UPSC Civil Service Examination is the most prestigious competitive examination conducted in India. Each year millions of aspirants compete to achieve their dream position in the Indian civil services through the UPSC CSE. Union Public Service Commission takes care of the nationwide test for the recruitment of eligible candidates to the higher civil services in India. The UPSC CSE is conducted for a total of 24 services. Indian Administrative Services, Indian Foreign Services, and Indian Police Services are the most sought-after services on the list. The exam is also known as the IAS examination since Indian Administrative Service is the most popular and admired service among others. Despite being one of the most challenging exams, civil service exams can be cracked with proper and smart planning.
Why do people choose civil Services as their dream career?
Civil service is considered one of the premier services in India. It allows every candidate to serve their mother country. The civil services have a greater sphere of authority compared to the other services in India. Apart from this, the civil service gives every candidate a wide variety of roles within the service. The high-paid posts attract many candidates and their determination helps them to achieve the best.
UPSC selects the eligible candidates via a three-step examination process.
1. Preliminary exam-objective type
2. Main exam- descriptive
3. Interview or personality test
A candidate who qualifies for all three exams will be appointed to the various Indian civil services. Each exam acts as an elimination test and candidates should have an integrated study approach to crack all three tests.
Preliminary examination
The preliminary examination is conducted for 400 marks and consists of two papers named General Studies 1 and General Studies 2. General studies paper two is commonly called the Civil Service Aptitude Test (CSAT). The marks obtained by the candidates in the prelims determine their selection for the main examination. The general studies paper two is qualifying in nature, while the marks scored in paper one are considered as the marks for the prelims. Candidates clearing the prelims cut off can write the main examination.
There is a penalty of ⅓ marks for every wrong marking in the preliminary examination. The preliminary exam is conducted only for the screening purpose and the marks obtained in the prelims will not be added to the final marks.
| Name of the Paper | Marks | Time | |
| Paper I: General Studies | 200 | 2 hours | The score will be considered for Cut-off |
| Paper-II: General Studies-II | 200 | 2 hours | Candidates should obtain 33% |
UPSC CSE main exam
The main exam for IAS includes both merit and qualifying papers. There are a total of 9 papers and two of them are qualifying in nature. English and any regional language are the two qualifying papers.
Qualifying papers
| Subject | Duration | Total marks | |
| Paper A | Regional language | 3 hours | 300 |
| Paper B | English | 3 hours | 300 |
The other seven papers include 4-general studies papers, 2- optional subject papers, and 1-essay paper. The main exam is conducted for a total of 1750 marks.
Merit-ranking papers
| Subject | Duration | Total marks | |
| Paper I | Essay | 3 hours | 250 |
| Paper-II | General Studies I | 3 hours | 250 |
| Paper III | General Studies II | 3 hours | 250 |
| Paper IV | General Studies III | 3 hours | 250 |
| Paper V | General Studies IV | 3 hours | 250 |
| Paper VI | Optional I | 3 hours | 250 |
| Paper VII | Optional II | 3 hours | 250 |
Personality test
A personality test or interview is the final stage of the selection process. The maximum mark for the interview is 275. A panel of highly efficient interviewers will assess the expertise of the candidate through the interview.
