The competitive examination comprises 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.

2. The Preliminary Examination will consist of two papers of Objective type (multiple choice questions) and carry a maximum of 450 marks in the subjects set out in subsection (A) of Section II. 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 a year will be eligibe 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 set out in sub-section (B) of Section II. Also see Note (ii) under para I of Section II (B).

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 vide sub-section ‘C’ of Section II. However, the papers on Indian Languages and English will be of qualifying nature. Also see Note (ii) under para 1 of Section II (B). 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.

Return to Top

The examination will consist of two papers.

2. List of optional subjects for Preliminary Examination.

Note (i) Both the question papers will be of the objective type (multiple choice questions).

(ii) The question papers will be set both in Hindi and English.

(iii) The course content of the syllabi for the optional subjects will be of the degree level. Details of the syllabi are indicated in Part A of Section III.

(iv) Each paper will be of two hours duration. Blind candidates will, however, be allowed an extra time of twenty minutes at each paper.

The written examination will consist of the following papers :

Interview Test will carry 300 marks.

Note (i) 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 be not counted for ranking.

(ii) The papers on Essay, General Studies and Optional Subjects of only such candidates will be evaluated as attain such minimum standard as may be fixed by the Commission in their discretion for the qualifying papers on Indian Language and English.

(iii) The paper-I on Indian Languages will not, however, be compulsory for candidates hailing from the North-Eastern States of Arunachanl Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland and also for candidates hailing from the State of Sikkim.

(iv) For the Language papers, the script to be used by the candidates will be as under :–

Language	Script
Assamese	Assamese
Bengali	Bengali
Gujarati	Gujarati
Hindi	Devanagari
Kannada	Kannada
Kashmiri	Persian
Konkani	Devanagari
Malayam	Malayalam
Manipuri	Bengali
Marathi	Devanagari
Nepali	Devanagari
Oriya	Oriya
Punjabi	Gurmukhi
Sanskrit	Devanagari
Sindhi	Devanagari or Arabic
Tamil	Tamil
Telugu	Telugu
Urdu	Persian

 

2. List of optional subjects for Main Examination

Literature of one of the following languages :

Arabic, Assamese, Bengali, Chinese, English, French, German, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Pali, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu.

Note (i) Candidates will not be allowed to offer the following combinations of subjects :–

(a) Political Science & International Relations and Public Administration;

(b) Commerce & Accountancy and Management;

(c) Anthropology and Sociology;

(d) Mathematics and Statistics;

(e) Agriculture and Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science.

(f) Management and Public Administration;

(g) Of the Engineering subjects, viz., Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering–not more than one subject.

(h) Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science and Medical Science.

(ii) The question papers for the examination will be of conventional (essay) type.

(iii) Each paper will be of three hours duration. Blind candidates will, however be allowed an extra time of thirty minutes at each paper.

(iv) Candidates will have the option to answer all the question papers, except the language papers viz. Papers I and II above in any one of the languages in cluded in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution or in English.

(v) Candidates exercising the option to answer papers III to IX in any one of the languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution may, if they so desire, give English version within brackets of only the description of the technical terms, if any, in addition to the version in the language opted by them.

Candidates should, however, note that if they misuse the above rule, a deduction will be made on this account from the total marks otherwise accruing to them and in extreme cases, their script(s) will not be valued for being in an unauthorised medium.

(vi) The question papers other than language papers will be set both in Hindi and English.

(vii) The details of the syullabi are set out in Part B of Section III

General Instructions (Preliminary as well as Main Examination) :

(i) Candidates must write the papers in their own hand. In no circumstances, they will be allowed the help of a scribe to write the answers for them. However, blind candidates will be allowed to write the examination with the help of a scribe.

Note (1) : The eligibility conditions of a scribe, his/her conduct inside the examination hall and the manner in which and extent to which he/she can help the blind candidate in writing the Civil Services Examination shall be governed by the instructions issued by the UPSC in this regard. Violation of all or any of the said instructions shall entail the cancellation of the candidature of the blind candidate in addition to any other action that the UPSC may take against the scribe.

Note (2) : For purpose of these rules the candidate shall be deemed to be a blind candidate if the percentage of visual impairment is 40% or more. The criteria for determining the percentage of visual impairment shall be as follows :

                                     All with corrections                           Percentage
                        Better eye                     Worse eye

Category 0        6/9-6/18                         6/24 to 6/36                 20%

Category I         6/18-6/36                       6/60 to nil                     40%

Category II        6/60-4/60                       3/60 to nil                     75%
                         or field of
                         vision 10-20º

Category III      3/60-1/60                        F.C. at 1 ft                    100%
                         or field of                         to nil
                         vision 10º

Category IV      FC. at 1 ft                        F.C. at 1 ft                    100%
                         to nil field of                     to nil field of
                         vision 100º                        vision 100º

One eyed           6/6                                  F.C. at 1 ft                     30%
person                                                       to nil

Note (3) :For availing of the concession admissible to a blind candidate, the candidate concerned shall produce a certificate in the prescribed proforma from a Medical Board constituted by the Central/State Governments alongwith his application for the Main Examination.

Note (4) : The concession admissible to blind candidates shall not be admissible to those suffering from Myopia.

(ii) The Commission have discretion to fix qualifying marks in any or all the subjects of the examination.

(iii) If a candidate’s handwriting is not easily legible, a deduction will be made on this account from the total marks otherwise accruing to him.

(iv) Marks will not be allotted for mere superficial knowledge.

(v) Credit will be given for orderly, effective and exact expression combined with due economy of words in all subjects of the examination.

(vi) In the question papers, wherever necessary, questions involving the Metric System of weights and measures only will be set.

(vii) Candidates should use only International form of Indian numerals (i.e. 1,2,3,4,5,6 etc.) while answering question papers.

(viii) Candidates are permitted to bring and use battery operated pocket calculators for conventional (essay) type papers only. Loaning or interchanging of calculators in the Examination Hall is not permitted.

It is also important to note that candidates are not permitted to use calculators for answering objective type papers (Test Booklets). They should not therefore bring the same inside the Examination Hall.

C. Interview test

The candidate will be interviewed by a Board who will have before them a record of his career. He will be asked questions on matters of general interest. The object of the interview is to assess the personal suitability of the candidate for a career in public service by a Board of competent and unbiased observers. The test is intended to judge the mental calibre of a candidate. In broad terms this is really an assessment of not only his intellectual qualities but also social traits and his interst in current affairs. Some of the qualities to be judged are mental alertness, critical powers of assimilation, clear and logical exposition, balance of judgement, variety and depth of interest, ability for social cohesion and leadership, intellectual and moral integrity.

2. The technique of the interview is not that of a strict cross-examination but of a natural, though directed and purposive conversation which is intended to reveal the mental qualities of the candidate.

3. The interview test is not intended to be a test either of the specialised or general knowledge of the candidates which has been already tested through their written papers. Candidates are expected to have taken an intelligent interest not only in their special subjects of academic study but also in the events which are happening around them both within and outside their own state or country as well as in modern currents of thought and in new discoveries which should rouse the curiosity of well educated youth.