UPSC prelims are being held on October 4 following COVID-19 guidelines. Representational image/ file UPSC Civil Services (CSE) Prelims Exam 2020 HIGHLIGHTS: Nearly 10.58 lakh candidates has registered for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) civil services examination (CSE) prelims that was held today. The candidates who have appeared in the prelims rated the paper as difficult, and the paper followed the pattern of prelims of previous years.
The UPSC has taken special measures owing to COVID-19 guidelines. Among those, the number of exam centres have been increased this year due to social distancing. The recruitment exams are being held at 72 centres and 2,500 sub-centres. The commission has also allowed candidates to change their exam centres, and over 60,000 candidates had availed this option.
UPSC CSE Prelims analysis 2020 | Candidates rate paper ‘difficult, application-based’
The candidates who had cleared the prelims will appear for main, scheduled to be held on January 8, 2021. The cut-off marks and answer keys of screening test held through CS (P) examination will be uploaded on the commission’s websites, upsc.gov.in or upsconline.nic.in only after the entire process of the examination is over, that is, after the declaration of the final result.
UPSC prelims are being held on October 4 following COVID-19 guidelines. Representational image/ file
Manoj K Jha, Director, GS Score said that the cut-off this year will remain identical to last year as the paper is unconventional, with questions from current affairs demanding conceptual clarity to solve. “The questions from science and tech, economy was application-based and touched the recent developments worldwide. The questions from political science were conventional type while questions from geography were mostly from agriculture.”
The candidates are expecting a cut-off of around 80 to 90. For general category candidate, the cut-off was 98 in prelims 2019, 98 in prelims 2018, and 105.34 in prelims 2017
The experts analysed the paper as difficult, and it followed the pattern of previous years. According to Abhishek Patil from skholar.com, “the paper has mostly shifted to application based than from current affairs. This year, the paper was ruled by questions from science and technology, economy, while history, geography have conventional questions. This year, UPSC asked questions on agriculture related to recent trends on MSP, agri procurements, and on eco- friendly agriculture practices.”
The UPSC CSE prelims exam was held on Sunday, October 4. The candidates who had appeared in the exam termed the paper as 'tough', with questions from Economy and History were difficult.
The UPSC claims to have made special arrangements due to the pandemic. The commission had permitted candidates to change their centres, and over 60,000 candidates had availed this option. There are 72 centres and 2,500 sub-centres for the exam
The paper-1 of the UPSC civil service prelims has been concluded. The shift 1 was held from 9:30 to 11:30 am. The candidates appeared in the exam following the COVID-19 protocol, wearing face masks, and with hand sanitisers