Civil Services Examination Not In Tune With Education System
Here's a comprehensive report on the history behind the UPSC Prelims and key aspects of this tough competitive exam by Gopala Krishna V.
Published : June 23, 2026 at 1:25 PM IST
For the first time in the history of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) there has been widespread criticism against the pattern and questions asked in the Civil Services Examination Preliminary 2026 held on the May 24. The criticism was so unanimous that the chairman of UPSC publicly acknowledged that the paper was tough but supported the questions on the grounds that it was set from reliable sources .
To understand why the paper was designed this way we have to briefly go into the origin of the Prelims. From 1947 to 1978 the exam comprised only a descriptive written examination and an interview. As the number of aspirants was increasing year by year the UPSC appointed a committee under Kothari who had recommended the 10+2+3 education system in India. Kothari aligned the Civil service examination with the Education system.
On his recommendation, the preliminary exam was introduced in 1979 to weed out non serious students and in 1980 the first preliminary was held, where 89227 applicants were successfully reduced to a manageable number. Since then the number of applicants has been increasing.
From 1979 to 2010 the Prelims comprised an optional paper for 300 marks which was taught in most universities. It was designed with the twin objectives of testing the knowledge of a subject, capacity for comprehension, logical analysis, and clarity of thought , and also provided a link with the university system. It also had a general studies paper accounting for 150 marks comprising all subjects which are common up to the class 10 standard in the school curriculum in all the states.
The general studies paper would test the general awareness and range of interests of the aspirant. It was expected that the aspirant would chose one of the subjects which he had taken in graduation and do an in-depth study and then acquire a broad range of knowledge in subjects in administration. These were subjects which every aspirant would have compulsorily read up to class 10.
As the optional had a well defined boundary, every aspirant could see a link between their preparation and the exam. Even though the General Studies paper was becoming tough year after year, as the optional had higher weightage a serious aspirant could pass the preliminary in one attempt. There were no major complaints about unfairness of the examination in this pattern.
Kothari also suggested that UPSC should continuously align the exam with the University education system. Due to this predictability, aspirants planned a career in civil services from the high school level, chose the same subjects in graduation. This predictability also attracted the best talent in academics , which finally gave us the best civil servants who built the foundations for the country.
In the year 2000, the Alagh Committee observed that the Preliminary exam should test the aptitude of the aspirant for the civil services and recommended a preliminary exam which would have an optional paper to continue the link with the university education and a Civil Services Aptitude Test which would comprise questions to test general awareness, problem solving skills, data analysis ability and decision making skills. It recommended the adoption of the case study approach with the questions on decision making being asked from the environment of functioning of the Civil Services.
Another significant recommendation was that questions in the Preliminary should be made tougher and the marks scored in the preliminary should be added to the final marks to determine merit. The government accepted the report but was silent on its implementation.
In 2009, the SK Khanna Committee recommended the Preliminary to be renamed as the Civil services Aptitude Test with common papers at the Preliminary to bring about uniformity. In the year 2011, based on the report of the committee, the optional paper was replaced with a common paper and the Preliminary examination was reconstituted to comprise two papers, namely General Studies Paper- I, covering all areas in humanities, and Paper- II comprising questions on quantitative aptitude, reasoning, comprehension, interpersonal skills and communication, decision making and problem solving.
Both the papers had equal weightage and the combined marks were taken to determine merit. This change delinked the Preliminary examination with the University system and except students who had opted for humanities or law, all the others had to prepare for the examination afresh with no background in any subject prescribed in the syllabus for Paper- I.
After two years the system was opposed vehemently and students took to the streets and UPSC was forced to make Paper- II qualifying . Since then, candidates have to score qualifying marks in Paper- II and the marks scored in Paper-I are taken for determining merit. It is this lopsided change, brought about in haste that is the cause of the problem today.
This period also marked a change in the preferences of the students. The availability of engineering colleges and reduced employability of humanities graduates made students opt for engineering at the graduate level. They formed the feeder for the civil services examination. As the General Studies paper had only humanities subjects most of the aspirants had to learn subjects afresh and in-depth knowledge could not be acquired by them in a year..
During the same period, the number of aspirants started increasing year after year. The UPSC reacted accordingly. Questions were made increasingly unpredictable and the examiner was forced to continuously reinvent and compile the most unexpected questions coupled with a confusing combination of answers. It was quite evident that the purpose was to reject and not select .
The increasing number of aspirants made UPSC use even the qualifying Paper-II as a paper of rejection and the questions were only theoretically of class 10 level but practically the questions were of a much higher level. The entire process of Preliminary had become increasingly unpredictable and luck mattered more than the preparation.
Post Covid, aspirants were flooded with free or inexpensive online resources. Advertising on social media increased. This convinced the students that they could just follow spoon-fed material and qualify at the exam. Also, many officers who were training the selected aspirants felt the quality was deteriorating and exam was unable to select the best. UPSC had to tackle this issue. In 2023 they made the question paper tough, criticism followed and the 2024 and 2025 questions were made relatively simpler.
What Happened In 2026?
In 2025, based on the directive of the Supreme Court, UPSC committed to greater transparency and released the key. As the key could be challenged, it had to be set from authoritative sources but questions had to be framed in such a way that aspirants could be eliminated. All these factors, seemed to have forced UPSC in 2026 to set a paper with information from authoritative sources and government websites.
UPSC made the paper lengthier, increased the number of questions with combination of answers and a gave a boost to the number of questions on current affairs. For the first time it introduced a few case study based questions which forced an aspirant to think and answer on the spot.
Aspirants were taken aback as they were expecting the previous years' model to be followed. They found no link between their preparation and the questions. This surprise element led to voicing their protest over social media. Protests were supported by mentors posting videos about the degree of toughness of the paper as they had to engage with the audience.
While UPSC was under no obligation to empathise with the students, the chairman also engaged with the aspirants and acknowledged that the paper was tough.
What Is The Way Out?
There can be two options. Firstly, UPSC can change the pattern of the examination and align it with the education system, reduce the unpredictability and make it a level playing field for students graduating in all disciplines. Secondly, state governments can also introduce changes in their education systems and align them with competitive examinations.
Importance For Telugu-Speaking States
In India, Hyderabad has had the second largest number of aspirants after Delhi (according to a press note released by PIB). Delhi has aspirants from all the states across the country (who go to Delhi for coaching ) whereas Hyderabad would have aspirants only from the Telugu speaking states. Thus as one region, we have the highest number of aspirants. Naturally, (in terms of numbers) any examination which has areas not connected to our academic system would effect us to the maximum.
Governments of the Telugu-speaking states should introduce compulsory bridge courses both at the graduation level with areas covered in the Civil Services examination and other Central government examinations. Emphasis should be on increasing the English competence of the students at the formative levels as all exams of the Central government are available only in English and Hindi and not in the regional languages. Students opting for sciences should have bridge courses in humanities and those opting for humanities should have aptitude courses. This would make sure that our representation in all the examinations conducted by the Central government would increase.
Quick action is required by both the Central and state governments. While UPSC has the right to set a paper in whichever way it wants it cannot insulate itself from the demand of most aspirants. Central government should appoint a committee to make changes in the examination and state governments should make similar efforts to change their education systems. No government can afford to be insensitive to the needs of ‘Gen Z’ .
Focused efforts by the governments of the Telugu speaking states will ensure that most Central government offices across all the states will have a large number of people of Telugu origin.
The writer is the Director of Brain Tree, an institute training candidates from the Civil Services examination, and has been training students for the last 36 years.
(DISCLAIMER: The facts and opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not reflect the views of ETV Bharat.)
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