Every year lakhs of candidates appear for UPSC CSE exam. But only some hundreds of them got qualify. The Civil Services Examination also known as IAS exam is the hardest and most prestigious examination in India. This Exam is conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). To crack this exam one should have to work hard from the first day of preparation. The candidates who are preparing for this exam must be aware about the exam pattern and syllabus in detail.
UPSC CSE exam comprises of three stages namely known as Prelims, Mains and Interview. In this article we will discuss the examination scheme in details. So read carefully the article to get better understand about the exam pattern.
UPSC IAS Prelims Exam Pattern
UPSC CSE Prelims exam comprises of two papers commonly known as General Studies 1 and CSAT .The marks obtained in General Studies I determine the selection of the candidate for Mains Examination while CSAT paper is only Qualifying in Nature. Your score in General Studies I is considered for the Prelims cutoff. So be very attentive while attempting Paper I of your examination.
In addition to this there is negative marking of 1/3 with each wrong answer. So first understand the questions and then answer them carefully.
| Paper Name | No. of Questions | Maximum Marks | Duration of Paper | Nature of Paper |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Studies I (Objective type) | 100 | 200 | 2 hours | Considered for Cutoff for Mains Examination |
| General Studies II (CSAT) (Objective type) | 80 | 200 | 2 hours | Only Qualifying in Nature |
UPSC IAS Mains Examination Pattern
The UPSC CSE Mains Exam pattern is as below. In this exam two papers namely English Language and Compulsory Indian Language are only qualifying in nature. Their marks are not considered for your result.
| Paper | Subject | Duration of Paper | Maximum marks | Nature of paper | Type of Paper |
| Paper A | Compulsory Indian language | 3 hours | 300 | Qualifying | Descriptive |
| Paper B | English | 3 hours | 300 | Qualifying | Descriptive |
| Paper I | Essay | 3 hours | 250 | Merit (Considered for Cutoff) | Descriptive |
| Paper-II | General Studies I | 3 hours | 250 | Merit (Considered for Cutoff) | Descriptive |
| Paper III | General Studies II | 3 hours | 250 | Merit (Considered for Cutoff) | Descriptive |
| Paper IV | General Studies III | 3 hours | 250 | Merit (Considered for Cutoff) | Descriptive |
| Paper V | General Studies IV | 3 hours | 250 | Merit (Considered for Cutoff) | Descriptive |
| Paper VI | Optional I | 3 hours | 250 | Merit (Considered for Cutoff) | Descriptive |
| Paper VII | Optional II | 3 hours | 250 | Merit (Considered for Cutoff) | Descriptive |
Paper A is not compulsory for candidates belonging from the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Sikkim as well as the candidates with hearing impairment, provided they can prove that they have been exempted from such 2nd or 3rd language courses by their concerned board or university. The Indian Language paper covers any of the languages included in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution.
Subjects covered by General Studies Papers in IAS Mains Examination.
| Paper | Subjects |
| General Studies I | Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of World, Society |
| General Studies II | Governance, Constitution, Social Justice, Polity, International Relations |
| General Studies III | Technology, Economic Development, Environment, Bio- Diversity, Security and Disaster Management |
| General Studies IV | Ethics, Integrity, Aptitude |
List of Optional Subjects for IAS Mains Exam
The candidates can opt any subject from the list provided for optional II and Optional II Papers.
| 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 |
| The 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. |
All the papers except the Language papers A and B can be answered in English or any of the languages listed in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution of India. The optional papers can be answered in English even if none of the other papers has been answered by the candidate in English.
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