Civil Service Examination Pattern

The pattern of Civil services examination has been designed to test the academic expertise of a candidate and that candidate's ability to present himself/herself in a systematic and coherent manner. The examination pattern intends to assess the overall intellectual traits and understanding level of the candidates.

The UPSC Civil Services Exam 2021 is conducted in two stages namely, Prelims and Mains, which are then followed by an interview.  

Scheme and subjects for the Preliminary and Main Examinations are as follows:

UPSC Civil Services Prelims Exam Pattern (400 Marks)

• The IAS Preliminary exam consists of two papers - General Studies and Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT). 
• Both the question papers will be of the objective type (multiple choice questions). 
• The duration of the exam is two hours.
• Paper-2 (CSAT) in the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination is a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%.
• The Prelims consists of two papers of 200 marks each
• The question papers will be set in both Hindi and English. However, questions related to English Language Comprehension skills would be provided only in English.
• Blind candidates would be allowed an extra 20 minutes of time for each paper  

UPSC Civil Services Main Exam Pattern (2025 Marks)

• Candidates who qualify Preliminary exam are called for the Main exam and on the basis of marks secured in the Main exam, they will be called for Interview
• The total marks of the Main exam and Interview sum up to produce the final result

The written examination consists of the following papers:

 Note:

Candidates may choose any one of the optional subjects from amongst the list of subjects mentioned below:

 For Santhali language, the question paper will be printed in Devanagari script; but candidates will be free to answer either in Devanagari script or in Olchiki.

List of optional subjects for Main Examination: