What is UPSC Civil Services Exam (CSE)

IAS as a Career

The IAS (Indian Administrative Service) is considered one of the most prestigious job profile in the country. There are 24 services offered through the Civil Services Exam, such as IAS (Indian Administrative Service), IPS (Indian Police Service), IFS (Indian Foreign Service), IRS (Indian Revenue Service), among others.

What is the UPSC?

Union Public Service Commission is a body created under the Constitution of India, which conducts Civil Services Examination (CSE). This constitutional body is entrusted with selecting the topmost bureaucrats in India.

Eligibility for UPSC Exam

The educational qualification needed to appear in UPSC Civil Services Exam is a Graduation Degree in any subject recognized by UGC.

Age Limit for UPSC Exam

The Minimum Age to appear in UPSC Civil Services Exam is 21 years as on 1st August of that year. Upper Age limit for General Category is 32 Years, for OBC it is 35 Years while for SC/ST it is 37 years.

UPSC Exam Pattern

The UPSC exam is divided into 3 stages – Prelims, Mains Examination & Personality Test (Interview).

UPSC Exam Scheme

Preliminary Examination

Compulsory	Topic/Subjects	No. of Questions	Duration of the Test	Maximum Marks
General Studies I	Geography, Polity, Economy, History, Environmental Ecology, General Science and Current Affairs	100	2 Hrs	200
General Studies II (CSAT)	Comprehension, Logical Reasoning and General Mental Ability	80	2 Hrs	200*

_{* This exam is of qualifying nature.}

Main Examination

Serial Number	Paper	Subject	Duration of the Test	Maximum Marks
Paper I	Essay Writing	Essay Writing	3 Hrs	250
Paper II	General Studies I	Indian Heritage & Culture, History & Geography of the World & Society	3 Hrs	250
Paper III	General Studies II	Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice & International Relations	3 Hrs	250
Paper IV	General Studies III	Technology, Economic Development, Bio-Diversity, Environment, Security & Disaster Management	3 Hrs	250
Paper V	General Studies IV	Ethics, Integrity & Aptitude	3 Hrs	250
Paper VI	Optional Subject Paper I		3 Hrs	250
Paper VII	Optional Subject Paper II		3 Hrs	250
Paper VIII	English	Qualifying	3 Hrs	300*
Paper IX	Scheduled Language	Qualifying	3 Hrs	300*

_{* This exam is of qualifying nature.}

Interview

Personality Test	275
Note:
25 Subjects and 23 languages are offered by UPSC as Optional Subjects.
Final Selection is done on the basis of merit list calculated out of 2025 Marks from Mains + Personality Test.
Marks of Qualifying Papers are not counted for final selection.

Rank List of UPSC

Rank List is prepared based on total marks obtained in the Seven Papers of Main Exam and the Marks of the Personality Test. (i.e. 1750 Marks from 7 Papers + 275 Marks for Personality Test = 2025 Total Marks)

Attempts

Number of attempts permissible for a general category candidate in UPSC Civil Services Exam is 6, for OBC candidates the number of attempts permitted is 9, SC/ST category will have unlimited attempts till they attain the upper age limit to appear for UPSC Civil Service Exam.

Important Dates for UPSC Exam

Notification and Form filling for Prelim Exam with UPSC - February/March
Date of Prelim Exam - May/June	Declaration of Main Results - January/February
Result of Prelim Exam - August/September	Personality Test - March/April
Commencement of Exam - October	Declaration of Final Merit List - May

List of Services - UPSC Posts

The 3 Types of Civil Services

All India Civil Services

1. Indian Administrative Service (IAS)
2. India Police Service (IPS)
3. Indian Forest Service (IFoS)

Group 'A' Civil Services

01. Indian Foreign Service (IFS)
02. Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IAAS)
03. Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS)
04. Indian Corporate Law Service (ICLS)
05. Indian Defence Accounts Service (IDAS)
06. Indian Defence Estates Service (IDES)
07. Indian Information Service (IIS)
08. Indian Ordnance Factories Service (IOFS)
09. Indian Communication Finance Services (ICFS)
10. Indian Postal Service (IPoS)
11. Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS)
12. Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS)
13. Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS)
14. Indian Revenue Service (IRS)
15. Indian Trade Service (ITS)
16. Railway Protection Force (RPF)

Group 'B' Civil Services

01. Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service
02. DANICS
03. DANIPS
04. Pondicherry Civil Service
05. Pondicherry Police Service

Centres for UPSC Exam

(A)(i) Centres for Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination: The Examination will be held at the following Centres:
Agartala	Gorakhpur	Patna
Agra	Gurugram	Port Blair
Ajmer	Gwalior	Prayagraj (Allahabad)
Ahmedabad	Hyderabad	Puducherry
Aizawal	Imphal	Pune
Aligarh	Indore	Raipur
Anantpur (Andhra Pradesh)	Itanagar	Rajkot
Aurangabad	Jabalpur	Ranchi
Bengaluru	Jaipur	Sambalpur
Barelly	Jammu	Shillong
Bhopal	Jodhpur	Shimla
Bilaspur	Jorhat	Siliguri
Chandigarh	Kochi	Srinagar
Chennai	Kohima	Thane
Coimbatore	Kolkata	Thiruvananthapuram
Cuttack	Kozhikode (Calicut)	Tiruchirappalli
Dehradun	Leh	Tirupati
Delhi	Lucknow	Udaipur
Dharwad	Ludhiana	Varanasi
Dispur	Madurai	Vellore
Faridabad	Mumbai	Vijayavada
Gangtok	Mysore	Vishakhapatnam
Gaya	Nagpur	Warangal
Gautam Buddh Nagar	Navi Mumbai
Ghaziabad	Panaji (Goa)

_{Government strives to have a workforce which reflects gender balance and women candidates are encouraged to apply.}

(A)(ii) Centres for Civil Services (Main) Examination:
Ahmedabad	Delhi	Patna
Aizawal	Dispur (Guwahati)	Prayagraj (Allahabad)
Bengaluru	Hyderabad	Raipur
Bhopal	Jaipur	Ranchi
Chandigarh	Jammu	Shillong
Chennai	Kolkata	Shimla
Cuttack	Lucknow	Thiruvananthapuram
Dehradun	Mumbai	Vijayawada

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