Union Public Service Commission
Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is India’s foremost central organisation responsible for conducting examinations for and appointment to the All India Services and Group A and B staff for central services. The provision for UPSC is enshrined in the Part IV of Indian Constitution. The Articles from Article 315 to Article 323 in Part IV requires the government to constitute a Public Service Commission for the Union as well as all the states of the Indian Union.
Civil Services Examinations
The Civil Service forms the backbone of India’s bureaucratic machinery. The Civil Services Examinations are conducted by the UPSC to recruit the officers for the Indian administrative machinery. Every year, lakhs of aspirants take the competitive exam to get their hands on the distinguished designation in the Indian government. According to majority of the aspirants, the Civil Services Examinations are considered as the toughest competitive exam in the country, the success rate is pretty low with less than thousand seats on offer every year to lakhs of aspirants. The Civil Services
examinations are conducted in three phase since the merger of India Foreign Services(earlier held separately) with the examinations for services like Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service, Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise) to name some.
Three phases of Civil Services Examinations:
- Preliminary Civil Services Examination (Objective)
- Mains Civil Services Examination (Subjective)
- Personal Interview
Preliminary Civil Service Exam
| Criterion | Subjects |
| General Studies | CSAT | |
| Type | Objective | Subjective |
| Questions | 100 | 80 |
| Duration | 2 hours | 2 hours |
| Marks | +2, for every right answer -0.66, for every wrong answer |
+2.5, for every right answer -0.88, for every wrong answer |
A)General Studies
- First Test of Prelims
- To Test the general awareness of the candidates
- Subjects: Indian Polity, Geography, History, Indian Economy, Science and Technology, Environment and Ecology, International Relations and related current affairs.
B) CSAT-Civil Services Aptitude Test
- Conducted after Prelims
- To test the Reasoning, Analytical, and Decision Making acumen of aspirants
Syllabus for Prelims
Paper-I(General Studies)
- Current events of national and international importance
- World Geography-Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World Indian Polity
- History of India and Indian National Movement
- Indian Governance – Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc
- General issues on Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change – that do not require subject specialisation, General Science
- Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector initiatives, etc
Paper-II(CSAT)
- Comprehension Interpersonal skills including communication skills
- Decision-making and problem solving
- Logical reasoning and analytical ability
- Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. – Class X level)
- General mental ability
- Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc.) (Class X level)
Mains Civil Services Examination
The candidate who successfully clear the Preliminary exams are eligible to appear for the Civil Services Exams Mains. The Mains contain 7 papers of 250 marks and 2 language papers of 300 marks each for qualifying, to test the the candidate’s academic acumen, ability to present precise answers/solutions, and level of understanding.
Mains Papers
| Paper | Subject | Syllabus | Marks |
| Paper I | Essay | 250 | |
| Paper II | General Studies I | Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society | 250 |
| Paper III | General Studies II | Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations | 250 |
| Paper IV | General Studies III | Technology, Economic Development, Bio-diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management | 250 |
| Paper V | General Studies IV | Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude | 250 |
| Paper VI | Paper-I Optional Subject | 250 | |
| Paper VII | Paper-II Optional Subject | 250 |
Qualifying Paper
The 2 qualifying language papers are conducted for English Language Paper and Indian Language Paper. The candidates are required to attain a minimum of 30 per cent marks in Indian Language Paper and 25 per cent in the English Language Paper to qualify for the Essay, General Studies, and optional subject paper. The candidates can choose out of 22 Indian regional languages mentioned in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution to write 7 papers, except the English and Indian Language Papers. The English and optional Indian language marks will not be counted for final evaluation. But, it is essential to qualify in these exams or else the candidates will not be considered for the next stage of selection process.
The Language Paper Structure
- Essay – 100 marks Reading comprehension – 60 marks
- Precise Writing – 60 marks
- Translation:
- English to compulsory language (e.g. Hindi) – 20 marks
- Compulsory language to English – 20 marks
- Grammar and basic language usage – 40 marks
The List of Optional Languages
| Indian Language Paper |
| Arabic | Bengali | Assamese | Bodo | Dogri | German | French |
| Gujarati | Kashmiri | Kannada | Hindi | Konkani | Maithili | Manipuri |
| Malayalam | Marathi | Nepali | Punjabi | Persian | Oriya | Santhali |
| Sindhi | Sanskrit | Tamil | Russian | Telugu | Urdu |
The Optional Subjects For Paper VI and VII
| Optional Subjects |
| Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science | Agriculture | Anthropology | Chemistry | Botany |
| Civil Engineering | Economics | Commerce and Accountancy | Electrical Engineering | Geography |
| Geology | History | Management | Law | Mathematics |
| Mechanical Engineering | Medical Science | Philosophy | Physics | Political Science and International Relations |
| Psychology | Sociology | Public Administration | Zoology | Statistics |
Personal Interview
- Candidates who clear the Mains are called for Personal Interview/Personality Test
- UPSC appoints a Board for candidate’s interview
- Interview is conducted to by an unbiased and competent board to analyse the personality and suitability of the candidate
- The interview is a meaningful conversation between the candidate and board to study the analytical and mental ability of the aspirants
- The PI/PT is of 250 marks that takes the grand total to 2025 marks.
Eligibility
| Criteria | Requirements |
| Age |
|
| Educational Qualification | A degree from any of the University incorporated by an Act of the Central or State Legislature in India or other education institutions established by an Act of Parliament or declared to be Deemed University under the UGC Act., 1956, or equivalent qualification |
| Attempts |
|
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