Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Civil Service Examinations

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Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Examinations

Disclaimer : The contents below are only indicative in nature and meant for general information. These are not meant to either supplant or supplement relevant existing Rules/orders/procedures.

Sl.No Question Reply

General
1. What is the restriction on number of attempts in Commission’s Examinations? Number of attempts :-
Civil Service Examination - General-4, OBC-7, SC/ST- No restriction
  IFS Examination- General-4, OBC-7, SC/ST-No restriction
There is no restriction on number of attempts in any other Examination conducted by the Commission.  
2.   Is there any relaxation in number of attempts for physically handicapped? No. However physically handicapped candidates belonging to SC, ST and OBC categories will be eligible for relaxation in number of attempts provided to such categories.
3. Can a candidate who has completed his education from an open school/ University apply for Commission’s Examination? Yes, provided it is a recognized University and he possess the educational qualifications prescribed for the exam and is otherwise eligible
4. Whether a candidate belonging to a community included in the OBC list of states but not in the Central list of OBCs is eligible for age relaxation, reservation etc. for Commission’s Examinations? No. Only candidates belonging to communities which are included in the Central list of OBC’s are eligible for such concessions.

Civil Service Examination
1. Can a candidate choose an optional subject, which he has not studied at graduate/PG level? Yes.  
2.   Is it necessary for a candidate to take the same optional subject in the Main Exam, which he had taken in the prelims Examination? No.
3. If a candidate has applied for the CS (P) Examination but has not appeared at any paper in the CS (P) Examination will it be counted as an attempt? No. An attempt is counted only if a candidate has appeared in at least one paper in CS (P) Examination.
4. Is a candidate who has done his graduation without passing class X and class X11 eligible for Civil Service Examination? Yes.
5. Can a candidate write different papers of Civil Service (Main) Examination in different languages? No, Candidates have the option to write their answers either in English or in any one of the Eighth schedule languages.
6. Can a candidate write the Civil Service (Main) Examination in English and take the interview in Hindi or any other Indian language? If a candidate opts an Eighth schedule language for the CS (Main) Examination he will have the option to take the interview in same language or in English.

Engineering Service Examination
1. Is a candidate possessing Engineering degree in Production Engineering/ Chemical Engineering eligible for the Engineering Service Examination? A candidate possessing a degree in Engineering in any discipline is eligible for taking Engineering Service Examination.  

Combined Medical Services Examination
1. Whether candidates having Degree in BDS or in Ayurvadic/ Unani systems of  medicines are eligible for CMS Examination No. Only candidates having an MBBS Degree or studying in final year of MBBS course are eligible.

Other Important FAQs
1. After the written examination, on what criterion is the answer books sent for evaluation? Is it on Roll no. basis or  based on centre of examination? That is, will a particular examiner/set of examiners get to evaluate answer books only of a particular center or a particular group of Roll nos.? Mixing of the answer books received from different venues is done before sending them for evaluation. Computer-based randomized fictitious code no. is given to each answer-book before evaluation.
2 Are answer books segregated/sorted based on community of the candidate? This is not done at any stage of the evaluation process.
3 Is it likely that my evaluated performance suffers because my answer books were evaluated by a ‘strict’ examiner, while another candidate benefits as his answer books were evaluated by a ‘liberal’ examiner? The Paper Setter, who is an eminent person in his field, normally acts as the Head Examiner, and wherever the number of candidates in a particular subject is very large, the Commission appoints Additional Examiners for valuation of answer books.
 To achieve uniformity in valuation, where more than one Examiner is involved, the Commission arranges a meeting of the Head Examiner with the Additional Examiners after the Examination is over. At this stage, they discuss thoroughly the question paper, the appropriate answers and decide the standard of evaluation.
To further bring about uniformity of assessment inter se the Examiners, the following procedure is undertaken:
The Head Examiner conducts a sample survey of answer books of each Additional Examiner to verify whether the uniform standards of evaluation evolved in the meeting of Examiners have actually been followed. Depending on the standard adopted by the Additional Examiner, the Head Examiner may confirm the awards without any change if the Examiner has correctly followed the standard decided upon, or may carry out upward / downward moderation as considered necessary to ensure maximum possible degree of uniformity in the evaluation process.
Therefore, the aspect of inter examiner variation in standards of evaluation in a Paper affecting candidates’ performance is taken care of adequately.
4 Can I know  the ‘question-wise’ marks awarded to me for a paper? In a competitive examination, what is relevant is not the absolute performance of a candidate, but his/her relative performance that in fact determines whether the candidate qualifies and , if so, his/her  position in the merit list. Accordingly, as already explained above, the evaluation process does not end after initial evaluation by an Examiner. Moderation, wherever applied, is on the total award initially given (the so-called ‘raw marks’) and not on question-wise basis. Therefore, once the evaluation process is complete, neither ‘raw marks’ nor ‘question-wise’ marks subsist. What subsists is the candidate’s total score in a paper awarded at the end of the evaluation process and this award is normally made available to the candidate in due course on the Commission’s website through a query-based application software.  
5. Are there any open Examinations where subject-wise/paper wise marks of each candidate are not made accessible/available to him/her? Yes; in the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination
This is because the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination is simply and purely a shortlisting/elimination exercise to select candidates for the Main Examination and as such the scores obtained in this Examination are not communicated to candidates. 
6 Can I know the marks of other candidates who took the Examination from the Commission? It is important to remember though a Constitutional Body, the Commission’s role is advisory. The Examinations it conducts are for recommending candidates to Government based on clear requisitions received from Government. Therefore, as regards those who have finally qualified in an Examination, the detailed results, application/biodata forms of all such are sent to the concerned Ministry/Department for all further processing. Therefore, once these results are sent to the concerned Ministry/Department, the concerned Ministry/Department becomes the natural and proper custodian of these results and it would only perhaps be proper for queries pertaining to the results of qualified candidates to be addressed to the concerned Ministry/Department.
As regards candidates who do not qualify finally, the right of information of a citizen has to be balanced against the right of privacy of an unsuccessful candidate who has not qualified for appointment to public service. The feedback received by the Commission shows that there are candidates who do not want their marks to be in the public domain. While a case can be made out for having the marks of those who qualified finally for public appointment  in the public domain, no such public interest argument can be invoked for candidates who have not qualified and there is no reason why such candidates’ scores should willy-nilly be forced into the public domain.
7. If the overall marks of two or more candidates are equal, how is relative merit between such candidates decided? ‘Tie-breaking’ principles are applied to decide inter se merit among candidates having the same overall marks. The principles adopted for each Examination are given in attached Annexure.
8 Wherever evaluation standards are set or moderation is applied, are these different for different mediums (languages) in which a particular subject/paper Examination is written? No. The evaluation standards/moderation for a Paper are not medium-specific. In other words, if the Rules of the Exam provide that a Paper can be written in any of ,say, English/Hindi/a recognized Indian language; then the medium in which a candidate writes the Paper will not be a factor in determining evaluation standards or the moderation to be applied.
9 Is it possible that evaluation/assessment could be affected by the knowledge of a candidate’s identity? No. Before evaluation, the Roll no. written on every answer book is detached and computer-based randomized fictitious code no. is given. At no stage of the evaluation process
( including the moderation stage) is the actual Roll no./identity of the candidate known to any of the Examiners/officials associated in the process.

TIE PRINCIPLES -  Wherever the two or more candidates have secured equal aggregate marks, the tie(s) is/are resolved in accordance with the principles approved by the Commission, viz., 

Civil Services (Main) Exam.

(i)

  Candidate securing more marks in the Compulsory Papers and the Personality Test put together is to be ranked higher; 

(ii)

In case where the marks mentioned at (i) above are equal, the candidate senior in age is to be ranked higher; and

(iii)

In case where the (i) and (ii) above are same, then the candidate getting more marks in the compulsory papers is to be ranked higher.

 

 

 

Combined Medical Services Exam.

(i)

A candidate who secures more marks in the written examination is ranked higher;

(ii)

In case where, marks mentioned at (i) above are also equal, the candidate senior in age is ranked higher;

(iii)

In case, where date of births are also the same, the candidate who has completed the MBBS examination first is to be ranked higher.

 

 

 

Combined Defence Services Exam.

(a)

If the marks in aggregate are equal, the candidate getting more marks in written papers may be ranked higher;

(b)

If the marks in the written papers are equal, the candidate getting more marks in G.K. paper may be ranked higher;

(c)

If the marks in G.K. paper are also equal, the candidate senior in age may be ranked higher;

(d)

If the candidates have identical date of birth, the position of the candidates in the merit list shall be arranged in order of their Roll Numbers.

 

 

 

National Defence Academy & Naval Academy Exam.

(i)

In case of equal marks in aggregate, the candidates getting more marks in the WRITTEN EXAMINATION have been placed at higher rank;

(ii)

In case of equal marks in written examination also, the candidates getting more marks in General Ability Test Paper have been placed at higher rank;

(iii)

In case of equal marks in General Ability Test Paper, the candidates SENIOR BY AGE have been placed at higher rank.

 

 

 

Engineering Services Exam.

(i)

The candidates with more marks in                                                                                  the total of four Engineering papers may be ranked higher; 

(ii)

In case the total marks of four Engineering papers are also equal, the candidates with more marks in the Personality Test may be ranked higher;

(iii)

In case the marks in the Personality Test are also equal, the candidate who is senior in age may be ranked higher.

 

 

 

Indian Forest Service Exam.

(i)

a candidate securing more marks in the compulsory papers and the personality test put together has been ranked higher;

(ii)

in case of marks at (i) above are also equal, the candidate senior in age has been ranked higher.

 

 

 

Special Class Railway Apprentices Exam.

(i)

a candidate getting more marks in interview may be placed higher;

(ii)

If the written total and the personality test marks are also equal, the candidate older in age may be ranked higher.

 

 

 

Central Police Forces (AC) Exam.

(i)

If the marks in aggregate are equal, the candidate getting more marks in written total may be ranked higher; 

(ii)

If the marks in written total are equal, the candidate getting more marks in Paper-I (General Ability & Intelligence Paper) be ranked higher;

(iii)

If the marks in Paper-I (General Ability & Intelligence Paper) are equal, the candidate senior in age be ranked higher;

(iv)

If the age is also the same, the candidate with lower roll number will be ranked higher.

 

 

 

Indian Economic Service / Indian Statistical Service Exam.

(i)

Candidates getting more marks in the total of the four Economics / Statistical papers of 800 marks plus viva voce of 200 marks may be ranked higher for the services; and

(ii)

Where marks vide (i) above are also equal, candidates senior in age may be ranked higher.

 

 

 

Geologists Exam.

(i)

A candidate getting more marks in final total will be ranked higher; 

(ii)

If final total is equal, then candidate getting more marks in Geology / Hydrogeology plus PT total will be ranked higher;

(iii)

If the total marks of Geology / Hydrogeology plus PT are also equal then senior in age will be ranked higher.

 

 

 

Sos/Stenographers LDC Exam.

(a)

A candidate getting more marks in the written paper may be placed higher;

(b)

If the total marks in the written paper are also equal, the candidate getting more marks in:

 

i) Noting, Drafting & Precis Writing;

 

ii) Procedure & Practice;

 

iii) GK Constitution; and

 

iv) GFSR taken together may be placed higher.

(c)

If the marks as calculated in (b) above are equal, then the candidate getting more marks in:

 

i) Noting, Drafting and Precis Writing; and

 

ii) Procedure and Practice papers taken together may be placed higher;

(d)

If the marks as calculated vide (c) are also equal, then the candidate getting more marks in Noting, Drafting and Precis Writing may be placed higher; and

(e)

In case where the marks calculated (d) above are also equal, then the candidate older in age may be placed higher.

Courtesy: www.upsc.gov.in

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