For the last few years, three to five Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) boards have conducted the Personality Test simultaneously.
Each Board is headed by a UPSC member and assisted by four to five experts, retired civil servants, academicians, scientists and others.
These experts are drawn from a large panel of names assembled after careful scrutiny by the commission, and the list is constantly updated. About ten candidates are interviewed by each Board per day. Each candidate is interviewed for about half an hour.
The total number of candidates interviewed is approximately two and a half times the number of vacancies yearly.
The Personality Interview schedule extends to 10 weeks.
In the 1950s, there used to be a single board comprising all (three) members and the commission's chairman to conduct interviews for 300-400 candidates.
In the 60s, one more Board was added. The strength of each Board varied from five to seven, with the chairman of the UPSC presiding over the Board, interviewing candidates who opted for the Indian Administrative Service/Indian Foreign Service (IAS/IFS) candidates, and a senior Member of the UPSC as chairman of the second Board for the other services (IPS and Group I).
The remaining members of the two boards consisted of the other UPSC members and advisors specifically selected each year for interviews.
Generally, the advisors frequently switched from one Board to another.
This enabled them to appreciate assessment strategies and comparative standards, preventing rigid attitudes from developing.
However, the number of candidates increased in the subsequent years. Particularly in the late 70s and early 80s, the number of boards increased to five to six each year.
Before the process begins, experts/advisors are briefed by the chairman and members of the UPSC on the purpose and manner of conducting the test. The boards are asked to follow a few common standards towards maintaining uniformity in assessment.
Experts can also be rotated among different Boards almost every week.
Marks scored by the candidates on the written test are unknown to the Board, but a short summary of candidates' biodata, hobbies and interests is provided.
This short summary is based on the information provided by the candidate in the Detailed Application Form (DAF- I & DAF-II ). This short summary of the candidates is prepared confidentially and organised session-wise for each Board on a daily basis and made available to the board members only five to ten minutes before the commencement of the interview.
This system works very well as neither the candidates nor the chairpersons nor the advisors of the Board get any idea regarding which candidate goes to which Board.
In fact, the chairman of the UPSC indicates the board number on the cover of these sealed packets containing candidates' profiles randomly before the Board's commencement in each session.
Apparently, influence and recommendation cannot operate in such a system.
Members of the Board individually rate candidates' intellectual and personal qualities and overall performance. The final assessment by the Board is based on the discussion of individual evaluations made by the members.
The members then agree on a five-point scale, which is later converted into marks.
The universally followed five-point scale is as follows:
O – Outstanding – Applicant is exceptional, recognised as being far superior to others
V – Very Good – Applicant clearly exceeds position requirements
G – Good – Applicant is competent and dependable, meets standards required for the Civil Services
I – Improvement Needed – Applicant is deficient or below standards required of the job
U – Unsatisfactory – Applicant is generally unacceptable
Until 2010, candidates could give the interview in the regional language if they had appeared for the written part of the Main examination in the regional language.
This has been changed based on the recommendations of the BB Bhattacharya Committee, and from 2011, the candidate can decide on the medium of the interview, irrespective of the language in which he or she appeared in the written exam.
However, it is interesting to note that according to the latest annual reports of UPSC, most of the aspirants prefer to appear for the Personal Interview in English.
There are no minimum qualifying marks, though at one stage in the 1950s, minimum qualifying marks were prescribed for selection.
Earlier, the commission had, in fact, adopted 35% marks as the minimum threshold level in the personality test, which was meant to be used as a negative screen to weed out those candidates who, in the opinion of the Board(s), were unsuitable for public service.
However, this was given up in 1957 as it was felt that it would give scope to arbitrariness and that the candidates from the weaker sections would be at a disadvantage in such a scheme.
(Gopalakrishna V, Director, Brain Tree in Hyderabad. The contributor has been training aspirants for the Civil Services examination for the last three decades. He can be contacted at braintreeindia@gmail.com)
