[Q] Can a fourth-semester or Final Year college student appear in Civil service Exam?

Enter your email address

Once you subscribe,
you'll get my full articles
in your email for free!
See Below
The Number of readers
I already have!

Manoj asked

Can I appear can i appear for CSE at the end of my 4th year

Answer:

As per UPSC rule a person in last semester / final year in college can sit in the prelim exam provided that he will get his result/ degree in July/August **of the given year**

Copy-pasting the rule

Note I : Candidates who have appeared at an examination the passing of which would render them educationally qualified for the Commission's examination but have not been informed of the results as also the candidates who intend to appear at such a qualifying examination will also be eligible for admission to the Preliminary Examination. All candidates who are declared qualified by the Commission for taking the Civil Services (Main) Examination will be required to produce proof of passing the requisite examination with their application for the Main Examination failing which such candidates will not be admitted to the Main Examination. The applications for the main examination will be called sometime in the month of July/August of the given year in which he appears for the prelim exam.

Ref:
http://www.upsc.gov.in/exams/notifications/csp2010/notcvl.htm#Minimum%20Educational%20Qualifications

[Update] My distant Education degree is valid for IAS Exam or not?

Enter your email address

Once you subscribe,
you'll get my full articles
in your email for free!
See Below
The Number of readers
I already have!

Update on my earlier blogpost regarding Distant Education Learning degree and its validity for IAS / other Government  jobs.
Here is the update, [Thanks to Kenneth Lyngwa's email throwing light on this]

In short if you've got a degree from some Distant Education course, you need to first see whether its recognized by DEC ( Distant Education council) or not. Because if its not recognized, then you can't sit in civil service or any central Government job exam using that degree.

Here is a copy paste job from DEC's website.

The Dept. of Education, Ministry of Human Resources Development, Govt. of India notified vide the Notification No. 44 dated 01-03-1995 published on Saturday, April 8th, 1995 in the Gazette of India that:

"on the recommendation of the Board of Assessment for Educational Qualification, the Government of India has decided that all the qualifications awarded through Distance Education by the Universities established by an Act of Parliament or State Legislature, Institutions Deemed to be Universities under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956 and Institutions of National Importance declared under an Act of Parliament stand automatically recognized for the purpose of employment to posts and services under the Central Government, provided it has been approved by Distance Education Council, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi – 110068."

In view of the aforesaid directive of the Government of India, it is mandatory for all the Centres/Institutions/Directorates offering programmes through distance mode to apply to the DEC and obtain prior approval before starting a new Centres/Institution/Directorate or Programme.

It is informed that any degree/diploma/certificate offered through distance mode not recognized by the DEC shall not be accepted for employment in Government Services and the institution offering such programmes would face de-recognition.

Through media and advertisement, it is learnt that certain institutions are offering courses/programmes through distance mode which are not approved by UGC, AICTE and DEC. While the DEC has granted permission to institutions in respect of their capability to deliver the courses/programmes through open and distance learning mode, it was clearly stipulated that for any professional programme which requires the mandatory approval form the statutory authorities like AICTE, UGC, NCTE etc., it is the responsibility of the institution to get such approvals before they start any professional/ technical programme. The provisional approval granted by DEC is not to be construed to be in lieu of the approval required by the institutions from the AICTE in respect of the standards to be maintained for technical education programmes and from the UGC for offering any programme leading to award of a degree which is at variance with the nomenclature of degrees mentioned in the UGC Regulations under section 22 of the UGC Act 1956.

And, whereas, the said provisional approval by the DEC was subject to the concerned institution obtaining the approval from the appropriate statutory authorities such as the AICTE for technical and professional programmes and the UGC for general standards of higher education;

And, further whereas, it is in the public interest and in the interest of maintaining the standards of higher education that such institutions, which have not obtained the approvals of their programmes from concerned statutory authorities are not permitted to enroll students or offer such un-approved professional and technical programmes/courses;

Now, therefore, DEC hereby, notifies that institutions, whose approval is expiring this academic year or intending to offer programmes through distance mode shall not offer any professional and technical programmes of study in the coming academic session 2008-09 and onwards without seeking prior approval from the UGC-AICTE-DEC in terms of the procedure laid down and posted at the website of the UGC (www.ugc.ac.in), the AICTE (www.aicte.ernet.in) and the DEC (www.dec.ac.in).

SC orders UPSC to disclose Prelim-2010's marks

Enter your email address

Once you subscribe,
you'll get my full articles
in your email for free!
See Below
The Number of readers
I already have!

Thanks to Mr.Sanjay Soni of IOforum for this article in The Hindu (page 4 Delhi Edition)

Civil services aspirants ask UPSC to reveal marks

Aspirants preparing for the Civil Services examinations have demanded the Union Public Service Commission reveal marks attained by applicants who appeared for the Preliminary examination in 2010 in line with the Supreme Court order of December 3 in response to a special leave petition filed by aggrieved candidates.

The candidates had earlier organised a 52-day protest at Jantar Mantar here demanding that the UPSC publish the marks attained in the preliminary exam, alleging that over 4,000 deserving candidates were denied a chance to take the Main test.

They said a human or technical error ended up restricting the number of candidates who qualified to just 12,394 despite there being 965 notified vacancies.

In contrast in 2009, they said 12,800 students qualified though there were just 585 vacancies.

The Supreme Court in its order had pronounced that the UPSC shall follow the order by a Single Judge of the Delhi High Court in 2006 which was later affirmed by the Division Bench of the High Court in 2008.

The Supreme Court order will require the UPSC to disclose within two weeks the marks assigned to all aspirants in the Civil Services Preliminary Examination in both General Studies and the optional paper.

Further, the UPSC will also have to disclose the cut-off marks for the combined total of "raw" General Studies marks and "scaled" optional paper marks. The UPSC will also have to disclose the answers to the questions in the Preliminary examination.

The aspirants have also demanded that the UPSC publish a fresh list of candidates who have qualified for the 2010 Mains if the marks published as per the Supreme Court order reveal that more students are eligible to qualify.

Ref:

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article978312.ece?css=print

[Q] Can I sit in IAS exam with Distant education degree?

Enter your email address

Once you subscribe,
you'll get my full articles
in your email for free!
See Below
The Number of readers
I already have!

Narayan asked,

i am doing b.tech(mech) correspondance from JRN VIDYAPEETH UNIVERSITY,RAJASTHAN.
  can u tell me right answer for me i m very tense about it some people said to me this is not approved by UPSC.Please sir giving my question answer soon i m waiting sir.

the rule says if an institution is recognized as under UGC Act, then you can sit in IAS exam.
So I searched and found that your JRN VIDYAPEETH UNIVERSITY,RAJASTHAN is recognized by UGC.

Hence you're fit & eligible to sit in this exam if you've the degree and if you're minimum 21 years old on the 1st august of the given year! So forget what people say, and concentrate on your preparation. For more you can read following UPSC notification.

http://www.upsc.gov.in/exams/notifications/csp2010/notcvl.htm#Minimum%20Educational%20Qualifications

Anyone reading this blog, please keep in mind,
Before you join any institution for graduation, MAKE SURE that its recognized under UGC act (If you ever want to sit in any Government job exam like railways, bank, defence, IAS, state public service, LIC etc.)

#2: what to do if the institution is not recognized by UGC, and yet you want to give above exams?
Simple get yourself enrolled in some postal graduation course by IGNOU (as its recognized by UGC, cheap, convenient & easy)

#3:the Post-graduation from UGC recognized institution
For example, in certain class-I state or central service jobs in Pharmacy etc. they ask for PG (post-graduation). But there are so many mushroom institutions giving PG Diploma in clinical pharmacy etc. but they're not recognized by UGC! So again those with a PG-degree recognized by UGC will be given a priority in such recruitment drives. So, Whenever you take up a course, have your career-priorities right (whether you want to be in public service or in private sector) and make an informed decision rather than following the crowd.

[Q] Age limit for SC candidate in IAS Exam?

Enter your email address

Once you subscribe,
you'll get my full articles
in your email for free!
See Below
The Number of readers
I already have!

From Harpeet

I am a candidate from reserved category(s.c.).Am I eligible to sit for  c.s.e. 2011,as I am 32 yrs old.

Ans.
Yes you can.
Maximum upper age limit for civil service exam

• General category= 30 years
• SC/ST=35 Years
• OBC=33 years
• blind, deaf-mute and Orthopaedically handicapped persons=40 years
• Citizen of Jammu and Kashmir=35 years
• Defense Services personnel disabled in operations during hostilities with any foreign country or in a disturbed area and released as a consequence thereof:=33 years
• Ex-servicemen including Commissioned Officers and ECOs/SSCOs who have rendered at least five years Military Service =35 years

For more details, refer following link

http://mrunal-exam.blogspot.com/2010/08/explained-age-and-trial-limit-for-upsc.html


 

[Q] Need readymade material for Zoology & Botany

Enter your email address

Once you subscribe,
you'll get my full articles
in your email for free!
See Below
The Number of readers
I already have!

I WANT STUDY MATERIAL FOR BOTANY AND ZOOLOGY AS IF I REALLY DONT HAVE TIME TO PREPARE NOTES ..... IM UNABLE TO SPEND MONEY ALSO

Ans.
Mains exam will be held in October 2011. There are almost 10 months to prepare both subjects thoroughly and making notes out of them by yourself.
I'm not aware of any readymade source online material for botany or zoology.

For strategies & booklists you can refer to following pdf

http://anyhub.net/file/how_to_crack_upsc.zip

[Coaching classes] DONOT Make haste in joining CSAT coaching classes!

Enter your email address

Once you subscribe,
you'll get my full articles
in your email for free!
See Below
The Number of readers
I already have!

As you know the UPSC has modified the prelim exam pattern from 2011 a.k.a Civil service Aptitude Test (1 GS paper + 1 Aptitude paper). And the coaching classes are now trying to cash the opportunity to make money from the newcomers because of the uncertainties and rumors surrounding CSAT.

Copy pasting a post by Sukhoi800 on IO forum

I visited one of the well known CAT training institutes which have started CSAT coaching, I was shocked to see that these guys are totally unprepared to deal with the CSAT exam, they are simply recycling their CAT material, moreover the teachers were unaware of the format of the civil services exam, they felt that the prelims exam was followed by an interview (no idea about mains), furthermore the decision making skills questions were based on problems faced by corporate executives, where they have to sell the right product or take decisions for maximising the profit of the company, I finally decided against joining the coaching institute.

So donot make haste in joining coaching classes especially those bragging about CSAT

Another post I came across,Regarding some Abhay Thakur' Synchronous GS coaching classes. Copy pasting from a thread on targetias website

Amir said

The ads of Synchronous are completely fraudulent. He mentions that "more than 35 students got more than 330+ in CSE-2008 in GS" while the data is completely against that.
Out of ALL the selected candidates in CSE 2008 only 38 students got more than 330 or more marks in GS. Implying that 35 out of these are from Synchronous is anyways very very dicey. Out of these 38, 5 students have got a higher rank than the highest rank advertised in Synchronous Ads.This implies that the claims are completely fradulent.
You can search for more opinions on Abhay Thakur on Orkut. My perspective will be reinforced by everyone.

Feedback on Orkut by Mr. Pawan who qualified with Rank 271 in CSE 2008.

"This is how Abhay Thakur (Synchronus) is a waste of time n money.

Abhay Thakur (Synchronus) is the worst GS test series in Rajinder Nagar. I joined the test series this year as I had already taken the GS test series at Sriram's IAS last year & had secured 271st rank in CSE 2008. Since there were limited options at that time (Ajit Sinha started classes in Rajinder Nagar at Later stage & I dint consider Khan Study Group), I joined Synchronus as it was convenient but it has been a pain & complete waste of money because of following reasons

1. Model Answers are totally confusing. They do not address the question asked but are just copy paste from internet or Yojana or some other source.
2. No word limit in Model answer. 40-45 pages of printed material given in model answers. This is like giving 2000 words for a 150 word answer. Total waste. It is justified by saying "I give long answers so that students don't miss any point". Model answer should ideally show how to write a holistic answer within the word limits.
3. Two Markers are absolutely confusing. Those who have already joined just check a few answers of two markers (like Ivermectin, Thiruvika etc). You can't even figure out what the term is, leave aside giving satisfactory answer.
4. Irrelevant questions being asked (Theoretical questions being asked in Statistics)

Like I said ago,

In the time of uncertainty and misinformation, the people try to make quick bucks by fooling newcomers. CSAT is providing that excellent-opportunity. So if someone is 'claiming' that he can provide you sure-shot books, material and coaching for CSAT prepared by the 'experts', his claims are as true as those fairness creams. Any swinging dude can repack the material & coaching from CAT, MAT,GMAT, Bank exams etc. and make tall claims to sell his 'exclusive-CSAT study products'. Give a thorough thought before investing your time and money in such things. Because it is an unwritten rule of UPSC business – not to sell any book for less than 150/-, or postal material for less than 3,000/- or coaching for less than 20,000/- Rs. And not to give any refund later on.

[Q] How many seats reserved for Physically Handicapped candidates in IAS IPS exam?

Enter your email address

Once you subscribe,
you'll get my full articles
in your email for free!
See Below
The Number of readers
I already have!

i have seen various cader allocation policies of IAS/IPS it says 4 seats are reserved for PD (persons with disabilities) but nothing has been mentioned about how seats are alloted in this category n moreover no names have beeen mentioned.could u please tell me how seats are alloted under PD category?

See this table for 2010's exam for 965 total vacancies, following number of seats are reserved for each category.
Services identified suitable for physically disabled category and number of vacancies reserved there against is as under :-  

Sl. No.	Name of the Service	Category(s) for which identified	*Functional Classification		*Physical requirements	No. of Reserved Vacancy
1.	Indian Administrative Service	(i)Locomotor disability,  (ii) Visual impairment and (iii)Hearing impairment	(i) BA, OL, OA, BH, MW		(i) S, ST, W, SE, H, RWT	1 1 2
			(ii) PB
			(iii) PD
2	Indian Foreign Service	(i)Locomotor Disability (ii) Visual Impairment (iii)Hearing Impairment	OL, OA, OAL LV HH		S, ST, W, RW, C, MF, SE	0 0 0
3	Indian Revenue Service (Customs & Central Excise, Gr.`A�)	(i)Locomotor disability, (ii)Hearing impairment	OL, OA,  HH		S, ST, W, BN, L, SE,MF, RW, H, C	2 1
4.	Indian P&T Accounts & Finance Service, Gr.`A�	(i)Locomotor Disability (ii) Visual Impairment (iii)Hearing Impairment	OA, OL, OAL, BL LV HH		S, W, SE, RW, C	0 1 0
5	Indian Audit & Accounts Service, Gr.`A�	(i)Locomotor Disability (ii) Visual Impairment (iii)Hearing Impairment	OA, OL, OAL LV HH		S, ST, W, BN, SE, RW, H, C	1 0 0
6	Indian Defence Accounts Service, Gr. �A�	(i)Locomotor Disability (ii) Visual Impairment (iii)Hearing Impairment	OA, OL, OAL, BL LV HH		S, ST, W, BN, SE, RW, C	1 0 0
7	Indian Revenue Service (IT), Gr. `A�	(i)Locomotor disability, (ii)Hearing impairment	(i) OA, OL, OAL, BL		(i) S, ST, W, SE, RW, C	3 2
			(ii) HH
8	Indian Ordnance Factories Service, Gr.`A�	(i)Locomotor Disability (ii) Visual Impairment (iii)Hearing Impairment	OA, OL, OAL LV HH		S,ST,W,BN, RW, SE, H, C	0 0 0
9	Indian Postal Service, Gr. �A�	(i)Locomotor Disability (ii) Visual Impairment (iii)Hearing Impairment	OA, OL, OAL, BL B, LV HH		S, ST, W, BN, RW, SE, H, C	0 0 0
10	Indian Civil Accounts Service, Gr. �A�	(i)Locomotor Disability (ii) Visual Impairment (iii)Hearing Impairment	OA, OL, OAL, BL LV HH		S, ST, W, SE, RW, H,C	0 0 0
11	Indian Railway Accounts Service, Gr. �A�	(i)Locomotor Disability (ii) Visual Impairment (iii)Hearing Impairment	OA, OL, OAL, BL LV HH		S, ST, W, SE, RW, HC	1 0 1
12	Indian Railway Personnel Service, Gr. �A�	(i)Locomotor Disability (ii) Visual Impairment (iii)Hearing Impairment	OA, OL B, LV HH		S, ST, W, BN, SE, RW, H,C	1 1 1
13.	Indian Defence Estates Service, Gr.�A�	(i)Locomotor disability   (ii)Blindness or Low Vision (iii) Hearing Impairment	OA, OL LV HH		S, ST, W, BN, MF, PP, KC, SE, RW, H, C	0 0 0
14.	Indian Information Service, Gr.`A�	(i)Locomotor Disability (ii) Visual Impairment (iii)Hearing Impairment	OA, OL, OAL, BL B, LV HH		S, ST, W, SE, RW, H,C	0 1 0
15.	Indian Trade Service, Gr'A'  (Gr.III)	(i)Locomotor disability   (ii)Visual Impairment (iii) Hearing Impairment	OA, OL,OAL, BL LV HH		ST, BN, MF, SE, RW, H, C	0 0 0
16.	Indian Corporate Law Service, Gr'A'	(i)Locomotor disability   (ii)Visual Impairment (iii) Hearing Impairment	OA, OL, LV HH		ST, RW, SE, S, BN, H	0 1 0
17.	Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service, Gr.`B� (Section Officers� Grade)	(i)Locomotor Disability (ii) Visual Impairment (iii)Hearing Impairment	OA, OL,  LV		S, ST, W, BN,MF, SE, RW, H, C	1 1 0
			HH
18.	Delhi , Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep , Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Civil Service, Gr.�B�	(i)Locomotor disability, (ii)Visual impairment (iii) Hearing impairment	OA, OL, OAL, BL	S, ST, W, SE, RW, MF, H, C		0 0 0
			LV
			HH
19.	Delhi , Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep , Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Police Service, Gr.�B�	(i)Locomotor disability, (ii)Visual impairment (iii) Hearing impairment	OL Not  finalised HH		S, ST, W, BN, PP, KC, MF, SE, RW, H, C	0 1 0
20.	Pondicherry Civil Service, (Group B)	(i)Locomotor disability, (ii)Hearing impairment and (iii)Visual impairment	OA, OL, OAL, BL  LV HH		S, ST, W, SE, RW, H, C	0 0 0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related to this

1. [Explained] Deafness-Blindness (Hearing -Visual Impairment requirement for UPSC

2. FAQ-[Physical Standards-Eye sight for UPSC] All you wanted to know for UPSC

3. [Explained] Age and Trial limit for UPSC civil service exam

Reference:

http://www.upsc.gov.in/exams/notifications/csp2010/notcvl.htm#Services/posts

[Marksheets] 50 Successful candidates of 2009 UPSC exam

Enter your email address

Once you subscribe,
you'll get my full articles
in your email for free!
See Below
The Number of readers
I already have!

All thanks to Docvinny of IOforum, here is the compilation of mains marks of successful candidates of 2009.

Download the pdf file from following link

 

http://ahb.me/12Vj

 

or

 

http://anyhub.net/file/12Vj-marksheets-of-50-successful-candidates-of-2009-upsc.pdf

 

Strategy for Civil services perliminary examination 2011-Paper I

Enter your email address

Once you subscribe,
you'll get my full articles
in your email for free!
See Below
The Number of readers
I already have!

Another good post by Alok Singh, regarding GS preparation in the changing scenario of 2011.
You can see it his blog, here is the link

http://aloksingh705.blogspot.com/2010/11/strategy-for-civil-services-perliminary.html