UPSC Civil Services Examination, India’s nationwide competitive exam is conducted by the Union Public Service Commission for recruiting to All India services and Group A and Group B of Central services. Many individuals with an aspiration for services aim at cracking UPSC exam. Any individual with consistency in studies along with well planned and strategized preparation have nothing to worry about regarding making it through UPSC.
It’s more important than the aspiration, to get to know about the UPSC exam eligibility criteria, syllabus, exam pattern, what are the services and respective postings that one can get into by cracking the exam, etc, which were in detail presented below.
Eligibility Criteria
Nationality – Indians are alone eligible for IAS, IPS, and IFS. Whereas for IFS and other services either an Indian or an Indian origin migrated from any of Pakistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia or Vietnam and settled permanently in India are eligible.- Age – The candidates should be falling between 21 and 32 years of age by August 1st of the exam year. Whereas for an OBC the upper age limit is 35 years and for SC or ST is 37 years.
- Education Qualification – A degree from an Open University, or degree from a central, state or a deemed university or one received through correspondence or distance education. An Indian Government recognized qualification equivalent to one of the above.
UPSC CSE Exam Pattern
UPSC comprises of 2 exams, one being a preliminary exam and the other being the mains exam. While the preliminary exam is an initial screening test, it’s not considered for rank measurement. Candidates rank is calculated by their performance only in mains exam and interview. Mains exam is to assess the knowledge base of the individual over various happenings and interview is to judge the personal suitability of the candidate for further public services.
UPSC CSE Preliminary Exam Pattern
Unlike before, post the UPSC 2017 notification, UPSC Prelims exam is now divided into 2 objective papers. Both the exams are conducted for a span of 2 hours each.
Paper 1 – It is all around general studies and is the qualifying paper to get into mains. This general studies paper has a total of 100 objective questions of 2 marks weightage each, rounding to 200. Each wrong answer results in a 1/3rd negative marking, which is 0.667 of the total marks allotted for that question. While unanswered questions have no negative marking like wrong answered questions.
Paper 2 – Although the marks of this paper are not counted for the mains exam but candidate must score at least 33% in this paper. As is in the case with Paper 1, each wrongly answered question in this paper results again a loss of 1/3rd marks which is now 0.833, as this paper comprises of only 80 questions.
UPSC CSE Mains Exam Pattern
UPSC mains exam now comprises of a total of 9 papers out of which 2 papers are only for qualifying purpose but not considered for ranking. Paper A and B are the qualifying papers and Paper 1 to 7 are rank scoring papers. Each paper along with the scoring and target subject area are listed below:
| Paper | Total Marks | Status | Details |
| Paper A | 300 | Qualifying | Candidate can choose from any modern Indian language from the list of UPSC mains exam. |
| Paper B | 300 | Qualifying | This is an English paper |
| Paper 1 | 250 | Ranking | Essay writing, taken in the candidates choice |
| Paper 2 | 250 | Ranking | Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society |
| Paper 3 | 250 | Ranking | Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations |
| Paper 4 | 250 | Ranking | Technology, Economic Development, Bio-diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management |
| Paper 5 | 250 | Ranking | Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude |
| Paper 6 | 250 | Ranking | Optional subject 1 |
| Paper 7 | 250 | Ranking | Optional subject 2 |
UPSC exams or recruitment tests for 2018
| Sr. No. |
Name of Examination | Date of Notification |
Last Date for receipt of Applications | Date of commencement of Exam | Duration of Exam | |
| 1 | Engineering Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2018 |
27.09.2017 |
23.10.2017 |
07.01.2018 |
1 DAY |
|
| 2 | Reserved for UPSC RT/ Examination | 21.01.2018 (SUNDAY) |
1 DAY | |||
| 3 | C.D.S. Examination (I), 2018 | 08.11.2017 | 04.12.2017 | 04.02.2018 (SUNDAY) |
1 DAY | |
| 4 | Reserved for UPSC RT/ Examination | 25.02.2018 (SUNDAY) |
1 DAY | |||
| 5 | CISF AC(EXE) LDCE-2018 | 06.12.2017 | 29.12.2017 | 04.03.2018 (SUNDAY) |
1 DAY | |
| 6 | Reserved for UPSC RT/ Examination | 11.03.2018 (SUNDAY) |
1 DAY | |||
| 7 | N.D.A. & N.A. Examination (I), 2018 |
10.01.2018 |
05.02.2018 |
22.04.2018 |
1 DAY |
|
| 8 | Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2018 |
07.02.2018 |
06.03.2018 |
03.06.2018 |
1 DAY |
|
| 9 | Indian Forest Service (Preliminary) Examination, 2018 (through Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2018) | |||||
| 10 | I.E.S./I.S.S. Examination, 2018 |
21.03.2018 |
16.04.2018 |
29.6.2018 |
3 DAYS |
|
| 11 | Combined Geo-Scientist and Geologist Examination, 2018 |
21.03.2018 |
16.04.2018 |
29.6.2018 |
3 DAYS |
|
| 12 | Engineering Services (Main) Examination, 2018 | 01.07.2018 (SUNDAY) |
1 DAY | |||
| 13 | Combined Medical Services Examination, 2018 | 11.04.2018 | 07.05.2018 | 22.07.2018 (SUNDAY) |
1 DAY | |
| 14 | Reserved for UPSC RT/ Examination | 29.07.2018 (SUNDAY) |
1 DAY | |||
| 15 | Central Armed Police Forces (ACs) Examination, 2018 | 25.04.2018 | 21.05.2018 | 12.08.2018 (SUNDAY) |
1 DAY | |
| 16 | Reserved for UPSC RT/ Examination | 19.08.2018 (SUNDAY) |
1 DAY | |||
| 17 | N.D.A. & N.A. Examination (II), 2018 | 06.06.2018 | 02.07.2018 | 09.09.2018 (SUNDAY) |
1 DAY | |
| 18 | Reserved for UPSC RT/ Examination | 23.09.2018 (SUNDAY) |
1 DAY | |||
| 19 | Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2018 | 01.10.2018 (MONDAY) |
5 DAYS | |||
| 20 | Reserved for UPSC RT/ Examination | 28.10.2018 (SUNDAY) |
1 DAY | |||
| 21 | C.D.S. Examination (II), 2018 | 08.08.2018 | 03.09.2018 | 18.11.2018 (SUNDAY) |
1 DAY | |
| 22 | Reserved for UPSC RT/ Examination | 25.11.2018 (SUNDAY) |
1 DAY | |||
| 23 | Indian Forest Service (Main) Examination, 2018 | 02.12.2018 (SUNDAY) |
10 DAYS | |||
| 24 | S.O./Steno (GD-B/GD-I) LDCE | 12.09.2018 | 05.10.2018 | 15.12.2018 (SATURDAY) |
2 DAYS | |
FAQ’s
1. To what all services am I eligible for recruitment on the basis of CSE?
Below is the list of all services that a CSE qualified candidate can be considered:
Group A eligible services
- The Indian Administrative Service (IAS)
- The Indian Foreign Service (IFoS)
- The Indian Police Service (IPS)
- The Indian P&T Accounts and Finance Service (IAS)
- The Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IAS)
- Indian Revenue Service (Customs & Central Excise), (IAS)
- The Indian Defence Accounts Service (IAS)
- The Indian Revenue Service, (IT).
- The Indian Ordnance Factories Service (Ast. Works Manager—Administration).
- The Indian Postal Service
- The Indian Civil Accounts Service
- The Indian Railway Traffic Service
- The Indian Railway Accounts Service
- The Indian Railway Personnel Service
- Post of Assistant Security Commissioner in Railway Protection Force.
- The Indian Defense Estates Service
- The Indian Information Service, Junior Grade.
- Indian Trade Service (Gr. Ill).
- Indian Corporate Law Service.
Group B eligible services
- Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service (Section Officer’s Grade).
- Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep. Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Civil Service.
- Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Police Service.
- Pondicherry Civil Service.
- Pondicherry Police Service
2. What is a Technical service?
A service that needs a special medical status with respect to vision, height, chest, etc. is a technical service.
3. Can a candidate reappear for CSE for improved ranking?
Yes, a candidate already allocated to any service except IAS and IFoS can participate in CSE for improvement.
4. What is the allocation for reservation in CSE?
There is reservation in civil service examination for SC/ST/OBC and PH individuals as set by the authority.
5. When is the notification for UPSC exam released?
All the examination notices pertaining to the 14 examinations are made available on the commission’s website www.upsc.gov.in around 3 months before the examination. The tentative dates for the notification release are also made available on the website around in July of the previous year.
6. Is a candidate with education done from an open school or university eligible to apply for UPSC exam?
Yes, only if the school or university is a recognized one and also the candidate must possess the qualification that is approved for the exam.
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