Civil Services Examination is a national competitive exam conducted by the Union Public Service Commission for recruiting higher positions in the Civil Services of the Indian Government including IAS, IPS, and IRS. The Examination is conducted in three stages as Preliminary, Mains, and Personality Test. The details such as eligibility, Educational qualification, Age, Pattern of Exam, Syllabus of Exam, List of services, etc are given below.
LIST OF SERVICES
All India Services
Central Service
Central Services (Group A)
Group B Services
ELIGIBILITY CONDITIONS
Nationality
For the Indian Administrative Service, the Indian Foreign Service and the Indian Police Service, a candidate must be a citizen of India.
Age Limits:
Minimum Age | Maximum Age | Age relaxation |
21 Years | 32 Years | Upper age-limit is relaxable up to a maximum of 5 years if a candidate belongs to Scheduled caste or Scheduled Tribe |
Upper age-limit is relaxable up to a maximum of 3 years if a candidate belongs to Other Backward Classes |
Number of Attempts:
Every candidate appearing at the examination shall be permitted six attempts at the examination
Note :—
PLAN OF EXAMINATION
The Civil Services Examination will consist of three successive stages
Preliminary Examination
Preliminary examination is the first stage in UPSC CSE exams. The question in preliminary examination Is MCQ type (Multiple Choice Question). This examination has 2 papers as following
Paper I (General studies) |
Paper II (Civil services aptitude test known as CSAT). Its mere a qualifying paper with 33% |
Paper I (General studies)
Type of Examination | Objective type |
Medium of Examination | English/Hindi |
Subject to study | General studies |
Duration of the examination | 120 minutes (2 hours) |
Number of Questions | 100 |
Total marks awarded | 200 marks. (2*100=200 Marks). Each question carries 2 Marks. |
Negative markings (If any) | For any wrong answer given 1/3 of the marks (i.e., 0.66 marks) will be deducted from the total mark for the question. |
Paper II (Civil Services aptitude test known as CSAT). Its mere a qualifying paper with 33%.
Type of Examination | Objective type |
Medium of Examination | English/Hindi |
Subject to study | General studies |
Duration of the examination | 120 minutes (2 hours) |
Number of Questions | 80 |
Total marks awarded | 200 marks. (2.5x 80=200 Marks). Each question carries 2.5 Marks. |
Negative markings (If any) | For any wrong answer given 1/3 of the marks (i.e., 0.83 marks) will be deducted from the total mark for the question. |
Note: The marks secured In the preliminary examination are not counted for Main exam and Interview. Both are just screening papers.
Main Examination:
Type of Examination | Descriptive type |
Number of papers | 9 papers (7+2 optional papers) |
Total marks of the examination | 1750 marks |
Language of Examination (Both English and the medium given by the candidate in application form) | English or the language that is declared by the candidate in the application form. |
Paper A & B: QUALIFYING PAPER
Name of the paper | Syllabus of the paper | Total marks awarded |
Qualifying Paper –A | One of the Indian Languages from the languages included in the schedule, This paper will not be compulsory for candidates hailing from the States of Arunachal Pradesh,(Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim | 300 |
Qualifying Paper –B | English | 300 |
Paper I – VII: PAPERS TO BE COUNTED FOR MERIT RANKING
Name of the paper | Syllabus of the paper | Total marks awarded |
Paper I | Essay Paper Candidates will be required to write an essay on a specific topic. There will be choice given from a variety of subjects. The candidate Is expected to stick to the subject of the essay and arrange their ideas in an orderly way. The writing has to be in concise way with numerous points in support of your essay topic. | 250 Marks |
Paper – II | General Studies – I Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society. | 250 Marks |
Paper – III | General Studies – II Governance, Constitution, Polity Social Justice and International relations | 250 Marks |
Paper – IV | General Studies – III Technology, Economic Development, Bio-diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management | 250 Marks |
Paper – V | Optional subject – Paper I | 250 Marks |
Paper – VI | Optional subject – Paper II | 250 Marks |
List of Optional Subjects
Candidates may choose any one of the optional subjects from amongst the list of subjects given below:
• Animal Husbandry and Veterinary science.
• Agriculture
• Anthropology
• Botany
• Chemistry
• Civil Engineering
• Commerce
• Electrical Engineering
• Economics
• Geography
• Geology
• History
• Law
• Mathamatics
• Management
• Mechanical Engineering..
• Medical Science
• Physics
• Philosophy
• Political science
• Public Administration
• Sociology
• Statistics,
• Zoology
• Literature of any one of the following languages: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit ,Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu and English
Personality Test
Candidates who qualify the UPSC Mains Exam will move to the next and final phase called ‘Personality Test/interview’ who will he interviewed by a Board who will have candidates resume.
• The Interview round is held by a Board of competent and unbiased intended to assess social traits and his interest in current affairs and analyse the personal aptness of the candidate for a career in public service. Some of the qualities evaluated during the personality test are mental alertness, clear and logical exposition, critical powers of assimilation, variety and depth of interest, balance of judgement, intellectual and moral integrity ability for social cohesion and leadership,.
• The interview is more of purposive conversation intended to divulge the mental qualities of the candidate.
• Candidate can give interview in their preferred language as UPSC will made arrangement for the Interview Test:
Final Result:
• The total mark of the written examination is 1750
• The Interview/Personality Test will be of 275 marks.
The Grand Total 2025 Marks