Candidates who appeared in the civil services preliminary examination in 2011 will get an additional chance this year.

The move comes following an assurance given by the Government in this regard last year.

“Those who had taken the civil services examination in 2011 will be given an extra chance this year,” a senior Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) official said.

A large group of students had in July last year protested against the pattern of civil services examination conducted by the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC). They had demanded a change in the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) or Paper II of the civil services preliminary examination.

Following the protests, the Government had decided that marks of the English section questions, asked in the paper, will not be included for gradation or merit. The change had come in force from the civil services examination, 2014, onwards.

“Candidates who appeared in the civil services examination 2011 may be given one more attempt in 2015,” Union Minister Jitendra Singh had said in Parliament in August last year.

A total of 4,72,290 candidates had applied for the civil services preliminary examination 2011, of which 2,43,003 had appeared.

The pattern of the civil services preliminary examination was changed in 2011. Before that, Paper I used to be on general studies and candidates were to choose an optional subject for Paper II.

General category candidates are permitted six attempts, according to the notification by UPSC for civil services examination, 2014.

The civil services examination is conducted in three stages — preliminary, main and interview — to select candidates for prestigious the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), among others.

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