UPSC Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) in place of Preliminary Exam

Dr. Khan

DR. Khan began his career of teaching in 1988 as lecturer in a college of University of Delhi.

He later taught at Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. He has several research papers and books to his credit. Dr. Khan has been teaching General Studies since 1992 to IAS aspirants and is very proud of the fact that almost every State and Union Territory in India has some civil servants who personally associate with him.

Campus

KSG has three centres. Two are situated in Delhi- one in the heart of Delhi University, Hudson Line and the other in Central Delhi, Rajender Nagar. Both the centres are well connected with Delhi Metro network. The third centre is located in Jaipur City, Rajasthan

The class rooms are spacious with smaller number of students for better interaction and attention. Regular assignments are given to students to improve their understanding on different topics and subject matter.

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The KSG is passionate about your success in IAS. Our mission is to demystify the IAS exams and help candidates to acquire confidence and competence to emerge successful.

We ensure that our guidance process makes the learning experience more comfortable and enjoyable. Our process is the culmination of the best minds to produce enormous success stories. We make sure that your IAS preparation journey reaches the true destination.

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We take initiative to make students affluent and promote camaraderie under all circumstances. At KSG, we not only share information but we also share experience. Our course is well designed and updated with the changing patterns of the examination.

The Course Approach : Each year we improve and revise the course to make it more relevant for the candidates. Our consolidated information is given to the students on a daily basis. We not only give the information but ensure that the students master them as well. Writing skill development is an integral part of the study at KSG. We focus on power writing.

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The KSG has limited seats and the admission is offered on first come first serve basis. To ensure admission students are advised to register in advance.

For details of the course please refer the leaflets.

Accommodation

The KSG has tie-up with several nearby hostels. Boys and Girls may choose as per their suitability.

UPSC Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) in place of Preliminary Exam

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Aspirants for the civil services 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 to shortlist 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 papers — having equal weightage — will be common to all candidates in place of the one common paper (general awareness) and one optional paper (any particular subject 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 2011 onwards. The second and third stages — CS (Main) Examination and interview respectively — may remain the same till a committee of experts goes into various aspects of the entire system and submits its 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 has approved 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, 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 Reforms Commission, 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 that specialists or experts in any particular subject may not necessarily be good civil servants. Referring to introduction of CSAT, an official said: “The new system will also provide a level-playing field and equity, since all candidates will have to attempt common 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 to ensure 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 has received 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.

From 2011, Civil Services aspirants of India have a different examination pattern to follow. The government has approved a proposal for an aptitude test to replace the existing optional subject paper of the preliminary exam.

According to the present preliminary exam format, candidates have to answer a general studies paper and an optional paper which the candidate chooses from the 23 subjects offered by UPSC.

New format

With the new format, candidates answer two objective type papers which are the general studies paper and the General Aptitude Paper. Consequently, the Civil Services preliminary examination will be referred to as Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT). While only the preliminary exam changes, so far there are no changes planned for the format of the main exam and interview.

Both the papers of the CSAT will carry equal marks and is easy and helpful for graduates of all fields and genres. It is completely transparent in terms of marks and has no disparity, meaning an equal game to all. With everyone preparing in a similar pattern, all students have equal opportunity in the exam.

Benefit of an aptitude test

The benefit of introducing aptitude tests in the civil exam is that it assesses your logical reasoning and thinking performance. It is based on multiple choice questions answered in exam conditions.

No subject influences, or can have an effect on an aptitude test. People, who have a sense of moral and ethical values, are logical in their thinking and who take sensible decisions will find the CSAT to be comparatively easy.

With the implementation of the CSAT, it is possible to choose better and more competent civil servants who have the right aptitude. It will also bring the use of scaling systems to an end. Civil servants will thus be chosen based on their ability of handling the tough decision making life of civil servants and not based on their expertise on a single subject.