EXAMINATION BRANCH

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

********

PREPARATION OF ANNUAL CALENDAR AND ISSUE OF EXAMINATION

NOTICE:

Q.1 What is the UPSC’s Annual Programme (Calendar) of

Examinations/RTs (Recruitment Tests)?

Answer – The UPSC publishes an Annual Programme (Calendar) of all the

Structured Examinations/RTs conducted by it at least 6 months in advance
for the Examinations/RTs to be conducted during the next calendar year.
The Programme is uploaded on the UPSC’s website as also published in the
leading newspapers of the country. The date of issue of Examination Notice
for each Examination is also mentioned in this Annual Programme.

Q. 2 When is the Examination Notice issued?

Answer - UPSC Examination Notices encapsulate the Rules of Examinations

notified by the Government. Examination Notices of all the Structured
Examinations are uploaded on the Commission’s website around 3 months
before the date of Examination. Examination Notices (indicative) are also
published in the Employment News/Rozgar/Samachar.

ONE TIME REGISTRATION AND FILLING UP OF ONLINE APPLICATION

FORM:

Q 3. How to apply for Examinations conducted by the UPSC?

Answer – An aspirant has to first register on the OTR (One Time

Registration) Portal by clicking the ‘New Registration’ button, if he/she is not
already registered. After registration, he/she has to login (by Email
ID/Mobile Number/OTR ID) to verify the already registered OTR Profile.
Thereafter, the applicant has to go to the Latest Notification tab in the OTR
portal and apply for the examination, during the period, when the aspirants
are allowed to fill online application for a specific examination.

Q. 4 Is there any change possible in OTR Profile after the registration?

Answer - Changes in candidate’s profile are allowed only once in lifetime

after the registration at OTR platform. In case of candidate applying for any
specific examination of the Commission, the window for changing OTR
profile data is, however, kept opened for 7 days after the closing date of

Page 1 of 18
receipt of application of that examination and this facility can be availed by
a candidate if she/he has not availed this facility in an earlier examination.

Q.5 How much time is given to the candidates for applying online?

Answer – Time for applying online is clearly mentioned in the Examination

Notice.

Q.6 What precautions should be taken while filling up the Online

Application Form?

Answer - Please read the instructions carefully before filling up the Online
Application Form.

Q.7 What is meant by Part I and Part II of the Application Form?

Answer - Online Application Form consists of two parts i.e. Part I and Part
II.
 Part I of the Application has personal details like name,
father’s/mother’s name, date of birth, address, educational
qualification, age relaxation, scribe details (only for PwBD candidates
opting for scribe) and preferences of particular examination etc. The
applicants are also required to mention the number of photo ID card.

 Part II of the Application consists of payment option for Examination

Fee (only for those who are not exempted from payment of fee), Centre
of Examination along with uploading of photo, signature and photo ID
card of the candidate. Candidate has to complete both Part I and Part
II and submit finally to be a candidate of the said Examination.

Q.8 What is RID?

Answer - RID is Registration ID, which is generated by the system when the
applicant completes PART-I registration of his/her application.

Q. 9 What is TID?

Answer - TID is Transaction ID, which is given by the State Bank of India
when the applicant deposits his/her fee in cash. It is automatically
generated when Internet Banking or credit/debit card mode is used for
making the fee payment.

Page 2 of 18
Q. 10 What are the steps in PART-II registration?

Answer - Part II registration comprises of following steps:-

1. Fee payment (only for candidates not exempted from payment of fee).
2. Choosing of the Examination Centre from the available drop down menu.
3. Uploading of photograph, signature and photo ID card.
4. Agreeing to the Declaration.

Q.11 What are the precautions to be taken while uploading candidates’

photographs and signatures?

Answer- Before filling up the Online Application, a candidate must have

his/her photograph and signature duly scanned in the “JPG” format in such
a manner that each file should not exceed 300 KB and must not be less
than 20 KB. The photograph and signature must be clearly visible. The
photograph should have white background and ¾ of photograph should
present full face (full head from top of hair to bottom of chin) and at bottom
of photograph, name of candidate and date of photo to be mentioned. The
photograph, uploaded by candidate should not be more than 10 days old
from the start of the online application process (i.e. the application
commencement date) and the candidates must ensure that their appearance
matches with their photograph at each stage of the Examination Process i.e.
at the time of Preliminary, Main (Written) and Interview/Personality Test.
For instance, if a candidate uploads a bearded photograph, he must appear
with the same look in the Preliminary, Main (Written) and
Interview/Personality Test. Same would be the case with spectacles,
moustaches, etc. Samples of acceptable photograph and signature are
displayed in the application module.

Candidates should take due care while uploading their photograph. No

change is allowed in this regard after the closure of Correction Window.
Uploading of photograph/signature is the sole responsibility of the
candidate and in case a wrong photograph/signature is uploaded, his/her
candidature is liable to be cancelled for false identity.

Note: Candidates should satisfy themselves about the quality/correctness of

photograph & signature files uploaded. Applications having poor
quality/incorrect photo or signature files are liable to be rejected.

Page 3 of 18
Q. 12 What will be the effect of non-filling up of Part II/Non-submission
of fee?

Answer - If only PART-I of the application is submitted without submitting

PART-II, the application remains incomplete and candidature cannot be
registered. The application is incomplete even in cases where the applicant
as submitted PART-I and paid fee as well, but has not completed PART-II
(i.e. failed to submit Centre, photograph, signature and photo ID card).

Q. 13 What will be the effect of not submitting the choice of Centre.

Answer – The online system will not allow the candidate to submit the
Application Form if he/she has left the choice of Centre blank in Part II and
status of the application will remain “not submitted”. Thus, he/she will not
be the candidate of that particular examination. Therefore, candidates are
advised to click on the “submit” button after selecting the Examination
Centre.

FEE AND RELATED ISSUES:

Q. 14 What is mode of payment of fee by the candidates applying for

any of examination to be conducted by the Commission?

Answer All the candidates (Except Female/SC/ST/Persons with Benchmark

Disability Candidates who are exempted from payment of fee) are required to
pay the prescribed fee either by remitting the money in any Branch of State
Bank of India by cash or by using Net Banking facility of any bank or by
using Visa/Master/RuPay/Credit/Debit Card/UPI Payment.

Q. 15 Which category(ies) of candidates are exempted from payment of

examination fee?

Answer Women candidates, Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD)

candidates and candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe
categories are exempted from payment of examination Fee for any of the
examinations conducted by the Commission.

Q. 16 Is there a different closing date for those candidate, who chose to

‘Pay by Cash’ and those who pay by using ‘Net Banking facility of any
bank or by using Visa/ Master/ RuPay/ Credit/ Debit Card/ UPI
Payment’?

Answer There are no different closing dates for any applicants. However,
the applicants who opt for "Pay by Cash" mode should print the system

Page 4 of 18
generated Pay-in-slip during part II registration and deposit the fee at the
counter of SBI Branch on the next working day only.

It may be noted that the "Pay by Cash” mode is deactivated at 11:59 P.M
one day before the prescribed closing date; however applicants, who have
generated their Pay-in- Slip before it is deactivated, may pay at the counter
of SBI Branch during banking hours on the closing date. It may also be
noted that such applicants, who are unable to pay by cash on the closing
date i.e. during banking hours at SBI Branch, for reasons whatsoever, even
if holding valid pay-in slip, will have no other offline option and to opt for
available online Debit/Credit Card/UPI Payment or Internet Banking
payment mode till 06:00 P.M. on the closing date.”

Q. 17 What is meant by ‘Fictitious Payment’ or ‘No Fee’?

Answer - Those payments mentioned by the candidates in their online

application, which are not authenticated by the State Bank of India, i.e. the
designated bank for the Commission to manage the entire payment module
(including managing the payment gateway), are called Fictitious Payments or
No Fee.

Q. 18 How does the Commission resolve Fictitious Payment or No Fee

cases?

Answer - The applicants, whose payments are marked fictitious, are

intimated through e-mail to submit proof of payment to the Commission
within the timeframe given in the email either by hand or by speed post. In
case, no response is received from the applicants, their applications are
summarily rejected and no further correspondence is entertained in this
regard.

Q. 19 What will be the effect of Non Payment of Fee.

Answer – Non-payment of Fee (if not exempted from Fee payment) will lead
to cancellation of the candidature.

Q. 20 What will be the effect of entering wrong TID in case of payment

through Bank Challan.

Answer - It is seen that some candidates who submit their fee through Bank
Challan either enter the wrong TID or submit an old TID. It has also been
observed that submission of multiple applications is followed by either non-
payment of fee OR fee particulars (TID) of one application (RID) being
mentioned against another application with a different RID. This leads to
rejection of the online application.

Page 5 of 18
RESERVATION/ RELAXATION BENEFITS AVAILABLE FOR SCHEDULED
CASTE/SCHEDULED TRIBES/ OTHER BACKWARD
CLASSES/ECONOMICALLY WEAKER SECTIONS/PERSONS WITH
BENCHMARK DISABILITIES/EX-SERVICEMEN:

Q. 21 What precautions must be taken by candidates for claiming

community reservation or reservation for Persons with Benchmark
Disabilities (PwBD)?

Answer - Candidates seeking reservation/ relaxation benefits available for

Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes/ Other Backward Classes/Economically
Weaker Sections/Persons with Benchmark Disabilities/Ex-servicemen must
ensure that they are entitled to such reservation/ relaxation in accordance
with the eligibility prescribed in the Examination Rules/Notice. They should
also be in possession of all the requisite certificates in the prescribed format
in support of their claims for availing reservation before applying for the
examination, and in any case, not later than the closing date for receipt of
applications for the examination.

Q. 22 Can a candidate change his/her Community Status?

Answer - A candidate is eligible to get the benefit of community reservation

if his/her caste/tribe is included in the reserved community as may be
determined by the Central Government and he/she has claimed for the
same.

The Commission does not entertain a request for change of community from
unreserved to reserved category after the final submission of Application/or
after the closure of Correction Window, if any for an Examination. However,
in some exceptional cases where a particular caste/tribe is included in the
list of reserved community within 3 months from the date of submission of
application, the Commission may consider a request of change of
community as a special case.

Q. 23 Can a candidate request to change his/her category from non-

PwBD to PwBD?

Answer- In case of a candidate unfortunately becoming physically disabled

during the course of the examination process, the candidate should produce
valid document showing him/her acquiring a disability to the extent of 40%
or more as mentioned in the relevant rules to enable him/her to get the
benefits of PwBD reservation.

Page 6 of 18
Q.24 What action is taken by the Commission in case of submission of
false information by the candidates or if a candidate is found involved
in various unfair means?

Answer- A candidate found to be furnishing false information to the

Commission or suppressing information, adopting various unfair means in
the Examination like impersonation, cheating, etc., is liable to be
disqualified and/or debarred from the examinations/selections of the UPSC,
for a specified period, as per standardized policy for imposing penalty on
defaulting candidates. A detailed stipulation in this regard is incorporated in
the Rules of Examination/ Examination Notices.

ALLOTMENT OF ROLL NUMBERS, VENUE AND RELEASE OF E-ADMIT

CARD:

Q. 25 What is the procedure adopted for allotment of Roll Numbers,

Centre and Venues to the candidates?

Answer - Allotment of Roll Numbers and Venues to the eligible candidates is

carried out though computer in a random manner without manual
intervention. The Commission makes all efforts to allot the candidate the
Centre of his/her choice, which is done on the “first-apply-first allot” basis.
Once the capacity of a particular Centre is exhausted, the same shall not be
available to the applicants as an option. The applicants shall, therefore, be
required to choose one of the available Centres. It is, thus, advised to apply
early for getting the choice Centre. However, it may be noted that the
Commission may change the Centres of the candidates as per its discretion
to address the special situations arising at that point of time.

Q. 26 When are the e-Admit Cards issued?

Answer- The eligible candidates are issued e-Admit Cards on the last
working day of the previous week before the date of the examination. The e-
Admit Cards are made available on the UPSC website
[https://upsconline.nic.in] for downloading by the candidates. The Admit
Card is not sent by post. Candidates should check the e-Admit Card
carefully and discrepancies/errors, if any, should be brought to the notice
of the UPSC immediately.

If a candidate is not able to download his/her e-Admit Card or does not

receive any other communication regarding his/her candidature for the
examination around three (03) days before the commencement of the
examination, he/she should immediately contact the Commission’s
Facilitation Counter located in the Commission’s Office either in person or
over phone Nos. 011- 23381125/011- 23385271/011-23098543.

Page 7 of 18
Q. 27 Are requests for change of Centre/ Venue accepted?

Answer - No request for change of Centre /Venue is accepted from any

candidate by the Commission.

Q.28 Can a candidate appear at a Centre/Venue other than the Venue

mentioned in his/her e-Admit Card?

Answer - No candidate is allowed to appear at a Centre/Venue other than

the Centre/Venue mentioned by the Commission in his/her e-Admit Card. If
a candidate appears at such a Centre/Venue (except by a Court/CAT order),
the papers of that candidate shall not be evaluated and his/her candidature
will be liable for cancellation.

Q. 29 I am having copy of e-Admit Card in my mobile phone, is it valid

for getting entry into Examination Venue?

Answer - As mobile phones are not allowed inside the Venue, the candidates
are required to carry print-out of the e-Admit Cards, without which no
candidate will be allowed to enter inside the Examination Venue.

Q. 30 Is it essential to carry Photo ID Card for appearing at an

Examination/Interview?

Answer – The applicant is required to fill in the number of the Photo ID

Card (viz. Aadhaar Card/Voter Card/PAN Card/Passport/Driving
Licence/Any other Photo ID Card issued by the Central/State/UT
Government) and to upload the same while filling up the online application
form of an Examination of the Commission. The above number of the Photo
ID Card is printed on the e-Admit Card of the Examination issued to the
candidate. The candidate is then required to carry the same Photo ID Card
along with the e-Admit Card/e-Summon Letter for appearing at the
Examination/Interview. This Photo ID Card will be used for all future
referencing. In case he/she is unable to produce the same during
Examination/Interview, he/she will have to submit an Undertaking along
with any other Photo ID Card issued by the Central/State/UT Government.

Q. 31 What are the timing for reporting at the Examination Venue and
time of closure of entry into the Examination Venue?

Answer – The candidates are advised to reach the Venue well in time so that
their entry inside the Examination Venue could be ensured smoothly after
observing necessary protocol. The candidate may note that as per present
Policy of the Commission, the entry into the Examination Venue is closed 30
minutes before commencement of the Examination Session e.g. if the

Page 8 of 18
Forenoon Session starts at 09:30 A.M., the entry inside the Examination
Venue shall be closed sharp at 09:00 A.M., and similarly, if the Afternoon
Session starts at 02:30 P.M., the entry closes at 02:00 P.M.

Q. 32 What happens if a candidate reports at the Examination Venue

after closure of the entry viz. less than thirty (30) minutes before
commencement of the Examination?

Answer – Such candidate is not allowed to enter the Examination Venue.

The candidates are, therefore, advised to check the details of their Venue
mentioned in their e-Admit Card well in advance to avoid last minute
problems. They are also advised to reach the Venue well in time so that their
entry inside the Examination Venue could be ensured smoothly after
observing necessary protocol.

Q.33 Which items are banned at the Examination Venues during

Examinations?

Answer- (a) Mobile phones (even in switched off mode), smart/digital

watches, electronic gadgets, programmable device, camera, bluetooth or any
other communication devices or related accessories either in working or
switched off mode capable of being used as a communication device or IT
gadgets, books, bags, incendiary material like match box / cigarette lighters
etc. are banned items and are, therefore, not allowed inside the premises of
the Venue where the Examination is being conducted including the UPSC
Examination Hall Building. Any infringement of these instructions shall
entail disciplinary action which may include cancellation of candidature,
filing of FIR/Police complaint and/or debarment from all future
examinations/selections of the Commission.

(b) Candidates are advised in their own interest not to bring any of the
banned items including mobile phones/Bluetooth devices (as detailed
above), any valuable/expensive items to the Venue of the Examination.

(c) No arrangements shall be made by Venue Supervisor for keeping these

items at Venue at the time of Examination. Candidates shall make their
own arrangement for keeping these items outside Examination Venue. The
Commission will not be responsible for any loss in this regard.

(d) Candidates are allowed to bring e-Admit Card, pen, pencil, photo ID
proof, copies of self-photos and any other items as specified in the
instructions of the e-Admit Card to the Examination Venue.

Page 9 of 18
CIVIL SERVICES EXAMINATION:

Q. 34 What is the structure of the Civil Services Examination?

Answer - The Civil Services Examination (CSE) comprises of two successive

stages: the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination (CSP) and the Civil
Services (Main) Examination (Written and Interview).

CIVIL SERVICES (PRELIMINARY) EXAMINATION:

Q. 35 What is the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination?

Answer - UPSC conducts Preliminary Examination of the Civil Services

Examination for recruitment to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS),
Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and other Central
Services and posts in accordance with the Rules published by the
Government (Department of Personnel & Training) in the Gazette of India
Extraordinary. This Examination is meant to serve as a screening test only;
the marks obtained in the Preliminary Examination by the candidates, who
are declared qualified for admission to the Main Examination, are not
counted for determining their final order of merit. Only those candidates,
who are declared by the Commission to have qualified in the Preliminary
Examination in the year, will be eligible to appear at the Main Examination
of that year provided they are otherwise eligible for admission to the Main
Examination.

Q. 36 What are the number of attempts available (category-wise) to the

candidates of the Civil Services Examination?

Answer –

General/ SC/ST OBC PwBD

EWS
Number
of 06 Unlimited 09 09 for General/EWS/OBC
attempts
Unlimited for SC/ST

Q. 37 How an ‘attempt’ is counted in the Civil Services Examination?

Answer – An attempt at the Preliminary Examination is considered an

attempt at the Civil Services Examination:

(I) If a candidate actually appears in any one paper in the Preliminary

Examination.

Page 10 of 18
 (II) Notwithstanding the disqualification/ cancellation of candidature,
the fact of appearance of the candidate at the Preliminary
Examination is counted as an attempt.

Q. 38 How would an aspirant know the number of attempts already

availed by him/her in the Civil Services Examination?

Answer – It is the primary responsibility of the candidate to keep a

record/track of number of attempts availed by him/her.

Q. 39 What is the procedure followed by the Commission in verifying

that the candidate has not exceeded the attempts allowed in respective
category in the Civil Services Examination?

Answer – The number of attempts availed by a candidate in the Civil

Services Examination is checked/verified from the available data/records
with the Commission at appropriate stage of the Civil Services Examination.

Q. 40 What action the Commission takes against a candidate who has

exceeded the permissible number of attempts by concealing or
furnishing incorrect information in the application form?

Answer – In the relevant provisions under Disqualification, Debarment,

Disciplinary Action, Criminal Prosecution of the extant Civil Services
Examination Rules, it has been provided that “A candidate who is or has
been declared by the Commission to be guilty of – (f) making statements which
are incorrect or false or suppressing material information; in addition to being
liable to criminal prosecution, shall be disqualified by the Commission from
the Examination held under these Rules; and/or shall be liable to be debarred
either permanently or for a specified period by the Commission, from any
Examination or Selection.” Therefore, in accordance with this Rule, in all
such cases of misleading information on the number of attempts availed by
the candidates, the Commission cancels the candidature of the erring
candidates for that particular Civil Services Examination and may also
decides to debar them for specified number of years in respect of all future
Examinations/Selections of the Commission.

Q. 41 If a candidate has applied for the Civil Services (Preliminary)

Examination but has not appeared at any paper in the Civil Services
(Preliminary) Examination will it be counted as an attempt?

Answer - No, an attempt is counted only if a candidate has appeared in

atleast one paper of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination.

Page 11 of 18
Q. 42 What is the scheme of the Civil Services (Preliminary)
Examination?

Answer - The Examination is comprised of two compulsory papers of 200

marks each. (i) Both the question papers are of objective type (multiple
choice questions). (ii) The question papers are set in Hindi and English. (iii)
Details of the syllabi are provided in the Examination Notice and Rules
notified by the Government. (iv) Each paper is of two hours duration.

Q. 43 Is the General Studies Paper-II of qualifying nature? What are the

Cut-off Marks for this Paper?

Answer – Yes, the General Studies Paper-II is of qualifying nature. The

minimum qualifying standards in this Paper is indicated in the Examination
Rules and at present, it is 33%.

Q. 44 Is there any negative marking at the Civil Services (Preliminary)

Examination?

Answer - Candidates should note that there is penalty (negative marking) for
wrong answers marked by a candidate in the Civil Services (Preliminary)
Examination. There are four alternatives for the answers to every question.

(i) For each question for which a wrong answer has been given by the
candidate, one-third (1/3rd) of the marks assigned to that question is
deducted as penalty. (ii) If a candidate gives more than one answer, it is
treated as a wrong answer even if one of the given answers happens to be
correct and there will be same penalty as above for that question. (iii) If
answer bubble of a question is left blank, i.e. no answer is marked by the
candidate; there will be no penalty for that question.

Q. 45 What is the prescribed minimum educational qualification?

Answer - The candidate must hold a degree of any of Universities

incorporated by an Act of the Central or State Legislature in India or any
other educational institution established by an Act of Parliament or declared
to be deemed as a University under Section-3 of the University Grants
Commission Act, 1956, or possess an equivalent qualification.

Q. 46 What are the eligibility criteria in terms of physical requirements

/functional classification required for a Service/ Post?

Answer - The Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) candidates shall

also be required to meet eligibility criteria in terms of physical
requirements/functional classifications (abilities/disabilities) consistent

Page 12 of 18
with the requirements of the identified Service/Post as may be prescribed in
the Rules/Notice of the Examination.

Q. 47 What information should be given by persons already in

Government Service to their Head of Office?

Answer - Persons already in Government Service, whether in a permanent

or temporary capacity or as work charged employees other than casual or
daily rated employees or those serving under the Public Sector Enterprises,
are required to submit an undertaking that they have informed their Head of
Office/Department, in writing, that they have applied for the Examination.
Candidates should note that in case the UPSC receives a communication
from their employer withholding permission to the candidates applying
for/appearing at the examination, their applications will be liable to be
rejected/candidature will be liable to be cancelled.

Q. 48 What are the provisions for reservation for SC, ST, OBC, EWS and
PwBD candidates?

Answer - Reservation will be made for candidates belonging to Scheduled

Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, Economically Weaker
Sections and Persons with Benchmark Disabilities candidates in respect of
vacancies as may be fixed by the Government.

Q. 49 Who is the competent authority to issue SC/ST/OBC/I&A

Certificate?

Answer – An authority in the State/UT, who has been authorized by the

State/UT Government concerned provided the details of the said
authority (ies) have been placed on the State/UT website.

CIVIL SERVICES (MAIN) EXAMINATION:

Q. 50 Can a candidate choose an optional subject, which he has not

studied at graduate/post graduate level?

Answer - Yes.

Q. 51 Which is the language / medium of question papers?

Answer - The question papers (other than the literature of language papers)
are set in Hindi and English.

Page 13 of 18
Q. 52 Can a candidate write different papers of Civil Services (Main)
Examination in different languages?

Answer - No, the Candidates have the option to write their answers either in
English or in any one of the Eighth Schedule languages except the
Qualifying Language papers Paper-A and Paper-B, which they have
indicated at the time of filling up of their online application form for the Civil
Services (Preliminary) Examination.

Q. 53 How are the Question Papers for the Civil Services (Main)
Examination structured? What is the duration of each paper?

Answer - The question papers for the examination are of conventional

(essay) type. Each paper is of three hours duration.

Q. 54 Can a candidate write the Civil Services (Main) Examination in

English and take the interview in Hindi or any other Indian language?

Answer - The candidates, opting for Indian Language medium for the
written part of the Civil Services (Main) Examination may choose either the
same Indian Language or English or Hindi as the medium for the interview.

The candidates, opting to write the Civil Services (Main) Examination in

English, may choose either English or Hindi or any other Indian Language
opted by them for the compulsory Indian Language Paper in the written part
of the Civil Services (Main) Examination, as the medium for interview. The
candidate has to indicate the language medium of interview at the time of
filling up of the Detailed Application Form (DAF)

However, the candidates, who are exempted from the compulsory Indian
Language Paper, will have to choose either English or Hindi as medium of
Interview or Personality Test.

Q. 55 What are the Cut-off Marks for the compulsory language Papers?

Answer – The minimum qualifying standards in each of the two Qualifying

Papers i.e. English and Indian Languages is indicated in the Examination
Rules, is at present 25%.

Page 14 of 18
Q. 56 Is the Indian language Paper compulsory for candidates hailing
from the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram,
Nagaland and Sikkim?

Answer – The Paper A on Indian Language is not compulsory for candidates

hailing from the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya,
Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim. In the Online Application, if a candidate
hails from these North-Eastern States, the option for Indian Language will
automatically be disabled in the Online Application.

Q. 57 Is the Indian language Paper compulsory for Persons with

Benchmark Disabilities categories?

Answer – Yes, Paper A on Indian Language is compulsory for candidates

belonging to Persons with Benchmark Disabilities category except for the
candidates suffering from Hearing Impairment provided they have been
granted such exemption from 2nd or 3rd language courses by the concerned
Education Board/University. The candidate needs to provide an
undertaking/self declaration in this regard in order to claim such an
exemption to the Commission.

Q. 58 What marks are reckoned for merit ranking in the written part of
the Civil Services (Main) Examination?

Answer - Marks obtained by the candidates in Papers I-VII only will be

counted for merit ranking (of those candidates who obtain the specified
minimum marks in the qualifying papers). However, the Commission has the
discretion to fix qualifying marks in any or all of these papers.

OTHER IMPORTANT ISSUES:

Q. 59 What is the Question Paper Representation Portal (QPRep) of the

Commission on the questions asked in an examination?

Answer – (a) For each examination, a time frame of 7 days (a week) i.e. from
the next day of the Examination Date to 6:00 p.m. of the 7th day is fixed for
the candidates to make representations to the Commission on the questions
asked in the Papers of that Examination. No representation shall be
accepted under any circumstances after this window of 7 days is over.

(b) In case of Single Day Examinations, for example, if the Examination is

held on 1st March, then the representations can be submitted from
2ndMarch to 8th March (till 6:00 p.m.).

Page 15 of 18
(c) For Multi-Days Examinations, next day of the date on which the last
Paper of that Examination is held, will be the crucial reckoning date for
making representations on the questions asked in all the Papers of that
Examination.

For example: if last Paper of a Multi-Days Examination is conducted on

1stJuly whereas the first Paper of that Examination is held on 29th June,
then the candidates can submit representations from 2nd July to 8th July
(till 6:00p.m.) for all the Papers of that Examination.

(d) Such representation must be submitted through the “Online Question

Paper Representation Portal (QPRep)” only by accessing the
URL:http://upsconline.nic.in/miscellaneous/QPRep/. No representation by
email/post/hand or by any other mode shall be accepted.

Q. 60 What is the Disclosure Scheme?

Answer - This Scheme for disclosing the scores and other details of the non-
recommended candidates was implemented with the Combined Medical
Services Examination-2017. The Scheme covers non-recommended willing
candidates, who appeared at the Interview/SSB Stage of a Commission’s
Examination. Details of such candidates which are disclosed at the
Commission’s Website (further linked to the NCS Portal of the M/o Labour &
Employment) are - Name of the candidate, Father’s/Husband’s name, Date
of Birth, Category, Gender, Educational Qualifications, Total marks etc,
arranged in Roll Number order. The objective of the Scheme is to provide a
useful database to other employers to enable them to identify good
employable candidates. This information of an examination remains
available for one year from the date of disclosure.

EVALUATION OF CONVENTIONAL PAPERS:

Q. 61 After the written examination, on what criterion is the answer

books sent for evaluation? Is it on Roll Number basis or based on
Examination Centre? That is, will a particular examiner/ set of
examiners get to evaluate answer books only of a particular centre or a
particular group of Roll Numbers ?

Answer - Mixing of the answer books received from different Venues of all
the Centres is done before sending them for evaluation. Computer-based
randomized fictitious code number is given to each answer book before
evaluation.

Page 16 of 18
Q. 62 Are answer books segregated/ sorted based on community of the
candidate?

Answer - This is not done at any stage of the evaluation process.

Q. 63 Is it likely that my evaluated performance suffers because my

answer books were evaluated by a ‘strict’ examiner, while another
candidate benefits as his answer books were evaluated by a ‘liberal’
examiner?

Answer - To achieve uniformity in evaluation, where more than one

Examiner is involved, the Commission arranges a meeting of the Head
Examiner with the Additional Examiners after the Examination is over. At
this stage, they discuss thoroughly the question paper and decide the
standard of evaluation. However, no model answer is made available to the
Examiners in this regard.

To further bring about uniformity of assessment inter se the Examiners, the

following procedure is undertaken:

The Head Examiner conducts a sample survey of answer books of each

Additional Examiner to verify whether the uniform standards of evaluation
evolved in the meeting of Examiners have actually been followed. Depending
on the standard adopted by the Additional Examiner, the Head Examiner
may confirm the awards without any change if the Examiner has correctly
followed the standard decided upon, or may carry out upward/ downward
moderation as considered necessary to ensure maximum possible degree of
uniformity in the evaluation process. Therefore, the aspect of inter-examiner
variation in standards of evaluation in a Paper affecting candidates’
performance is taken care of adequately.

Q. 64 Can I know the ‘question-wise’ marks awarded to me for a paper?

Answer - The evaluation process does not end after initial evaluation by an
Examiner. Moderation, wherever applied, is on the total award initially given
(the so-called ‘raw marks’) and not on question-wise basis. Therefore, once
the evaluation process is complete, neither ‘raw marks’ nor ‘question-wise
marks’ subsist. What subsists is the candidate’s total score in a paper
awarded at the end of the evaluation process and this award is normally
made available to the candidate in due course on the Commission’s website
through a query-based application software. Further, in a competitive
examination, what is relevant is not the absolute performance of a
candidate, but his/ her relative performance that in fact determines whether
the candidate qualifies and, if so, his/ her position in the merit list.

Page 17 of 18
Q. 65 If the overall marks of two or more candidates are equal, how is
relative merit between such candidates decided?

Answer - ‘Tie-breaking’ principles are applied to decide inter-se merit among

candidates having the same overall marks.

Q. 66 Wherever evaluation standards are set or moderation is applied,

are these different for different mediums (languages) in which a
particular subject/ paper Examination is written?

Answer - No. The evaluation standards/ moderation for a Subject/ Paper

are not medium specific. In other words, if the Rules of the Examination
provide that a Paper can be written in any of, say, English/ Hindi/ a
recognized Indian language, then the medium in which a candidate writes
the Paper will not be a factor in determining evaluation standards or the
moderation to be applied.

Q. 67 Is it possible that evaluation/ assessment could be affected by

the knowledge of a candidates’ identity?

Answer - No. Before evaluation, the Roll No. written on every answer book is
detached and computer-based randomized fictitious code number is given.
At no stage of the evaluation process (including the moderation stage) is the
actual Roll Number/identity of the candidate made known to any of the
Examiners/officials associated in the process.

**********

Page 18 of 18