UPSC

The Civil Services Examination (CSE) is a nationwide competitive examination in India conducted by the Union Public Service Commission for recruitment to various Civil Services of the Government of India.

Eligibility Criteria for UPSC : Age Limit & Attempts

Minimum age is 21 years.

The separate maximum age limit has been set for different reservation categories: 32 years and 6 Attempts for General category & Economically weaker section(EWS), 35 years and 9 Attempts for OBC and 37 years for SC and ST . There is extra relaxation in the disabled category. The age of candidates is counted as on August 1 of the exam year.

Educational Qualification:

1. The educational qualification required for this examination is Graduate in any discipline.

2. There is no minimum percentage required in graduation.

3. The exam is so designed that the persons from different backgrounds are placed at the level playing field.

4. There is no advantage to the candidates, who have better marks in their degree course, only the civil services exam marks matters.

The UPSC Examination is conducted in 3 stages. The entire process takes almost an year:

Stage I – Preliminary Examination (usually conducted in May/June, results by August) Stage II-Mains Exam (Usually Conducted in November)

Stage III – Interview (usually conducted over March/April)

Preliminary Examination (CSAT) Pattern

The Preliminary Examination basically serves as a screening test to shortlist candidates for the Main examination.

1. The Preliminary Exam consists of two objective type papers (multiple-choice questions) for a total of 400 marks. Each paper has 200 marks each and two hours allotted. However, blind candidates would be provided an extra 20 minutes for each paper.

2. The marks obtained in this test are not counted for determining the final order of merit of a candidate if he qualifies for the main exam as well.

3. There will be negative marking (of one-third marks for that answer) for wrong answer in the objective type question papers.

Preliminary Examination Syllabus

Paper I – (200 marks) Duration: Two hours

1. Current events of national and international importance

2. History of India and Indian National Movement

3. Indian and World Geography – Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World

4. Indian Polity and Governance – Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.

5. Economic and Social Development Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector initiatives, etc.

6. General issues on Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change – subject specialization not required.

7. General Science

Paper II – (200 marks) Duration: Two hours – this is a qualifying paper, candidates should score minimum 33% to qualify

1. Comprehension

2. Interpersonal skills including communication skills

3. Logical reasoning and analytical ability

4. Decision-making and problem-solving

5. General mental ability

6. Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc.) (Class X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. – Class X level)

Main Examination

1. Written Exam

2. The main examination will have the 2 qualifying papers and 7 papers to be counted for merit. All the 9 papers will have essay-type questions.

Qualifying papers

Paper A (300 marks) – One of the Indian Language to be selected by the candidate from the languages included in the 8th Schedule to the Constitution

Paper B (300 marks) – English

1. The papers on Indian Languages and English (Paper A and Paper B) will be of matriculation or equivalent standard and will be of qualifying nature. The marks obtained in these papers will not be counted for ranking.

Papers to be counted for merit

Optional Subjects for the main exams are:

1. Agriculture

2. Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science

3. Anthropology

4. Botany

5. Chemistry

6. Civil Engineering

7. Commerce and Accountancy

8. Economics

9. Electrical Engineering

10. Geography

11. Geology

12. History

13. Law

14. Management

15. Mathematics

16. Mechanical Engineering

17. Medical Science

18. Philosophy

19. Physics

20. Political Science and International Relations

21. Psychology

22. Public Administration

23. Sociology

24. Statistics

25. Zoology

26. Literature of any of the following 23 languages: Assamese, Manipuri, Bengali, Marathi, Bodo, Nepali, Dogri, Oriya, English, Punjabi, Gujarati, Sanskrit, Hindi, Santhali, Kannada, Sindhi, Kashmiri, Tamil, Konkani, Telugu, Maithilli, Urdu, Malayalam

Personality test/Interview

1. The interview or personality round is also included as a part of the “Main Examination” and is worth 275 marks, which is added to the grand total.

2. Marks obtained by candidates in the Main Examination (written part as well as interview) will determine final ranking. Candidates will be allotted to the various Services, keeping in view their ranks in the examination and the preferences expressed by them for the various Services and posts.