SUCCESS IN CIVIL SERVICES EXAMINATIONS
The civil services
examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission, Government of
India, New Delhi Union Territories
The
examination is conducted every year, involving three phases, namely,
preliminary examination, main (written) examination and personality test. Any
aspiring candidate with graduation and aged not less than 21 years can sit for
the examination. The level of competition is used to be very intense Unless one
is intellectually sound, studious to the core, hard-working like a bee,
enthusiastic of the top order and articulative with high level of presence of
mind, coming through the examination is a rarity. The element of luck, chance
and such things are distilled out and only real talents and performance ensure
one's success. Preparing for competitive examination is different from
preparing for the university examinations. Unlike the university examinations,
competitive examinations are of filtering type. Intensive and extensive
preparation and great seriousness are needed for coming through in this
competitive examinati From
time to time, changes have been made in the structure to meet the emerging
challenges. Many experts and panels had
advocated laying greater emphasis on the
‘aptitude ‘ of candidates than on their knowledge of a subject. Accordingly, the format of preliminary examination has been changed..
The new Civil Services Preliminary
Examination would consist of two papers.
Paper I, General Studies and paper II, Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT)
carrying 200 marks each of 2 hours duration.
Paper I consists of current events of national and international
importance, History, Geography, Economics and Social development, Indian
polity, environmental studies and general science. The newly introduced paper II (CSAT) consist
of the following.
v Comprehension,
v Interpersonal
skills including communication skills,
v Logical
reasoning and analytical ability,
v Decision-making
and problem solving,
v General
mental ability,
v Basic
numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc. (Class X
level), Data interpretation-charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency, etc.
(Class X level)
v English
language comprehension skills (Class X level)
The
proposed system of CSAT provides equal opportunities for all..
Major Implications of CSAT :
Now, the proposed system of CSAT
provides equal opportunities for all candidates because there is no subject
bias as in the previous system due to different optional papers.
Now, the cognitive and application
skills of the aspirants are tested rather than their ability to memorise their subjects theoretically.
Now the weightage for general
studies has been increased from 33.3%
(150 in 450 marks earlier) to
50% (200 in 400 marks)
In the present system, much
importance is given to English language
comprehension skills,. The
experts opined that the sample questions released by the Union Public Service
Commission (UPSC) indicate the requirements of a fairly high level of English
competency
Since Analytical ability
and logical reasoning are given lot of importance, aspirants must develop their
Mathematical ability and knowledge. A
civil servant should be conversant with numbers, financial and quantitative
data, budgets etc.
Also, in the new system there is a
special emphasis on decision making
skills. The ability of
decision making involves taking a right decisions with moral
and ethical values instead of taking facts-based decision. The decision making ability plays a vital
role since a civil servant has to face and decide the real life situations.
Advantages:
The new pattern offers several advantages for the aspirants.
Since
Analytical ability and logical reasoning are given lot of importance, aspirants
must develop their Mathematical ability and knowledge. A civil servant should be conversant with
numbers, financial and quantitative data, budgets etc.
Also, in the new system there is a
special emphasis on decision making
skills. The ability of
decision making involves taking a right decisions with moral
and ethical values instead of taking facts-based decision. The decision making ability plays a vital
role si This preparation is very much useful to several exams in the government
sector like banks, defence and engineering services. So once the candidate prepares well with strenuous effort, it will be a knowledge
assert to him/her even though he/she meets failure in some attempts.
More
professional course students, particularly, engineering graduates are getting
drawn to civil services and the new pattern will be an advantage to a great
extent.
SCHOOL-COLLEGE STUDIES & ENVIRONMENT AND
PERFORMANCE
Performance in
competitive examinations is a function of the kind of school and college
studies and environment that the candidates are exposed to. The knowledge and
skill of the candidates that the civil services (written) examination requires
and the personality of candidates that the civil services (interview)
examination requires are acquired not over a span of short period (ie., the one
or two years of preparation for the examination) but over a very long period
spanning from school-college times of the candidates.
The fact that many IAS
toppers were graduates of the IITs and also the fact that the top ten
universities/institutes producing maximum number of higher civil service
personnel happened to be the university of Delhi, IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur, Punjab
University and so on, reflected that the influence of school- college
environment on performance of candidates is nontheless significant.
School education is of
the formative type wherein the seeds of personality development, the culture of
hardwork, the art of effective communication etc. are sown. The college
education is oriented towards deeper and critical learning of limited number of
related disciplines with emphasis on practical application and social purpose.
The type of studies and environment in the schools and colleges critically
affect the standards of performance of candidates in the civil services
examination. A school college environment that encourages pupils "to
think, to argue, to suggest and to solve" is the one that can deliver the
goods.
Factor such as (i) the
medium of instruction, (ii) the general education environment at school and
colleges consisting of facilities such as library, laboratory and sports,
encouragement for academic competition, quality of instruction, thrust on
learning, encouragement by the teachers, emphasis on discipline and values,
special coaching and overall learning environment, (iii)special reading habits
developed by candidates at school and college days, (iv) stress on
extra-curricular activities, (v) marks scored and (vi) encouragement and help
from teachers and friends would depict the kind of school – college studies and
environment.
Special Reading Habits and Performance
For the exacting
standards of civil services examination, extra and special reading habits right
from school days are found necessary. Reading newspapers, educational journals
and recreational/general journal is needed to broad-base the knowledge and
skill of the aspirants of civil services career. In these days of over crowded
schools and colleges with rigidly uniform curriculum and out dated teaching
techniques, there is a clear need for cultivating special reading habits
amongst the wards. The education system has become two much obsessed with
syllabus and examination, with scant regard given for experiential learning.
"Why shouldn't the teacher of geography teaching about soil, mountains or
rivers take students to the field? Why don't we teach our students mathematics
through puzzles, quizzes and other life examples? Why do laboratories play such
a small role in science teaching?" asks an educationist, Ambrose Pinto, in
his article in "The Hindu" on Education Column.
To compensate for the
lacunae of the system, extra and special reading be insisted upon to widen the
horizon of knowledge and deepen the level of understanding of the wards.
Suggestions for Civil Services Career aspirants :
·
Aspirants must develop special reading habits such as
regular reading of newspaper, journals and magazine. Extensive reading of
multiple newspapers and magazines is to be cultivated.
·
Aspirants must take interest in general studies and
current affairs right from school-college studies, so that general knowledge is
gained as a routine.
·
Aspirants must develop their lingual ability to do
well in the CSAT and also in the main (written) examination and the personality
test.
·
Engineering graduates in large number can come forward
to take up the civil services examination as their success rate is higher than
that of other students.
·
Candidates must capitalize on educational achievements
of their family members.
·
Candidates must develop their numerical ability and problem solving skills.
·
Candidates must practice to solve many puzzles in
mathematics. By writing model tests
under simulated environment, this skill can be developed.
·
Candidates must make complete and thorough Coverage of
syllabus, with additional stress on important topics.
·
At the examination, judicious allocation of time over
the number of questions to be answered is a must.
·
Candidates should not leave hope, even if the success
does not turn up in the first one or two
attempts. Experience gained from the
earlier attempts be used to one’s advantage in the next attempts.
·
Besides, one should choose quality coaching institute.
·
Hard work, methodical preparation, perseverance, etc,
are needed. Above all, great degree of
commitment and achievement motivation is a pre requisite for success in the
civil services examination.
nce a civil servant has to face and decide the real life
situation.
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