Who Conducts the IAS Exam?The IAS Exam is conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), a Constitutional body set up under Article 315 of the Indian Constitution. The UPSC, headquartered at Shahjahan Road in New Delhi issues the notification for the IAS Exam generally in December every year.
How Many Stages are there in the IAS Exam?The IAS Exam consists of three stages, which is what makes it such a tough and at the same time the most prestigious exam in the entire country. The first stage is the Preliminary stage popularly known as the Prelims or CSAT. The Prelims is held in May every year. After the recent changes to the Prelims Syllabus the optional subjects for the Prelims have been done away with and now the Prelims consists of two compulsory papers of 200 marks each common to all candidates.
The second stage is the Mains exam. You need to clear the Preliminary stage to be able to appear for the IAS Mains exam. However, the Prelims is only qualifying in nature and marks obtained in the Preliminary stage are not counted in the Mains or for purpose of the final rank.
The Mains IAS Exam is conducted by the UPSC around the end of October every year and it generally lasts for 20-25 days. There are some compulsory papers like General Studies (GS), Essay, English, Indian Language which are common to all candidates appearing for the Mains. Apart from these papers you also have to select two optional subjects from more than 26 subjects. In all, the Mains exam is of 2000 marks. The English and Indian Language paper are of qualifying nature only. The marks scored are neither disclosed nor taken into account for final rank or preparing the merit list. But you need to clear them nonetheless.
The third and final stage of the IAS Exam is the Interview stage. The IAS exam interview is conducted by the UPSC at its headquarters at Shahjahan Road, New Delhi on declaration of the Mains results in the second week of March. The interview process generally starts around end of March and continues right till the first week of May. The final results are then announced two or three days before the Prelims.
The IAS Exam interview comprises of 300 marks and there are no minimum qualifying marks. So the maximum marks in the IAS exam comes to 2300 (2000 marks Mains + 300 marks Interview). If you want to become an IAS you should aim to obtain minimum 1260 marks in the IAS exam as the competition in the IAS exam is quite high and there it is not uncommon to find three candidates with the same marks.
Generally, the last person clearing the civil services exam obtains around 1100-1150 marks and there are anywhere between 400-1000 vacancies each year. So the difference in marks between first ranker and the 200th ranker is not more than 100 marks. Such is the competition in the IAS exam,
What is the Minimum Qualification for the IAS Exam?Only a Graduate degree from a university recognised under the UGC Act and minimum age of 21 years with 30 years as the upper age limit. You can appear for the IAS exam a maximum of 4 times until the age of 30. Various relaxations in the age limit and number of attempts are available for candidates from weaker sections. There is no maximum educational qualification required for the IAS exam and plain graduates and PhD's all compete on the same level.
How Many Stages are there in the IAS Exam?The IAS Exam consists of three stages, which is what makes it such a tough and at the same time the most prestigious exam in the entire country. The first stage is the Preliminary stage popularly known as the Prelims or CSAT. The Prelims is held in May every year. After the recent changes to the Prelims Syllabus the optional subjects for the Prelims have been done away with and now the Prelims consists of two compulsory papers of 200 marks each common to all candidates.
The second stage is the Mains exam. You need to clear the Preliminary stage to be able to appear for the IAS Mains exam. However, the Prelims is only qualifying in nature and marks obtained in the Preliminary stage are not counted in the Mains or for purpose of the final rank.
The Mains IAS Exam is conducted by the UPSC around the end of October every year and it generally lasts for 20-25 days. There are some compulsory papers like General Studies (GS), Essay, English, Indian Language which are common to all candidates appearing for the Mains. Apart from these papers you also have to select two optional subjects from more than 26 subjects. In all, the Mains exam is of 2000 marks. The English and Indian Language paper are of qualifying nature only. The marks scored are neither disclosed nor taken into account for final rank or preparing the merit list. But you need to clear them nonetheless.
The third and final stage of the IAS Exam is the Interview stage. The IAS exam interview is conducted by the UPSC at its headquarters at Shahjahan Road, New Delhi on declaration of the Mains results in the second week of March. The interview process generally starts around end of March and continues right till the first week of May. The final results are then announced two or three days before the Prelims.
The IAS Exam interview comprises of 300 marks and there are no minimum qualifying marks. So the maximum marks in the IAS exam comes to 2300 (2000 marks Mains + 300 marks Interview). If you want to become an IAS you should aim to obtain minimum 1260 marks in the IAS exam as the competition in the IAS exam is quite high and there it is not uncommon to find three candidates with the same marks.
Generally, the last person clearing the civil services exam obtains around 1100-1150 marks and there are anywhere between 400-1000 vacancies each year. So the difference in marks between first ranker and the 200th ranker is not more than 100 marks. Such is the competition in the IAS exam,
What is the Minimum Qualification for the IAS Exam?Only a Graduate degree from a university recognised under the UGC Act and minimum age of 21 years with 30 years as the upper age limit. You can appear for the IAS exam a maximum of 4 times until the age of 30. Various relaxations in the age limit and number of attempts are available for candidates from weaker sections. There is no maximum educational qualification required for the IAS exam and plain graduates and PhD's all compete on the same level.
RSS Feed