VPGupta - Rau's IAS Study Circle
V.P.Gupta, Director Rau’s IAS Study Circle in an interview with India Prepares
IP) Sir, before June 2011, there was a lot of ambiguity regarding CSAT Paper (especially with regard to what kind of questions will come). So, in the light of this year’s prelims, has there been a rethinking on your strategy for CSAT preparation?
VP) In complete honesty, we faced more anxiety than ambiguity regarding the Aptitude Paper (Paper II of the new pattern/format of Civil Services Preliminary Examination which is popularly referred to as CSAT).
To begin with, there was a lot of speculation about the pattern of changes in the civil services examination for long, but no one knew when and what kind of changes would be there. This speculation was ended by the UPSC Chairman D.P. Agrawal himself while participating in the UPSC Foundation Lecture Series on “Governance and Public Services”.
- He said that the UPSC was convinced of the need for important changes in the method of recruitment to the higher civil services. “The commission has recommended to the government that a Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) replace the existing Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination.”
- Confirming this change in the first stage of the civil services examination, Prithvi Raj Chavan, the then Minister of State for Personnel, told the Lok Sabha on March 10, that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had approved the proposal for the introduction of CSAT in the place of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination. He said that CSAT was expected to come into effect from 2011.
- Ambiguity remained regarding the exact nature of the new pattern of Civil Services Preliminary Examination. That was disseminated by Mr Chavan in August 2010 in his written response in Rajya Sabha that “In CSAT, one of the optional subjects which a candidate could have chosen out of 23 optional has been replaced with a common paper on aptitude test”.
- On 18th October 2010, UPSC announced the syllabus and pattern of the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) 2011.
- Soon after announcing the syllabus, in December 2010, UPSC released sample papers to intimate aspirants of the expected difficulty level of questions.
What remained unsaid was the relative weightage each topic of the syllabus would hold in the Aptitude paper. However, all along the changing face of the preliminary examination, UPSC maintained that “the emphasis of CSAT will be on testing the aptitude of the candidate for the demanding life in the civil service and on the ethical and moral dimensions of decision-making.”(By maintaining this emphasis, UPSC differentiated Civil Services Aptitude Test from a management aptitude test.)
We anticipated the coming change as it was being talked for quite a few years in various fora. Hence, it gave us a chance to start early preparations to meet the requirements of the CSAT format. At that time (out of anxiety), we followed a comprehensive approach so that we did not lose sight of any topic of the new Civil Services Aptitude paper while maintaining special focus on Comprehension of topics from General Studies. Our strategy will more or less remain the same this year as well.
We, at Study Circle, in fact have enjoyed the whole experience that the change gave us.
IP) Considering this year’s exam was perceived as pretty much easy by many students, what are your expectations for next year’s prelims?
VP) I have a word of caution for students here.
Regarding questions on Comprehension
If you analyze this year’s questions in Comprehension, you will realize that the answer choices were seemingly similar; however, there was only one right answer to each question. Comprehension questions based on given text test how good a candidate is at fact-finding, sifting through information, interpreting text, concluding from given information and discerning between stated and implied meaning of the given information. Understanding of vocabulary, rhetorical tools, hunting for the required information while keeping the holistic picture in mind, etc are essential comprehension skills at play in this area. This topic has a lot of scope for testing of the moral and ethical dimension of decision making.
Regarding questions on English
The English questions are not easy rather they are seemingly easy. If you compare English with say an area like Maths, then the differences are stark. Candidates from our Indian schooling systems have to do a lot of Maths in their syllabi. Parents, teachers and students work hard on Maths, but except for the initial focus on English during primary schooling, at later stages from standard 5 to 12 students are just handed a mandatory English reader (book), which has a few stories followed by some questions. Students can recall that during the high school and later stages they could study English for a few days before exam and could secure the desired score in English subject. So if you analyze, English is an area where our foundation is weak and candidates will have to put in an extra effort to match the standards of testing.
Regarding questions on Quantitative ability
CSAT, by virtue of being an Aptitude Test for Civil Services, will test students for their ability to play with numbers but not higher level Maths. A candidate who has passed 10th standard knows more Maths than is needed by the CSAT. Understanding and practicing various types of questions that can come in the exam is required initially, while later a candidate can focus on finding out what type of questions they most frequently make mistakes on and correcting themselves is required for the final honing of quantitative skills.
IP) There was a general perception before the exam that CSAT has put students from humanities background at a disadvantage. Has it changed after the exam? (there were nearly 50% comprehension questions. )
VP) Yes. The aspirants for CSAT (Civil Services Aptitude Test) till June 2011 were confronted by a plethora of information, conjectures and assumptions disseminated by people lacking the perception needed for handling the CSAT and by organizations with vested interests.
UPSC, from time to time had indicated that the upcoming scheme will have the advantages of (a) providing a level playing field for all the aspirants since all the candidates will have to attempt the same objective-type papers and; (b) testing a candidate’s decision-making skills and aptitude for the civil services.
So, we advised aspirants to sift through the chaff and understand what direction to take.
One of the myths we tried to dispel then was that “The Maths of CSAT will be difficult and will give an undue advantage to candidates with a Maths/Engineering background or put aspirants from humanities background at a disadvantage.”
Now, post the preliminary exam 2011, we have seen aspirants from Humanities stream clear and composed while handling Aptitude questions in class.
IP) What will you suggest or advice students to score well in CSAT Paper 2?
VP) In light of the Paper II – 2011, it has become even more important to have a wide range of knowledge on various subjects and themes. In order to gain that, read voraciously and analytically through newspapers and magazines. In order to be good at Comprehension, a candidate must have the ability to understand the basic information given to solve a question / problem on the basis of some rules.
Overall, since Paper II is not theoretical in nature, practice regularly, to clear your concepts, handle different type of questions with equal ease and improve your speed (reading as well as question solving speed).
IP) What is the new relevance of G.S. in the changed scheme of things?
VP) General Studies, in the new scheme of things, remains as important as before simply because of the reason that out of a total of 400 marks at Preliminary level and 2,000 marks at the Mains level, General Studies holds 200 and 600 marks respectively. That is about 33% weightage across written parts of the Civil Services Examination process.
What is important to note is that UPSC, along with the introduction of the Aptitude Paper at the Preliminary Examination, also made the following inclusions to the General studies paper:
- General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change
- Sustainable Development
If we consider this development in conjunction with trend of General Studies questions over the last few years, we realize that the questions are becoming more practical in nature and being increasingly based on knowledge of current affairs and general awareness (which can only be acquired from voracious reading of newspapers and magazines). Such questions may require application of more than one concept/fact. Aspirants should develop an application based approach to well in General Studies paper.
