Chapter 10 - Preparations for the Personality Test; Myths and FAQs - UPSC PDF Download

A delight it is to see your name among the list of successful candidates who are selected for the round of personality tests (PT) – that is what UPSC calls them – not interviews! This PT won’t attract bombarding of questions of general knowledge as seen in the game show ‘kaun banega karorepati’. In fact, highly contrary to it, the board members would engage the candidate in a round of conversations and try to elicit the personality traits of that person and check whether these fall in line with the requirements of civil services. So what are those qualities which a civil servant must possess? Many of these must be very much evident to the aspirants as these are already been a part of discussions in paper 4 of GS. Some of these are honesty, perseverance, integrity, mental alertness, social cohesion and leadership, balance of judgment, constructive approach, decision making, politeness and many more.

Even though we know all these aspects yet, some of the aspirants score low marks in the interview and others score very high. Nevertheless, the final selection takes into merit both the score in PT as well as in mains. It may thus be possible that candidates scoring low marks in interview may get through the final cut off if their marks in the mains examination are high. However, the importance of interview in the present times can’t be understated. The candidates selected for appearing in the personality test are placed quite neck-to neck in this cut throat competition and so this PT should not be taken any lightly, especially when we have a wide range of marks awarded in the interview.

Therefore, our endeavor should be that an aspirant puts in genuine effort to do well in the PT. For this some plain facts needs to be understood. The contention that one should begin his/her preparation at least one month before the actual date of interview is false. As we have discussed at the beginning of the book itself that Personality test preparation begins at the time when you decide to take to studying for civil services. It is an ongoing process and not an immediate one.

Secondly, an aspirant must remember that detailed application form presents you to the board before anything else. This has to be filled in with utmost care. It is suggested that advice and help of selected candidates and teachers may be solicited for this purpose.

Thirdly, an aspirant has to be utmost cautious at the end of the interview. That would carry the last impression and might possibly determine your final score. This is from the personal experience of my own interview. At the end of the personality test of engineering services, after successfully answering most of the technical questions related to my subject, the chairman of the board changed the atmosphere from a serious one to that which is filled with humor. He asked me questions about my personal life which I relished and in the process became too casual in my approach. Instead of smiling, I was laughing out loud. I felt triumphant because I had answered most of the questions correctly and I felt that board members were delighted on my answers. When the score arrived I found that the board had given me among the lowest scores in list!

In the CSE personality test I was determined not to repeat this mistake. The whole interview revolved around my job profile which I had already anticipated and was ready with balanced answers to opinion based questions. Throughout the interview I maintained my calm and controlled my delight as I had answered all the questions. At the end of the interview, a lady asked while smiling a factual question which I didn’t know. I apologized for not knowing the fact with a smiling face. Till the last minute I kept my posture balanced, only smiled but never laughed. The corrective efforts bore fruits when I found that I received 171 marks which were about 10 to 15 marks above average score.

MYTHS AND FAQs

A) An aspirant should join mock interview session.

     Two or three mock interview will definitely help an aspirant gain confidence, rectify mistakes and more importantly interact with mature people of varied experience. In this regard, interview sessions held at Samkalp and Ramaswamy academies are close enough to simulate the actual interview experience.

B) Marks of interview are totally based on the luck of the person that day.

     In this regard, the author Pranav Mahajan of the book ‘deciphering the personality test’ has compared the interview with one day cricket. A batsman may be in form or may be out of form on that day. That is exactly what an aspirant must avoid. The fluctuations – the variations in the interview scores should be minimum. Stable behavior from your side is another part of personality trait you must possess.

     Nevertheless, there will be variations in assessment. To counter or minimize these variations there was a proposal to conduct three or more interviews of the same candidate at different dates by different boards. The average of their scores shall be the marks awarded to that candidate. The change is still to be considered.

     Yet, even in the present scenario we must have faith in the intent and abilities of our constitutional bodies such as UPSC. The system can’t be biased or arbitrary for it would have collapsed or altered drastically in such a scenario. Thus, it is a sincere advice to the aspirant to better focus on his/her character building rather than questioning the sanctity of our institutions.

C) People who are good-looking generally fetch more marks in the interview.

     Not necessarily. But undoubtedly people who are good looking have an advantage of initial attention, which, if capitalized upon, can help secure those candidates good marks. Nevertheless, I have seen not so good-looking people scoring much higher than average marks by projecting and ‘selling’ some other more important personality traits needed for being a civil servant.

D) Female candidates generally get good marks in interview.

     It is written in the CSE notification that ‘Government strives to have a workforce which reflect gender balance and women candidates are encouraged to apply.’ The statement can be subjected to multiple interpretations and extrapolated to any degree.

E)  What are suggestible readings for interview?

     Pranav Mahajan has painstakingly deciphered the whole process of personality test into smaller steps in chronological order in his book titled as ‘Deciphering personality test’. His eye for catching and reflecting upon minute details is impressive. Another is by Madhukar Kumar Bhagat titled as ‘How to excel’ in civil services interview which along with general guidelines contains sample interviews for a profound insight into what goes inside the interview room.

F)  What should we do if at a continuous stretch of 4 – 5 questions we don’t have any answers?

      There may be a scenario that the panel of experts enter into your weak domain and keep on grilling you continuously for 4 – 5 questions to which you have no answers. IN such a circumstance three scenario arises;

1. You keep on refusing that I don’t know the answer and with each refusal pressure on the candidate to answer the next question increases. This may reflect in the body language that is, sweating, shaking of legs, smiling out of humiliation and embarrassment etc.
2. You play a wild card and try to bluff the members. This is most dangerous as they would generally know the answer of the question they have asked. An example in this regard – one of the candidates had listed painting as a hobby. She was an amateur painter but not much aware of the technicalities of various forms of paintings. When asked in the interview that what she generally painted the reply was something like this, “Sir I can paint not only madhubani but mural also at times.” The board may have sensed that she was self-boasting and signalled to a painting hung on the wall, “Is this madhubani or what? Can you broadly classify the form?” She was now stuck and played the bluff, “Sir this is madhubani”
   The board member again asked, “Are you sure?” But she had exhausted her options by now, “Yes sir. Pretty sure.”
   The members won’t tell on your face that you are trying to fool us. The marks awarded by them will reflect that!
3. Another option when you are stuck in area unknown is trying to answer after seeking permission in words such as, “Sir/madam I don’t have exact knowledge of the issue in question but I would like to share my perception about the same with your permission.” Of course the words that you select may change but the effect and impression must be rightly conveyed.