Pattern: Civil Services Examination (सिविल सर्विसेस ) IAS Selection Exam

UPSC Civil Services Selection Process (Exam):

Civil Services competitive examination comprises of two successive stages :
(i) Civil Services (Preliminary) Examinations (Objective Type) for the selection of candidates for Main Examination; and
(ii) Civil Services (Main) Examination (Written and Interview) for the selection of candidates for the various services and posts.

Also, CheckOut the Article on Civil Services Exam

2. The Preliminary Examination will consist of two papers of Objective type (multiple choice questions) and carry a maximum of 400 marks (Please, refer to Civil Services(Pre) Examination Syllabus for the detailed syllabus, and also check out article on Cracking the UPSC CSAT Examination ). This examination is meant to serve as a screening test only; the marks obtained in the Preliminary Examination by the candidates who are declared qualified for admission to the Main Examination will not be counted for determining their final order of merit. The number of candidates to be admitted to the Main Examination will be about twelve to thirteen times the total approximate number of vacancies to be filled in the year in the various Services and Posts. Only those candidates who are declared by the Commission to have qualified in the Preliminary Examination in the year will be eligible for admission to the Main Examination of that year provided they are otherwise eligible for admission to the Main Examination.

3. The Main Examination will consist of a written examination and an Interview Test. The written examination will consist of 9 papers of conventional essay type in the subjects.

4. Candidates who obtain such minimum qualifying marks in the written part of the Main Examination as may be fixed by the Commission at their discretion, shall be summoned by them for an interview/for a Personality Test. However, the papers on Indian Languages and English will be of qualifying nature. The marks obtained in these papers will not be counted for ranking. The number of candidates to be summoned for interview will be about twice the number of vacancies to be filled. The interview will carry 300 marks (with no minimum qualifying marks). Marks thus obtained by the candidates in the Main Examination (written part as well as interview) would determine their final ranking. Candidates will be allotted to the various Services keeping in view their ranks in the examination and the preferences expressed by them for the various Services and Posts.  Blind candidates will however, be allowed an extra time of twenty minutes at each paper Civil Services Pre Examination.

UPSC Civil Services Main Examination

The written examination will consist of the following papers (with distribution of Marks) : 

Paper I: 
One of the Indian 300 marks languages to be selected by the candidate from the Languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution.

Paper II: 
English 300 marks
Note: The papers on Indian Languages and English will be of Matriculation or equivalent standard and will be of qualifying nature; the marks obtained in these papers will not be counted for ranking. 

Paper III: 
Essay 200 marks

Papers IV and Paper V: 
General Studies 300 marks each and

Papers VI, Paper VII, Paper VIII, Paper IX: 

Any Two Optional Subjects to be selected from the list of the optional subjects. Each subject will have two papers and each of these papers consists of 300 marks.

Total Written Marks(To be counted for final merit): 2000 Marks

Interview Test will carry 300 marks.
Total Maximum Marks for IAS Selection Process: 2300 Marks

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Notes:

• Evaluation of the papers, namely, 'Essay, 'General Studies' and Optional Subjects of all candidates would be done simultaneously along with evaluation of their qualifying papers on 'Indian languages' and English' but the papers on 'Essay', General Studies' and 'Optional Subjects' of only such candidates will be taken cognizance of as attain such minimum standard as may be fixed by the Commission at their discretion for the qualifying papers on 'Indian language' and 'English' and, therefore, the marks in 'Essay' 'General studies and Optional subjects' will not be disclosed to those candidates who fail to obtain such minimum qualifying standard in 'Indian language and 'English'. 

• The paper-I on Indian Languages will not, however, be compulsory for candidates hailing from the North-Eastern States of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland and also for candidates hailing from the State of Sikkim.  
• For the Language papers, the script to be used by the candidates will be as under :–

1. Assamese: Assamese
2. Bengali: Bengali 
3. Bodo: Devanagari 
4. Dogri: Devanagari 
5. Gujarati: Gujarati 
6. Hindi: Devanagari 
7. Kannada: Kannada 
8. Kashmiri: Persian 
9. Konkani: Devanagari 
10. Maithili: Devanagari 
11. Malayalam: Malayalam 
12. Manipuri: Bengali 
13. Marathi Devanagari 
14. Nepali: Devanagari 
15. Oriya: Oriya 
16. Punjabi: Gurumukhi 
17. Sanskrit: Devanagari 
18. Santali: Devanagari or Olchiki 
19. Sindhi Devanagari or Arabic
20. Tamil Tamil
21. Telugu Telugu
22. Urdu Persian

NOTE : For Santali language, question paper will be printed in Devanagari script; but candidates will be free to answer either in Devanagari script or in Olchiki.