About UPSC IAS Exams

CSE - Civil Services Exam

The Union Public Service Commission conducts the Civil Services Preliminary Exam which is common for the candidates applying for Civil Services Examination and Indian Forest Service  Examination, and acts as a screening mechanism for selection of candidates for the Civil Services (Main) Examination and Indian Forest Service (Main) Examination.

Important Dates

• Date of Notification: 02 February, 2022
• Last Date to Apply: 22 February, 2022
• Exam Date: 05 June, 2022
• Civil Services Mains: 16 September, 2022

Eligibility Criteria

Nationality: For Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service and Indian Police Service, you must be citizen of India. For other services, you must be either a citizen of India, or a subject of Nepal, or a subject of Bhutan, or a Tibetan refugee or a person of Indian origin.

Age: UPSC has a fixed number of attempts and eligibility criteria concerning age for the UPSC examination. Here’s the category-wise age limit and the number of attempts:

Category	Upper Age Limit for UPSC	Maximum Number of Attempts
General	32	6
Economically Weaker Section (EWS)	32	6
OBC	35	9
SC/ST	37	Unlimited (Up to age limit)
Defence Services Personnel	35	9
Persons with Benchmark Disability	35	9

It is important to note that an attempt is counted when you appear for the Prelims examination. Even if you’ve appeared in any one of the exams, your attempt will be counted. This is also one of the major reasons for absenteeism in the Prelims Exam. Only about 50% of the applicants who fill the form appear for the examination. If you’ve filled the examination form and not appear for the exam, your attempt will not be counted.

Further, the person who has already joined the services of IAS or IFS officer cannot write the examination again. However, an IPS can write the examination to compete for IAS rank

Educational Qualification requirement for UPSC IAS Exams: 

You should possess a degree of graduation in any stream from any university recognized by the University Grants Commission (UGC). Those who have appeared in the qualifying exam and are waiting for their results are also eligible to apply.

A candidate applying for IFS exam must possess a Bachelor's degree in one of the following subjects, including animal husbandry and veterinary science, botany, chemistry, geology, mathematics, physics, statistics and zoology, or a Bachelor's degree in agriculture, forestry or engineering from a recognized university.

Number of attempts: You are permitted six attempts at the examination.

Exam Pattern

The Civil Services Examination consists of two successive stages:

1.     Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination (Objective type) for the selection of candidates for the Main Examination

2.     Civil Services (Main) Examination (Written and Interview) for the selection of candidates for the various services and posts.

CSAT Preliminary Exam Pattern

The Preliminary Examination consists of two papers of Objective type (multiple choice questions) and carry maximum of 400 marks. This exam is only a screening test. The marks obtained in the prelims are only for qualifying for main exam and are not counted for determining final order of merit.

Prelims Paper	Duration	Questions	Marks
Paper I - General Studies	2 Hours	100	200
Paper II - Aptitude	2 Hours	80	200
Total			400

 

·        There is penalty (negative marking) for wrong answers. There are four alternatives for the answers to every question. For each question for which a wrong answer has been given, one-third (0.33) of the marks assigned to that question are deducted as penalty.

·        In General Studies Paper-II, minimum qualifying marks is 33%. You will be selected for Mains exam based total qualifying marks of General Studies Paper-I.

·        The number of candidates to be admitted to the Main Examination will be about twelve to thirteen times the total approximate number of vacancies to be filled in the year through this examination.

Civil Services Mains Exam Pattern

The main examination consists of written exam and an interview test. The written examination consists of nine papers of conventional essay type. Two papers are of qualifying in nature. 

S.no.	Paper	Subject	Marks
1.	Paper A	Indian Language (Qualifying)	300
2.	Paper B	English (Qualifying)	300
3.	Paper I	Essay	250
4.	Paper II	General Studies - I	250
5.	Paper III	General Studies - II	250
6.	Paper IV	General Studies - III	250
7.	Paper V	General Studies - IV	250
8.	Paper VI	Optional Subject - Paper 1	250
9.	Paper VII	Optional Subject - Paper 2	250
	Total		1750
		Interview - Personality Test	275
	Grand Total		2025

How to Apply

You have to apply online by using the website https://upsconline.nic.in. You should have details of one Photo ID Card - Aadhaar Card or Voter Card or PAN Card or Passport or Driving Licence or Any other Photo ID Card issued by the State or Central Government. The details of this Photo ID Card have to be provided while filling up the online application form. You have to upload a scanned copy of the Photo ID.

Before start filling up online application, you must have his photograph and signature duly scanned in the .jpg format. Each file should not exceed 300 KB each and must not be less than 20 KB in size for the photograph and signature.