Indian Government has approved a proposal to introduce an aptitude test in place of the existing preliminary examination.

In the new pattern, the UPSC Candidate will have to appear in two objective-type papers having special emphasis on testing their "aptitude for civil services" as well as on "ethical and moral dimension of decision making" under Civil Service Aptitude Test(CSAT). These two papers will replace the existing General Awareness or General Studies and one Optional paper which lays greater emphasis on subject knowledge.