Summary
This is a fourteen-page official question paper in Kashmiri, set as the compulsory Indian-language paper in the 2012 Civil Services (Main) Examination. The archived PDF weighs about 0.2 MB. A twelve-page and a fourteen-page paper from sister languages sit nearby in this series, so you can see that page counts differ by language and year.
Why page count matters
More pages generally mean more material to read before writing. Spend your first five minutes scanning each page, mark the questions you are surest about and plan the sequence of answers. Reading instructions printed on later pages avoids the classic trap of missing a compulsory question or overrunning a word limit.
Kashmiri candidates and the paper
Kashmiri is spoken across the Valley and by diaspora communities, and the script used in the examination is a Perso-Arabic one. If you grew up speaking Kashmiri but studied in Urdu, English or Hindi, your reading may be slower than you expect. Training your eye to the script is part of the preparation.
Drills
- Copy out one passage by hand to build writing speed in the script.
- Summarise a news article in three sentences, then in one.
- Translate five sentences between English and Kashmiri each day.
- Ask a speaker to dictate a paragraph and correct your spelling.
Related papers on this site
Kashmiri also appears in other forms. A 2011 compulsory Kashmiri paper is available, as are optional literature papers. Note which is which before downloading, since they serve different purposes: one is a qualifying language test, the others are optional subject papers.
A word of care
Details of eligibility and exemptions for language papers are fixed by the Commission and may change. Consult the latest notification rather than relying on an old paper.
Printed material
The store has bound UPSC previous year question collections that complement this file for the scoring papers.
Managing the first read
With fourteen pages, divide the first ten minutes into two parts: five to survey the layout and five to start the easiest question. A calm start helps the rest of the session. Candidates who dive in blindly often find a compulsory question on the last page when little time remains.
