Civil Services Examination, 2017 – minimum qualifying marks
In the Civil Services Examination 2017, the minimum qualifying standards/marks secured by the last recommended candidate in various categories at various stages are as under:-
| Exam | General | OBC | SC | ST | PH1 | PH2 | PH3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CS (Prelims) | 105.34 | 102.66 | 88.66 | 88.66 | 85.34 | 61.34 | 40.00 |
| CS (Mains) | 809 | 770 | 756 | 749 | 734 | 745 | 578 |
| CS (Final) | 1006 | 968 | 944 | 939 | 923 | 948 | 830 |
Note for Prelims –
- Both the question papers were of the objective type (multiple choice questions).
- Cut off marks on the basis of GS Paper-I only.
- The General Studies Paper-II of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination was a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%.
Plan of Examination
The competitive examination comprises two successive stages :
- Civil Services (Preliminary) Examinations (Objective Type) for the selection of candidates for Main Examination; and
- Civil Services (Main) Examination (Written and Interview) for the selection of candidates for the various services and posts.
Preliminary Examination
- The Preliminary Examination will consist of two papers of Objective type (multiple choice questions) and carry a maximum of 400 marks in the subjects set out in sub-section (A) of Section-II.
- This examination is meant to serve as a screening test only; 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.
- The number of candidates to be admitted to the Main Examination will be about twelve to thirteen times the total approximate number of vacancies to be filled in the year through this examination.
- Only those candidates who are declared by the Commission to have qualified in the Preliminary Examination in the year will be eligible for admission to the Main Examination of that year provided they are otherwise eligible for admission to the Main Examination.
Note I:
- The Commission will draw a list of candidates to be qualified for Civil Service (Main) Examination based on the criterion of minimum qualifying marks of 33% in General Studies Paper- II of Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination and total qualifying marks of General Studies Paper-I of Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination as may be determined by the Commission.
Note II:
- There will be negative marking for incorrect answers (as detailed below) for all questions except some of the questions where the negative-marking will be inbuilt in the form of different marks being awarded to the most appropriate and not so appropriate answer for such questions.
- There are four alternatives for the answers to every question. For each question for which a wrong answer has been given by the candidate, one-third (0.33) of the marks assigned to that question will be deducted as penalty.
- If a candidate gives more than one answer, it will be treated as a wrong answer even if one of the given answers happen to be correct and there will be same penalty as above for that question.
- If a question is left blank, i.e. no answer is given by the candidate; there will be no penalty for that question.
Main Examination
- The Main Examination will consist of written examination and an interview test.
- The written examination will consist of 9 papers of conventional essay type in the subjects set out in sub-section (B) of Section II out of which two papers will be of qualifying in nature.
- Marks obtained for all the compulsory papers (Paper-I to Paper-VlI) and Marks obtained in Interview for Personality Test will be counted for ranking.
- Candidates who obtain such minimum qualifying marks in the written part of the Main Examination as may be fixed by the Commission at their discretion, shall be summoned by them for an interview for a Personality Test.
- The number of candidates to be summoned for interview will be about twice the number of vacancies to be filled. The interview will carry 275 marks (with no minimum qualifying marks).
- Marks thus obtained by the candidates in the Main Examination (written part as well as interview) would determine their final ranking.
- Candidates will be allotted to the various services keeping in view their ranks in the Examination and the preferences expressed by them for the various services and posts.
Scheme and subjects for the Preliminary and Main Examinations.
Preliminary Examination
- The Examination shall comprise of two compulsory papers of 200 marks each. The Examination shall comprise of two compulsory Papers of 200 marks each.
Note :
- Both the question papers will be of the objective type (multiple choice questions).
- The General Studies Paper-II of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination will be a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%
- The question papers will be set both in Hindi and English.
- Details of the syllabi are indicated in part A of Section III.
- Each paper will be of two hours duration.
- Blind candidates and the candidates with locomotor disability and cerebral palsy where dominant (writing) extremity is affected to the extent of slowing the performance of function (minimum of 40% impairment will; however, be allowed an extra time of twenty minutes per hour for each paper.
Main Examination
The written examination will consist of the following papers :
Qualifying Papers :
Paper-A
- (One of the Indian Language to be selected by the candidate from the Languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution). 300 Marks
Paper-B
- English 300 Marks
Papers to be counted for merit
- Paper-I – Essay 250 Marks
- Paper-II General Studies-I (Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society) – 250 Marks
- Paper-III General Studies -II (Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations) – 250 Marks
- Paper-IV General Studies -III (Technology, Economic Development, Bio-diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management) – 250 Marks
- Paper-V General Studies -IV (Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude) – 250 Marks
- Paper-VI Optional Subject – Paper 1 – 250 Marks
- Paper-VII Optional Subject – Paper 2 – 250 Marks
Sub Total (Written test) 1750 Marks
- Personality Test 275 Marks
Grand Total 2025 Marks
NOTE :
- The papers on Indian languages and English (Paper A and Paper B) will be of Matriculation or equivalent standard and will be of qualifying nature. The marks obtained in these papers will not be counted for ranking.
- Evaluation of the papers, namely, ‘Essay’, General Studies and Optional Subject of all the candidates would be done simultaneously along with evaluation of their qualifying papers on ‘Indian Languages’ and ‘English’ but the papers on ‘Essay’, General Studies and Optional Subject of only such candidates will be taken cognizance who attain 25% marks in ‘Indian Language and 25% marks in English as minimum qualifying standards in these qualifying papers.
- Marks obtained by the candidates for the Paper-I-VII only will be counted for merit ranking. However, the Commission will have the discretion to fix qualifying marks in any or all of these papers.
NOTE:
- The question papers for the examination will be of conventional (essay) type.
- Each paper will be of three hours duration.
- Candidates will have the option to answer all the question papers, except the Qualifying Language papers Paper-A and Paper-B, in any of the languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India or in English.
- Candidates exercising the option to answer Papers in any one of the languages mentioned above may, if they so desire, give English version within brackets of only the description of the technical terms, if any, in addition to the version in the language opted by them.
- Candidates should, however, note that if they misuse the above rule, a deduction will be made on this account from the total marks otherwise accruing to them and in extreme cases; their script(s) will not be valued for being in an unauthorized medium.
- The question papers (other than the literature of language papers) will be set in Hindi and English only.