About UPSC CSE

About Union Public Service Commission (UPSC):

The UPSC is an independent central government agency responsible for recruitment to select the best individuals to work as officers in various wings of the government.

About Civil Services Examination (CSE):

The Civil Services Examination is an All India Competitive Examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission for recruiting IAS, IFS, IPS, IRS (Income Tax & Customs) and other central service officers. The examination consists of three stages – Preliminary Examination, Mains Examination and Interview.

The Preliminary Examination is, generally, held in June and the Main Examination in the month of September/October of every year. The interview is held in the month of April and Final results are published in the month of May every year.

List of Civil Services

S.NoExaminations
1Indian Administrative Service
2Indian Foreign Service
3Indian Police Service
4Indian P & T Accounts & Finance Service, Group ‘A’
5Indian Audit and Accounts Service, Group ‘A’
6Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise) Group ‘A′
7Indian Defence Accounts Service, Group ‘A′
8Indian Revenue Service (I.T.), Group ‘A′
9Indian Ordnance Factories Service, Group ‘A’ (Assistant Works Manager, Administration)
10Indian Postal Service, Group ‘A’
11Indian Civil Accounts Service, Group ‘A’
12Indian Railway Traffic Service, Group ‘A’
13Indian Railway Accounts Service, Group ‘A’
14Indian Railway Personnel Service, Group ‘A’
15ost of Assistant Security Commissioner, in Railway Protection Force, Group ‘A’
16Indian Defence Estates Service, Group ‘A’.
17Indian Information Service (Junior Grade), Group ‘A’.
18Indian Trade Service, Group “A” (GR.III)
19Indian Corporate Law Service, Group “A”
20Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service, Group ‘B’ (Section Officer′s Grade)
21Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Civil Service, Group ‘B’
22Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Police Service, Group ‘B’
23Pondicherry Civil Service, Group ‘B’
24Pondicherry Police Service, Group ‘B’

Eligibility

Educational qualification:

To apply for UPSC-CSE, the academic qualification details are listed below

  • Must be a graduate (or)
  • Undergraduate in last year, last semester can apply (or)
  • American degrees valid but have to get equivalent certificate from AIU (or)
  • Distance education degree valid- IF recognized by UGC/AICTE/any Law (or)
  • MBBS must have completed internship before UPSC Interview-stage.

Age limit:

(a) A candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 32 years
(b) The upper age-limit prescribed above will be relaxable

  • Up to a maximum of five years if a candidate belongs to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe;
  • Up to a maximum of three years in the case of candidates belonging to Other Backward Classes who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable to such candidates;
  • Up to a maximum of three years in the case of Defence Services Personnel, disabled in operations during hostilities with any foreign country or in a disturbed area and released as a consequence thereof;
  • Up to a maximum of five years in the case of ex-servicemen including Commissioned Officers and ECOs/SSCOs who have rendered at least five years Military Service
  • Up to a maximum of 10 years in the case of (a) blindness and low vision; (b) deaf and hard of hearing; (c) locomotor disability including cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack victims and muscular dystrophy; (d) autism, intellectual disability, specific learning disability and mental illness; and (e) multiple disabilities from amongst persons under clauses (a) to (d) including deaf-blindness.

Number of attempt:

  • General Category: 6 attempts
  • OBC: 9 attempts
  • SC/ST: unlimited attempts.

Physically Handicapped /disabled candidates belonging to General category will get the benefit of 9 attempts.;

Current Pattern of Examination

Stage – 1: Preliminary Examination

  • The examination comprise of two compulsory papers of 200 marks each. It is of objective type (multiple choice questions). 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 question papers will be set both in Hindi and English.
  • Paper-II of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination will be a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%
  • Each paper will be of two hours duration.
  • There will be negative marking(1/3) for incorrect answers.
  • It is mandatory for the candidate to appear in both the Papers of Civil Services (Prelim) Examination for the purpose of evaluation. Therefore a candidate will be disqualified in case he/she does not appear in both the papers of Civil Services (Prelim) Examination.

Stage – 2: Main Examination

The written examination will consist of 9 Papers of conventional Essay Type

  • Paper on Indian languages – 300 marks (qualifying paper)
  • English – 300 marks (qualifying paper)
  • Essay – 250 marks (Paper – I)
  • General Studies I – 250 marks (Paper – II)
  • General Studies II – 250 marks (Paper -III)
  • General Studies III – 250 marks (Paper – IV)
  • General Studies IV – 250 marks (Paper – V)
  • Optional subject I – 250 marks (Paper – VI)
  • Optional subject II – 250 marks (Paper – VII)

Stage – 3: Interview

The number of Candidates to be summoned for interview will be about twice the number of vacancies to be filled. The interview will carry 275 marks.