MidCourseCorrectionforCivilServices(Preliminary)Examination2015

TheUPSCnotificationreleasedon23rdMay,2015makesitimperativetomakemajorchangestotheIAS
Prelims Exam preparation roadmap. The notification states "The Commission will draw a list of
candidates to be qualified for Civil Service (Main) Examination based on the criterion of minimum
qualifying marks of 33% in General Studies Paper II of Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination and
totalqualifyingmarksofGeneralStudiesPaperIofCivilServices(Preliminary)Examinationasmaybe
determinedbytheCommission."
Sofar,theholisticstrategytoqualifyfortheMainsexamwastoscorehighinGeneralStudiesPaperII
and get as respectable a score as possible in General Studies PaperI. The reason behind this strategy
wasthatGeneralStudiesPaperIhasavastsyllabusandthequestionpatternmadescoringdifficultin
the exam. The best scores in this ranged from 50% to 60% only. The low scores on General Studies
PaperI were compensated by getting a score of 80% to 100% in General Studies PaperII. Aspirants
couldscorehighonGeneralStudiesPaperII(CSATPaperII)asitwasaptitudebased.Improvingscores
on aptitude test is easy with the right set of books and guidance in the form of good teachers. This
scenarioalsogavestudentscomingfromcertainbackgroundsanedgeinscoringhighonGeneralStudies
PaperII. So students coming from a Science and Commerce background, especially Engineers were
supposedtohaveanundueadvantageinthepreliminaryexam.
With the change in exam rubric for 2015 exam, aspirants need to change the balance between
preparationofGeneralStudiesPaperIandPaperII.NowGeneralStudiesPaperIIisaqualifyingexam,
inwhichaspirantsneedtoscoreatleast33%,onlythentheirGeneralStudiesPaperIwouldbechecked
andscored.So,oncestudentshavescoredatleasta33%onGeneralStudiesPaperII,thentheaspirants
scoringhigherthanthecutoffvalueonGSPaperI(determinedbytheUPSC)willbequalifyingforthe
Mainsexam.Nowclearingtheprelimswillfirstlyneedahigherscorethanqualifyingpercentageof33
for GS PaperII to become eligible for scoring in GS Paper I. The qualifying marks (cutoff) of General
StudiesPaperIofCivilServices(Preliminary)ExaminationwillbedeterminedbytheCommissionbased
on percentile performance of the aspirants and the number of aspirants needed for the Mains exam.
ThenumberofaspirantswhoqualifyfortheMainsiskeptatabout12to13timesthenumberofseats
available. This year the number of available seats is 1129, so number of students who will clear the
prelimsandbeeligibleformainsexamrangefrom13548to14677inthisyear'sexam.
AspirantsforCivilServicesExam2015willhavetoensurethattheyscoreatleast33%onGSPaperIIto
qualify. Aspirants also have to take care that GS Paper II, being an Aptitude Test, incorporates an
elementofsurprisetounsettleawellpreparedstudentandtokeepitasuntutorableaspossible.CSAT
2014 brought in surprises such as the complete absence of Decision Making & Problem Solving
questions, long Comprehension passages, difficulty level fluctuation in Analytical Ability questions. Let
meelaboratethisBytheendofpreparation,aspirantscanattemptDecisionMaking&ProblemSolving
questionswith100%accuracyintheleastamountoftime,soaspirantshadfinalizedastrategyinwhich
theywouldstarttheexamwithDecisionMaking&ProblemSolvingquestionstogettheedgeintime

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andactasaconfidenceboosterinthebeginningoftheexam,buttheseaspirantskeptturningthepages
oftheirquestionpapersandrealizedthattherewerenoquestionsfromtheirfavoritetopic.Moreover,
the Comprehension questions of GS PaperII of 2011, 2012 and 2013 had short passages, so reading
speedwasnotaconcernandevenwhileattemptinggeneralquestionsanaspirantcouldaffordtoread
thepassageagainholistically,but2015paperhadlongpassageswhichmadethestudentsfeelthatthey
hadnotpreparedforthispaper.ButtheicingofthecakeweretheAnalyticalAbilityquestions,which
were12inall,ofthese11weredifficultand1questionintheendwassupereasy.Aspirantsstruggled
withtheinitial11difficultAnalyticalAbilityquestionsandspent2to4minutescrackingeachofthem,
but when the last question's answer could be found in a bare 30 seconds, the students just couldn't
believeintheirownabilityandthoughtthattheyhadmisreadthequestion,sotheykeptcalculatingand
recalculating all permutations and combinations to see whether they had missed on something. This
wasted a lot of precious time. The point which I am trying to make is that, you as an aspirant cannot
bankona33%score.ToqualifytheGSPaperII,youshouldhavethecapabilitytoscoreatleasta55%
tobeinthesafeband.This55%scoringabilitywillfactorinallparametersthatcanworkagainstyouon
theexamday.
HolisticChangesinfocusofpreparationTilllastyear,aspirantscouldclearthepreliminaryexamby
scoring a 40% to 50% in GS PaperI and scoring a 80% + in GS Paper II. If the level of difficulty and
weightage of topics remains the same as previous years', then the required score on GS Paper I will
increasethisyearandthecutoffofGSPaperIwillbehigherthan40%to50%,asalotofstudentswho
wereinclinedtogethighscoresonGSbutwerenotclearingtheirprelimsbecauseofloweraptitudetest
scoresarenowinthefrayandwilldriveupthecutoffofGSPaperII.
AnotheraspectoftheprelimsexamtoconsideristhatUPSCspentdecadestoresearch,finetuneand
thenintroducetheCSATPaper2.2015beinganelectionyear,if,underpoliticalcompulsionstheUPSC
has to make the CSAT PaperII qualifying in nature, then UPSC is still free to make the paper more
difficulttoachieveitsagenda.
IanalyzedtheperformanceofmystudentsacrossallbatchesinDelhi,BengaluruandJaipurinGSPaper
IIacrossfiveyears(2010,2011,2012,2013,and20142015)andfoundthatwhenItooktheDiagnosticTest
for CSAT during the introductory class, more than 70% students scored below a 33%, with a lot of
studentswhocomplainedaboutscoresinthenegative.OnanalyzingthescoresofstudentsinFLTsor
MockTestswhichhappenattheendofpreparationinMaytoAugustperiod,Ifoundthatabout20%of
thestudentswerestillscoringbelowa33%.Thisgoesontoshowthatnodoubtstudentsimprovedtheir
performancebutstill20%wouldhavebeenrejectedduetolowscoresonGSPaperIIinthenewscheme
ofthings.
Till this notification was released, my standard advice to students was to prepare wholeheartedly for
prelims and mains exam till 20th July and then spend the remaining month preparing wholeheartedly
for prelims alone. With the demands of GS Paper1 increasing, you now need to start wholehearted
preparationforprelimsalonestartingfrom1stofJulyitself.

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PreparationofGSPaperIIorCSATPaperIIIfweanalysethesixsubjectsofGSPaperII,withrespect
to the needs of the exam in the changed milieu and what we expect from you, then take care of the
following:
Topic 1 Comprehension: 26 to 32 questions consistently have come from Comprehension in the
previous years. This section aims at testing how good a candidate is at factfinding, sifting
throughinformation,interpretingtext, predictingandinferring eventsandrecognisingimplied
meanings. In order to be good at Comprehension, a candidate must have the ability to
understandthebasicinformationgiveninpassagestosolveaquestion/problemonthebasisof
rules.
Atthisstageofpreparationsomestudentswouldbeworriedthatdespitealotofpreparation,
theystillget10to30percentquestionswrong.Thepracticalwaytosaveyourselffromgetting
negatively marked is to identify whether you are making mistakes on a particular type of
questiononly.Insuchacaseyouwillhavetochangeyourmethodofsolvingthatquestiontype
to improve accuracy. On the other hand, if you are making mistakes inconsistently on various
areas,thenyouneedtoconcentratebetterwhileattemptingquestions.
Topic 2 Interpersonal skills including Communication Skills: Interpersonal communication implies
facetoface interaction involving two or more people rather than large groups. This section is
aimed at testing the candidates ability to understand and manage the dynamics of social
interaction. Communication skills are a function of certain psychological / attitudinal /
personalitytraitsandasenseoflanguage.
NoquestionshaveappearedfromInterpersonalSkillsincludingCommunicationSkillsinthelast
fouryears.Ifquestionsofthissubjectappearin2015exam,theywillfocusontestinggrammar
and English Usage with a few indirect covert questions to test your interpersonal and
communication skills. The subtopics of Parallel Construction, VerbTenses and Pronoun Usage
createproblemsforstudentsandhavetobepreparedproperly.
Topic3LogicalReasoningandAnalyticalAbility:LogicalReasoning,comprisingof7to18questions,
doesnotcreateaproblemforstudents,thoughexposureofvariousquestiontypesisrequiredto
identifyanyareasthatmayneedattention.AfutureCivilServantwillneedtobeobjectiveandnot
getswayedbyassumptions,fallacies,extrapolationsandprejudices.OntheotherhandAnalytical
Ability, with 6 to 12 questions, measures a candidates ability to analyse a given structure of
arbitraryrelationshipsanddeducethemissinginformationfromthatstructure.AnalyticalAbility
becomesevenmoreimportant,later,asitwouldhelpyouasatrueblueIASofficerinmaintaining
protocolsoforganizingeventsandmeetings.
With practice, logical reasoning becomes perfect but Analytical Ability questions may be posing
two challengesFirstly, some difficult questions may seem to have insufficient information to
arriveatananswer,whilesecondlyquestionsmaybetakinganinordinateamountoftime.Alot
ofpracticeandlearningfromyourmistakestakescareofboththeseproblems.

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Topic4DecisionmakingandProblemSolving:Thissection,containing6to8questions,measuresa
candidatesabilitytakeadecisionbasedongivensetofconditionsandinformation.Thequestion
willgenerallyrelatetosituationsthatrequireyoueithertotakesomeaction,toexplainwhyan
action should be taken or infer what the action implies. This will also need a certain reading
betweenthelinesandfinetuningthedifferenceofahintandanassumption.Questionsbasedon
real life law and order situation or administrative stalemate and the ethical and moral basis of
decisionmakingareanintegralcomponentofthisarea.
Thissubjectdoesnotcreateanyproblemsforastudentafterabitofpractice.Actuallystudents
havea100%accuracywithexcellentspeedinquestionsofDecisionmakingandProblemSolving.
Topic5GeneralMentalAbility:AnareawhichhasbeenseparatedfromtheGeneralStudiespaperof
the old pattern, General Mental Ability is now a part of CSAT Paper II. General Mental Ability
verifies a candidates cognitive skills. From a students perspective GMA, as a subject, does not
require any formal learning of subjectspecific rules but an exposure of possible question types
and finding your own way to handle tricky questions, where you tend to make mistakes and
subsequentlynotrepeatingthesamemistakes,canhelpyougetanimpeccablescore.
GMA, towards the end of preparation is like chewing gum for the brain. You get most of the
questionscorrectandararequestionthatgetsstuckgivesyoureasonstoskipit.
Topic6BasicNumeracyandDataInterpretation:Asthesixthtopicgiveninthelistofthesyllabusin
theCSATPaperII,itcoverstopicsrelatedtonumbersandtheirrelations,orderofmagnitudeetc.,
datainterpretationwhichcoversquestionsbasedondataanalysis.Thedatacanberepresented
indifferentformssuchastables,graphs,chartsetc.andDataSufficiencywhereonejusthasto
check the sufficiency of data for the question asked. It measures the numerical ability and
accuracy in mathematical calculations. The questions range from purely numeric calculations to
problemsofarithmeticalreasoning,graphandtablereading,percentageanalysisandquantitative
analysis. In this we require more reasoning ability to solve mathematical problems than pure
mathematics itself. As a whole the students are tested for their sharpness to analyze the given
datainashortspanoftime.BasicNumeracySectioncanbedividedintofiveModules,asgiven
below:
Ifastudentreferstopreviousyears'papers,thenitcanbeeasilyunderstoodthatBasicNumeracy
questionsdonottestondifficultMathconceptsnorarecalculationintensive.Atthesametime,
toscorewellonBasicNumeracy,knowledgeofconceptsandcalculationpracticeareneededto
developtheNumericalsense,whichthissubjecttests.
Moreover, 90% of the questions in Basic Numeracy come from 4 topics Averages, Ratio &
Proportion, Percentage, and Time Speed & Work. Rest of the 10% of the questions are from
Modern Math i.e. Permutation & Combination, Probability, Set Theory and Progressions. If
ModernMathscaresyou,eventhenyoucangeta90%justbyacingtheeasyfourtopics.

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Tosummariseitall:
1. 20% of well prepared students end up getting below 33% on Mock Tests of GS PaperII, so
aspirants for Civil Services need to work towards a targeted score of 55% so that on the real
examtheycansafelygeta33%.
2. NobodycanstopUPSCfrommakingtheGSPaperIImoredifficultsothata33%mayactuallya
moreelusivepercentage.
3. Continue preparing for prelims and mains exam till end of June and starting from 1st of July
preparewholeheartedlyfortheprelimsexamalone.
4. DonotbeselectiveinyourpreparationforGSPaperII,asallsubjectsareprettyeasy.Well,even
ifMathscaresyou,youstillcannotrunawayfromit.Takethebullbyitshorns.

IhavetriedtocoverallaspectsforamidcoursecorrectionthataseriousIASaspirantmayneedatthis
juncture. Ifyouhaveany moresuggestions,pleaseemailthem tomeand I willsharethemwithyour
peerstobenefitthem.
Regards&WinThemAll,
Dr. Mansoor Agha
AcademicHead
Rau'sIASStudyCircle
+919911120453

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