UPSC Syllabus 2019 – IAS Syllabus For Prelims, Mains
Here, you will find the complete UPSC syllabus and schedule for the Civil Services Examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
The Civil Services Examination is broadly considered as one of the hardest and the most renowned evaluations conducted in India.
To understand the UPSC test, one needs to know the IAS preparation schedule.
This takes out inefficient efforts like wasting time on studying less important subjects and topics. It keeps one carefully connected to the dream of clearing the UPSC from the very beginning.
The IAS schedule 2019 can be found at the UPSC official site.
There is a typical UPSC schedule design for administrations, for example, the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service, Indian Police Service, Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise) to give some examples. Various phases of the IAS test have various prospectuses. The UPSC Prelims schedule focuses on general and societal awareness which are examined by objective type (MCQ) questions. The UPSC Mains prospectus is significantly more comprehensive as this stage contains nine hypothesis papers.
The Civil services exam is conducted in three phases:
Phase 1: Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination (Objective Type)
Phase 2: Civil Services (Mains) Examination (Descriptive Type)
Phase 3: Personal Interview (Personality Test)
Phase 1: UPSC Prelims Exam
The Preliminary Examination is composed of two components:
1) General Studies
| Paper | Subjects | Total Marks | Duration |
| I | General Studies (GS) | 200 | 2 hours (9:30 AM to 11:30 AM) |
| II | CSAT | 200 | 2 hours (2:30 PM to 4:30 PM) |
2) Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT)
- Broadly, the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination comprises of two papers of objective type, every one of 200 marks (henceforth totalling 400 marks) and of two hours span. To fit the bill for the Civil Services Mains, a candidate must attempt both the papers.
- Further, the UPSC General Studies (GS) paper comprises of 100 questions, while the CSAT paper comprises of 80 questions. The two papers have negative marks for wrong answers set apart to the tune of 1/3rd of the all-out marks designated to that question.
- Each accurately responded to the GS question will be granted 2 marks. In this way, 0.66 marks would be deducted from the aggregate for each question that is wrongly marked.
- Correspondingly, in the CSAT paper, since we have 80 questions for 200 marks, correctly responded to CSAT question would pull in 2.5 marks each, while each wrongly marked question would draw in the negative marking of 0.833 for each such incorrect answer, which will be deducted from the aggregate.
- No negative marking for unattended questions.
The two papers of the IAS prelims are discussed in detail below:
- General Studies (Generally led between 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM)
The General Studies test is the primary paper of the Prelim Examination. This test is conducted to test the general knowledge of the aspirant in a wide scope of subjects that include: Indian Polity, Geography, History, Indian Economy, Science and Technology, Environment and Ecology, Foreign Relations and related UPSC current affairs.
2.Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) (Generally led between 2:30 PM to 04:30 PM)
- This UPSC Prelims schedule for CSAT means to test the skill of the aspirant in answering ‘Reasoning and Analytical’ questions, aside from ‘Reading Comprehension’ and the once in a while asked ‘Decision Making’ questions.
- The ‘Decision Making’ based questions are commonly released from negative marking.
- The prelims assessment is intended for screening a candidate for the consequent phases of the test.
- The marks obtained in the Prelims won’t be included while in the final rank list.
UPSC Prelims Syllabus
- Syllabus for GS Paper (Prelims Paper-I)
- Current affairs of national and international events.
- History of India and Indian National Movement.
- Indian and World Geography-Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.
- Indian Polity and Governance – Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
- Economic and Social Development – Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector initiatives, etc.
- General issues on Environmental Ecology, Biodiversity and Climate Change – that do not require subject specialisation General Science
- Syllabus for CSAT Paper (Prelims Paper-II)
- Comprehension
- Interpersonal skills including communication skills
- Logical reasoning and analytical ability
- Decision-making and problem solving
- General mental ability
- Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc.) (Class X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. – Class X level)
Phase 2: UPSC Mains Exam (1750 Marks)
- The Mains assessment constitutes the next phase with the Civil Services Exam. Only after effectively qualifying within the prelims examination, the candidate would be permitted to write the IAS Mains.
- The Mains examination examines the candidate’s educational talent overall and his/her capability to present his/her understanding based on the requirements of this question in a time-bound manner.
- The UPSC Mains examination includes 9 papers, out which two will be qualifying paper of 300 markings each.
- The two qualifying papers are:
- Any Indian Language
- English Language Paper
The paper on Essay, GS and Optional Subject of only of those competitors who attain 25% marks in both language papers as the minimum passing norm in these paper will be taken for evaluation.
In the event that a candidate does not qualify in these language papers, by then, the marks secured by candidate won’t be considered or checked.
Structure: Language papers
The types of questions asked are –
- Essay – 100 marks
- Reading comprehension – 60 marks
- Precis Writing – 60 marks
- Translation:
- English to compulsory language (e.g. Hindi) – 20 marks
- Compulsory language to English – 20 marks
- Grammar and basic language usage – 40 marks
The remaining seven papers can be written in any of the languages mentioned under the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India or in English.
UPSC Mains Syllabus
| Paper | Subject | Marks |
| Paper – I | Essay (can be written in the medium of the candidate’s choice) | 250 |
| Paper – II | General Studies – I (Indian Heritage & Culture, History & Geography of the World & Society) | 250 |
| Paper – III | General Studies – II (Governance, Constitution, Politic, Social Justice & International Relations) | 250 |
| Paper – IV | General Studies – III (Technology, Economic Development, Biodiversity, Security & Disaster Management) | 250 |
| Paper – V | General Studies – IV (Ethics, Integrity & Aptitude) | 250 |
| Paper – VI | Optional Subject – Paper I | 250 |
| Paper – VII | Optional Subject – Paper II | 250 |
The UPSC Mains schedule provides a list of 48 Optional Subjects which include Literature of various languages. Applicants need to pick any of the ‘Optional Subjects’ from the list of subjects given below:
Civil Services Exam Syllabus For IAS Mains Optional Subjects:
| Agriculture – UPSC Syllabus | Zoology – UPSC Syllabus |
| Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science – UPSC Syllabus | IAS Syllabus – Assamese (Literature) |
| Anthropology – UPSC Syllabus | IAS Syllabus – Bengali (Literature) |
| Botany – UPSC Syllabus | IAS Syllabus – Bodo (Literature) |
| Chemistry – UPSC Syllabus | IAS Syllabus – Dogri (Literature) |
| Civil Engineering – UPSC Syllabus | IAS Syllabus – Gujarati (Literature) |
| Commerce & Accountancy – UPSC Syllabus | IAS Syllabus – Hindi (Literature) |
| Economics – UPSC Syllabus | IAS Syllabus – Kannada (Literature) |
| Electrical Engineering – UPSC Syllabus | IAS Syllabus – Kashmiri (Literature) |
| Geography – UPSC Syllabus | IAS Syllabus – Konkani (Literature) |
| Geology – UPSC Syllabus | IAS Syllabus – Maithili (Literature) |
| History – UPSC Syllabus | IAS Syllabus – Malayalam (Literature) |
| Law – UPSC Syllabus | IAS Syllabus – Manipuri (Literature) |
| Management – UPSC Syllabus | IAS Syllabus – Marathi (Literature) |
| Mathematics – UPSC Syllabus | IAS Syllabus – Nepali (Literature) |
| Mechanical Engineering – UPSC Syllabus | IAS Syllabus – Odia (Literature) |
| Medical Science – UPSC Syllabus | IAS Syllabus – Punjabi (Literature) |
| Philosophy – UPSC Syllabus | IAS Syllabus – Sanskrit (Literature) |
| Physics – UPSC Syllabus | IAS Syllabus – Santhali (Literature) |
| Political Science & International Relations – UPSC Syllabus | IAS Syllabus – Sindhi (Literature) |
| Psychology – UPSC Syllabus | IAS Syllabus – Tamil (Literature) |
| Public Administration – UPSC Syllabus | IAS Syllabus – Telugu (Literature) |
| Sociology – UPSC Syllabus | IAS Syllabus – English (Literature) |
| Statistics – UPSC Syllabus | IAS Syllabus – Urdu (Literature) |
Phase 3: IAS Interview/UPSC Personality Test (275 Marks)
- UPSC Mains Exam qualifier students will be called for the ‘Personality Test/Interview’. These candidates will be interviewed by a Board appointed by the UPSC.
- The aim of the interview would be to assess the individual suitability on the candidate for a lifetime career within the civil services by way of a board of proficient and impartial observers
- The interview is certainly extra of purposive discussion intended to discover the mental features and analytical capability of the applicant.
- The Interview test will be of 275 marks and the total marks for written examination is 1750. This sums up to a Grand Total of 2025 Marks based on which the final merit list will be prepared.
