The Rating System of the Civil Service Career Examinations - Paper and Pencil Test

The important thing you should know is that you don't need to get 80% of all the questions right. Yes, it does not work that way!! CSC has a quota!! ..which is 8 to 12% of the takers would only pass the exam!! Believe it or not, you will be ranked based on your score. Ranking the real scores from highest to lowest, the top 8 to 12% (or whatever their quota is) will get the passing scores (80+ ratings). In our time, the top one got an 89 rating.

Here is a photocopy of my certificate as an example.

The exam is divided into 4 categories, Verbal, Analytical, Numerical and General Information.

I was quite sure I failed the exam because of the verbal usage part, I got 83.72%, which is quite shocking for me at first (since I did not know the score system then) because I'm sure I only got less than 50% correct of the verbal usage exam. It was that difficult! But because the system ranked my score  highest to lowest, I got the 83.72% score. I was pretty confident with the analytic and numerical exams though (since this is my thing), I got very good scores while I was practicing on the reviewers. If you noticed I failed in general info, the questions was about laws and constitution and I sucked at it. I barely survived my Political Science and History in college. hehe.

I know this fact and I'm sure about it because it is the same with PRC board exams. They use the same system in Electrical Engineering Board exam, they use the quota system.

When you get your own certificate of eligibility, you have the option to change your picture with the same format, which will be permanently attached to your certificate because the Civil Service dry seal will be pressed on your picture..