UPSC Exam Pattern: Civil Services Examination (CSE) is one of the toughest examinations in India, for example, Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Special Class Railway Apprentice (SCRA), These exams are led in three stages; Preliminary Exam (two objective papers), Mains Exam (nine papers of essay type) and Interview. The Preliminary Exam is qualifying in nature.
Civil Services Exam 2018 Exam Pattern
Civil Services Exam 2018 will be held in three stages:
- Preliminary Examination.
- Main Examination.
- Personality Test/Interview Round.
1: Preliminary Examination: The Preliminary Examination of Union Public Service Commission for Civil Services is also popularly called CSAT or Civil Services Aptitude Test.
The UPSC Civil Services exam 2018 (Prelims stage) shall comprise of 2 objective type papers:
| General Studies Paper – I(Used for merit rank) | 200 Marks | 2 Hrs |
| General Studies Paper – II (CSAT) (Qualifying in Nature; needs 33% marks) |
200 Marks | 2 Hrs |
- The General Studies Paper – II (CSAT) is for qualifying purpose and candidates need to score minimum 33 percent in this paper to qualify for the next stage of the exam.
- There is 1/3rd negative marking for each incorrect answer in the Prelims.
- The candidates have to mandatorily appear for both the Prelims papers to be evaluated. The Prelims marks are not used for Final Score calculation.
2: Mains Exam: The UPSC Civil Services Exam 2018 (Main) consists of nine papers out of which two are qualifying in nature and rest are counted for ranking.
| Paper | Subject | Marks |
| Paper A | Compulsory Indian Language (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 |
| Paper VI | Optional Paper-I | 250 |
| Paper VII | Optional Paper-II (Candidate can choose Literature as an Optional and need not be a graduate in that language) |
250 |
| Total | 1750 | |
- All the Mains papers have a duration of 3 hours each.
- The marks obtained in Paper I to VII will be used in determining the final rank along with the interview.
- Papers I-VII can be taken in either ENGLISH or HINDI.
3: Interview: The competitors who clear the Civil Services Exam 2018 (Main) with the chose cut-off imprints might meet all requirements for the following and last phase of the procedure which is the Personality Test. This is an interview round with the UPSC Board Members. Total marks for this round is 275.
Click here to check UPSC Notification
We wish you all the best for your Bright Future.
Best Wishes!!!!!!!!!
Team
