PaGaLGuY spoke to a couple of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) aspirants about their preliminary exam. They said, “The pattern for Paper I was quite unexpected, where the questions were straight-forward, it was the options that confused us.” There were a total of 100 questions in Paper I, where each correct answer is of two marks, and each incorrect answer will cost 0.66 marks.
Vaishnav Mudbhatkal, a journalist with PaGaLGuY, also took the exam. He said, “Paper I was full of current affairs, with some questions from Economics. Questions from History and Climatology were minimal.”
The overall exam was quite easy. Akanksha Singh, a UPSC candidate from New Delhi, said, “Paper I was different and interesting. Overall there was no theme in the paper. I spent so much time studying History, but there were only a handful of questions.”
Singh continued, “Candidates who were updated with the recent current affairs, will clear Paper I with good marks. I was very nervous about the exam because this is my first attempt, but after seeing the questions I felt I could do it.”
UPSC conducted the Civil Services preliminary exam on August 7, this year. According to published sources almost 11.3 lakh candidates registered for the exam. The preliminary exam is conducted in two objective type papers; Paper I is covering General Studies, and Paper II is an Aptitude test.
With Paper I over at 11:30 a.m., candidates now frantically await Paper II, which is from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.