UPSC Civil Services Examination: UPSC conducts the civil services exam in three phases (prelims, mains, interview). Each stage has its own purpose. Which tests the intelligence of the candidate in various ways. The primary objective of conducting the Preliminary Examination is to test the basic, fundamental knowledge of the candidates in the subjects of general interest like History, Geography, Polity, Current issues of economy etc. Along with this, there is also a demand to test the aptitude by CSAT paper in the preliminary exam.
However, the main exam is quite different from the preliminary exam in many ways. For Mains exam, you know the areas of study from where questions are going to be asked, there is no mystery about mains paper and unlike preliminary exam mains exam does not include any surprising elements. In addition to the four GS papers, i.e. GS-I, GS-II, GS-3 and GS-IV, there is also a separate essay paper, thus, four GS papers and an essay paper will qualify for the main examination for 1250 marks. are organized for.
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Tell is a compulsory language test consisting of English and any Indian language included in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution. These language papers are of qualifying nature and one is required to obtain qualifying percentage in these language papers i.e. 35% marks. It is to be noted that the marks obtained in the language papers are not counted with the other papers. Lastly, there is an optional paper which a candidate has to choose from the options given by UPSC. Almost all the popular subjects taught in Indian universities are available to choose from, except a few papers like computer science etc.
Thus, the scheme of the main exam consists of four GS papers, one essay paper, two language test papers and one optional paper. A total of 1750 marks are allotted for these papers. There is no doubt that the main exam is the deciding exam in civil services as it carries maximum marks.
In the last stage, which is called Personality Test i.e. Interview. Those who qualify the main exam have to appear before an interview board in UPSC. IAS interview consists of 275 marks. The final results are declared on the basis of marks obtained in main exam and personality test. Thus the sum of the total marks is 1750+275=2025. To get selected, a candidate needs to score at least 40-45 percentile of this aggregate and for top posts of IAS, IPS, IFS you need to score 45% and above.
When should I start preparing for IAS exam?
However, there is no exact time to prepare for this exam. Candidates start their preparation at their convenient time. Well if Xert Rai is to be believed then a candidate should take a firm decision to appear for this examination at the school level itself. Because school level syllabus of subjects like History, Geography, Economics and Political Science form the backbone of the material tested by UPSC, it helps to lay a solid foundation of preparation.
Moreover, current affairs is the backbone of civil services exam and it takes a very long time to understand current affairs. In such a situation, from the very beginning, reading newspapers, reading magazines, making notes on contemporary issues on a daily basis are such habits which should be included in our habit from an early age. Similarly for the interview also you cannot change your personality overnight. These leadership qualities, communication skills, personality, etc., can be developed only through consistent and regular practice. In other words, civil services preparation needs to start early and school is the right time for it.
