Chennai: More than 18,000 candidates from Chennai have appeared for the Union Public Service Commission’s civil services (preliminary) examination on Sunday.
The examination was held in 194 centres in phases. The ‘general studies’ exam was conducted in the morning and aptitude test in the afternoon. More than 10 lakh candidates have applied from across the country for 1,079 civil service posts.
“Totally 35,000 candidates had applied for the exam from Chennai. As usual only 60 per cent of candidates appeared for the exam,” an official said.
The ‘general studies’ paper will be counted for qualifying to write the Civil Services Mains exam. Civil Services Aptitude Test is of qualifying nature and the candidate must score at least 33 per cent marks in this paper. However, marks of this paper are not counted for writing the Mains examination.
“This year the preliminary exam is neither easy nor tough. This year the focus was given to current affairs, economics and environment than the traditional subjects,” said D. Shankar, director, Shankar IAS Academy, Chennai.
