What is UPSC CSE Exam ? Or What is IAS exam?
Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) conducts civil service examination every year for 3 All India Services (IAS, IPS & IFoS), all other central Gr. A services and some Gr. B services in UTs. Every year in the month of February the notification for UPSC Civil Service Exam comes.
If someone selected in this exam he/she will going to work under central govt. and state govts. as in Collectorate, central as well as state secretariat etc.. The administrative head of govt. are selected through this exam, so UPSC is an examination process to select IAS and other services.
This exam is held in 3 stages, Preliminary, Mains and Personality test, each stage is a challenge in itself. After qualifying this exam, you get service allocation based on your rank and service preference.
Age limit & number of attempts:
The age limit and no. of attempts for UPSC CSE exam is varies according to your category
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Age limit
1) A candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 32 years.
2) The upper age limit prescribed above will be relaxable :
a) up to a maximum of 5years if a candidate belongs to Schedule Caste or a Schedule Tribe;
b) up to a maximum of 3 years in the case of candidates belonging to Other Backward Classes who are eligible to avail reservation applicable to such candidates;
c) up to a maximum of three years in the case of Defence Services Personnel, disabled in operations during hostilities with any foreign country or in a disturbed area and released as a consequence thereof;
d) up to a maximum of five years in the case of ex-servicemen including Commissioned Officers and Emergency Commissioned Officers (ECOs)/ Short Service Commissioned Officers (SSCOs) who have rendered at least five years Military Service) up to a maximum of 10 years in the case of candidates belonging to Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) categories viz.
(i) blindness and low vision;
(ii) deaf and hard of hearing;
(iii) locomotor disability including cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack victims and muscular dystrophy;
(iv) autism, intellectual disability, specific learning disability and mental illness;
(v) multiple disabilities from amongst person under clauses (i) to (iv) including deaf- blindness. -
Number of attempts
Every candidates shall be permitted six(6) attempts ate the CSE. However relaxation in number of attempts will be available to the SC/ST/OBC and PwBD category candidates.
The number of attempts available as per ralaxation is as:
SC/ST – Unlimited
OBC – 09
PwBD – 09 for General/EWS/OBC
PwBD – Unlimited for SC/ST
Qualifications:
Qualifications : A candidate must hold a Graduate degree from any stream.
Fee : candidates (except Female/SC/ST/PwBD Candidates who are exempted from payment of fee) are required to pay fee of Rs. 100/- .
Every year approximately 10 lakh students apply for this exam, out of which approximately 14,000 to 15,000 students qualify the preliminary exam and are selected for the mains exam. After qualifying Mains, students are selected for the interview stage, in this stage approximately 3000 students are selected. In the interview process, approximately 950 to 1050 students were selected.
Syllabus:
A. Preliminary Examination
This stage comprises 2 compulsory papers of 200 marks each
i. Both papers will be MCQ type .
ii. General Studies Paper II (CSAT) will be qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%.
B. Mains Examination
The writtten examination will consists of following papers :-
Qualifying papers:
Paper -A 300 marks
One of the Indian Language to be selected by the candidate from the languages included in the Eight Schedule to the constitution.
Paper -B 300 marks
English
Papers to be counted for merit:
Paper-I 250 marks
Essay
Paper-II 250 marks
General studies-I (Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society)
Paper-III 250 marks
General studies-II (Governance, constitution, polity, Social justice and International Relations)
Paper-IV 250 marks
General studies-III (Technology, Economic Development, Bio diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management)
Paper-V 250 marks
General studies- IV (Ethic, Integrity and Aptitude)
Paper VI & VII 250 marks + 250 marks
Optional subject- Paper 1 & 2
Sub total( Written test) – 1750 marks
Personality Test(Interview)- 275 marks
The rank will be based on mains examination mark and personality test mark. For some services physical requirement is mandatory.
Now days the demand for UPSC increases due to posts and reels on social media. But as every coin has 2 faces like that after clearing UPSC you have different responsibilities and your work can bring a large change in society. So before started your preparation ask yourself why? If your why is clear then you can find path to how to clear?
How to start preparation for UPSC CSE?
To start preparing for this exam you should first got to the syllabus and previous year questions. Then start reading the NCERT or other basic books available over internet and market. You can make it by self study or coaching. Built a interest for this subject.
After reading the general studies for some months you can decide a optional paper. To select your optional paper is an important step. For this you should go to that optional paper’s syllabus and previous year questions, check availability of resources and guidances in market, check the trend of this paper in current time, saw some topper’s interview and check the vastness of syllabus and then choose. Once selection of optional is done you can start self study by collecting materials from market or taking coaching for that.
Many toppers cleared this exam through self study , so if you think that coaching is mandatory for this exam to clear it’s wrong. In current time many resources available on internet and youtube. The only thing you should follow is stick to your syllabus and follow limited resources with multiple times revision. For self study or coaching going students the most important thing is discipline.
Make a strategy and execute it for this you take topper’s guidance or follow topper’s strategy but make your own strategy according to you so that you can start enjoying the process. It’s not a 1 or 2 day work atleast 2 years is needed to complete the process.
Make your mains ready before preliminary exam otherwise it would difficult to complete the syllabus after qualifying preliminary examination.
At last it’s your choice to decide whether you want to start prepare or not . But this exam want your time.
Best of luck!