HYDERABAD: Over 46,000 candidates registered for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Civil Services Preliminary Examination, from Telangana and around 65 per cent of the overall applicants have attempted for the first shift of the recently concluded exam.
The commission is conducting exam at over 100 centres in Hyderabad and Warangal Districts. The exam is being held in two sessions --from 9.30 am to 11.30 am and second that just began is from 2.30 pm to 4.30 pm.
This year, a total of over 10.58 lakh candidates have applied for the UPSC Prelims examination from pan India. Keeping the COVID-19 protocol in mind, each exam centre in the city had around 300-500 candidates.
The candidates have been advised to wear a face mask and carry sanitizer. The Paper- I had questions from general studies which encompass a variety of areas from history to current affairs.
Paper-II, which is ongoing, contains questions on quantitative aptitude, reasoning and comprehension.The aspirants are required to should score a minimum of 33 per cent in Paper-II and only then the marks in Paper- I would be considered. However, shortlisting for the UPSC mains examination depends exclusively on the marks scored in Paper- I.
According to the candidates, paper one was relatively difficult. Most of them complained that many questions were asked form agriculture. "I felt like I was writing an exam on agriculture, economy and environment," said Neelesh (25) who is writing his exam from Kendra Vidyalaya, Langer House.
K Bharadwaj from, Nalgonda, who came to Hyderabad to appear for the exam said, "There were no questions on art and culture, schemes, reports, constitutional bodies, defence, education and security. The paper is dropping down its standards."
The number of vacancies notified this year is 796, that is 100 candidates less than when compared to 896 vacancies last year. UPSC after conducting this exam, selects officers for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS), among others.
Every year the exam is conducted in the month of May-June, it was delayed because of COVID-19 pandemic this year.