UPSC civil services prelims exam 2018: How to get your admit card; updates

The Union Public Service Commission civil services preliminary examination will be held on June 3. Candidates can find all the UPSC updates, rules and dos and don'ts here

Candidates appearing for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) civil services preliminary examination on June 3 take note: You will not be issued a physical copy of your admit card this time. You will have to download it and carry a printout to the ecamination hall. "Candidates are advised to download their e-admit cards and take a printout thereof. The admitted candidates will have to produce the printout of their e-admit card at the allotted venue for ... the examination," the UPSC said in a statement. 

The civil services examination is conducted annually in three stages -- preliminary, main and interview -- to select officers for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS), among others. 

The UPSC issued a statement with a list of dos and don'ts for candidates. Here are the things you need to take note of:  

1) Download admit card from website: The Commission said that it has uploaded the e-admit cards on its website, www.upsc.gov.in. "No paper admit card will be issued for this examination," the Commission said. 

2) Take a printout: Candidates are advised to take the printout of their e-admit cards well in advance to prevent any last-minute rush or load on the UPSC website.

3) What to do if photograph is blurred, missing on e-admit card: In case the photograph is not clear, blurred or not available on the e-admit card, candidates will have to carry to the venue two identical photographs (one photograph for each session) along with proof of identity such as an Aadhaar card, their driving licence, passport or voter ID card and the printout of the e-admit card with an undertaking that the proof was genuine. 

4) What to do if there are discrepancies in the card: Any discrepancy in the e-admit card should be conveyed to the Commission immediately by email (to uscsp-upsc@nic.in), it said.

5) Exam timings: It said entry into the examination venue would be barred 10 minutes before the scheduled start of the test, that is at 09:20 am for the forenoon session and 02:20 PM for the afternoon session. "No candidate shall be allowed entry into the examination venue after closure of entry," the Commission said. 

6) Report to your designated venue only: It added that candidates would not be allowed to sit for the examination at any other test venue than the one mentioned on their e-admit card.

7) Carry a black ink ballpoint pen to the test: Candidates were also asked to carry black-inked ballpoint pens as they would be "required to fill the OMR (optical mark recognition) answer sheets and attendance list with a black ballpoint pen only", the UPSC said.

8) Rules, last date regarding submitting representation on questions: Candidates may submit representations, if any, on questions asked in the preliminary examination papers to the Commission only through the "Online Question Paper Representation Portal (QPRep)" by accessing http://upsconline.nic.in/miscellaneous/QPRep/ in the period June 4-10, 2018. "No representation through any other mode and after June 10, 2018, shall be accepted by the Commission," the statement said. 

9) Rules regarding mobiles, electronics: Candidates cannot carry mobile phones (even in the switched off mode), pagers, any electronic equipment or programmable devices, and storage media -- such as a pen drive. They also cannot carry smart watches, cameras, bluetooth devices, and any other equipment or related accessories, either in a working or switched off mode, capable of being used as a communication device. Calculators are also banned inside the examination hall. 

"Any infringement of these instructions shall entail disciplinary action against the concerned candidates including debarment from future examination/selection," the UPSC statement said.

10) No bags, expensive items allowed inside venue: Valuable items and bags would not be allowed inside the examination venue either, the Commission said.  

With agency input