Civil service Examination Time and Marks

The Civil Services Examination schedule
Stage 1: Preliminary Examinations (Prelims)
Objective type examination . Two papers: (1) General Studies (150 Marks); (2) Optional subject (300 marks). Duration of each paper: 2 hours.
   No negative marking . Prelims score does not affect the ranking in the final merit list.
Stage II: Main Examinations (Mains)
Nine papers
Paper 1-Indian Language-300 marks-3hours;
PaperII-English-300 marks -3hours. (Only those who fulfill minimum standards in paper I& II will be evaluated for the other papers.)
No negative marking. Prelims score does not affect the ranking in the final merit list
Stage II: Main Examination (Mains)
Nine papers
Paper I-indian language-300 marks -3 hours;
Paper II –English-300 marks-3 hours. (Only those who fill minimum standards in paper I&II will be evaluated for the other papers).
Paper III – Essay-200 marks-3 hours;
Paper IV&V General Studies-300 marks each -3 hours;
Paper VI & VII- Optional Subject-300 marks each -3 hours;
Paper VIII and IX –Optional Subject 2 -300 marks each -3 hours.
  The optionals for the main examination are to be chosen from a given list of 25 subjects. They are Agriculture, management, Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science, mathematics, anthropology, Mechanical Engineering, Botany, Medical Science, Chemistry, Philosophy, Civil Engineering, Physics Commerce& Accountancy, Political Science and International Relations, Economics, Psychology, Electrical Engineering, Public Administration, Geography, Sociology, Geology Statistics , History, Zoology, Law, Literature of one of the following languages: Arabic, Assamese, Bengali, Chinese, English, French, German, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Marathi, Malayalam, Manipuri, Nepali,Oriya,Pali, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telegu, Urdu.

Stage III: Interview
The Interview carries 300 marks. The objective of the interview is to assess the personality, leadership qualities , judgment, and moral integrity of the candidate and evaluate his overall fitness for public service.
   The aggregate score in the mains & Interview decides the position of the candidate in the merit List. If he secures a high position , the candidate is entitled to select the service of his choice; but if he ranks low, he will have to settle for the service offered him

Civil service Examination Steps

Civil service Examination(CSE)
UPSC conducts civil services in three phases:-
1 Preliminary Test
2 Main Examination
3 Personality Test
 Any one with necessary qualification can appear in the preliminary test. It is just a screening test to filter the candidates for taking up the mains. There are two papers at this stage. One optional paper and a general studies paper. Optional will have 120 multiple choice questions with two and half marks for each response. In general studies 150 entries half mark each will figure in the response sheet. Preliminary test is totally objective type and the candidates need not have to write any thing verbally. The first stage of the selection process is announced in November-December every year.
    Those who qualify in the preliminary test are allowed to take up the mains. Out of 5 lakh candidates, only four to five thousand will get the berth for mains. The main examination comprises nine papers. Two are qualifying papers and the performance in those papers will not be included for ranking. Two papers on general studies and two papers in both the optionals will be conducted. All these papers will have 300 marks, each, totaling 1800. A paper on general essay for 300 marks is another compulsory paper. Hence, main examination is for 2100 marks in total
       The qualifying  papers are language papers. English is the compulsory paper to test basic fluency and flow. Another paper will be on vernacular languages. One can choose Malayalam , Tamil, Telugu or Hindi according to his proficiency. The qualifying papers will be simple in nature, pitched at 10th standard level and one has to make an effort to fail

Educational Qualification
A candidate must hold a degree of any of the Universities incorporates by an Act of the Central or State Legislature in India or other educational institutions established by an Act of parliament or declared to be deemed as a University under section-3 of the University under section -3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 or possess an equivalent qualification.

Number of Attempts
Four attempts are provided for open category candidates and seven, for OBC. No restriction on the number of attempts for Scheduled Cast and Scheduled Tribe candidates. The lower age limit for all categories is 21 years. The Upper age limit is for OC,33 for OBC and 35 for SC/CT

Eligibility
IAS and IPS applicant should be citizend of India. For other services the applicant should be : (a) Subject of Bhutan/ Nepal or (b) A Tibetan refugee who came to India before 1.1.1962 with the intention of permanently setting in India or (c) A person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan,Burma, SriLanka,Kenya,Uganda,United Republic of Tanzania,Zambia,Malawi,Zaire,Ethiopa and Vietnam with the intention of permanently setting in India.
       Candidates belonging to (a),(b),(c) categories should be a person in whose favour a certificate of eligibility has been issued by the government of India. Candidates belonging to (a),(b),(c) are not eligible for appointment to the IFS

For further details contact:
Under Secretary (CSP), Union Public Service Commission, Dholpur House, New Delhi-110011

Civil Services Sections and Groups

Civil Services: A Sought After Career
Civil Services continues to be the most coveted Government job despite astronomical salary packages offered in the private sector.

Civil Servants are chosen through a highly competitive all India level examination. They run the Governance, in almost all departments. Individuals, interested in contributing towards the progress of the nation derive tremendous satisfaction by choosing civil services as their career. As a result, their personal experience also gets enhanced and enriched.
       Nowadays , bureaucrats are paid a handsome salary and enjoy attractive perquisites. Financially they are comfortable and their basic needs are being taken care of . Students, who want to go abroad and earn exorbitantly may not fit into this framework. Similarly, candidates aspiring for private assignments with colossal salary will find themselves out of place in this service

The different Services
The different Services to which recruitment is done every year through the Civil Services Examination (CSE) are:
1 .Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service, Group B (Assistant Civilian Staff Officers Grade)
2 Central Secretariat Service, Group B (Section Offices Grade)
3 Custom Appraisers Service, Group B
4 Delhi and Andaman &Nicobar Island, Damam&Diu and Dadra&Nagar Haveli Civil Service, Group B
5 Delhi and Andaman &Nicobar Islands, Daman&Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli police Service, Group B
6 Indian Administrative Service(IAS)
7 Indian Audit and Accounts Service, Group A
8 Indian Civil Accounts Service , Group a
9 Indian Customs and Central Excise Service Group A
10 Indian Defence Accounts Service Group A
11Indian Defence Estates Service Group A
12 Indian Foreign Service(IFS)
13 Indian  Information Service (Junior Grade), Group A
14 Indian Ordinance Factories Service, Group A (Assistant Manager, Non-technical)
15 Indian P&T Accounts &Finance Service, Group A
16 Indian Police Service (IPS)
17 Indian postal services, Group A
18 Indian Railway personnel Service , Group a
19 Indian Railway Traffic Service, Group A
20 Indian Revenue Service , Group a
21 Indian Trade Service, Group A (Grade-III)
22 Pondicherry Civil Service, Group B
23 Posts of assistant Commandant, Group A in Central Industrial Security Force
24 Posts of Assistant Security Officer, Group A in Railway Protection Force
25 Posts of Deputy Superintendent of Police, Group A in the Central Bureau of Investigation
26 Railway Board Secretariat Service, Group B (Section Officers Grade)

Age Limit for Civil Service Examination

Age Limit for Indian Civil Service examination conducted by UPSC

a) A candiate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 30 years on 1st Augutst of the year of the exam. Provided is that upper age limit for the post of Assistant Commandant, Group ‘A’ in CISF is 28 years only
b)The upper age limit prescribed above is relaxable
(i) up to maximum of five years if a candidate belongs to SC/ST.
(II)up to maximum of three years if a cadidates belongs to OBC who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable to such candidates.
(III)up to maximum of five years if a candidate had originaly been domicilied in the sate of Jammu and Kasmir during the period of from the 1st Jan 1980 to the 31 Dec 1989.
(IV) up to a maximum of three years in the case of defence service personnel, disabled in operations during hosilities with any foreign country or in a distributed area and released as consequence thereof.
(V) up to maximum of five years in the case of ex-service man icluding commisioned officers and ECOs/SSCOs who have rendered at least five years military service as on 1st August, of the year of examination and have been relased(i) on completion of assignemnt (including those whose assignment is due to be completed within one year from 1st August, of the year of examination) otherwise than by way of dismissal, or discharge on account of misconduct or inefficiency, or (ii) on account of physical disability attributable to military service or (iii) on invalidment.
(VI) up to maximum of five years in the case of ECO/SSCO who have cmpleted an initial period of assignment of five years military service as on 1st August, of the year of examination, and whose assignemtn has been extended beyond five years and in whose case the ministry of defence issues a cetificate that they can apply for civil employment and they will be released on three months notice on selection from the date of receipt of offer of appointment. 
(VII) up to a maximum of ten years in the case of blind deaf mute and orthopeadically handicapped persons.
Note: Candidates belonging to the SC/ST and OBC Classes who are also covered under any other clauses of (ii) (Age limits) mentioned above, viz. those under the category of ex-servicemen, persons demiciled in the sate of J&K, blind, deaf-mute and othopaedically handicapped etc. are eligible for agrantof cumulative age relaxation under both the categories.
Note: The term ex-servicemen applies to the persons who are defined as ex-servicemen in the Ex-servicemen(Re-employment in Civil Service and posts) Rules, 1979, as amended from the time to time.
Not: Cadidates falling in para (v) and (vi) of age limits mentioned above, are not elibile for age concession if they have already joined any Govt. Job on civil side after availing of the age concession. However, this restrication does not apply to the candidates belonging to SC/ST.
The Ex-servicemen who have already secured regular employment under the central  Govt. in a civil post are however, permitted the benefit of age relaxation as admissible to Exservicemen for securing another employment in any higher post or service under the central Govt.
Note: Notwithstanding the provision of age relaxation under clause(vii)para (ii) (Age limits) mentioned above, physically handicapped candidate is considered to be eligibile for appointment only if he/she (after such physical examination as the Govt. or appointing authorigy, as the case may be, may prescribed) is found to safisy the requirements of physical and medical standards for the concerned service/posts to be allocated to the physically handicapped candidates by the Govt.