CSAT: The Changing Face of Indian Civil Service Examination (CSE)

As per the decision of Government of India, the syllabus and pattern of the Preliminary Examination from May 2011 is changing.

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 will be applicable from 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 ClimateChange - 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.

A set of sample questions for both Papers would be put on the UPSC website http://www.upsc.gov.in in due course for reference of the prospective candidates.

There is  no change in  the Civil Services (Main) Examination and Personality Test in the scheme of Civil Services Examination (CSE).