There is a common UPSC syllabus pattern for services such as the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service, Indian Police Service, Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise) to name a few. However, different stages of the IAS exam have different syllabi. The UPSC Prelims syllabus focuses on general and societal awareness which is tested by objective-type (MCQ) questions. The UPSC Mains syllabus is much more comprehensive as this stage comprises nine theory papers.
The Civil services exam is conducted in three phases:
Phase 1: Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination (Objective Type)
Phase 2: Civil Services (Mains) Examination (Descriptive Type)
Phase 3: Personal Interview (Personality Test)
Check the UPSC Calendar 2020 at the linked article.
Phase 1: UPSC Prelims Exam
The UPSC Civil Services Prelims Examination is composed of two components:
- General Studies
- Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT)
Broadly, the UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination consists of two papers of objective type, each of 200 marks (hence totaling 400 marks) and of two hours duration. To qualify for the Civil Services Mains, a candidate must attempt both the papers.
Further, the UPSC General Studies (GS) paper consists of 100 questions, while the CSAT paper consists of 80 questions. Both papers have negative marks for wrong answers marked to the tune of 1/3rd of the total marks assigned to that question.
To further illustrate this, each correctly answered GS question will be awarded 2 marks. So, 0.66 marks would be deducted from the total for every question that is wrongly marked.
Similarly, in the CSAT paper, since we have 80 questions for 200 marks, correctly answered CSAT question would attract 2.5 marks each, while every wrongly marked question would attract a penalty of 0.833 for each such wrong answer, which will be deducted from the total.
Questions that are not attempted will not attract any negative marks.
The two papers of the IAS prelims are discussed in detail below:
1 – General Studies (Generally conducted between 9:30 AM and 11:30 AM)
The General Studies test is the first paper of the preliminary examination. This test is intended to test the general awareness of a candidate in a wide range of subjects that include: Indian Polity, Geography, History, Indian Economy, Science and Technology, Environment and Ecology, International Relations and associated UPSC current affairs.
2 – Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) (Generally conducted between 2:30 PM and 04:30 PM)
This UPSC Prelims syllabus for CSAT intends to assess the aptitude of the candidate in solving ‘Reasoning and Analytical’ questions, apart from ‘Reading Comprehension’ and the occasionally asked ‘Decision Making’ questions.
The ‘Decision Making’ based questions are generally exempt from negative marks.
Preliminary examination is only meant for screening a candidate for the subsequent stages of the exam.
The marks obtained in the Prelims will not be added up while arriving at the final rank list.
UPSC Prelims Syllabus
IAS Syllabus – Urdu (Literature)
UPSC Mains Exam (1750 Marks)
The Mains examination constitutes the 2nd phase of the Civil Services Examination. Only after successfully qualifying in the prelims exam would the candidates be allowed to write the IAS Mains.
Mains exam tests the candidate’s academic talent in depth and his/her ability to present his/her understanding according to the requirements of the question in a time-bound manner.
UPSC Mains exam consists of 9 papers, out of which two are qualifying papers of 300 marks each.
The two qualifying papers are:
Any Indian Language Paper
English Language Paper
The papers on Essay, General Studies and Optional Subject of only such candidates who attain 25% marks in both the language papers as a minimum qualifying standard in these qualifying papers, will be taken cognizance of, for evaluation.
In case a candidate does not qualify in these language papers, then the marks obtained by such candidates will not be considered or counted.
Structure of the language papers:
The types of questions asked are –
1 – Essay – 100 marks
2 – Reading comprehension – 60 marks
3 – Precis Writing – 60 marks
4 – Translation:
(A) – English to compulsory language (e.g. Hindi) – 20 marks
(B) -Compulsory language to English – 20 marks
5 – Grammar and basic language usage – 40 marks
The rest of the seven papers can be written in any of the languages mentioned under the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India or in English.
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Please check the detailed UPSC Mains General Studies Syllabus here.
The UPSC Mains syllabus gives a list of 48 Optional Subjects which include Literature of different languages. Candidates need to choose any one of the ‘Optional Subjects’ from the list of subjects given below:
Civil Services Exam Syllabus For IAS Mains Optional Subjects:
Agriculture – UPSC Syllabus
Zoology – UPSC Syllabus
Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science
IAS Syllabus – Assamese (Literature)
Anthropology – UPSC Syllabus
IAS Syllabus – Bengali (Literature)
Botany – UPSC Syllabus
IAS Syllabus – Bodo (Literature)
Chemistry – UPSC Syllabus
IAS Syllabus – Dogri (Literature)
Civil Engineering – UPSC Syllabus
IAS Syllabus – Gujarati (Literature)
Commerce & Accountancy – UPSC Syllabus
IAS Syllabus – Hindi (Literature)
Economics – UPSC Syllabus
IAS Syllabus – Kannada (Literature)
Electrical Engineering – UPSC Syllabus
IAS Syllabus – Kashmiri (Literature)
Geography – UPSC Syllabus
IAS Syllabus – Konkani (Literature)
Geology – UPSC Syllabus
IAS Syllabus – Maithili (Literature)
History – UPSC Syllabus
IAS Syllabus – Malayalam (Literature)
Law – UPSC Syllabus
IAS Syllabus – Manipuri (Literature)
Management – UPSC Syllabus
IAS Syllabus – Marathi (Literature)
Mathematics – UPSC Syllabus
IAS Syllabus – Nepali (Literature)
Mechanical Engineering – UPSC Syllabus
IAS Syllabus – Odia (Literature)
Medical Science – UPSC Syllabus
IAS Syllabus – Punjabi (Literature)
Philosophy – UPSC Syllabus
IAS Syllabus – Sanskrit (Literature)
Physics – UPSC Syllabus
IAS Syllabus – Santhali (Literature)
Political Science & International Relations – UPSC Syllabus
IAS Syllabus – Sindhi (Literature)
Psychology – UPSC Syllabus
IAS Syllabus – Tamil (Literature)
Public Administration – UPSC Syllabus
IAS Syllabus – Telugu (Literature)
Sociology – UPSC Syllabus
IAS Syllabus – English (Literature)
Statistics – UPSC Syllabus
IAS Syllabus – Urdu (Literature)
Candidates can check the success rate of optional subjects at the linked article.
Phase 3: IAS Interview/UPSC Personality Test (275 Marks)
• Candidates who qualify the UPSC Mains Exam will be called for the ‘Personality Test/Interview’. These candidates will be interviewed by a Board appointed by the UPSC.
• The objective of the interview is to assess the personal suitability of the candidate for a career in the civil services by a board of competent and unbiased observers.
• Interview is more of a purposive conversation intended to explore the mental qualities and analytical ability of the candidate.
• Personality/Interview test will be of 275 marks and the total marks for written examination is 1750. This sums up to a Grand Total of 2025 Marks, based on which the final merit list will be prepared.