Syllabus & Exam Details

Name of the Examination

CIVIL SERVICES EXAMINATION

Conducted By

Union Public Service Commission

Services and Posts for which recruitment is done through UPSC

• Indian Administrative Service
• Indian Foreign Service
• Indian Police Service
• Indian Audit and Accounts Service, Group ‘A’
• Indian Civil Accounts Service, Group ‘A’
• Indian Corporate Law Service, Group ‘A’
• Indian Defence Accounts Service, Group ‘A’
• Indian Defence Estates Service, Group ‘A’
• Indian Information Service, Junior Grade Group ‘A’
• Indian Postal Service, Group ‘A’
• Indian P&T Accounts and Finance Service, Group ‘A’
• Indian Railway Protection Force Service, Group ‘A’
• Indian Revenue Service (Customs & Indirect Taxes) Group ‘A’
• Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax) Group ‘A’
• Indian Trade Service, Group ‘A’ (Grade III)
• Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service, Group ‘B’ (Section Officer’s Grade)
• Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Civil Service (DANICS), Group ‘B
• Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra Haveli Police Service (DANIPS), Group ‘B’
• Pondicherry Civil Service (PONDICS), Group ‘B’

Plan of Examination:

The Civil Services Examination will consist of two successive stages

• Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination (Objective type) for the selection of candidates for the Main Examination; and
• Civil Services (Main) Examination (Written and Interview) for the selection of candidates for the various Services and posts noted above.

Number of attempts:

Every candidate appearing at the examination who is otherwise eligible, shall be permitted six (6) attempts at the CSE. However, relaxation in the number of attempts will be available to the SC/ST/OBC and PwBD category candidates who are otherwise eligible. The number of attempts available to such candidates as per relaxation is as under:

Note‐I : The terms – GL for General, EWS for Economically Weaker Sections, SC for Scheduled Castes, ST for Scheduled Tribes, OBC for Other Backward Classes and PwBD for Persons with Benchmark Disability – are used for denoting the categories of candidates taking an attempt at the Examination.

Note‐II : An attempt at a Preliminary Examination shall be deemed to be an attempt at the Civil Services Examination.

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) and each will be of two hours duration.
• The General Studies Paper-II of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination will be a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%.
• The question papers will be set both in Hindi and English.

MAIN EXAMINATION:

The Written Examination will consist of the following papers:—

Qualifying Papers:

Paper-A

(One of the Indian Language to be selected by the candidate from the Languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution).  300 Marks                                                                                                                                  

Paper‐B

English                                                                                                        300 Marks

Papers to be counted for merit :

Paper‐I

Essay                250 Marks                                                                              

Paper‐II

General Studies‐I                  250 Marks                                                         Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society)

Paper‐III

General Studies ‐II                   250 Marks                                                                   (Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations)

Paper‐IV

General Studies ‐III                  250 Marks                                                                    (Technology, Economic Development, Bio-diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management)

Paper‐V

General Studies ‐IV                  250 Marks                                                                    (Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude)

Paper‐VI

Optional Subject‐Paper 1         250 Marks                                                               

Paper‐VII

Optional Subject‐Paper 2         250 Marks                                                              

Sub Total (Written test)                  1750 Marks

Personality Test                      275 Marks                                                                       

Grand Total                                      2025 Marks

Note – The papers on Indian languages and English (Paper A and paper B) will be of Matriculation or equivalent standard and will be of qualifying nature

• List of optional subjects for Main Examination:
  • Agriculture
  • Animal Husbandry and 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 Administration
  • Sociology
  • Statistics
  • Zoology
  • Literature of any one of the following languages: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu and English.

Note :

The question papers for the examination will be of conventional (essay) type.

Each paper will be of three hours duration.

Candidates will have the option to answer all the question papers, except the Qualifying Language Papers, Paper-A and Paper-B, in any one of the languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India or in English

Interview/Personality Test

The candidate will be interviewed by a Board who will have before them a record of the candidate’s career. The candidate will be asked questions on matters of general interest. The object of the Interview/Personality Test is to assess the personal suitability of the candidate for a career in public service by a Board of competent and unbiased observers. The Interview/Personality Test is intended to judge the mental calibre of a candidate. In broad terms this is really an assessment of not only intellectual qualities but also social traits and interest in current affairs. Some of the qualities to be judged are mental alertness, critical powers of assimilation, clear and logical exposition, balance of judgement, variety and depth of interest, ability for social cohesion and leadership, intellectual and moral integrity.

The technique of the Interview/Personality Test is not that of a strict cross-examination but of a natural, though directed and purposive conversation which is intended to reveal the mental qualities of the candidate.3. The Interview/Personality Test is not intended to be a test either of the specialized or general knowledge of the candidates which has been already tested through their written papers. Candidates are expected to have taken an intelligent interest not only in their special subjects of academic study but also in the events which are happening around them both within and outside their own State or Country as well as in modern currents of thought and in new discoveries which should rouse the curiosity of well-educated youth.

To download the Syllabus of Prelims and Mains Examination

Click Here