UPSC FAQ

The UPSC is central government agency authorized to conduct the civil services examination. The civil service includes the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Forest Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and other central services and posts.

There are two modes of recruitment to the All India Services; (i) Direct Recruitment: Through the Civil Services Examination for IAS and IPS and the Indian Forest Service Examination for the IFS. These Examinations are conducted by UPSC. (ii) Promotion/Selection: By way of promotion of the SCS/SPS/SFS officers to the respective All India Service and by way of selection of Non-State Civil Services (NSCS) Officers to the IAS.

The candidate must hold a degree of any of universities incorporated by an Act of the Central or State Legislature in India or any other educational institution established by an Act of Parliament or declared to be deemed as a university under section 3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956, or possess an equivalent qualification.

According to the latest advertisement issued by UPSC 2016, minimum age required to appear in this exam is 21 years. The maximum age limit is different for different categories and are given below. General- 32 years ,6 attempts. OBC - 35 years, 9 attempts. SC & ST -37 years with unlimited attempt. For blinds, deaf-mute, orthopedically handicapped person - 42 years(for General and OBC-9 attempts, SC/ST- up to age limit.)

No. Only candidates belonging to communities which are included in the Central list of OBC's are eligible for such concessions. In Tamil Nadu the communities which belong to Central OBC list are given in the following link.

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

Yes, The only condition is that the degree has to be obtained from the recognized university.

A candidate has to clear all the three rounds of the civil services examination, which included: Stage I: Preliminary Stage II: Mains Stage III: Interview

Paper-I- General Studies - This paper will be counted for qualifying to write the Civil Services Mains exam. Paper- II (CSAT)- Aptitude test (CSAT) - This paper is of qualifying nature, but candidate must score at least 33 per cent marks in this paper. However, marks of this paper are not counted for writing the Mains examination.

The Mains consist of written examination and an interview test. The written examination will consist of 9 papers of the conventional essay type. Two papers(A and B) out of nine will be of qualifying nature(English and a language from the 8th schedule). Paper A and Paper B will be for 300 marks. Marks obtained for all the compulsory papers (Paper–I to Paper-VII) and Marks obtained in Interview for Personality Test will be counted for ranking. The marks for the respective papers are given below

Paper 1-Essay	250 marks
Paper 2- General studies	250 marks
Paper 3- General studies II	250 marks
Paper 4- General studies III	250 marks
Paper 5- General studies IV	250 marks
Paper 6- Optional Paper 1	250 marks
Paper 7- Optional Paper 2	250 marks
Interview	275 marks
Grand total	2025 marks

The question paper for prelims will be in Hindi and English. For mains the candidates has the option to write their answers either in English or in any one of the language in Eighth schedule.

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

No, If you clear the prelims you have to appear for Mains the same year, If you couldn’t get through the Mains examination (Mains and Interview) you have start fresh from the prelims of the subsequent year.

No it won’t affect your mains mark. The prelims is only a examination for screening. Once you qualify Prelims, what you have scored before does not matter in Mains.

As per the 7th pay commission, the salary of an IAS officer during his commissioning as junior Will be 50,000 to 1,50,000 along with a grade pay of Rs 16,500.

It depends on the number of vacancies that year that has to be filled, but the total vacancies will be 1100(Approximately). In that it will have 180 post (approx) for IAS, 160(approx) post IPS and 40(approx) for IFS.

An applicant should apply for a particular examination only when it has been notified by the Commission. Brief information containing the extracts of the examination which is being notified is published in the leading News Papers. The complete and detailed information is available on Commission's website https://www.upsc.gov.in and at the website for filling the online application for particular notified exam/exams at https://upsconline.nic.in

(1) Must be a citizen of India, a person of Indian origin or a subject of Nepal, Bhutan or Tibet settled in India before 1st January 1962. (2) Candidates must hold a Graduate Degree from a recognised University. (3) Candidates must be a minimum of 21 years of age and must not be more than 32 years of age.