Is the UPSC Civil Services Exam new pattern biased towards candidates from urban India?

ng25

Hello friends,

I just saw the the Civil Services notification 2013, and I am compelled to feel that the new pattern is in favour of urban, English speaking crowd.( I am one of them, and I am not worried, just concerned.) Quoting @vanquish :-

The compulsory English paper has marks included in the total.
Also, paper V of ethics, integrity and aptitude would be highly loaded with subjectivity and expressing ideas here would be very crucial to getting marks.
Not to underestimate anyone, but I feel candidates from rural areas might find it hard competing against urban crowd. I have heard people talk about CSAT in prelims acting against the rural crowd and now this new mains pattern would definitely hit them hard.

What do you think?

Neyawn

I won't disagree with you Nitin, though this is a controversial topic. In the first step, CSAT itself was biased against the students coming from rural areas and small towns. The new Mains pattern will definitely take this furthur.

Having said that, I will also add that those who really want to crack the Civil Services, will do it anyway. I have seen people re-learn grammar from the Wren & Martin book and crack CSAT. Accordingly, they will adapt to the new Mains pattern as well.

With will and planning the handicaps brought to small town and rural population , by the new pattern, can be overcome.

AK_CS

compulsory english paper has always been of Xth standard and as far as i know the people who write hi-fi english loaded with hifi vocab get a beating in the marking.
when did local languages started to be less expressive?..rather ethics paper will demand 'dil ki bat'(talk from heart) who says rural people will be discriminated...i am from a rural background (though i have learnt decent enough english through practice)..and what i feel this is best possible equaliser syllabus

siddy248

it may be biased from the top...but we all know that theres no better leveller than upsc...and newayn is right..those who have the will , will crack it come what may..just normal day to day or standard english will get u through..no need for hi fi english..

Etat

English compulsory in an exam that can be written in Hindi too. It obviously favours better English skill. BUT, its a skill one can acquire, give sufficient time. You can't deny the utility of English as the national lingua frunca, especially when we have many languages and when Hindi is not embraced with open arms all over.

YouTube will be of great help here though:

Woodpecker

@Madico7 a huge questionmark about the integrity paper. what is supposed to happen in the so called ethics and integrity paper?

vanquish

@AK_CS
Don't get me wrong, I was not implying that it is not doable for some set of people or that any language is less expressive. My only point was that it leans more on one side than the other.
Also, ethics paper and other papers can be written in a language other than English/Hindi only if the person had that language as the language for qualifying his/her graduate level examination.

Etat

@Madico7 a huge questionmark about the integrity paper. what is supposed to happen in the so called ethics and integrity paper?

C'ste la vie. Hint of lemon; hint of sugar; chilled by UPSC to perfection. Optimistic that the lemonade will not be bitter, atleast.

Woodpecker

@Madico7 a huge questionmark about the integrity paper. what is supposed to happen in the so called ethics and integrity paper?

C'ste la vie. Hint of lemon; hint of sugar; chilled by UPSC to perfection. Optimistic that the lemonade will not be bitter, atleast.

i guess sir you would be opting for medical science now?

Etat

Going through the lot now. Will post asap (few hours). Not sleeping tonight - that's for sure.

Etat

@Madico7 a huge questionmark about the integrity paper. what is supposed to happen in the so called ethics and integrity paper?

C'ste la vie. Hint of lemon; hint of sugar; chilled by UPSC to perfection. Optimistic that the lemonade will not be bitter, atleast.

i guess sir you would be opting for medical science now?

Yes Sirji. Comfortable with the stuff I've read for the most part of the past decade.

Feeling optimistic overall. You?