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I went through the Hindi (compulsory) paper of UPSC 2013 and thought it would not have been difficult to score in the excess of 100. Is it so ? Or is it the false misconception an overview gives you when you take a quick look ? Also, how is Hindi literature as an optional ? Most probably I am not going to opt for it, but still wanted to know as I feel I would be more comfortable in this subject as compared to most of the other subjects.
to write in those 3 hours the entire papper was really difficult for me. the precie was tough so was translation, comprehension and essay. it may b with just me, but I feel the paper was tough.
The paper was equally easy, moderate and difficult. The grammar section was easy, if one had good practice one could score really well. (40 marks)
The translation questions and essay, were moderately difficult (140 marks)
The really tough part was precis and comprehension (120marks)
For people without practice (like me) even the moderate section would have been very tough and would have lost few scoring opportunity in the easier grammar section.
I think having writing practice for 6 months (200 words daily) would be ideal. That would help in a) writing speedily in exam b) correct spelling/ grammatical errors c) build vocabulary d) gaining self confidence approaching the exam
Scoring well in the grammar section would really help in crossing the line easily.
@upsc14 The problem is not the difficulty level of paper but the low marks that have been awarded in previous years.
Despite previous years' Hindi papers being much easier than this year's (you can compare from UPSC site) and people attempting all questions, marks have rarely crossed 150-160 even for selected candidates. Can you imagine all the UPSC toppers appearing in Xth standard Hindi exam and none getting more than 60% marks? Consider that, and then you can imagine the nervousness among people this time, with vague comprehension and precis questions making up chunk of the paper.
... with vague comprehension and precis questions making up chunk of the paper.
Not sure if vague is the right word.
But UPSC has really raised the language bar this year. One wonders what have they identified as lacking in the candidates that have qualified in the past few years.
But then, what is difficult for one but what one does not know and what is easy but what one knows.
I am from UP my mother tongue is Hindi but i also found the paper difficult.. especially the comprehension ...I was not able to understand what was it all about..bt somehow answered the questions by picking up similar words in the passage... similarly translation was very difficult and time consuming ...May be i had never practiced it that is why found it difficult ..some time should be given..may be 2-3 days...nt more..and cutoff will be relative..so if paper was tuf...cutoff will b low..
... with vague comprehension and precis questions making up chunk of the paper.
Not sure if vague is the right word.
But UPSC has really raised the language bar this year. One wonders what have they identified as lacking in the candidates that have qualified in the past few years.
But then, what is difficult for one but what one does not know and what is easy but what one knows.
@Arpit Why I used the word 'vague' is because the precis and comprehension passages looked machine-generated to me. Something you would get from using Google Translate on an article in English. I would have called it difficult if it featured lot of little known words but the overall sequence of words and structure of sentences made sense. I call it vague because despite there being mostly common words, the overall sentences and paras were, for the lack of a better word, vague
As for the distinction between knowing/not knowing and easy/difficult, I would say, the former is an individual concept and the latter is an aggregate concept. If I do not know the President of India, it would be an "unknown" for me individually but it still would be an "easy" question from an aggregate point of view as most people would know it. On the other hand, even if I personally know who 23rd President of the US was, it would be a 'known' for me but still 'difficult' from an aggregate viewpoint.
We can only guess why the language bar was raised this year. Maybe it was inadvertent (question-setters changed after a long time :P) or maybe it was out of spite against the language attack on UPSC earlier this year (an entry for the conspiracy theory thread) or perhaps there was some completely different reason
The paper was relatively tough as compared to previous years. Also the pattern had somewhat changed fr Hindu, like no choices. But I think scoring 100 is still easy in this paper. I expect to clear hindi with no hurdles as was the case in my 2010, 2011 hindi paper.
I am from UP my mother tongue is Hindi but i also found the paper difficult.. especially the comprehension ...I was not able to understand what was it all about..bt somehow answered the questions by picking up similar words in the passage... similarly translation was very difficult and time consuming ...May be i had never practiced it that is why found it difficult ..some time should be given..may be 2-3 days...nt more..and cutoff will be relative..so if paper was tuf...cutoff will b low..
Bro.. I have a friend who also happens to belong to UP. He failed in Hindi last year. So, what matters is we clear the cut off easily. Good luck
We can only guess why the language bar was raised this year. Maybe it was inadvertent (question-setters changed after a long time :P) or maybe it was out of spite against the language attack on UPSC earlier this year (an entry for the conspiracy theory thread) or perhaps there was some completely different reason
I would most likely agree with the theory that they wanted to establish reasonable mastery in language as one of the key requirements in a civil servant which was perhaps echoed in their earlier version of notification. However, that change was so English-oriented, it leaves me stumped as to why the raised the bar on Hindi.
On a curious note, were other regional language papers relatively 'tougher' than the previous years?
They neither want shakespeare nor premchand. They simply want a mix of these two who is definitely not a master of any of the 2 languages and at the same time is competant enough in both.
This is how I interpret .. opinions will definitely show some divergence but the 'basic structure' is this only.. now every human is a supreme court in itself to interpret..
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Comments
The translation questions and essay, were moderately difficult (140 marks)
The really tough part was precis and comprehension (120marks)
For people without practice (like me) even the moderate section would have been very tough and would have lost few scoring opportunity in the easier grammar section.
I think having writing practice for 6 months (200 words daily) would be ideal. That would help in a) writing speedily in exam b) correct spelling/ grammatical errors c) build vocabulary d) gaining self confidence approaching the exam
Scoring well in the grammar section would really help in crossing the line easily.
Fingers crossed this time....
cheers
rex
Despite previous years' Hindi papers being much easier than this year's (you can compare from UPSC site) and people attempting all questions, marks have rarely crossed 150-160 even for selected candidates. Can you imagine all the UPSC toppers appearing in Xth standard Hindi exam and none getting more than 60% marks? Consider that, and then you can imagine the nervousness among people this time, with vague comprehension and precis questions making up chunk of the paper.
But UPSC has really raised the language bar this year. One wonders what have they identified as lacking in the candidates that have qualified in the past few years.
But then, what is difficult for one but what one does not know and what is easy but what one knows.
As for the distinction between knowing/not knowing and easy/difficult, I would say, the former is an individual concept and the latter is an aggregate concept. If I do not know the President of India, it would be an "unknown" for me individually but it still would be an "easy" question from an aggregate point of view as most people would know it. On the other hand, even if I personally know who 23rd President of the US was, it would be a 'known' for me but still 'difficult' from an aggregate viewpoint.
We can only guess why the language bar was raised this year. Maybe it was inadvertent (question-setters changed after a long time :P) or maybe it was out of spite against the language attack on UPSC earlier this year (an entry for the conspiracy theory thread) or perhaps there was some completely different reason
Good luck
On a curious note, were other regional language papers relatively 'tougher' than the previous years?
Agreed with your perspective on easy/tough!
They neither want shakespeare nor premchand.
They simply want a mix of these two who is definitely not a master of any of the 2 languages and at the same time is competant enough in both.
This is how I interpret .. opinions will definitely show some divergence but the 'basic structure' is this only.. now every human is a supreme court in itself to interpret..
Thank you. :-?