The students in the global world have apparently large number of options, also for the job seekers. In India the youth shows a common tendency to select the Engineering and Medical profession after their school. There are lot of reasons supporting these decisions like the large number of opportunity, break for the career movement and development, the societal status and recognition for the profession etc. As the popularity and demand for the courses increased, the competition increased and it makes admission into these courses a difficult challenge for the aspirants. Now we can see that Month of April-May become the hardest time for the parents and children. They are dreaming about future Engineers and Doctors so they have to be in the race track.

But there are a group of students who don’t have any interest in this highly demanding market and stay away from it. Not because they don’t know to dream but they think about the society and the people. There are students who want to make changes in the social setup and hoping for a career in the most reputed service in our country.

The Civil Service Aptitude Test (CSAT) will held in the coming June 12th, the first one in this format. This year the numbers of applicant are much more than that of last year. But rather from the last year the student’s anxiety and curiosity about the exam is on the peak, even the best practiced one is not feeling relaxed in this year. All the concerns are related to the new format of the exam, CSAT.

CSAT- The New Challenge

Till last year nobody ever heard of the aptitude test for Civil Service. Every aspirant makes their study plan for the Civil service job looking into the three areas, the preliminary, Main and Interview. But after the previous preliminary examination the UPSC decided to take a format change in the India’s top examination so as to answer the concern about the equal opportunity for every applicant, irrespective of their background.

The conventional format was like the students can opt their subject according to their comfort and expertise. But the education and exam analyst observed that the students, who chose the technical or the science back ground, find it difficult to get through the preliminary where as for the arts students the subjects are found to be easy.  In the new format all the applicant have the common paper to answer no matter whether they are from a science, arts or commerce background. Now the students have to pass through the common door with the common exam. The CSAT will evaluate the candidate’s knowledge along with their skills to adjust with the situation. Clearly this is the challenge in this year’s exam, more than the knowledge part your adaptation to the situation will determine your future in the civil service field.

One of the aspirants shared his concern that this time they don’t have any model question papers to refer and no proper directions for the new format. The repeaters also worried about the new methods and think whether they can improve their performance. The applicants feel like that they are going to sit for the most important exam without any preparations. Here are some common prospects for the CSAT and it will help you while preparing for the greatest challenge.

The Expectations

It is hardly two more weeks left for the exam and there is no clear announcement made by the UPSC regarding the number of questions, the pattern and also about the syllabus. So we can only share a common expectation about the format. The Paper one may have 150 questions and the second paper is expected to carry 120 questions.

The Paper I test your knowledge base in various areas and the Paper II, the new addition in the ICS exam pattern, have questions from the general ability areas. The expected areas for the paper are to be Analytical and Reasoning, Mental ability and Numerical, Interpersonal and Comprehension, Problem solving and Decision Making etc.  The candidates can also expect questions from the Data interpretation and Sufficiency part, where they are expected to draw interference and conclusions from the given data. The students may have to answer all the section or there may be sectional cutoff and the aspirants have to attend a minimum in each section.

The comprehension part is probably simple because every students need to attend the section and there may be students who are not much familiar with the language. In ICS exams many students opt Hindi as a medium and hence the English part will be a fair for everyone. Since it is the first exam in this format the students will get proper guidance from the question paper itself and won’t find any difficulty in proceeding with each section.

The common expectation says that the exam wont tests the students much and will be an easy paper for everyone. There is no need of higher anxiety and tensions because it the introductory stage of CSAT and normally UPSC don’t want any time of issues further more in the exam format. The aspirants are advised to be not worried about the examinations and keep on your practice for the exam. They can refer the CAT or the management entrance exam papers as a model for the new addition.

They can take the mock tests and practice more for the exam. You need to take care of your time and be relaxed and should feel confidence for the exam. Learn to take things as it comes and make yourself ready to serve the society being in this desired administrative profile…