UPSC Prelims 2024: Preparing for Preliminary examination? Check out the 8 important points regarding the plan of exam

Candidates who are preparing for the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examinations 2024 can go through the 8 key points to understand the plan of exam.

Even as the Union Public Service Commission has postponed the UPSC Civil Service Prelims Exam 2024, candidates who will be appearing in the examinations have extra preparation time to crack the exam. Notably, the examination has been postponed owing to the schedule of the impending General Election. The new date of the preliminary examination is June 16, 2024.

UPSC Prelims 2024; 8 important points that all candidates must remember regarding the plan of the examination. (Mint/File)

Now, as candidates go about with their preparations, it is important to understand how the UPSC plans to conduct the examination. In this article, we will look at 8 important points that all candidates must remember regarding the plan of the examination.

1. The UPSC Services examination will be conducted in two successive stages – the Preliminary examination and the Main Examination.
2. The Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination will consist of two papers of Objective type (multiple choice questions) and carry a maximum of 400 marks. The Preliminary exam serves as a screening test only for those who qualify for the Main examination.

3. The two compulsory papers of the Preliminary examination will consist of 200 marks each containing MCQs. Each will be of two hours duration and the question papers will be set both in Hindi and English.

4. The General Studies Paper-II of the Preliminary examination will be a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%.

5. The marks obtained in the Preliminary examination by the candidates who are declared qualified for admission to the Main examination will not be counted for determining their final order of merit.

6. Only those candidates who are declared by the Commission to have qualified in the Preliminary examination will be eligible for admission to the Main examination provided they meet the eligibility criteria.

7. A list of candidates will be made by the UPSC for candidates who qualify for the Main examination based on the criterion of minimum qualifying marks of 33% in General Studies Paper-II of the Preliminary examination and total qualifying marks of General Studies Paper-I of the Preliminary examination as may be determined by the Commission.

8. Candidates are required to write the papers themselves as they will not be allowed to take the help of a scribe to write the answers for them under any circumstances. However, Persons with Benchmark Disabilities in the categories of blindness, locomotor disability (both arms affected – BA) and cerebral palsy will be eligible for the facility of scribe. The facility may be available for other PWBDs subject to submission of a medical certificate authorized by a Chief Medical Officer/Civil Surgeon/Medical Superintendent of a Government Health Care institution.

(For more information, visit the official website)