At the UPSC exams, getting over 50% is the biggest challenge

When it comes to the examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), it turns out, the halfway mark is a dream score.

The Times of India reported on Monday that only five candidates in the 2014 civil services examination could secure more than 50% marks. The topper for the year scored 53.4%. This can be said to be an indication of just how tough the examination is.

While the total marks for the Mains examination were 1,750, there was not even a single candidate who could notch up a four-figure score.

In fact, there was only one person, Ira Singhal, who secured more than 900 in the Mains examination. Singhal, who hails from Delhi, has emerged as the highest scorer in the civil services, with a total score of 1,082 out of 2,025 marks.

Incidentally, although Singhal had cleared the UPSC exam on an earlier occasion as well in 2010, she was denied a posting because of a disability, reported India Today .

A total of 1,236 candidates are said to have been selected for appointment to various civil services, out of about 4.51 lakh who appeared for the examination.

According to this report in Mint , the success rate in the examination is less than five persons per 1000 applicants.

In 2013, the UPSC, for the first time, made public the scores of the successful candidates who were recommended for appointment to the central services, a report by TOI says.

This was after a directive from the Central Information Commission (CIC). In that year, four candidates had obtained a score of more than 50 percent. The TOI report also says that there have been demands to make answer sheets of candidates who appear for the Mains examination public, although the UPSC is not said to be in favour of the demand.

Earlier this year, several students had protested against the pattern of the examination conducted by the UPSC, saying, among other things that the difficulty level of certain sections of the written paper, including quantitative aptitude, logical reasoning and language is too tough, reported The NewsMinute . Candidates are also known to be grilled extensively during the interview, as pointed out in the website successcds.net.