UPSC Civil Services Examination

Overview

The Civil Services Examination (CSE) is conducted once a year by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to recruit officers into the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and a range of other Central Group A and Group B services. It runs in three stages — Prelims, Mains and a Personality Test (interview) — and is widely regarded as India's most competitive recruitment exam by candidates-to-vacancies ratio.

Conducting authority

Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), a constitutional body under Article 315 of the Constitution.

Nationality

• Indian citizens, for the IAS and IPS.
• For other services, also open to: subjects of Nepal or Bhutan; Tibetan refugees who came to India before 1 January 1962 with the intention of permanently settling; and persons of Indian origin who have migrated from certain listed countries, subject to eligibility certification.

Educational qualification

A bachelor's degree from a recognised university (or an equivalent qualification). Candidates in their final year, awaiting results, may also apply provisionally.

Age limit and attempts

Category	Upper age limit	Number of attempts
General	32 years	6
OBC	35 years	9
SC / ST	37 years	No limit (age limit applies)
PwBD (eligible benchmark disabilities)	42 years	As per category above, plus disability relaxation

Lower age limit is 21 years for all categories; age is reckoned as on 1 August of the examination year, and exact relaxation conditions are confirmed each year in the official notification.

Stages

1. Preliminary Examination (objective, screening only — marks not counted towards final ranking)
2. Main Examination (written, descriptive)
3. Personality Test / Interview

Prelims pattern

Paper	Subject	Marks	Nature
Paper I	General Studies	200	Counts towards the Prelims cutoff
Paper II	CSAT (aptitude)	200	Qualifying only — a minimum of 33% is required

Mains pattern

Paper	Subject	Marks	Counts towards merit?
Paper A	Indian Language (qualifying)	300	No
Paper B	English (qualifying)	300	No
Paper I	Essay	250	Yes
Paper II	General Studies I	250	Yes
Paper III	General Studies II	250	Yes
Paper IV	General Studies III	250	Yes
Paper V	General Studies IV	250	Yes
Paper VI	Optional Subject, Paper 1	250	Yes
Paper VII	Optional Subject, Paper 2	250	Yes

The seven merit-counting papers total 1750 marks; the Personality Test carries a further 275 marks, for a grand total of 2025 marks used to prepare the final rank list.

Interview

Candidates who clear Mains are called for a Personality Test before a UPSC board, assessing overall suitability for a career in public service rather than subject knowledge, worth 275 of the 2025 total marks.

Marking scheme and negative marking

• Prelims: each wrong answer in both papers attracts a penalty of one-third of the marks assigned to that question; an unattempted question carries no penalty.
• Mains: descriptive papers, evaluated by examiners — no negative marking.

Selection process

Final selection and service allocation is based purely on the combined marks scored in Mains (1750) and the Interview (275) — Prelims marks are not added to the final score, only used to shortlist candidates for Mains.

How to prepare

Start with the previous ten years of Prelims and Mains question papers — the pattern of what UPSC actually asks is a far better guide than any single source's prediction. Build a daily current-affairs habit (see this platform's Current Affairs section) rather than relying on a last-month cram; static portions of Polity, Geography and Economy typically carry more weight than aspirants expect and reward early, steady revision. For the Optional Subject, choose based on genuine interest and available study material as much as scoring trends, since two Mains papers are a significant share of the final score.

Important dates

UPSC releases one CSE notification a year, typically opening applications a few months before the Prelims exam and declaring the final result roughly a year after the notification. Exact dates shift every cycle — always confirm them on the official notification rather than a fixed calendar.

Frequently asked questions

• Do Prelims marks count towards the final rank? No — Prelims is only a qualifying/screening stage for Mains; only Mains and Interview marks (2025 total) decide the final merit.
• Is there a fixed number of vacancies every year? No — vacancies vary by cycle depending on service-wise requirements notified by the government; check the current year's notification.
• Can a final-year graduation student apply? Yes, provisionally — proof of having passed is required before the Mains examination, as specified in the notification.

Official website

upsc.gov.in — always confirm current-cycle dates, notification and syllabus updates here directly.