No optional paper in Civil Services prelims from 2011

With UPSC changing the syllabus and pattern, the preliminary examination would have two papers - Paper I and Paper II with 200 marks and to be completed in two hours each, an official release said.

Subjects in Paper I include current events of national and international importance, history of India and Indian national movement, Indian and World geography- physical, social, economic geography of India and the world.

Indian Polity and governance – constitution, political system, panchayati raj, public policy, Rights issues, etc., Economic and social development – sustainable development, poverty, inclusion, demographics, social sector initiatives etc and general issues on environmental ecology, bio-diversity and climate change-that do not require subject specialization would also be included in Paper I.

The Paper II will have subjects like general science, interpersonal skills including communication skills, logical reasoning and analytical ability, decision making and problem solving, general mental ability, basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude etc. (Class X level).

Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc – Class X level), English language comprehension skills (Class X level) will also be included in the Paper II.
Till now, Paper I of the Prelims gave a candidate the option of choosing a subject while Paper II was a general knowledge test common for all. Both the papers had objective-type questions with multiple choices.