UPSC Exam-Other Important - FAQ-Frequently Asked Questions

Other Important FAQs

1. After the written examination, on what criterion is the answer books sent for evaluation? Is it on Roll no. basis or  based on centre of examination? That is, will a particular examiner/set of examiners get to evaluate answer books only of a particular center or a particular group of Roll nos.?

Mixing of the answer books received from different venues is done before sending them for evaluation. Computer-based randomized fictitious code no. is given to each answer-book before evaluation.

2. Are answer books segregated/sorted based on community of the candidate?

This is not done at any stage of the evaluation process.

3. Is it likely that my evaluated performance suffers because my answer books were evaluated by a strict examiner, while another candidate benefits as his answer books were evaluated by a liberal examiner?

The Paper Setter, who is an eminent person in his field, normally acts as the Head Examiner, and wherever the number of candidates in a particular subject is very large, the Commission appoints Additional Examiners for valuation of answer books.

 To achieve uniformity in valuation, where more than one Examiner is involved, the Commission arranges a meeting of the Head Examiner with the Additional Examiners after the Examination is over. At this stage, they discuss thoroughly the question paper, the appropriate answers and decide the standard of evaluation.

To further bring about uniformity of assessment inter se the Examiners, the following procedure is undertaken:

The Head Examiner conducts a sample survey of answer books of each Additional Examiner to verify whether the uniform standards of evaluation evolved in the meeting of Examiners have actually been followed. Depending on the standard adopted by the Additional Examiner, the Head Examiner may confirm the awards without any change if the Examiner has correctly followed the standard decided upon, or may carry out upward / downward moderation as considered necessary to ensure maximum possible degree of uniformity in the evaluation process. 

Therefore, the aspect of inter examiner variation in standards of evaluation in a Paper affecting candidates performance is taken care of adequately.

4. Can I know the question-wise marks awarded to me for a paper?

In a competitive examination, what is relevant is not the absolute performance of a candidate, but his/her relative performance that in fact determines whether the candidate qualifies and, if so, his/her position in the merit list. Accordingly, as already explained above, the evaluation process does not end after initial evaluation by an Examiner. Moderation, wherever applied, is on the total award initially given (the so-called raw marks) and not on question-wise basis. Therefore, once the evaluation process is complete neither raw marks nor question-wise marks subsist. What subsists is the candidate’s total score in a paper awarded at the end of the evaluation process and this award is normally made available to the candidate in due course on the Commission’s website through query-based application software.  

5. Are there any open Examinations where subject-wise/paper wise marks of each candidate are not made accessible/available to him/her?

Yes; in the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 

This is because the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination is simply and purely shortlisting /elimination exercises to select candidates for the Main Examination and as such the scores obtained in this Examination are not communicated to candidates. 

6. Can I know the marks of other candidates who took the Examination from the Commission?

It is important to remember though a Constitutional Body, the Commission’s role is advisory. The Examinations it conducts are for recommending candidates to Government based on clear requisitions received from Government. Therefore, as regards those who have finally qualified in an Examination, the detailed results, application / bio-data forms of all such are sent to the concerned Ministry/Department for all further processing. Therefore, once these results are sent to the concerned Ministry/Department, the concerned Ministry/Department becomes the natural and proper custodian of these results and it would only perhaps be proper for queries pertaining to the results of qualified candidates to be addressed to the concerned Ministry/Department.

As regards candidates who do not qualify finally, the right of information of a citizen has to be balanced against the right of privacy of an unsuccessful candidate who has not qualified for appointment to public service. The feedback received by the Commission shows that there are candidates who do not want their marks to be in the public domain. While a case can be made out for having the marks of those who qualified finally for public appointment  in the public domain, no such public interest argument can be invoked for candidates who have not qualified and there is no reason why such candidates’ scores should willy-nilly be forced into the public domain.

7. If the overall marks of two or more candidates are equal, how is relative merit between such candidates decided?

Tie-breaking principles are applied to decide inter se merit among candidates having the same overall marks. The principles adopted for each Examination are given in attached Annexure.

8. Wherever evaluation standards are set or moderation is applied, are these different for different mediums (languages) in which a particular subject/paper Examination is written?

No. The evaluation standards/moderation for a Paper are not medium-specific. In other words, if the Rules of the Exam provide that a Paper can be written in any of ,say, English/Hindi/a recognized Indian language; then the medium in which a candidate writes the Paper will not be a factor in determining evaluation standards or the moderation to be applied.

9. Is it possible that evaluation/assessment could be affected by the knowledge of a candidate’s identity?

No. Before evaluation, the Roll no. written on every answer book is detached and computer-based randomized fictitious code no. is given. At no stage of the evaluation process 

(Including the moderation stage) is the actual Roll no./identity of the candidate known to any of the Examiners/officials associated in the process.

Disclaimer: The contents above are only indicative in nature and meant for general information. These are not meant to either supplant or supplement relevant existing Rules/orders/procedures.