Aspirants of Civil Services Examination are at the right place to get the details of the UPSC examination process.
Civil services, which is the backbone of Indian governance. The Civil Services Examination (CSE) is a nationwide competitive examination in India conducted by the Union Public Service Commission for recruitment to higher Civil Services of the Government of India, including the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service, and Indian Police Service. Also simply referred to as the UPSC examination
The Civil Services Examination is the most difficult competitive examination in India. A single attempt takes two complete years of preparation – one year before the prelims and one year from prelims to interview. On average, 900,000 to 1,000,000 candidates apply every year and the number of candidates sitting in the preliminary examination is approximately 550,000.
EDUCATION
| Any Degree recognized by UGC/AICTE)
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Nationality
| For the Indian Administrative Service, the Indian Foreign Service and the Indian Police Service:- Ø A candidate must be a citizen of India. For other services, a candidate must be either Ø a citizen of India, or a subject of Nepal, or a subject of Bhutan, or a Tibetan refugee who came over to India before 1st January, 1962 with the intention of permanently settling in India, or a person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia and Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India.
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AGE*
| Minimum Age
| Maximum Age
| No of attempts
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GENERAL
| 21
| 32
| 6
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OBC
| 21
| 32
| 9
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SC & ST
| 21
| 32
| No restriction
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➢ The Candidates who have qualified for admission to the Civil Services Main Examination will have to apply online again and submit on-line Detailed Application Form-I [DAF-I] along with scanned documents/certificates in support of date of birth, category {viz. SC/ST/ OBC (without OBC Annexure) /EWS [Economically Weaker Sections] (without EWS Annexure) /PwBD / Ex-Serviceman} and educational qualification with required Examination Fee.
➢ The candidates who are declared to have qualified Civil Services (Main) Examination will be required to mandatorily indicate order of preferences, for which he is interested to be allocated to, in the on-line Detailed Application Form-II [DAF-II], before the commencement of Personality Tests (Interview) of the examination. Further, the candidates who wish to indicate IAS/IPS as their Service preference are advised to indicate all the Zones and Cadres in the order of preference in their on-line DAF-II as per the extant Cadre Allocation Policy applicable for the Civil Services Examination, 2021. With this DAF-II, a candidate will also be required to upload documents/certificates for higher education, achievements in different fields, service experience, OBC Annexure (for OBC category only), EWS Annexure [for EWS Category only], etc.
The Preliminary Examination which is common for both Civil services and Forest services. It consists of two papers – one is held in the forenoon and the other in the afternoon of the same day and both papers consist of a set of multiple choice questions.
| Two Compulsory Papers – Total Number of Marks – 400 | |||
| GS Paper-I | General Studies Paper-I 100 – Questions 200 Marks | Correct Answer – 2 Marks Incorrect Answer -0.66 Marks deducted | Time Allotted – 2 Hours (9:30 AM -11:30 AM) |
| CSAT Paper- II | (CSAT) Paper-II 80 – Questions 200 Marks | Correct Answer 2.5 Marks Incorrect Answer -0.83 Marks deducted | Time Allotted – 2 Hours (2:30 PM – 4:30 PM) |
| Negative Marking | ⅓ of the total marks allotted to the question will be deducted for every wrong answer | ||
Paper II marks is qualifying paper with a minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33% (i.e 66 marks).
I.In General Studies Paper I questions related to Indian Polity, Geography, History, Indian Economy, Science and Technology, Environment and Ecology, International Relations and associated Current affairs are asked.
II.Paper II (also called CSAT or Civil Services Aptitude Test), tests the candidate’s skills in comprehension, interpersonal skills, communication, logical reasoning, analytical ability, decision making, problem solving, basic numeracy, data interpretation, English language comprehension skills and mental ability. It is qualifying in nature and the marks obtained in this paper are not counted for merit. However, it is mandatory for the candidate to score a minimum of 33 per cent in this paper to qualify the Prelims exam
The ‘Decision Making’ based questions are generally exempt from negative marks.
The Civil Services Main written examination consists of 9 papers, 2 qualifying and 7 ranking in nature. The range of questions may vary from just 1 mark to 60 marks, 20 to 600 words answers. Candidates who pass qualifying papers are ranked according to marks and a selected number of candidates are called for interview or a personality test at the Commission’s discretion.
➢The Mains examination is intended to assess the overall intellectual traits and depth of understanding of candidates rather than merely the range of their information and memory.
➢The Mains Exam is conducted across 5-7 days. Only those candidates who have qualified prelims are allowed to write UPSC Mains Examination. A separate hall ticket is issued to the qualified candidates.
➢The UPSC CSE Mains is of descriptive nature and candidates are required to write the answers in the answer sheets provided by the UPSC.
Sl no | Paper | Subject | Duration | Marks |
1 | PAPER – A | (One of the Indian languages, to be selected by the candidate (from the languages listed in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India) (Qualifying) | 3 hours | 300 |
2 | PAPER – B | English (Qualifying) | 3 hours | 300 |
3 | PAPER – I | Essay | 3 hours | 250 |
4 | PAPER – II | General Studies – I (Indian Heritage & Culture, History & Geography of the World & Society)* | 3 hours | 250 |
5 | PAPER – III | General Studies – II (Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice & International Relations)* | 3 hours | 250 |
6 | PAPER – IV | General Studies – III (Technology, Economic Development, Biodiversity, Security & Disaster Management)* | 3 hours | 250 |
7 | PAPER – V | General Studies – IV (Ethics, Integrity & Aptitude)* | 3 hours | 250 |
8 | PAPER – VI | Optional Subject – Paper I* | 3 hours | 250 |
9 | PAPER – VII | Optional Subject – Paper II* | 3 hours | 250 |
can be written in the medium of the candidate’s choice
( i.e from Paper- I to VII – 250 marks per paper *7 papers =1750 marks)
➢ Known as Personality Test, UPSC Interview is the last stage of the examination.
➢ There is no defined UPSC syllabus for the interview.
➢ Questions are asked from wide-ranging issues.
➢ The objective of the interview is to assess the personal suitability of the candidate for a career in public service by a board of competent and unbiased observers.
➢ The test is intended to evaluate the mental caliber of a candidate.
➢ In broad terms, this is really an assessment of not only a candidate’s intellectual qualities, but also social traits and interest in current affairs.
➢ Some of the qualities to be judged are mental alertness, critical powers of assimilation, clear and logical exposition, balance of judgment, variety and depth of interest, ability for social cohesion and leadership, and intellectual and moral integrity.
➢ The technique of the interview is not that of a strict cross-examination, but of a natural, though directed and purposeful conversation that is intended to reveal the mental qualities of the candidate.
➢ The interview is not intended to test either of the specialized or general knowledge of the candidate, which has been already tested through written papers. Candidates are expected to have taken an intelligent interest not only in their special subjects of academic study, but also in the events which are happening around them both within and outside their own state or country as well as in modern currents of thought and in new discoveries which should rouse the curiosity of all well-educated youth. The interview standards are very high and require thorough preparation as well as commitment.
➢ Candidates who qualify the UPSC Mains Exam will be called for the ‘Personality Test/Interview’.
➢ These candidates will be interviewed by a Board appointed by the UPSC.
➢The objective of the interview is to assess the personal suitability of the candidate for a career in civil services by a board of competent and unbiased observers.
➢ The interview is more of a purposive conversation intended to explore the mental qualities and analytical ability of the candidate.
➢The Interview test will be 275 marks and the total marks for the written examination is 1750. This sums up to a Grand Total of 2025 Marks, based on which the final merit list will be prepared.
➢ Interview for Personality test will be conducted in Delhi for candidates who clear the Mains examination.
Following are the services which one gets on qualifying the Civil Service Examination.
The examination is available in the following languages, with the name of the script in parenthesis:
The subjects available for Papers VI and VII are:
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For syllabus, click here
Note 1: Paper-II of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination will be a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%.
Note 2: The questions will be of multiple choice, objective type.
Note 3: It is mandatory for the candidate to appear in both the Papers of Civil Services (Prelim) Examination for the purpose of evaluation. Therefore a candidate will be disqualified in case he/she does not appear in both the papers of Civil Services (Prelim) Examination.
The aim of the paper is to test the candidates’ ability to read and understand serious discursive prose, and to express ideas clearly and correctly, in English and Indian language concerned.
The pattern of questions would be broadly as follows:
(i) Comprehension of given passages.
(ii) Precis Writing.
(iii) Usage and Vocabulary.
(iv) Short Essays.
Indian Languages:—
(i) Comprehension of given passages.
(ii) Precis Writing.
(iii) Usage and Vocabulary.
(iv) Short Essays.
(v) Translation from English to the Indian Language and vice-versa.
Note 1: The papers on Indian Languages and English will be of Matriculation or equivalent standard and will be of qualifying nature only. The marks obtained in these papers will not be counted for ranking.
Note 2: The candidates will have to answer the English and Indian Languages papers in English and the respective Indian language (except where translation is involved).
Essay: Candidates may be required to write essays on multiple topics. They will be expected to keep closely to the subject of the essay to arrange their ideas in orderly fashion, and to write concisely. Credit will be given for effective and exact expression.
General Studies‐I: Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society.
General Studies‐ II: Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations.
General Studies‐III: Technology, Economic Development, Bio diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management
General Studies‐ IV: Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude
Candidate may choose any optional subject from amongst the List of Optional Subjects in the notification.
➢Previous Papers (OLD UPSC Prelims QPs) (Downloadable) *attached in drive
The Union Public Service Commission commonly abbreviated as UPSC, is India‘s premier central recruiting agency for central government public servants.
It is responsible for appointments to and examinations for Group A and Group B posts under civil services cadre and defence services cadre of the union government. While Department of Personnel and Training is the central personnel agency in India.
Established on 1 October 1926 as Public Service Commission, it was later reconstituted as Federal Public Service Commission by the Government of India Act 1935; only to be renamed as today’s Union Public Service Commission after the independence.
For the Indian Administrative Service, the Indian Police Service and the Indian Foreign Service the candidate must be a citizen of India.
For other services, the candidate must be one of the following:
All candidates must have as a minimum one of the following educational qualifications
The following candidates are also eligible, but must submit proof of their eligibility from a competent authority at their institute/university at the time of the main examination, failing which they will not be allowed to attend the exam.
The candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 32 years (for the General category candidate) on the year of examination. Prescribed age limits vary with respect to caste reservations.
Appearing to attempt one of the papers in the preliminary examination is counted as an attempt, including disqualification/ cancellation of candidature. However, applying to sit the exam but failing to attend is not counted as an attempt
(i) Indian Administrative Service
(ii) Indian Foreign Service
(iii) Indian Police Service
(iv) Indian Audit and Accounts Service, Group ‘A’
(v) Indian Civil Accounts Service, Group ‘A’
(vi) Indian Corporate Law Service, Group ‘A’
(vii) Indian Defence Accounts Service, Group ‘A’
(viii) Indian Defence Estates Service, Group ‘A’
(ix) Indian Information Service, Junior Grade Group ‘A’
(x) Indian Postal Service, Group ‘A’
(xi) Indian P&T Accounts and Finance Service, Group ‘A’
(xii) Indian Railway Protection Force Service, Group ‘A’
(xiii) Indian Revenue Service (Customs & Indirect Taxes) Group ‘A’
(xiv) Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax) Group ‘A’
(xv) Indian Trade Service, Group ‘A’ (Grade III)
(xvi) Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service, Group ‘B’ (Section Officer’s Grade)
(xvii) Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Civil Service (DANICS), Group ‘B’
(xviii) Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Police Service (DANIPS), Group ‘B’
(xix) Pondicherry Civil Service (PONDICS), Group ‘B’
Preliminary Examination
Main Examination
Personality Test(Interview)
Paper I (General Studies)
100 Question- 200 Marks, each question carry 2 marks
Paper II (CSAT)
80 Questions- 200 Marks, each question carry 2.5 marks
Paper | Subject | Marks |
Paper A | (One of the Indian languages listed below, to be selected by the candidate (from the languages listed in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India) (Qualifying) | 300 |
Paper B | English (Qualifying) | 300 |
Paper I | Essay | 250 |
Paper II | General Studies I (Indian heritage and culture, history and geography of the world and society) | 250 |
Paper III | General Studies II (Governance, constitution, polity, social justice and international relations) | 250 |
Paper IV | General Studies III (Technology, economic development, bio-diversity, environment, security and disaster management) | 250 |
Paper V | General Studies IV (ethics, integrity and aptitude) | 250 |
Papers VI, VII | Two papers on one subject to be selected by the candidate from the list of optional subjects below (250 marks for each paper) | 500 |
Sub Total (Written Test) | 1750 | |
Personality Test (Interview) | 275 | |
Total Marks | 2025 | |
No. Only marks scored in Mains and Personality test will be counted at the final ranking stage.
The subjects available for Papers VI and VII are
Literature of any one of the languages listed above | ||
Commerce and Accountancy | ||
Subject | List of Books |
History |
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Geography |
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Indian Polity |
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Economics |
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Environment | 1. Our Environment NCERT Book 2. NIOS Environment Notes |
CSAT |
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