UPSC CSE (Civil Services Examination)
UPSC CSE (Civil Services Examination) is a competitive examination for
selection of candidates to the most premier services of the country, namely, the Indian Administrative
Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service, Indian Police Service, allied services like the Group “A” Indian
Revenue Service (Customs & Indirect Taxes) etc and other Group “B” State Civil and Police Services of
the Union Territories etc.
Starting from the year 1854, with various changes happening over a long period of time like
establishment of the UPSC in 1926, this is the most competitive and difficult exam for government sector
services. Available only for graduates of ages 21 years and above, it consists of roughly three stages,
namely,
1. Prelims,
2. Mains Written &
3. Mains Interview.
Every year, roughly, around 10 lakhs candidates appear for the Prelims,
which works as the first filter to allow only 1% of them to appear in the Mains Exams. The Mains Written
further filters out to allow only around 25% for appearing in the Mains Interview. Thereafter, the Mains
Interview selects only about one-third for selection to around 1000 posts every year. Of these, those
making it to the IAS would be only the top 100, another 100 next for the IPS and another 10 for the IFS
from roughly around the first 150 (around 0.01%, 0.2% and 0.015% probability for those appearing the
Prelims respectively for the 3 services).
The number of attempts allowed for the General Category candidates is 6,
for OBC 9 and unlimited for SC/ST candidates. The Prelims exam is completely Objective-type with 4
multiple choice (4) answer options with only one correct and 1/3rd negative marks for wrong answer. The
course for Prelims is 100% General Studies viz. 50% for Current Events, History, Geography, Polity,
Economy, Environment, General Science, etc and 50% for CSAT (Civil Services Aptitude Test) consisting of
subjects like Comprehension, Interpersonal skills including communication skills, Logical reasoning and
analytical ability, Decision making and problem solving, General mental ability & Basic numeracy. For
the Mains Written, the syllabus for General Studies constitutes 1000 marks, Essay 250 marks, an optional
500 Marks of the total 1750 maximum marks. The Mains Interview is for 275 marks. The marks for the Mains
Written determine the selection for the next stage of the Mains Interview while the total of the Mains
Written & Interview determine the final rank. The Mains Written consists of subjective -type questions.
The syllabus of Mains Written is an expanded version of the General Studies for Prelims with an
additional paper on Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude. It also consists of QUALIFYING PAPERS ON INDIAN
LANGUAGES AND ENGLISH. There is no prescribed syllabus for the Interview which is a Personality Test to
assess the personal suitability of the candidate for a career in public service, judge the mental
calibre, intellectual qualities, social traits, interest in current affairs, qualities of mental
alertness, critical powers of assimilation, clear and logical exposition, balance of judgement, variety
and depth of interest, ability for social cohesion and leadership, intellectual and moral integrity.
The minimum eligible age for all categories is 21 years while the upper
age limit for General Category, OBC, SC/ST candidates is 32, 35, 37 years respectively. More age
relaxation provisions are there for Defence personnel, Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD)
categories etc.
The Minimum Educational Qualification is graduate.
MPPSC (State Service Examination)
1. Similar to the UPSC CSE, the MPPSC State Service Exam also consists of
the three Preliminary, Mains, and Interview stages. In order to qualify the exam, a candidate will have
to clear the entire selection process.
2. The Preliminary stage comprises of two compulsory papers which are
objective-based divided into Part A which is General Studies and Part B which is General Aptitude Test.
Both Part A & Part B are bilingual in nature.
3. The Preliminary exam is conducted to select candidates to appear for the
mains exam and the marks obtained in the Preliminary stage do not count for the final merit list. Unlike
UPSC, there is no negative marking for the Prelims hence it is suggested to candidates to attempt all
the entire Questions.
4. The division of MPPSC Mains exam is as follows:
a. The Interview stage comprises 185 marks which are counted for final merit list.
b. The final merit list is released by the MPPSC based on the combined Mains and Interview marks that
the candidate has scored out of 1685 marks.