Civil Services Preliminary Examination consists of two papers Which is common for all candidates from 2011 i.e., No optional paper is there in CSP form 2011.This is the first stage of Civil Services Examination. This is an Objective type examination consisting of Two Papers that is common to all candidates from 2011 having special emphasis on testing their “aptitude for civil services” as well as on “ethical and moral dimension of decision making”. Normally, there are about 3 lakh applications for the preliminary examination. From this, the UPSC selects 10 to 12 folds of vacancies for the main examinations. This is only for the selection and not to be taken into consideration in the main ranking.
Subjects for Preliminary Examination :
• The Preliminary Examination shall now comprise of two compulsory Papers of 200 marks each and of two hours duration each. Detailed below is the new syllabus and pattern of the Preliminary Examination, which is brought to the notice of the prospective candidates intending to appear at the Civil Services Examination (CSE) in 2011 onwards:
Paper I - (200 marks)
Duration : Two hours
• Current events of national and international importance
• History of India and Indian National Movement
• 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 Issues, etc.
• Economic and Social Development – Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion,
Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.
• General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change - that do not
require subject specialization
• General Science.
Paper II - (200 marks)
Duration : Two hours
• Comprehension
• Interpersonal skills including communication skills;
• Logical reasoning and analytical ability
• Decision making and problem solving
• General mental ability
• Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude etc.) (Class X level),
Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. -Class X level)
• English Language Comprehension skills (Class X level).
• Questions relating to English Language Comprehension skills of Class X level (last item in
the Syllabus of Paper-II) will be tested through passages from English language only
without providing Hindi translation thereof in the question paper.
• The questions will be of multiple choice, objective type.
