JOIN USThe contentious aptitude test will remain part of the civil services preliminary examination for now but an expert committee will be set up to examine issues relating to the pattern, the government said on Wednesday.
There is no change in the pattern for the 2015 exam and it will remain the same as that of 2014, a senior official said, as the government announced the decision on the last day of the Budget session.
During the 2014 Monsoon session, the issue had figured in Parliament repeatedly.
An official statement said that an expert committee would be constituted to “comprehensively examine” various issues raised from time to time like eligibility, syllabus, scheme and pattern of civil services examination.
“Till such time the government takes decision on the recommendation of the above committee, the general studies Paper-II (CSAT) in the civil services (preliminary) examination will remain a qualifying paper with a minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33 per cent,” it said.
English Language comprehension skills from General Studies Paper-II will continue to remain excluded like in 2014. “The above decisions are incorporated in the CSE rules-2015,” the official said.
A section of civil service aspirants had last year objected to the new format, put in place in 2011, on the grounds that it favours students from technical background and that it was biased against Hindi-medium students.
Their main objection was about a section on English comprehension in Paper-II.