Changes Introduced in 2020 UPSC Geo-Scientist Exam Pattern: New Marking Scheme
UPSC Geo-Scientist candidates will be penalised for wrong answers from 2020 onwards. Mixed reactions from students and experts.
The exam pattern for the UPSC Geo-Scientist exam for the year 2020 saw some changes on January 06th with the introduction of negative marking by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). From now onwards, candidates will be penalised for wrong attempts in the UPSC Geo-Scientist examination. Also, as a part of the new Geo-Scientist exam pattern of UPSC, a preliminary assessment in General Studies will be conducted by UPSC in a computer-based format which means the exam will now be conducted in three stages - Objective-type prelims exam followed by the mains and interview/personality test round.
Until the previous year, the Geo-Scientist candidates had to only appear for the mains and interview rounds to get selected. From 2020 onwards the selection of the candidates will depend on their performance in all the three rounds. The additional GS paper will also have negative marking scheme for each inappropriate or incorrect response.
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A S Venkatesh, Department of Applied Geology HOD in the Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad feels it is not wise to predict the difficulty level of the new exam until it is conducted on 19 January. He also feels that a strong fundamental knowledge through a thorough study of the subject will be beneficial for the test-takers.
On the contrary, some of the previous year exam takers sounded sceptical regarding the introduction of the negative marking scheme. “The new pattern can instil fear among the exam takers with an increase in the burden on them” opined one previous year exam taker.
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The Mains exam is scheduled to be conducted on 27-28th June for those who will qualify the preliminary exam on 19th January. Selected candidates will be given a chance to join the Central Ground Water Board’s (CGWB) and Geological Survey of India’s Junior Hydrologist, Chemist, Geophysicist and Geologist positions.