A group of 2023 IAS candidates has filed a petition against the recent Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) exam conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). They argue that the level of difficulty in the exam was comparable to that of CAT and IIT JEE exams. The candidates have approached the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) to direct the UPSC to lower the cut-off for Paper II CSAT from 33% to 23%.

The petition requests either a reduction in the cut-off score or a re-examination of Paper II as part of the Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2023. The case is scheduled to be heard by the Principal Bench of the CAT.

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According to the applicants, the CSAT exam, as per the UPSC syllabus, is designed to assess candidates’ general aptitude and their ability to solve basic questions related to comprehension and logical reasoning at the Class X level. However, they allege that the difficulty level of the questions in the CSAT exam was similar to those in CAT and IIT JEE exams. The applicants claim that this goes against the provided syllabus and creates a disadvantage for candidates from humble backgrounds who lack access to special coaching or come from rural areas or the arts stream.

The applicants further contend that around ten questions in this year’s exam were from topics covered in the Class XI NCERT Mathematics Syllabus, and some questions were taken from previous years’ IIT JEE or CAT exams. Advocate Saket Jain is representing the applicants in the case titled “Siddharth Mishra & Ors. v. UPSC.” They have requested an expert committee to review the questions and take appropriate action based on the committee’s recommendations.