Visakhapatnam: Only about 33 per cent of aspirants who had applied for the Union Public Service Commission civil services preliminary exam turned up in Visakhapatnam on Sunday. The exam was conducted in two sessions from 9.30 am to 11.30 am and 2.30 pm to 4.30 pm at 28 centres.
While about 13,270 aspirants had applied for the preliminary examination, only 4,466 appeared in Vizag City.
In the morning, the question papers were shifted to the examination centres amid tight security under the guidance of joint collector-2 D.V. Reddy. Special observers R.S. Praveen Kumar and Lav Agarwal, district collector Pravin Kumar and Mr D.V. Reddy monitored the process at Dr L. Bullayya College, Government Women’s Degree College, Prism Degree College and Bhashyam School.
Mr Agarwal directed the invigilators as well as examination centre supervisors to not to use any mobile in the centres. The officials in the evening informed that the exam passed out without untoward incidents.
Mr R. Arun Chaitanya, a candidate who appeared the exam at Dr L. Bullayya College, said that examination was moderately difficult. "For regular newspaper readers, the exam was a cakewalk as many questions in the General Studies paper came from current affairs,” he said.
Commenting on the CSAT paper, another candidate B. Satyanarayana said that even questions in the CSAT paper focused on the recent happenings.
