Only 43% turn up for civils prelims

Aspirants from Andhra Pradesh felt 'relatively easier' papers compared to last year in the civil services preliminary examination (CSAT-2013), which was held on Sunday. 'Out of total number of 38,982 candidates who registered for the test, only 16, 761 i.e. 43 percent have turned up in the morning and in the afternoon session, it was 16,600 i.e. 42.58% have appeared' according to Rizvi, District Collector, Hyderabad. The exam was conducted in two more cities in the state �Visakhapatnam and Tirupathi and the number of absentees was even more, according to reports.

Experts analysed that paper II was rather tough compared to Paper I. The second paper, which comprised of mental ability, quantitative aptitude and English language comprehension gave testing time for many an aspirant especially to the students from non-science background. But since many of the applicants from the state have engineering and mathematical background, it was not as tough as expected. Paper I, mostly of social studies, was somewhat easy, according to Harish Dhanyasi, a first-time aspirant with Humanities background. "Most of the questions were asked about Indian Constitution and governance, administrative aspects. This is perhaps a signal for the revised pattern of Mains" Gopalakrishna of Brain Tree Academy told The Hans India. "Aspirants who had their elementary education with CBSE will surely have an advantage in the exam. The questions in mathematical aptitude were mostly fundamentals" he added. Students studying management courses were also said to be at an advantage. "Our boys should have taken this exam since it was easier compared to previous years. But they chose not to. May be they are eyeing for Group I" Gopala Krishna remarked. The results are expected between July 20 and August 5. The Mains will be held for five days in the first week of December. This would be a testing time for aspirants from across India as they would be facing a new pattern, changed after a gap of 30 years.