UPSC Exam Pattern

UPSC Civil Services Exam Pattern: 

The UPSC Civil Services Examination (CSE) is a three-stage pattern: Preliminary Examination (Prelims), Main Examination (Mains), and Personality Test (Interview). Once the Prelims stage is cleared, candidates become eligible for Mains and later for the Interview stage. Each stage serves a specific purpose in assessing the candidates' abilities and suitability for a career in civil services.

How many papers are there in UPSC Civil Services Exam:

1. UPSC Prelims Exam Pattern

• There are two papers in this stage-

• Both papers are multiple choice questions (Objective type).
• Each paper is of two hours.
• Both the papers are conducted on the same day.
• Each question paper is of 200 marks.
• There is also a provision for one-third negative marking for wrong questions.
• The merit of the preliminary examination is decided based on the marks of the first question paper.
• CSAT is qualifying in nature, in which minimum one third marks are required to pass.
• Only after passing the preliminary examination, the candidate becomes eligible for the second stage.

2. Second Stage or Mains Examination:

• There are a total of nine question papers in this exam, each paper is of 3 hours duration.   

3.Third Stage (Interview)-

• This is the last and important stage of civil services.
• Like other question papers, it does not have any fixed syllabus.
• This paper is of 275 marks.