UPSC Syllabus 2020 and Exam Pattern
The Civil Services Examination (CSE) is a countrywide competitive exam in India conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to recruit candidates for different civil services post of the Government of India that includes the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Revenue Service (IRS), among others.
The examination is conducted in three stages and they are:
- Preliminary examination that consists of two objective-type papers (General Studies Paper-I and CSAT Paper-II)
- Mains examination consisting of nine papers of conventional (descriptive) type
- Finally, the personality test or interview round
The entire process of the civil services examination from the notification of the preliminary examination to the declaration of the final results takes place roughly within a year. The candidates who get selected are recruited and trained for various services by the Central Government and then allotted to different State Cadres.
List of Indian Civil Services Post
Given below is the complete list of posts for which candidates are recruited through the civil services examination conducted every calendar year by the UPSC.
The civil services posts are categorized into two categories: Group ‘A’ and Group ‘B’.
Group ‘A’ services includes three All India Services (the IAS, IPS and the IFS) and 18 other services as indicated in the table below. Group ‘B’ has five services under it.
| ALL INDIA SERVICES | |
|---|---|
| (i) | Indian Administrative Services (IAS) |
| (ii) | Indian Forest Services (IFoS) |
| (iii) | Indian Police Services (IPS) |
| GROUP ‘A’ SERVICES | |
|---|---|
| (i) | Indian Foreign Service (IFS) |
| (ii) | Indian P & T Accounts & Finance Service |
| (iii) | Indian Audit and Accounts Service |
| (iv) | Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise) |
| (v) | Indian Defence Accounts Service |
| (vi) | Indian Revenue Service (I.T.) |
| (vii) | Indian Ordnance Factories Service (Assistant Works Manager, Administration) |
| (viii) | Indian Postal Service |
| (ix) | Indian Civil Accounts Service |
| (x) | Indian Railway Traffic Service |
| (xi) | Indian Railway Accounts Service |
| (xii) | Indian Railway Personnel Service |
| (xiii) | Post of Assistant Security Commissioner in Railway Protection Force |
| (xiv) | Indian Defence Estates Service |
| (xv) | Indian Information Service (Junior Grade) |
| (xvi) | Indian Trade Service |
| (xvii) | Indian Corporate Law Service |
| (xviii) | Indian Revenue Service (CBEC) |
| GROUP ‘B’ SERVICES | |
|---|---|
| (i) | Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service (Section Officer’s Grade) |
| (ii) | Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Civil Service |
| (iii) | Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Police Service |
| (iv) | Pondicherry Civil Service |
| (v) | Pondicherry Police Service |
UPSC Civil Service Exam Date 2019:
|
Name of Exam |
Date of Notification |
Last Date for receipt of Applications |
Date of Commencement of Exam |
Duration of Exam |
|
Civil Services (Prelims), 2019 |
19.02.2019 |
18.03.2019 |
02.06.2019 |
1 Day |
|
Indian Forest Service (Prelims), 2019 through Civil Services (Prelims) |
19.02.2019 |
18.03.2019 |
02.06.2019 |
1 Day |
|
Civil Services (Mains – written), 2019 |
20.09.2019 |
5 Days |
||
|
Indian Forest Service (Mains), 2019 |
01.12.2019 |
10 Days |
Eligibility
Eligibility for the civil services examination is as follows:
Nationality
A candidate must be a citizen of India for the Indian Administrative Service, the Indian Foreign Service and the Indian Police Service.
A candidate must be one of the following to get into the Indian Revenue Service:
- • A citizen of India
- • A person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia or Vietnam with an intention of permanently settling in India
A candidate must be one of the following to get into other services:
- • A citizen of India
- • A citizen of Nepal or a subject of Bhutan
- • A person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia or Vietnam with an intention of permanently settling in India
Education
Candidates should have at least one of the following educational qualifications:
- • A degree from a Central, State or Deemed university
- • A degree attained through correspondence or distance education
- • A degree from an open university
- • A qualification recognized by the Government of India as being equivalent to one of the above
Candidates who meet the below criteria are also eligible to take the exams, however one should submit the proof of eligibility from a proficient authority of their university/institution during the UPSC Mains Examination, failing which the candidate may not be allowed to take the exam.
- • Candidates who have appeared in an examination and waiting for the results and after success in the exam, if they meet one of the above educational criteria
- • Candidates who have passed the final exam of the MBBS degree but have not yet completed an internship
- • Candidates who have passed the final exam of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), ICSI and ICWAI
- • A degree from a private university
- • A degree from any foreign university recognized by the Association of Indian Universities
Age
A candidate should have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 32 years as on August 1 of the year of the examination. So, for the 2018 UPSC CSE, a candidate must have attained at least 21 years and not yet attained 32 years of age as on 1 August 2018. There are relaxations in the age criterion for the reserved category.
Numbers of attempts
The number of times a candidate may attempt the exam is limited and again it is based on the category and is as follows:
- • General Category candidates = 6
- • OBC category candidates = 9
- • SC/ST candidates = unlimited attempts till 37 years of age
If a candidate appears for one of the papers in the preliminary examination then it is considered as an attempt, which also includes ineligibility or withdrawal of the application. But, if a candidate applies to take the exam but fails to attend the exam then it is not considered as an attempt.
Civil Services Posts/Vacancies and Selection
Normally, the number of vacancies differs every year. The number of candidates who clear the preliminary examination and qualify for the mains exam is generally 11 or 12 times the number of vacancies while the number of candidates selected for the final interview is twice the number of vacancies or posts to be filled.
According to the prevalent norms, reservation in vacancies for SC, ST and OBC category is applicable at every level of the selection process.
Civil Services Exam Pattern
Preliminary Exam (UPSC Syllabus 2020 and Exam Pattern)
The civil services preliminary examination pattern was based on the recommendations of the Kothari Commission (1979) till 2010, and the exam had two papers namely, General Studies as paper 1 and any one of the optional subjects among 23 subjects as paper 2 for a total of 300 marks.
Once in every 10 to 15 years, the prelims exam pattern saw minor changes, until in 2011 when it was completely overhauled. The optional prelims paper was done away with and in its place, the CSAT paper was made paper 2. The Civil Service Aptitude Test (CSAT) aims to assess the analytical abilities and understanding of a candidate rather than their ability to memorize. At present, the new prelims exam includes two papers for two hours duration with 200 marks for each paper. Both the papers are objective in nature with negative marking for incorrect answers.
The two papers of prelims are defined as below:
In May 2015, the Government of India declared that CSAT Paper II of the civil services prelims exam will qualifying in nature and not counted for the merit ranking list, however, candidates should score at least 33% in the CSAT paper order to move to next stage of the examination i.e., the UPSC mains.
Mains Exam (UPSC Syllabus 2020 and Exam Pattern)
The Civil Services Mains Examination is a written descriptive examination and consists of nine papers out of which two are qualifying in nature and seven are ranking in nature.
| CIVIL SERVICES MAINS EXAM PATTERN | ||
|---|---|---|
| PAPERS | SUBJECTS | MARKS |
| Paper A | One of the Indian languages (listed in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India) mentioned below to be selected by the candidate (Qualifying) | 300 |
| Paper B | English (Qualifying) | 300 |
| Paper I | Essay | 250 |
| Paper II | General Studies I (Indian heritage and culture, history and geography of the world and society) | 250 |
| Paper III | General Studies II (Governance, constitution, polity, social justice and international relations) | 250 |
| Paper IV | General Studies III (Technology, economic development, bio-diversity, environment, security and disaster management) | 250 |
| Paper V | General Studies IV(ethics, integrity and aptitude) | 250 |
| Papers VI, VII | Two papers on subjects to be selected by the candidate from the list of optional subjects below (250 marks for each paper) | 250 |
| Sub Total (Written Test) | 1750 | |
| Personality Test (Interview) | 275 | |
| Total Marks | 2025 | |
List of Languages (UPSC Syllabus 2020 and Exam Pattern)
The examination can be taken in the following languages and the script is mentioned in the brackets:
| Assamese (Assamese) | Kashmiri (Persian) | Punjabi (Gurumukhi) |
| Bengali (Bengali) | Konkani (Devanagari) | Sanskrit (Devanagari) |
| Bodo (Devanagari) | Maithili (Devanagari) | Santhali (Devanagri or Ol Chiki) |
| Dogri (Devanagari) | Malayalam (Malayalam) | Sindhi (Devanagari or Arabic) |
| English (English) | Manipuri (Bengali) | Tamil (Tamil) |
| Gujarati (Gujarati) | Marathi (Devanagari) | Telugu (Telugu) |
| Hindi (Devanagari) | Nepali (Devanagari) | Urdu (Persian) |
| Kannada (Kannada) | Odia (Odia) |
Optional subjects
There are 26 optional subjects available for Papers VI and VII among which candidates can choose any subjects.
The optional subjects papers are of Post Graduate level. In general, the optional Paper I is theoretical while Paper II comprises of Current Affairs based questions also.
| Agriculture | Literature of any one of the non-English languages listed above |
| Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science | Management |
| Anthropology | Mathematics |
| Botany | Mechanical Engineering |
| Chemistry | Medical Science |
| Civil Engineering | Philosophy |
| Commerce and Accountancy | Physics |
| Economics | Political Science and International Relations |
| Electrical Engineering | Psychology |
| Geography | Public Administration |
| Geology | Sociology |
| History | Statistics |
| Law | Zoology |