Civil Service Aptitude Test From 2011

7/31/2019 Civil Service Aptitude Test From 2011

1/4

Civil Service Aptitude Test from 2011

NEW DELHI: Aspirants for the civilservices will face a different pattern of

examination from next year as the

government has approved a proposal to

introduce an aptitude test in place of the

existing preliminary examination toshortlist candidates for the main exam.

Accordingly, the candidates will have to

appear in two objective-type papers

having special emphasis on testing their"aptitude for civil services" as well as

on "ethical and moral dimension of

decision-making" under a Civil Services

Aptitude Test (CSAT).

Both these papershaving equal

weightagewill be common to all

candidates in place of the one common

paper (general awareness) and one

optional paper (any particular subject


2/4

of choice) under the existing system

which lays greater emphasis on subject

knowledge.

As of now, the change will be effective

only for the first stage of the Civil

Services Examination (CSE) from 2011onwards. The second and third stages

CS (Main) Examination and interview

respectivelymay remain the same till

a committee of experts goes into various

aspects of the entire system and submitsits report. Confirming the change for

the first stage of CSE, minister of state

for personnel Prithviraj Chavan told the

Lok Sabha on Wednesday that Prime

Minister Manmohan Singh hasapproved the proposal for introduction

of CSAT in place of the existing CS

(Preliminary) Examination. In his

written reply, he said: "CSAT is

expected to come into effect from CSE,


3/4

2011." The proposal to this effect was

sent to the PMO last year by the Union

Public Service Commission (UPSC)which conducts CSE every year to select

candidates for elite all- India services,

including IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS and others

Group 'A' and Group 'B' central jobs.

Officials familiar with the proposal

which has got the PM's nod explained

that the changes were suggested by

various committees, including the

second Administrative ReformsCommission, in their reports submitted

over the years. Most of the panels had

advocated laying greater emphasis on

the "aptitude" of candidates than their

knowledge of a subject, arguing thatspecialists or experts in any particular

subject may not necessarily be good civil

servants.

Referring to introduction of CSAT, an


4/4

official said: "The new system will also

provide a level-playing field and equity,

since all candidates will have to attemptcommon papers unlike the current

format which provides for only one

common paper." Though a scaling

system is currently used in the

preliminary examination in order toensure that no candidate who has opted

for any particular optional paper gets

undue advantage because of varying

degree of difficulty of any paper or

inherent scorability, the government hasreceived a number of complaints

objecting to the method on one ground

or the other. One related matter has

even been pending in Supreme Court

for long.

Courtesy : Times of India

Documents

Civil Service Aptitude Test From 2011