Civil Services aspirants better brush up your English skills fast if you wish to taste success in the changed examination pattern coming into force from next year.

The sample questions released by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), experts say, indicate the requirement of a fairly high level of English competency. Though this is not the final indication on the quality of English skills to be tested it is surely a sign of the fact that English language skills might become crucial in separating the successful and the unsuccessful.

“Candidates from rural and semi-urban areas should take extra care in case they are weak in English or have studied throughout in the regional medium,” says V. Gopala Krishna, Director, Brain Tree, a popular Civils coaching centre. He says the sample questions released by the UPSC also indicate that the pattern of questions would not be a replica of the questions that appear in tests like banking recruitment tests or GRE.

As per the new pattern there will be no optional paper from next year and it will be replaced by an aptitude test. Aspirants expect that questions in the aptitude part may be on the lines of other popular examinations like Common Admission Test (CAT) or Graduate Record Examination (GRE). But Civil Services trainers say questions on comprehension, decision making and reasoning are expected from the arena of government and governance.

The preliminary examination would consist of two papers - Paper-I and Paper-II with 200 marks each. The paper-II will have seven segments including Comprehension, Interpersonal skills including communication skills, Logical reasoning and analytical ability, Decision making and problem solving, General mental ability, Basic numeracy and Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency.

Trainers like Mr. Gopala Krishna say that aspirants who have shifted to ‘Arts' subjects because of a dislike towards ‘Mathematics' in Class 10 should take extra care in preparing for Mathematics.

And the sample questions also reinforce the fact that analytical ability and logical reasoning will be given lot of importance in the preliminary test. “As the scenario is uncertain it is better to focus on building a strong foundation in new subjects so that any question can be tackled with ease,” Mr. Gopala Krishna advices.

“The comfort of non-maths questions in the prelims is totally taken off now,” says a trainer at R.C. Reddy Study Circle.

More and more engineers are getting drawn to civil services and new pattern will help them to a great extent. Candidates from humanities stream are likely to find the prelims tougher than previous years.

However, the new pattern offers several advantages for the aspirants. The changes in the pattern will have a multiplier effect. In the old pattern, an aspirant had to focus full time preparing for the Preliminary as the optional subject demanded ‘in-depth' study. Also, there was the lingering doubt whether the attempt would be a success or will the preparation help me in any other examinations?

“The new pattern is useful for almost all the competitive examinations. It will have the ‘popcorn effect' - it will take time before it yields results. But once you are successful in one exam similar results will follow in other competitive examinations,” Mr. Gopala Krishna feels. Majority of these candidates also appear for several exams for recruitment in Government sector like banks, defence and engineering services and this preparation will help them.

In the earlier system, where the candidate had to take a compulsory optional subject majority used to prefer the “scoring” subjects deviating from what they had studied at graduate or post-graduate level. Expertise in such subjects would not help candidates in other examinations except the Civil Services or Group-I exams conducted for the State cadre officers. But the optional subject carried an advantage with it for candidates who would succeed in prelims as they could have used that expertise in the Mains examination too.

source : the hindu

The Central Board of Secondary Education has decided to offer the computer-based testing option for the All India Engineering Entrance Examination, only to one lakh students, on a first come, first served basis in select cities. Considering the fact that there was a huge embarrassment in CAT’09 and 10, they are being extra cautious as the number of students taking the test are much higher. It had 11 lakh students appearing for it in 2009, and if this exam becomes centralised for all colleges the numbers will be mind-boggling (students from all States will then take the exam, making it a number that will run into even a crore). Even in the current format, 11 lakh is too big a number, says an official source. The infrastructure needed to administer an exam like this will be stupendous. Which is why they are limiting the numbers to one lakh to test the waters, and limiting it to testing centres in a few cities.

This examination, which is the qualifying examination for undergraduate courses in engineering, architecture and planning in all the National Institutes of Technology (previously known as Regional Engineering Colleges) and a few other deemed universities and institutions that have an AIEEE quota, turns 10 this year. A notification on the AIEEE website states: “AIEEE will be conducted by Central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi on 24th April, 2011 (Sunday) for admission to B.E./B.Tech. and B.Arch./ B.Planning courses. Sale of Information Bulletin will start from 15th December, 2010 from various branches of Banks/Institutions/Regional Offices of the Board.” It adds that candidates can start applying to take the test online from November 23 by logging on to aieee.nic.in.

In its current format, where students can choose between computer-based and ‘paper-and-pencil' format, the MHRD has allowed for both.Academics point out that going digital will give some an unfair advantage. “Unlike the CAT, this examination is given at the graduate level. Its audience is from across the country, including tier-II cities and even rural townships where computers are not as popular. At least, not yet,” says a principal of a Pre-University College.She explains that in two of the three pre-university colleges that she has taught in, students are not computer-literate. Even if they are, it is only to the extent of browsing or checking the e-mail. “To be able to do an exam online, that too at a consistent speed and level of accuracy, requires a fair amount of familiarity with computers. A large section of society is really not there yet, and we must wait for the digital divide to collapse before any such thing is attempted.”

Source : The Hindu

Can you digest this?  Not a single student applied for admission in 125 degree colleges under Bangalore University for the academic year 2010-11.

Most of the 125 colleges are located in and around Bangalore city. In all, there are 540 colleges under Bangalore University (excluding 138 B.Ed. colleges).

Besides the student-less 125, records show that 30 colleges have admitted exactly one student each. In 45 colleges there are fewer than 15 students each. And, 135 colleges have admitted 50 students each.

The admissions have been abysmal in these colleges irrespective of the courses they offer.

Incidentally, the total number of students admitted in all the colleges affiliated to the university is 64,000 for the academic year 2010-11.

Why affiliation?

Interestingly, these 125 colleges have been renewing their affiliation by paying a fee and they even advertised courses available for admission. What has amused university officials is that some of these colleges have continued with their affiliation despite no students in the last couple of years.

The University administration is now verifying student admission details of these colleges over the last several years to ascertain how long they have been in existence and whether students have ever joined these colleges.

‘Probe needed'

Are these affiliated colleges receiving funds from the Government despite not having any students? “Only an inquiry will throw light on this issue,” said a University official.

Records also indicate that some colleges, which are associated with deemed universities, continue to be affiliated but don't send admission details to Bangalore University.

Among the 138 affiliated B. Ed colleges, no student has been admitted in 26 colleges. Admissions in the remaining 112 colleges for academic year 2010-11 are yet to begin.

According to officials, what the statistics imply is that though the number of colleges affiliated to Bangalore University on paper is around 600, only around 350 are actually functioning.

Vice-Chancellor N. Prabhu Dev said that it was an alarming situation requiring serious attention.