Introduction of Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT)

STATEMENT AS REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 45 REGARDING CIVIL SERVICES APTITUDE TEST FOR ANSWER ON 09.07.2014.

(a) and (b): The Civil Services Examination (CSE) consists of two parts. In the first part, there is a preliminary examination and those who clear this examination are eligible for taking the main examination. Certain changes were introduced in the preliminary part with effect from CSE-2011. Till CSE-2010, for the Preliminary Examination, there was one paper of General Studies, which carried 150 marks, and a second Paper carrying 300 marks where the candidate had the option to choose one out of 23 optional Papers. Under the revised pattern there is a common platform of testing the candidates and there are two papers each carrying 200 marks for the Preliminary Examination. The details are at Annexure-I.

ANNEXURE-I 

From Civil Services Examination- 2011, Preliminary Examination would consist of Paper I and Paper II. The syllabus and pattern of the Preliminary Examination would be as under: 

(Paper I) (200 Marks) Duration: Two hrs

• 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, Biodiversity and Climate Change- that do not require subject specialization.
• General Science.

(Paper II) (200 Marks) Duration: Two hrs

• 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) and Data Interpretation (Graphs, charts, tables, data sufficiency etc.) (Class X level)
• English Language comprehension skills (Class X level)

Further, certain changes were given effect to in the main part with effect from CSE-2013. The details are at Annexure-II.

ANNEXURE-II 

Item No.	System  of CSE (Main) which was in operation till CSE-2012	System  of CSE (Main) which has come in to effect from CSE-2013
1.	Language Paper I: One of the Indian Languages to be selected from 8th Schedule of the Constitution (of Matriculation Level) of 300 marks of qualifying nature [Not compulsory for candidates hailing from Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim]	Paper I of Earlier system retained with same provisions. Status quo ante retained.
2.	Language Paper II: English language of Matriculation Level of 300 marks of qualifying nature	Paper II of Earlier system retained with same provisions. Status quo ante retained.
3.	Essay Paper III: Essay of 200 marks with an Option to answer in any of the languages included in 8th Schedule of the Constitution or English	The Paper-III on Essay would now carry 250 marks with an option to answer in any of the languages included in 8th Schedule of the Constitution or English.
4.	General Studies Paper IV & V: There used to be two papers of General Studies of 300 marks each.  The subject of paper-I included components such as, History of Modern India and Indian Culture, Geography of India, Constitution of India and Indian Polity and Current National Issues and Topics of Social Relevance. Paper-II included component such as India and the World, India’s Economic Interaction with the World, Development in the Field of Science & technology, IT and Space, International Affairs and Institutions and Statistical analysis, graphs and diagrams.	Now there would be four papers of General Studies of 250 marks each. The components of the subjects of the papers are the following: - Paper-I           (Indian Heritage & Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society). Paper-II(Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations) Paper-III(Technology, Economic Development, Bio Diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management) Paper-IV (Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude)
5.	Optional Papers VI, VII, VIII and IX:There used to be two optional subject containing four papers of  300 marks each. The candidate had to choose any TWO subjects to be selected from list a list of 25 core subjects and literature of 30 languages, which made the total to 55 optional.	Now there would be one optional subject containing two papers of 250 marks each. A candidate has to choose any ONE optional subject to be selected from list of 25 core subjects and literatures of 22 languages, included in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution and English. Six Foreign languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Persian and Russian) and Pali have been deleted from the then existing list of Literatures of Languages.
6.	Personality Test/Interview: There used to be a Personality Test/Interview for 300 marks.	In the revised system there would be a Personality Test/Interview for 275 marks.
7.	Total Marks: 2300	Total Marks: 2025
8.	Medium of Examination: Candidates had the option to answer all the question paper, except the language papers viz., Papers I and II above, in any one of the languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution or in English.	There is no change in this regard.

The Government has not brought out any changes by way of introducing a paper named CSAT in the CSE.

(c): The medium of writing answers are relevant for CSE (Main) only. Answers for questions in preliminary are to be given in the form of shading of circles in Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) answer sheets. The question papers being mostly bilingual, it can be concluded that the preliminary examination is language neutral. Therefore, candidates taking preliminary examination cannot be grouped into Hindi or other medium. 

(d) and (e): Do not arise.

***

Details of Lok Sabha Q&A:-

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS

LOK SABHA

STARRED QUESTION NO 45

ANSWERED ON 09.07.2014

CIVIL SERVICES APTITUDE TEST

45 . Shri SUNIL KUMAR SINGH
ARJUN RAM MEGHWAL

Will the Minister of PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the Government has recently brought out certain changes in the Civil Services Examination including the introduction of Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT); 

(b) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor; 

(c) whether the introduction of CSAT has reportedly led to drop in the pass percentage of candidates opting Hindi medium; 

(d) if so, the details thereof indicating the number of successful candidates in the said examinations who had opted English and Hindi medium and their relative pass percentage during the last three years and the current year; and 

(e) the details of the corrective measures taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to ensure equal opportunity for Hindi medium candidates viz. a viz. English medium candidates in the said examination?

ANSWER

Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office. (DR. JITENDRA SINGH) 

(a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House. (As above)

Source of Annuxre