Explainers

Each of these exams has papers that never count for rank but end a candidacy if failed. UPSC has three — CSAT at 33%, and the Indian language and English Mains papers at 25% each. TGPSC has one, General English, and APPSC two, Telugu and English, each with thresholds of 40%, 35% or 30% by category. The figures, and why these papers deserve real preparation, are below.

Both UPSC Prelims and the APPSC Group 1 Screening Test deduct one-third of a question's marks for a wrong answer. On a four-option question that makes a blind guess worth exactly nothing on average — but ruling out one option makes a guess worth a ninth of the question's marks, and ruling out two makes it worth a third. The arithmetic, and what it means for a qualifying paper like CSAT, is below.