ABOUT UPSC CIVIL SERVICES EXAM:

• Civil Services Exam or IAS Exam is one the most reputed exams in India and is the backbone of the Indian bureaucracy (Steel Frame of India). 
• Civil Services exam is conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), a central agency, which conducts various exams such as:

• Civil Services Examination(CSE)
• Indian Forest Service (IFS) examination
• Indian Economic Service(IES) exam
• Indian Statistical Service(ISS) exam,
• Engineering Services Exam,
• Combined Medical Services Exam,
• Combined Defence Services Exam,
• National Defence Academy(NDA) Exams,
• Naval Academy Exam,
• Special Class Railway Apprentice(SCRA),
• Combined Geoscientist and Geologist Exam, and
• Central Armed Police Forces (Assistant Commandant) exam.

• The Civil Services Examination is meant for those students who are ambitious and competitive enough to surpass anyone. Throughout the country, these services have been the most sought after careers by youngsters.
• Civil Services is the primary service, which heads all the major departments which run the state and central administration.
• It's one the toughest competitive exams in the country with a success rate of just 0.1 per cent. It clearly shows that only few hard working students can get success in this UPSC examination and this all can be done not only by hard work but by a planned hard work. We will provide you with all the UPSC exam details required for your preparation.

 

POST OFFERED THROUGH CIVIL SERVICES EXAM

There are three types or categories of jobs through the civil service exam (CSE). Under these 3 broad categories are different services that are pretigious. The civil service rank list comes out with the results of the exams. These are:

• All India Civil Services
• Group A Services or Central Services
• Group B Services or State Services

 All India Civil Services:

• Indian Administrative Service or IAS
• Indian Forest Service or IFS
• Indian Police Service or IPS

Central Group A Services:

• Indian Foreign Service
• Indian P & T Accounts & Finance Service
• Indian Audit and Accounts Service
• Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise)
• Indian Defence Accounts Service
• Indian Revenue Service (I.T.) or IRS
• Indian Ordnance Factories Service (Assistant Works Manager, Administration)
• Indian Postal Service
• Indian Civil Accounts Service
• Indian Railway Traffic Service
• Indian Railway Accounts Service
• Indian Railway Personnel Service
• Indian Railway Protection Force (Assistant Security Commissioner)
• Indian Defence Estates Service
• Indian Information Service (Junior Grade)
• Indian Trade Service, Group 'A' (Gr. III)
• Indian Corporate Law Service

 Group - B Services:

• Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service (Section Officer's Grade)
• Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Civil Service
• Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Police Service
• Pondicherry Civil Service
• Pondicherry Police Service

 

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA (Age Limit, Educational Qualifications and Number of Attempts):

UPSC Exam Eligibility:

• For the IAS, IFS & IPS, a candidate must be a citizen of India.
• For the IRS and other services, a candidate must be one of the following:

• A citizen of India
• A subject of Bhutan
• A subject of Nepal
• Refugee of Tibet who came in India before 1st Jan 1962 to permanently settle in India.
• a person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia or Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India.

Educational Qualification:

• All candidates must have as a minimum one of the following educational qualifications to appear in UPSC Exam.

• There is no minimum Pass percentage but must be a graduate.
• A degree from a Central, State or Deemed university
• A degree received through correspondence or distance education is valid
• A degree from an open university is also valid
• A qualification recognized by the Govt. of India as being equivalent to one of the above
• Candidates who are in last Semester or in Last year of any degree.

Age Limit:

• A candidate must have attained the age of 21 years (Twenty one) and must not have attained the age of 32 years on August 1st of the year of exam.
• For OBC the upper age limit is 35, and for SC and ST the limit is (37) thirty seven years.
• The minimum age limit for candidates is 21 years
• The maximum age limit is 32 years.
• The upper age limit is further relaxed by (5) Five years and 3 years for candidates belonging to SC/ST and OBC categories respectively.
• Up to a maximum of 10 years in the case of blind, deaf-mute and Orthopedically handicapped persons.

Numbers of Attempts:

• General category or EWS candidates: 6
• OBC category candidates = 7
• Physically Handicapped = 9
• SC/ST Candidates = unlimited

 

EXAM PATTERNS- STAGES

• Stage 1: Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination (Objective Type)
• Stage 2: Civil Services (Mains) Examination (Descriptive Type)
• Stage 3: Personal Interview (Personality Test)

Pattern of Stage 1: Preliminary Examination (Objective Type):

Negative marking for each incorrect answer is one-third (0.33).

 

Paper	Subjects	Total Marks	Duration	Syllabus
Prelims Paper I	General Studies (GS)	200 (2x100)	2 Hours (9:30 AM to 11:30 AM)	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
Prelims Paper II	Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT)	200 (2.5x80)	2 Hours (2:30 PM to 4:30 PM)	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)

 

Pattern of Stage 2: Mains Examination (Descriptive Type)

• Paper A and Paper B of UPSC Civil Services Mains are qualifying in nature only and the score secured in these papers are not considered while counting the candidates’ ranking.
• However, only those aspirants, who obtain at least 25% twenty-five per cent in Paper A and 25% in Paper B, will be taken into consideration while making of rank list on the basis of General Studies and Optional Subjects papers.

Papers qualifying in nature:

• Paper A – An Indian language selected by the candidates
• Paper B – English

Papers to be counted for merit:

• Essay (Paper I)
• General Studies (Paper II-V)
• Optional Subjects (Paper VI-VII)

 

Qualifying Paper

PAPER	MARKS
Paper A: An Indian Language	300 Marks  (Need 25 % atleast)
Paper B: English	300 Marks  (Need 25 % atleast)

 

Papers Counted For Merit

PAPER	MARKS
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 Subject-Paper1	250
Paper-VII: Optional Subject-Paper 2	250
Sub Total (Written test)	1750
Personality Test (Stage 3)	275
Grand Total	2025

 

Optional Subjects

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

IAS Cut off 2019- Category- wise

• The minimum qualifying marks or cut off is released by the authorities post the declaration of result of each stage.
• Candidates scoring more than or equal to the cut off marks are eligible for the next step of the selection process.
• The cut off for both the examinations depends upon a number of factors like the difficulty level of the IAS Exam, vacancies available and number of appearing candidates etc.
• IAS 2019 Expected Cut off for different categories is tabulated below:

CATEGORY	PRELIMINARY	MAIN	FINAL
General	150-200	660-679	860-889
OBC	140-201	600-631	809-845
ST	103-180	610-620	800-815
SC	101-185	615-633	815-835
PH 1	101-170	550-615	800-820
PH 2	89-120	550-630	780-835
PH 3	60-125	450-515	690-726

 

BEST STRATEGY TO CRACK

• Always stick to the latest trend by going through the previous year’s papers. Find which section (subject) is challenging and scoring.
• Select only credible sources like

• INTERNET - Official government sites: PIB, PRS etc.
• NEWSPAPERS- The Hindu, Indian Express etc.
• MAGAZINES- Down to Earth, Frontline etc.
• BOOKS- NCERTS (6^th-12^th)

• Read the NCERT books and always try to make short notes. For Prelims the notes should be on Book itself and for Mains descriptive notes required.
• Identify the syllabus overlap between Prelims and Mains and focus on those areas first. The best strategy is to preparing for Mains first and makes notes from them for Prelims.
• Choose optional subject wisely based on your aptitude, interest and experience. Optional subject has weightage of 500 marks in Mains so it is also important to select the scoring one. 
• Do not take lightly the CSAT paper in Prelims because it can surprise you if you did not practise its mock papers before the exam.

• Similarly are two qualifying language papers in Mains because failing to score at least 25% in them will automatically eliminate you from the IAS exam process notwithstanding your stellar performance in all the other papers.

• Take out time daily for answer writing practice for Mains and MCQs practice for prelims at least 3-4 months before the Preliminary Examination.
• Revise the books multiple times and update your notes.

 

GOOD LUCK