HOW TO APPLY FOR CIVIL SERVICES EXAMINATION  (UPSC)


Civil Services Examination is the most prestigious examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission for recruitment to various All India Services including I.A.S., I.P.S., I.F.S.,I.R.S., and various Group A Services and Group B Services.

(1) Plan of Examination

Normally  applications are invited though UPSC notifications in leading News Papers ().

The Civil Services Examination consists of three stages.

  1. Civil Services Preliminary Examination ( Objective Type) (Usually conducted in May)
  2. Civil Services Main Examination (Written) (Conducted during October/November)
  3. Interview and final Selection (During April/May)


A. Preliminary Examination:             It has two papers.
Paper I 200 Marks Questions are  of  Objective Type
Paper II 200 Marks

Paper 1  (200 marks) - Duration : Two hrs.

  • Current events of national and international importance
  • History of India and Indian national movement
  • Indian and World Geography- physical, social, economic geography of India and the world
  • Indian Polity and governance -constitution, political system, panchayati raj, public policy, Rights issues, etc.
  • Economic and social development - sustainable development, poverty, inclusion, demographics, social sector initiatives etc.
  • General issues on environmental ecology, bio-diversity and climate change-that donot require subject specialization
  • General science.

Paper II  (200 marks) - Duration : Two hrs

  • Comprehension
  • Interpersonal skills including communication skills
  • Logical reasoning and analytical ability
  • Decision making and problem solving
  • General mental ability
  • Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude etc. (Class X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. -Class X level)
  • English language comprehension skills (Class X level)

Note  :  1 ) Questions relating to English Language Comprehension skills of Class X level (last item in the Syllabus of Paper-II) will be tested through passages from English language only without providing Hindi translation thereof in the question paper.

             2 ) The questions will be of multiple choice, objective type.

 

 

B. Main Examination
Written - 2000 Marks (Descriptive Type Question)

Paper I One of the Indian Language included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution 300 Marks-(Qualifying Nature) Does not count for Ranking
PaperII   English 300 Marks - (Qualifying Nature)
Paper III Essay 200 Marks

=2000 Marks
Paper IV & V General Studies 300 Marks for each Paper
Paper VI & VII Optional Subject I 300 Marks for each Paper
Paper VIII & IX    Optional Subject II 300 Marks for each Paper
Personality Test

 300 Marks

 = 300Marks       

TOTAL                   =    2300 Marks

Note : Raking is done on the basis of marks scored for a total of 2300 Marks for the Main Examination,all the above (except Englist) can be written in Tamil  also. But the medium should be the same for the all the Subject.

 
2. Minimum Educational Qualification:

Degree of any recognized university.
3. Age Limit:

Minimum Age  : 21 as on 1sMinimum Age: 21 as on 1st August .

Maximum Age : 30 for OC, 33 for OBC and 35 for SC.

10 years cumulative age relaxation for DA
4. Number of attempts:
Category Others DA
General (OC) 4 7
OBC 7 7
SC/ST Unlimited Unlimited
5. Preliminary Examination :
           The Preliminary Exam shall now comprise of  2 compulsory papers        of 200 marks each and of 2 hrs. duration each.
6. Main Examination :
a) Candidates are allowed to choose 2  optional Subjects from the following Subject :

Agriculture, Animal Husbandry & veterinary Science, Anthropology, Botany, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Commerce and Accountancy, Economics, Electrical Engineering, Geography, Geology, History, Law, Management, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Medical Science, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science and International Relations, Psychology, Public Adminstration, Sociology, Statistics, Zoology and  literature one of the following languages:

Arabic, Assamese, Bodo,Bengali, Chinesse,Dogri, English, French, German, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani,Maithili,Malayalam, Manipuri,Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Pali, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Sanskrit,Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu.
b) Candidates will not be allowed to offer the following combination of subjects:

i) Political Science & International Relations and Public Administration
ii) Commerce & Accountancy and Management
iii) Anthropology and Sociology
iv) Mathematics and Statistics
v) Agriculture and Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science.
vi) Management and Public Administration.
vii) Of the Engineering subjects, viz., Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering - not more than one subject.
viii) Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science and Medical Science.
c) All the question papers for the examination will be of conventional (essay) type.
d) Each paper will be of three hours duration.
7. Interview Test:
The candidate will be interviewed by a Board of competent and unbiased observers. The aim of the Interview is to assess the suitability  of a candidate for a career in Public Service. The Interview is mainly to judge the mental caliber , the intellectul qualites , and also the social tratis and prowess of the  candidate . Mental alertness , Power of assimilation , Clear and logical exposition , balance of judgement , Varity and depth of interset , ability for social cohesion and leadership intellectual  and moral integrity are also judged simultaneously by the board.