Lucknow, May 29 (IANS): Nearly 43 per cent candidates skipped Civil Services preliminary examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) here on Sunday.

Of the 40,018 candidates, only 57.10 per cent turned up.

In the morning shift, 23,123 (57.78 per cent) aspirants appeared, while 16,895 skipped the exam.

In the second shift, 22,851 candidates appeared (57.10 per cent) and 17,167 gave it a miss.

About 50 per cent candidates had skipped the exam in 2020.

Meanwhile, the candidates who appeared found the General Studies (GS) paper very tough as compared to previous year.

Rajeshwar Singh, an aspirant who came from Barabanki to write the exam said, "The general studies question paper was quite tough this year. I took the same exam last year too, but this year the paper was much more difficult."

The second paper 'Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT)' was easy, he said.

The exam was held in 86 exam centres in the state capital.