The preliminary round of the Civil Services Examination (CSE) conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) was recently held on 10th of this month in 77 cities across India. The exam was earlier sought to be held on June 29 but was postponed because of the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
The exam was held in two shifts with General Studies conducted in the forenoon session which began at 9:30 am and CSAT in the afternoon session which commenced at 2:30 pm. Candidates were advised to arrive at the examination hall at least 30 minutes before the commencement of the exams. Entry gates were closed 10 minutes before the exams after which no candidates were allowed inside the examination hall. As per the experts’ and aspirants’ , the paper was found moderately difficult this year.
The GS paper was majorly set on the static syllabus and there were very few questions from the current affairs. Modern history, art and culture dominated the question paper with maximum questions. Around 15-16 questions were asked from the polity and economy section each and over 20 questions were asked from history.
Unlike previous years, this year some questions were asked from the sports section. There were three questions from it including one on the cricket test series and the others based on the 32nd Summer Olympics and Laureus World Sports Award. There were no questions on defence technology this time.