OUR Course .


CIVIL SERVICES EXAMINATION STRUCTURE


The Civil Services Exam is conducted in three stages:

Stage 1:
Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination (ObjectiveType)

Stage 2:
Civil Services (Mains)
Examination (Descriptive Type)

Stage 3:
Personal Interview
(Personality Test)

Stage 1: PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION

The Examination shall comprise of two compulsory papers of 200 marks each.

  • Both the question papers will be of the objective type (multiple choice questions).
  • Paper 1 has 100 questions and has a merit based performance.
  • Paper 2 is CSAT which is qualifying in nature with 33% of marks out of 80 questions.
  • Stage 2: MAIN EXAMINATION (SUBJECTIVE TYPE)

    Total Marks for written Exam: 1750, Four papers of General Studies + one Optional subject (consisting 2 papers) and one Essay paper. There are two qualifying papers, one is General English and one is from any other language of 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution. All papers are of 3 hours duration each. The Language Paper 1 on Indian language is not compulsory for students hailing from Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Meghalaya.

    STAGE 1 - PRELIMS

    The details of CSE Prelims Exam are given below:

    PAPER NO. OF QUESTIONS TYPE MARKS DURATION NEGATIVE MARKS
    General Studies I - History, Geography, Economy, Polity, General Science, Ecology & Current Affairs 100 OBJECTIVE 200 2 hours 1/3rd
    General Studies II - (CSAT) 80 OBJECTIVE 200 2 hours 1/3rd



    SYLLABUS OF STAGE 1 PRELIMS

    Paper -1 (GS) 200 Marks


    1. Current Events : 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 Initiativesetc.
    6. General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change that do not require subject specialization.
    7. GeneralScience



    Paper -2 (CSAT) 200 Marks


    1. Comprehension
    2. Interpersonal skills including communication skills
    3. Logical reasoning and analytic alability
    4. Decision making and problem solving
    5. General mental ability
    6. Basic Numeracy (Numbers and the irrelations, orders or magnitude, etc.) (Class X level) Data interpretation (Charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. Class X level)

    STAGE 2 - MAINS

    As per the exam pattern of UPSC Mains, all of the papers consist of descriptive answer type questions. The details of UPSC Mains Exam are given below:

    Paper SUBJECT DURATION TOTAL MARKS
    Language Paper 1 Compulsory Indian language One of the Indian languages to be selected by the candidates from the 8th schedule of the constitution. 3 hours 300
    Language Paper 2 English 3 hours 300
    Paper 1 Essay 3 hours 300
    Paper 2 General Studies I - Indian Heritage and Culture, History & Geography of the World & Society 3 hours 250
    Paper 3 General Studies II - Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice & International relations 3 hours 250
    Paper 4 General Studies III- Technology, Economic Development, Biodiversity, Environment, Security & Disaster Management 3 hours 250
    Paper 5 General Studies III- Technology, Economic Development, Biodiversity, Environment, Security & Disaster Management 3 hours 250
    Optional Paper 1 Optional I - Optional Subject - Paper-1 3 hours 300
    Optional Paper 1 Optional II - Optional Subject - Paper-2 3 hours 250



    Note: The UPSC Mains syllabus gives a list of 48 Optional Subjects which also includes Literature subjects of different languages. Candidates need to choose any one of the "Optional Subjects".


    STAGE 3: Interview/Personality Test

    UPSC Syllabus for Interview


    UPSC Exam - Age Limit

    UPSC has a fixed number of attempts and eligibility criteria concerning age for the UPSC examination. The eligible age is 21 years in all categories. Here’s the category-wise age limit and the number of attempts:

    CATEGORY UPPER AGE LIMIT NUMBER OF ATTEMPTS
    General 32 years 6
    Economically weaker section 32 years 6
    OBC 35 years 9
    SC/ST 37 years Unlimited (Up to age limit)
    Disabled Defense Services Personnel 35 years 9
    Ex-Servicemen 37 years 9
    Persons with Benchmark Disability 42 years 9