Subscription 
Desirous to become an IAS? - (Part - V)-
In the previous section, we came to know about the list of subjects involved in the Preliminary and Main exams and the selection of optional subjects.
It is better to select the subject done in the Degree as the first subject and as the second one, the subject you are most interested in. Those who are interested in the language subjects can opt their mother tongue as the 2nd optional.
In Annexure – 4, planning for a few subjects is provided.
1. Questions in Indian languages and English are of Matriculation standard. It is enough to pass this exam. The marks obtained in these subjects are not taken into consideration for the final list.
2. Only if minimum marks are obtained in Indian languages and English, evaluation is done for subjects like Essay, General Knowledge and the Optional.
3. The questions are designed to provide answers in essay type.
4. Apart from language 1 & 2, the other papers should be written in English or in any one of languageslisted in the 8th table of the Constitution.
5. Apart from the language papers, the other question papers are provided in English and Hindi.
Negative Scoring System.
Negative Scoring scheme has been introduced from the year 2007. For every wrong answer, 1/3 of the allotted marks for that question is deducted from the total marks. Negative marks are not given to the unanswered questions.
For example, in the Preliminary examination General Knowledge subject which has 150 marks, let us suppose that each question carries one mark. If 15 questions are provided with wrong answers, marks are deducted from the total marks by calculating 15x 1/3=5.
As given below your total marks are calculated.
Total question = 150
Questions answered correctly = 135 (150 – 15)
Negative marks = 5
Total marks = 130 (135 – 5)
Likewise, in the Optionals also it is easily calculated thus:
Let us take the number of questions answered as X, the number of wrong answers as Y.
1. In General Knowledge, each question carries 1 mark.
Total marks = (X-Y) (1/3 x Y)
2. In the Optional subjects, each question carries 2 ½ marks.
Total marks = 2 ½ (X – Y) (1/3 x Y x 2 ½)
Suppose the person who writes the exam attempts all the questions in General subject and the Optional and answers incorrectly 18 and 15 answers respectively, the total marks will be calculated thus:
1. General Subject:
150 marks are provided for 150 questions on the basis of 1 mark for each question.
Total marks = (150 – 18) (1/3 x 18) = 132 – 6 = 126
2. Optional Subject:
300 marks are provided for 120 questions on the basis of 2 ½ marks for each question.
Total marks = 2 ½ (120 – 15) (1/3 x 15 x 2 ½)
= 2 ½ x 105 x 12 ½
= 262.5 – 12.5 = 250
We shall see a few more details about negative marks in the next section.
