The Indian Civil Services examination is conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) every year. The examination schedule is announced during January - February after which the selection is done in 3 stages. Candidates are filtered at every stage through a process of elimination.

The competitive examination comprises of three successive stages :

The Prelims are held in May-June and the results are announced in July-August. The Main examination is held in October-November and the candidates who qualify at this stage are invited to the interview in March-April next. The final recruitment and posting of candidates depends on their ranking and the available vacancies for different posts to be filled during that particular year.

Students need to first apply for the Preliminary Examination only. Candidates who are declared by the Commission to have qualified for admission to the Main Examination will have to apply again, in the Detailed Application Form which would be supplied to them.

Preliminary Examination

The Preliminary Examination will consist of two papers of objective type (multiple choice questions) and carry a maximum of 400 marks. This examination is meant to serve as a screening test only.

Only those candidates who are declared by the Commission to have qualified in the Preliminary Examination in the year will be eligible for admission to the Main Examination of that year provided they are otherwise eligible for admission to the Main Examination.

The marks obtained in the Preliminary Examination Examination by the candidates who are declared qualified for admission to the Main Examination will not be counted for determining their final order of merit.

The number of candidates to be admitted to the Main Examination will be about twelve to thirteen times the total approximate number of vacancies to be filled in the year for various Services and Posts.

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Main Examination

The Main Examination will consist of 9 papers in total comprising of conventional essay type questions.

Candidates who obtain minimum qualifying marks in the Main Examination as may be fixed by the Commission at their discretion, shall be summoned by them for an interview / for a Personality Test.

The number of candidates to be summoned for interview will be about twice the number of vacancies to be filled.

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Interview / Personality Test

The interview will carry 275 marks (with no minimum qualifying marks).

Marks thus obtained by the candidates (in the Main Examination as well as interview) would determine their final ranking.

Candidates will be posted to various services keeping in view their ranks in the examination and the preferences expressed by them for the various Services and Posts.