The Civil Services Examination is a nationwide competitive examination in India conducted
by the Union Public Service Commission for recruitment to the various Civil Services
of the Government of India, including Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service,
Indian Police Service among others.
Indian Administrative Service and Indian Foreign Service are premier civil services of Government
of India as appointment to anyone of these renders a person ineligible to reappear in
Civil Service Examination.
The examination is one of the toughest examination in the world with success rate of 0.1%-0.3%
with more than 500,000 applicants.
It is conducted in two phases - the Preliminary examination, consisting of two objective-type
papers, and the Main examination, consisting of nine papers of conventional type followed
by the Personality Test.
The entire process from the notification of the Preliminary examination to declaration
of the final results takes roughly one year.
Process The Civil Services Examination is based on
the British Raj - era Imperial Civil Service, as well as the civil service tests conducted
by old Indian Empires such as in the Mauryan Empire, and the Mughal Empire.
The Civil Services Examination of India is considered to be one of the most difficult
and competitive examinations in the world.
On an average, 5 to 6 lakh candidates apply every year and the number of candidates appearing
is roughly 3 lakh for the examination.
Aspirants must complete a three-stage process, with a final success rate of about 0.3% of
the total applicants.
Stage I: Preliminary examination - This is qualifying test held in May/June every year.
Notification for this is published in December/January.
Results are published in the first half of August.
Stage II: Main examination - This is the main test, held in October/November every year.
Results are usually published in the second week of March.
Stage III: Personality Test - It is the final test and is held in April/May every year.
Final results are usually announced a few days before the next preliminary examination.
The training program for the selected candidates usually commences in August every year.
Eligibility The eligibility norms for the examination
are as follows: Nationality
For the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service, a candidate must
be a citizen of India.
For other services, a candidate must be one of the following:
A citizen of 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
For other services, a candidate must be one of the following:
A citizen of India A citizen of Nepal or a subject of Bhutan
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
Education All candidates must have a minimum of any
of the following educational qualifications: A degree from a Central, State or Deemed university
A degree received through Correspondence Education or Distance
A degree from an Open University A qualification recognized by the Government
of India as being equivalent to either of the above The following
candidates are also eligible, but have to submit proof of their eligibility from a competent
authority at their institute/university at the time of the main examination, failing
which they will not be allowed to attend the exam.
Candidates who have appeared in an examination, the passing of which
would render them educationally qualified enough to satisfy any of the above points
Candidates who have passed the final exam of the MBBS degree but
have not yet completed their internship A degree from a private university
A degree from any foreign university recognized by Association of
Indian Universities Age
Prescribed age limits are minimum 21 years and less than 32 years as on 1 August of the
year of Examination.
A candidate who turns 21 on 1 August is eligible whereas a candidate who turns 32 is not.
Upper age limit relaxation is provided to candidates as follows:
A maximum of three years for OBC candidates [Non Creamy Layer only]
A maximum of three years in case of Defence Services personnel disabled in operations
during hostilities with any foreign country or in a disturbed area and released as a consequence
thereof A maximum of five years for candidates belonging
to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe A maximum of five years if a candidate had
ordinarily been domiciled in the State of Jammu & Kashmir during the period from 1 January
1980 to 31 December 1989 A maximum of five years in case of ex-servicemen
including Commissioned Officers and ECOs/SSCOs who have rendered at least five years Military
Service as on 1 August and have been released on either of the following basis:(Note:This
information has not been updated,so please visit website of FPSC)
on completion of assignment otherwise than by way of dismissal or discharge on account
of misconduct or inefficiency on account of physical disability attributable
to Military Service on invalidment
A maximum of five years in case of ECOs/SSCOs who have completed an initial period of assignment
of five years Military Service as on 1 August and whose assignment has been extended beyond
five years and in whose case the Ministry of Defence issues a certificate that they
can apply for civil employment and that they will be released on three months notice on
selection from the date of receipt of offer of appointment.
A maximum of ten years in case of blind, deaf-mute and orthopaedically handicapped persons
The age relaxation will not be admissible to Ex-Servicemen and Commissioned Officers
including ECOs/SSCOs who are released on own request.
Numbers of attempts The number of attempts a candidate can give
the exam is limited as follows: General Category Candidates and OBC Category
Candidates under the Creamy layer = 6 attempts OBC Category Candidates = 9 attempts
SC/ST Candidates = Unlimited However these candidates are requested to
bear in mind: An attempt at a Preliminary Examination shall
be considered to be an attempt at the Examination.
If a candidate actually appears in any one paper in the Preliminary Examination, he/she
shall be deemed to have made an attempt at the Examination.
Not withstanding the disqualification/cancellation of candidature, the fact of appearance of
the candidate at the examination will count as an attempt.
Candidates just applied but not appeared at the exam is not an attempt.
Vacancies and Selection Generally the number of vacancies varies every
year.
In the preliminary examination, the number of candidate selected for the mains is 11
or 12 times the number of vacancies and in case of the main examination, the number of
candidates selected for the interview is twice the number of vacancies.
As per existing policies, reservation for SCOBC is applied to each level of the selection
process.
For example, if the number of vacancies in a given year is 1000, and 100,000 candidates
appear for the preliminary examination; the top 11,000 or 12,000 scorers will be selected
for the mains and similarly, out of those 12,000 only the top 2,000 scorers will be
called for the interview subject to their respective reservation quota.
In 2006, around 400,000 candidates applied for fewer than 500 vacancies and around 7,500
got through the preliminary and appeared in the Mains exam.
In 2010, 5,47,698 candidates appeared for the preliminary exam.
To secure a place in the highly sought after Indian Administrative Service, a candidate
must secure a rank in the top 70, a success rate of around 0.025 percent.
The number of vacancies in 2011 was approximately 880.
Preliminary The pattern of the Preliminary examination
up to 2010 was based on the recommendations of the Kothari Commission.
It included two examinations, one on general studies worth 150 marks, and the second on
one of 23 optional subjects worth 300 marks.
Until 2011, when it was revamped, the preliminary pattern was sustained with only minor changes
once every ten to fifteen years.
It is possible that in the coming years there can be some more changes in the format.
From 2011 onwards, the Preliminary examination, now popularly known as the Civil Services
Aptitude Test( officially it is still called General Studies Paper-1 and Paper-2), intends
to focus on analytical abilities and understanding rather than the ability to memorize.
The new pattern includes two papers of two hours duration and 200 marks each.
Both papers have multiple choice objective type questions only.
They are as under: Paper I tests the candidate's knowledge on
current events, history of India and Indian national movement, Indian and World Geography,
Indian Polity and governance, Economic and social development, environmental ecology,
biodiversity, climate change and general science.
Paper II tests the candidates' skills in comprehension, interpersonal skills, communication, logical
reasoning, analytical ability, decision making, problem solving, basic numeracy, data interpretation,
English language comprehension skills and mental ability.
Note: These papers are qualifying in nature and are not used for ranking.
Hence their marks are not added to the total.
Candidates who fail these papers as per the Commission's standards are not eligible for
the mains.
Mains The Civil Services Mains Examination consists
of a written examination and an interview.
Examination The written examination consists of nine papers,
two qualifying and seven ranking in nature.
The range of questions may vary from just one mark to sixty marks, twenty words to 600
words answers.
Candidates who pass qualifying papers are ranked according to marks and a selected number
of candidates are called for interview or a personality test at the Commission's discretion
According to the new marks allocations in Civil Service Examination 2013 there are some
changes made in the examination according to the suggestion of the Prof. Arun.
S. Nigavekar Committee.
However, after some controversy, the qualifying papers for Indian languages and English were
restored to the examination.
In August 2014, the Centre announced that English marks in CSAT-II will not be included
for gradation or merit and 2011 candidates may get a second chance to appear for the
test next year.
Interview Officially called the "Personality Test",
the object of the interview is to assess the personal suitability of the candidate for
a career in public service by a board of competent and unbiased observers.
The test is intended to evaluate the mental calibre of a candidate.
In broad terms, this is really an assessment of not only a candidate's intellectual qualities,
but also social traits and interest in current affairs.
Some of the qualities to be judged are mental alertness, critical powers of assimilation,
clear and logical exposition, balance of judgement, variety and depth of interest, ability for
social cohesion and leadership, and intellectual and moral integrity.
The technique of the interview is not that of a strict cross-examination, but of a natural,
though directed and purposive conversation that is intended to reveal the mental qualities
of the candidate.
The interview is not intended to be a test either of the specialised or general knowledge
of the candidate, which has been already tested through written papers.
Candidates are expected to have taken an intelligent interest not only in their special subjects
of academic study, but also in the events which are happening around them both within
and outside their own state or country as well as in modern currents of thought and
in new discoveries which should rouse the curiosity of all well-educated youth.
This exam is very thorough and rigorous.
The success rate in this stage is very small, i.e. 0.01% of aspirants
References
External links Union Public Service Commission official website
Information on Civil Services Examination Information on UPSC SCRA