UPSC is the most prestigious and one of the most difficult exams conducted in India. To be an IAS / IPS or IFS officer it is mandatory that you clear the UPSC Examination. So it becomes very important that you know the UPSC Exam Details.

1. 8 Important UPSC Exam Details
By ExamVisa
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2. UPSC Exam Details: Introduction
•UPSC is the most prestigious and one of the most difficult exams conducted in India.
•To be an IAS / IPS or IFS officer it is mandatory that you clear the UPSC Examination.
•So it becomes very important that you know the UPSC Exam Details.
•In the blog I have categorized UPSC exam details in 7 factors which we will be
covering in detail.
•More than 10,00,000 students appear for UPSC Prelims exam, of which only around
15000 students are selected for the UPSC Mains Exam.
•Once you appear for UPSC Mains, out of the 15000 students, around 3000 students
are called for the personal interview where each student is screened by an expert
panel.
•This expert panel is appointed by the UPSC Board, which includes retired civil
servants.
•They examine you in and out asking you difficult questions and putting you in
difficult situations.

3. •As the number suggests, only 0.01% of the total student appearing become
IAS /IPS / IFS officers.
•So it is very important for you to first understand why you want to be an
IAS / IPS / IFS Officer?
•The reason will give you a direction and will to crack the civil services exam.
•So before appearing for the UPSC Prelims Exam, ask yourself a question, why you
want to do this?
•Is it for Power, Money or serving the citizens of India?
•Being a Civil Servant is a difficult job and you need to find out a solid reason of
doing this job throughout the country.

4. UPSC Exam Details : Eligibility
•After you have found out the reason why you want to be a IAS / IPS / IFS officer,
the next step is to understand what are the eligibility criteria’s where you can give
this exam?
•The first eligibility criteria are that you should be a citizen of India. It is mandatory
that you are citizen to this country, or else you won’t be eligible to appear for civil
services exam.
•But there are two more countries, where the Indian Government has given
relaxation to appear for Civil Services Exam, it is Nepal and Bhutan.
•So if you are a citizen of India, Nepal of Bhutan, you can appear for Civil Services
Exam and can be a IAS / IPS / or IFS Officer.
•There is one more relaxation to the nationality eligibility and that is, You must be a
person of Indian origin who has migrated for any of these countries
•Ethiopia
•Zambia

5. •Zaire
•Vietnam
•Uganda
•Tanzania
•Sri Lanka
•Pakistan
•Myanmar
•Malawi
•Kenya
•So, these are the nationality eligibility criteria where you can appear for civil
service exam.

6. UPSC Exam Details : Educational Qualification
•Now the next is Educational Qualification
•The first criteria in Educational Qualification are that the student should a
bachelor’s degree in any stream for a recognized university.
•If you don’t have a bachelor’s degree you are still eligible in certain conditions.
•You should have appeared for the final year examination and are waiting for the
results.
•Or you are still to give your exam but you will complete the degree in this
academic year.
•You will need to present the passing certificate during mains examination if you
pass the prelims exam.
•You are also eligible if you have a professional or technical degree from a
recognized university.

7. •And more eligibility relaxation is when you are a medical student, you have given
your exams but yet to complete your internship, still you are eligible to give the
prelims exam. But you will have to submit a certificate from the concern board
that you have completed your final exam. This way you can appear for the exam.

8. UPSC Exam Details : Number of Attempts
•The next is how many attempts you can give for UPSC exam.
•This depends on your category, if you are general, OBC or SC, ST.
•Every category has a different number of attempts.
•If you are a General Category student you have 7 attempts, and you can give those
attempts till 32 yrs of your age.
•If you are from Schedule Cast or Schedule Tribe you have unlimited attempts till
37 yrs of your age.
•If you are OBC (Other Backward Class) you have 9 attempts which are up to
35 yrs of age.

9. UPSC Exam Details : Stages in Civil Services
•There are 3 stages in UPSC Civil Services Exam.
•The first stage is UPSC Prelims
•According to the eligibility criteria you should either be a graduate or given your
final exams, you will be qualified to appear for UPSC Prelims exam.
•Prelims is a objective type and has 2 papers.
•Paper I is General Studies which includes History, Geography, General Science,
Polity, Current Affairs, etc.
•Paper II is Comprehension, Aptitude, Logical Reasoning and Mathematics.
•Paper I is a scoring subject while Paper II is only qualifying in nature.
•Paper II will be checked first, if you qualify in Paper II, then only your Paper I will
be checked.
•And merit list for selected students for UPSC mains will be according to the merit
list of Paper I.

10. •Paper I will contain 100 questions and will be of 200 marks.
•Paper II will also contain 100 questions and will also be of 200 marks.
•Prelims total marks would be 400 marks.
•Around 15000 students who scored highest in paper I and has qualified Paper II
will get selected for appearing UPSC Mains Exam.
•The next stage is Mains Exam.
Paper A – Language Paper
•It is of 300 marks, and candidate can select any modern day language.
•This paper is qualifying in nature. That means you just have to score the qualifying
mark in this paper.
Paper B – English.
•This paper is also of 300 marks, It is also qualifying in nature.

11. Paper I – Essay
•This paper is of 250 marks, and is scoring.
•You can write it in the language you choose.
Paper II – General Studies I
•It is of 250 marks.
•The topics included in this paper are Indian Heritage and Culture, History and
Geography of the World and Society.
Paper III – General Studies II
•The topics included in this paper are Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice
and International Relations.
•This paper is also of 250 marks.

12. Paper IV – General Studies III
•This paper also contains 250 marks.
•It includes Economic Development, Bio-diversity, Environment, Technology, Security
and Disaster Management.
Paper V – General Studies IV
•This paper is about Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude.
•It also contains 250 marks.
Paper VI – Optional Subject – Paper I
•Here you will need to select 2 optional papers.
•It also contains 250 marks.
•Syllabus of these subjects is predefined.

13. Paper VII – Optional Subject – Paper II
•Here you can also take a literature as an optional subject.
•This is also of 250 marks.
•Sub Total (Written Exam ) - 1750Marks.
•Marks of English and Language will not be counted in the final score as this both
subjects are qualifying in nature.
•And the final stage in Personality Test / Interview
•Interview is of 275 marks.
•It is taken by a panel which is selected by UPSC Board.
•This panel contains retried Civil Servants.

14. UPSC Exam Details: Important Iinks
•Now the next important UPSC Exam Details is the Important Websites / links we
should be using while preparing for UPSC Exam.
Important Websites:
•Upsc.gov.in – for notification, form filling, admit card, results. Official website.
•Yojana.gov.in – to download Yojana and kurukshetra magazines.
•Ncert.nic.in – to download ncert text books in pdf format.
•Nios.ac.in – to download nios online material.
•Mea.gov.in – ministry of external affairs official website.
•Pib.nic.in – press information bureau official website.
•Prsindia.org- prs website for tracking bills in parliament.

15. UPSC Exam Details : Important Dates 2018
•The next important UPSC Exam Details is the dates.
•For UPSC 2018, the important dates are
•Date of UPSC Notification: 07 Feb 2018
•Last date to apply: 06 March 2018
•Date of UPSC Prelims CSE: 03 June 2018
•Date of UPSC Mains: 01 October 2018

16. UPSC Exam Details : Preparation Strategy
•Now that you got to know the major UPSC Exam Details, let us move to the next
thing i.e. Preparation Strategy.
•First analyze the prelims and mains syllabus
•Now try to understand the relationship between prelims and mains syllabus
•According to your graduation try to figure out topics which you already know.
•Go through the previous year question papers and understand the difficulty level
of the questions.
•Once you have understood the difficulty level of the questions, now you will know
the difficulty level of the exam and it will help you study smart.
•Now prepare a topic list, to do and not to do. To do list is the topics which you need
to study and not to do is the topics which you know and you have already studied
those topics in the graduation.
•Start with the to do list, subject wise.

17. •Suppose for e.g. you are starting with History, so you have a list of history topics
which you need to study.
•Take NCERT books, start from 6th STD till 12th,
•You will find all the topics in NCERT History books.
•Once you are done with the NCERT books then you can proceed with other
reference books.
•NCERT books are very important in UPSC preparation; they are easy to start and
are best bet for beginners in this category of exam.
•It is very important that you maintain the balance between static preparation and
dynamic preparation.
•Static preparation is topics which have happened in the past and will not change,
they will remain static.
•And dynamic preparation is the topics which are current affairs.

18. •It is very important that you focus on the current affairs topics.
•From last few years we have seen a pattern where current affairs have been
asked a lot.
•To begin with current affairs you need to start reading newspaper every day.
•The best newspaper for upsc preparation is The Hindu.
•The Hindu has been the best choice for UPSC aspirants, especially the editorial
section.
•Only reading The Hindu won’t be sufficient, you will have to focus on reading
some editorial magazines as well.
•Refer India Year book, Budget documents and government official websites which
has been mentioned above.
•And the most important part is practice.
•You will have to practice a lot before you give the final test,

19. •I.e. take lots of mock tests and practice test.
•There are plenty of them available in the market and you should at least take 60-70
mock tests before prelims.
•This will give you and understanding of where you are lacking and where you
should focus on.
•It will also give you an exam atmosphere, so you wont be nervous on the day.
•According to me, group study is also very important, because it will help you while
you write essays.
•Group discussions gives you different prospective.
•But your group should be handpicked, you are not able to find the right group,
don’t go for group studies, or you will waste your time.
•Eating the right and healthy food while preparing is also very important.
•So focus on eating the right and healthy food, and exercise.

20. •You don’t need to study 18-20 hrs to clear the examination.
•UPSC has made it clear that they are looking for analytical and reasoning skills,
not someone who can mug up the textbooks.
•So it is not important how hard you study, it is important that how smart you study.
•Smart study will open the doors for success.
•So follow this strategy and I hope you will be successful in clearing UPSC and be
our IAS / IPS / IFS officers in the near future.

21. Thank You!
&
Good Luck!
By ExamVisa
www.examvisa.com