The Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) will conduct the Screening Tests prior to the CSS Competitive Examination in 2022.
Document available with Pakistan Today stated that the cabinet in its last meeting gave the approval to FPSC’s recommendation to conduct a Screening Test of 200 marks prior to the CSS competitive examination with effect from CSS-2022.
The screening test would consist of 200 marks which include 20 marks of Islamic Studies, 20 marks Urdu, 50 English, 60 General abilities and 50 general knowledge.
The Establishment Division apprised the Cabinet that the FPSC held CSS Competitive Examination annually for recruitment to posts in BS-17 in twelve (12) Occupational Groups/Services, mandated under Section 7 of FPSC Ordinance, 1977.
FPSC had observed that from 1998-2019, on average, the number of applicants increased by 10% annually and for the years 2020 & 2021, a surge of 69 % was seen as compared to previous years. This had resulted in a decline in passing percentage and an increase in processing time.
Document states that FPSC was directed to revisit the CSS CE system through studying international best practices and incorporating views of various stakeholders in line with the Cabinet Committee on Institutional Reforms (CCIR) decision.
Subsequently, FPSC in its study stated that the screening/preliminary tests were held in SAARC countries to filter candidates for main exams. The Screening Test will reduce the processing time for CSS CE from 20 months to 12 months.
Document states that the Cabinet in its meeting held on 10.12.2019 also considered this matter, wherein the proposal for introduction of a screening test prior to the written exam was not approved.
The Cabinet Members of view that SAT/GRE type tests could be a disadvantage for candidates from underdeveloped countries while the Legal tenability, as well as belated announcement, was unfair to candidates.
Moreover, some of the members apprehended that this would be disadvantageous to the candidates from backward areas besides doubling the expenditure for them.
The FPSC had addressed the above observations of the Cabinet by taking the steps such as the proposed format of Screening Test mainly consisting of compulsory subjects of CSS examination and it does not have any similarity to SAT/GRE format.
FPSC intended to hold the Screening Test well before the announcement of the CSS CE-2022 examination, therefore, the question of legal tenability and unfairness to candidates would not arise, it informed the cabinet.
In addition, FPSC shared that the passing threshold of the Screening Test had been capped at 33% which would enable most of the candidates belonging from all areas of Pakistan to qualify for the proposed Screening Test.
In support of the proposal, FPSC also conducted a statistical analysis of the past five years and it was evident from the said analysis that most of the candidates including Balochistan and Sindh (R) had scored at least 33% marks in compulsory subjects in the written part of the examination. This data further supported the idea of holding a Screening Test prior to written CSS examination.
In addition to the above, Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Public Service Commission (KPSC) also held a screening test in order to sift the serious candidates prior to written examination of Provincial Management Service (PMS). Therefore, the idea of FPSC to introduce a Screening Tests prior to the written examination of CSS was justified.
