ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Establishment Mohammad Shahzad Arbab on Thursday announced that the screening test for the Central Superior Service (CSS) Competitive Examination (CE) 2022 will be held in February next year.
He made the announcement in a press conference with the Chairman of the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC), retired Captain Zahid Saeed.
The MCQs (Multiple Choice Questions) based Preliminary Test (MPT) was approved by the cabinet in its last meeting before the main written examination of CSS.
SAPM Arbab said that the purpose of the screening test was to select serious candidates for the CSS written test.
This will prove to be a win-win situation not only for FPSC but also for the Commission as well as the candidates by saving the time of the students.
PM’s aide says that serious candidates will be selected for written examination through screening test
He said that this initiative will reduce the CSS recruitment process from 20 months to 12 months, thereby enabling FPSC to effectively select highly motivated candidates for the main CSS exam.
Mr. Arbaab said that screening tests are being practiced before competitive exams across the world.
The test does not take into account the domain-specific knowledge required to be performed in different groups.
SAPM said the matter was earlier considered in the cabinet meeting held on December 10, 2019, which did not approve the proposal to introduce screening test before the written examination.
He said that the number of applicants for CSS CE has increased in the last few years. The FPSC has observed that from 1998-2019, the number of applicants increased by 10 per cent annually on an average and for the year 2020 and 2021, an increase of 69pc over the previous years was observed, resulting in a drop in passing out. Increase in percentage and processing time.
FPSC chairman Zahid Sayeed said the MPT score would be valid only for the CSS CE of the same year and would not count in the overall score determining the final qualifying status.
He said that at least second class in Bachelor’s degree as on the cut-off date of December 31, 2021 and all graduates in the age group of 21 to 30 years would be eligible to apply.
Two years of age relaxation will be admissible for the category specified in the CSS CE Rules, 2019.
There will be no negative marking in MPT. It will consist of 200 MCQs of one mark each. He said the time duration would be 200 minutes.
For the purpose of transparency, the FPSC Chairman said that the answer key will be uploaded on the website of the Commission on the same day of MPT.
Mr Sayeed said that the FPSC had done a statistical analysis of the last five years and it was clear from the analysis that most of the candidates including Balochistan and Sindh had secured at least 33 per cent marks in the compulsory subjects in the written part of the examination.
The Screening Test essentially consists of compulsory subjects of the CSS Exam including Islamic Studies. Non-Muslims can opt for either Civics and Ethics or Islamic Studies (20 marks), Urdu Grammar Usage and Translation (20 marks), English Vocabulary, Grammar, Usage and Comprehension (50 marks); General Aptitudes: Basic Arithmetic, Algebra and Geometry (SSC level), Logical problem solving, Analytical abilities and Mental abilities (60 marks); & General Knowledge: Everyday Science, Current Affairs and Pakistan Affairs (50 marks).
Published in Dawn, November 5, 2021