Over View of Civil Services Examinations

Over View of Civil Services Examinations

CS (Preliminary)

(A) Tentative Schedule
(i) Notification of Examination	November/December of previous year
(ii) Conduct of Examination	May

(B) Age - limits:	21-30 years as on 1st August of the year of Examination.
	Certain categories of persons as specified in the Commission's Notice as published in Employment News/Rozgar Samachar are eligible for age relaxation.

(C) Educational Qualification

Degree of a Recognised University or equivalent.

Candidates appearing in the requisite Degree qualification are also eligible for appearing in the examination, however, they are supposed to submit proof of passing the requisite qualification along with with Detailed Application Form for Civil Services (Main) Examination.

Scheme of CS (Preliminary) Examination

The Preliminary Examination consists of two papers of objective type (multiple-choice questions) carrying a maximum of 450 marks.
The Question Papers (Test Booklets) are set in English & Hindi

Paper - I	General Studies	150 Marks
Paper - II	One of the optional subjects to be selected from the prescribed optional subjects	300 Marks

Statistical Data CS (Preliminary)

Year of Exam	No of Candidates
	Applied	Appeared
1997	2,65,761	1,30,198
1998	2,71,517	1,22,363
1999	3,09,501	1,35,086
2000	2,25,555	1,19,398
2001	2,56,673	1,38,240
2002	3,01,585	1,57,486

Note : For further details, please refer to the Commission's Notice when it is published in the Employment News and some of the leading newspapers.

CS (Main)

Tentative Date of Examination : October  - November

Scheme - CS (Main)

Paper-I	One of the Indian Languages to be selected by the candidate from the 18 languages included in the VIIIth Schedule to the Constitution (Qualifying Paper)	300 Marks
Paper-II	English (Qualifying Paper)	300 Marks
Paper-III	Essay	200 Marks
Papers IV & V	General Studies (300 Marks for each paper)	600 Marks
Papers VI, VII, VIII & IX	Any two subjects (each having 2 papers) to be selected from the prescribed optional subjects (300 marks for each paper)	1200 Marks
Total Marks for Written Examination		2000 Marks
Interview Test		300 Marks
Grand Total		2300 Marks

List of Optional Subjects - CS (Main) - (Total 25)

See Note below List of Optional Subjects (Literature)

Agriculture	Management
Animal Husbandry & Vetinary Science	Mathematics
Anthropology	Mechanical Engineering
Botany	Medical Science
Chemistry	Philosophy
Civil Engineering	Physics
Commerce & Accountancy	Political Science & International Relations
Economics	Psychology
Electrical Engineering	Public Administration
Geography	Sociology
Geology	Statistics
Indian History	Zoology
Law

List of Optional Subjects (Literature) - CS (Main) - (Total 26)

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

Note : Total Optional Subjects : 51

Note (i) :	Candidates have the option to answer all the question papers, except the language papers, viz, Paper-I and Paper-II, in any one of the languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution or in English
Note (ii) :	Candidates who have opted for an Indian Language as language medium for the Main Examination have an option of being interviewed either in English or in the same language which they have opted for the Main Examination

Statistical Data - CS (Main)

Year Of Exam	Vacancies					Candidates Recommended
	SC	ST	OBC	GEN	TOTAL	SC	ST	OBC	GEN	TOTAL
1995	98	49	165	333	645	101	49	192	303	645
1996	125	57	174	383	739	138	59	212	330	739
1997	89	43	166	323	621	94	46	215	266	621
1998	53	28	114	275	470	60	30	142	238	470
1999	53	27	97	234	411	63	30	127	191	411
2000	54	29	100	244	427	58	34	128	207	427
2001	47	39	97	234	417	52	42	131	192	417
2002	38	22	88	162	310	38	22	88	138	286

UNION PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION(2011)

PRESS NOTE
Subject: Changes in syllabus and pattern of the Preliminary Examination from
2011 in the scheme of Civil Services Examination
• As per the decision of Government of India, there shall be change in the syllabus and
pattern of the Preliminary Examination from 2011 in the scheme of the Civil Services
Examination.

• The Preliminary Examination shall now comprise of two compulsory Papers of 200
marks each and of two hours duration each. Detailed below is the new syllabus and
pattern of the Preliminary Examination, which is brought to the notice of the
prospective candidates intending to appear at the Civil Services Examination (CSE) in
2011 onwards

:
Paper I - (200 marks) Duration: Two hours
• Current events of national and international importance
• History of India and Indian National Movement
• Indian and World Geography - Physical, Social, Economic geography
of India and the World.
• Indian Polity and Governance – Constitution, Political System,
Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
• Economic and Social Development – Sustainable Development,
Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.
• General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate
Change - that do not require subject specialization
• General Science.

 
Paper II- (200 marks) Duration: Two hours
• Comprehension
• Interpersonal skills including communication skills;
• Logical reasoning and analytical ability
• Decision making and problem solving
• General mental ability
• Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude
etc.) (Class X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data
sufficiency etc. -Class X level)
• English Language Comprehension skills (Class X level).
• Questions relating to English Language Comprehension skills of Class X level
(last item in the Syllabus of Paper-II) will be tested through passages from
English language only without providing Hindi translation thereof in the question
paper.
• The questions will be of multiple choice, objective type.
• A set of sample questions for both Papers would be put on the UPSC website
http://www.upsc.gov.in in due course for reference of the prospective candidates.
• The prospective candidates are advised to note that no changes are being introduced
at this stage in the Civil Services (Main) Examination and Personality Test in the
scheme of Civil Services Examination (CSE).

FAQ'S

Students often have doubts at the time they begin IAS preparation for the IAS exams. But before they can start any preparations they are siezed by a number of questions. Here we address some of those questions that arise while you prepare for the IAS exams.

Q1. What is the restriction on number of attempts in the Examinations?

Ans. Number of attempts - General-4, OBC-7, SC/ST- No restriction

Q2. Is there any relaxation in number of attempts for physically handicapped?

Ans. No. However physically handicapped candidates belonging to SC, ST and OBC categories will be eligible for relaxation in number of attempts provided to such categories.

Q3. Can a candidate who has completed his education from an open school/ University apply for Commission’s Examination?

Ans. Yes, provided it is a recognized University and he possess the educational qualifications prescribed for the exam and is otherwise eligible. 

Q4. Whether a candidate belonging to a community included in the OBC list of states but not in the Central list of OBCs is eligible for age relaxation, reservation etc. for Commission’s Examinations?

Ans. No. Only candidates belonging to communities which are included in the Central list of OBC’s are eligible for such concessions. 

Q5. Can a candidate choose an optional subject, which he has not studied at graduate/PG level?

Ans. Yes. 

Q.2. Is it necessary for a candidate to take the same optional subject in the Main Exam, which he had taken in the prelims Examination?

Ans. No. 

Q.3. If a candidate has applied for the CS (P) Examination but has not appeared at any paper in the CS (P) Examination will it be counted as an attempt?

Ans. No. An attempt is counted only if a candidate has appeared in at least one paper in CS (P) Examination. 

Q4. Is a candidate who has done his graduation without passing class X and class X11 eligible for Civil Service Examination?

Ans. Yes. 

Q.5. Can a candidate write different papers of Civil Service (Main) Examination in different languages?

Ans. No, Candidates have the option to write their answers either in English or in any one of the Eighth schedule languages. 

Q.6. Can a candidate write the Civil Service (Main) Examination in English and take the interview in Hindi or any other Indian language?

Ans. If a candidate opts an Eighth schedule language for the CS (Main) Examination he will have the option to take the interview in same language or in English. 

Q.7. How to choose a subject?

Ans. Normally one should select optionals, which one is familiar with, or has at least studied till the graduate level. If you are not comfortable with the subject, you should not select the subject as an optional. But the choice should not only be as per your interests but also be baed on the study material available. Even science and engineering students take up subjects like history, sociology, anthropology, grography, political science, psychology and public administration because there is a huge amount of study material available in these subjects. Also keep in mind that you may have been proficient in a subject, but lack of touch may make it tougher to crack technical subject where freshers may do better. The competition is among the people who have opted for the same subject. One should top in his/her subject to succeed in the examination. The Point is, if you are an electrical engineer with 2 years of experience go for a new subject like pub adm or sociology.
Analyse the syllabus of previous years and the question papers, and analyse past trends. Get some feedback/advice from seniors and fellow students who are well versed in the subject. Remember no subject is bad. History is good if you can spend more than 4-5 hours everyday. Geography is a good option if you can spend at least 4 hrs every day. Pub Ad, more than 3 hours. Sociology, more than 2 hours and so on.... So, it all depends on how much time you can spend a day and your liking of the subject. You have a very good memory then a technical subject may help else a social subject would be better. Lastly look for overlap in subjects like, sociology and pubad; history and political science etc.