The current system features a single optional subject — comprising two papers — and seven other compulsory papers.

Packed schedule

However, aspirants feel they may have to take two papers on the same day and that could be a problem.

“In an objective type, multiple-choice question paper like the preliminary exam, multi-tasking is possible. But to expect an aspirant to attempt a conventional, essay-type paper in areas as diverse as Geography to Governance to Science and Technology is expecting too much,” feels Mr. Gopala Krishna.

The aspirants also hoped that the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), which conducts the exam, would be sensitive to the needs of the students and provide sufficient gap between two different papers, keeping in view the changeover time required.