The Civil Services Examination (CSE) is a nationwide competitive examination in India conducted by the Union Public Service Commission for recruitment to higher Civil Services of the Government of India, including the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service, and Indian Police Service.
Also simply referred to as the UPSC examination, it is conducted in three phases: a preliminary examination consisting of two objective-type papers (General Studies Paper I and General Studies Paper II also popularly known as Civil Service Aptitude Test or CSAT), and a main examination consisting of nine papers of conventional (essay) type, in which two papers are qualifying and only marks of seven are counted followed by a personality test (interview). A successful candidate sits for 32 hours of examination during the complete process spanning around one year.
Process The Civil Services Examination is based on the British era Imperial Civil Service tests, as well as the civil service tests conducted by old Indian empires such as the Mauryan Empire and Mughal Empire. It is one of the most difficult competitive examinations in India. A single attempt can take two complete years of preparation - one year before the prelims and one year from prelims to interview.
On average, 900,000 to 1,000,000 candidates apply every year and the number of candidates sitting in the preliminary examination is approximately 550,000.[6] Results for the Prelims are published in mid-August, while the final result is published in May of the next year.
Stage I: Preliminary Examination - Held in June every year. Results are announced in August. Stage II: Mains Examination - Held in October every year. Results are announced in January. Personality Test (interview) - Held in March. Final results are usually announced in May. After the completion of Medical examination of the successful candidates and other necessary formalities, the training program for the selected candidates usually commences the following September.
Preliminary Paper I tests the candidate's knowledge on current events, history of India and Indian national movement, Indian and world geography, Indian polity panchayti Raj system and governance, economic and social development, environmental ecology, biodiversity, climate change and general science, Art and culture.
Paper II (also called CSAT or Civil Services Aptitude Test), tests the candidate's 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. It is qualifying in nature and the marks obtained in this paper are not counted for merit. However, it is mandatory for the candidate to score a minimum of 33 per cent in this paper to qualify the Prelims exam.
In August 2014, the Centre announced that English marks in CSAT will not be included for gradation or merit and 2011 candidates may get a second chance to appear for the test next year.
In May 2015, the Government of India announced that Paper II of the preliminary examination will be qualifying in nature i.e. it will not be graded for eligibility in Mains Examination and a candidate will need to score at least 33% to be eligible for grading on the basis of marks of Paper I of the Preliminary Examination.Those who qualify in the Prelims become eligible for the Mains.
Mains The Civil Services Mains Examination consists of a written examination and an interview.
Mains Examination The Civil Services Main 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. Each paper is of a duration of 3 hours. 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.
Civil Services New Mains Format Paper - Subject - Marks Paper A[A] (One of the Indian languages listed below, to be selected by the candidate (from the languages listed in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India) (Qualifying) 300 Paper B English (Qualifying) 300 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 Papers VI, VII Two papers on one subject to be selected by the candidate from the list of optional subjects below (250 marks for each paper) 500 Sub Total (Written Test) 1750 Personality Test (Interview) 275 Total Marks 2025
A. The paper A on Indian Language will not, however, be compulsory for candidates hailing from the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim.
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