UPSC Civil Service Preliminary Exam 2014 is known as CSAT or Civil Services Aptitude Test

Preliminary exam of UPSC Civil Services Examination is also known as CSAT or Civil Services Aptitude Test. CSAT is actually the second paper of General Studies introduced in 2011.

CSAT was implemented to end the use of scaling system for different subjects in the General Studies paper.

By introducing CSAT, UPSC intends to choose candidates who not only have knowledge but also the aptitude for reasoning and analytical skills.

Scheme of Civil Services Examination

The Civil Services Examination consists of two successive stages –

Civil Services Preliminary Examination (Objective type) for the selection of candidates for the Main Examination; and
Civil Services Main Examination (Written and Interview) for the selection of candidates for the various Services and post. The Preliminary Examination consists of two papers of Objective type (multiple choice questions) each of 200 marks and carries a total of 400 marks. The question papers are set both in Hindi and English. Each paper is of two hours duration. Blind candidates are allowed extra time of twenty minutes for each paper.

Scheme of Preliminary Examination

This examination is meant to serve as a screening test only; the marks obtained in the Preliminary Examination by the candidates who are declared qualified for admission to the Main Examination will not be counted for determining their final order of merit. The number of candidates to be admitted to the Main Examination will be about twelve to thirteen times the total approximate number of vacancies to be filled in the year in the various Services and Posts. Only those candidates who are declared by the Commission to have qualified in the Preliminary Examination in the year are eligible for writing the Main Examination of that year.

For exam date, age-limit, number of attempts, exam syllabus:

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