IAS is a very well-known exam in the country, which UPSC conducts. About 10 lakhs candidates appear in it every year. This exam is conducted in three stages, the first stage is Prelims (multiple choice), the second stage is Mains (descriptive) and the last stage is Interview. In this Article We Will Explain In Detail About the Syllabus of IAS. .
- PRELIMS: under this, there are two exams, the first one is General Studies and the second one is CSAT. To reach Mains it is necessary to clear both this prelims exam. To clear the General Studies exam merit is made while 33% marks are required in CSAT. There is a negative marking in both exams.
- MAINS: After successfully clearing the prelims the candidate has to sit for the Mains exam which is descriptive. There are mainly 9 papers in this exam but 7 are considered while making the merit. Two language paper ( 2 papers in 300 marks, it is necessary to get at least 25% marks to get qualify) and the remaining 7 papers are General Studies and Essay.
- PERSONAL INTERVIEW: The candidates who qualify for the Mains exam are called for a personal interview round and have to answer questions from the senior selectors of the UPSC Board. The final merit and rank are prepared by adding the marks of Mains+Interview (1750+275=2025).
Below are the tables which will help in better understanding of the IAS syllabus:
Prelims Exam:
| EXAM NAME | TYPE OF EXAM | NO. OF QUESTIONS | MARKS | TIME |
| General Studies | Objective | 100 | 200 | 2 hours |
| CSAT | Objective | 80 | 200 | 2 hours |
For General studies Exam questions from the following categories are asked:
- Current events of national and international importance.
- History of India and Indian National Movement.
- Geography of India and the world.
- Indian Polity and governance
- General issues of environmental ecology.
- General Science
For CSAT questions are asked from the following categories:
- Intelligibility
- Interpersonal skills including communication skills, logical skills, and analytical skills.
- Decision making and problem solving
- Basic numeracy (numbers and their relation, order of scale, etc.)
- Interpretation of data (charts, graphs, tables, adequacy of data, etc, class 10th level)
MAINS Exam:
| EXAM | SUBJECT | DURATION | MARKS |
| Paper A | Any valid Indian language | 3 hours | 300 |
| Paper B | English | 3 hours | 300 |
| Paper 1 | Essay | 3 hours | 250 |
| Paper 2 | General Studies 1 | 3 hours | 250 |
| Paper 3 | General Studies 2 | 3 hours | 250 |
| Paper 4 | General Studies 3 | 3 hours | 250 |
| Paper 5 | General Studies 4 | 3 hours | 250 |
| Paper 6 | Optional 1 | 3 hours | 250 |
| Paper 7 | Optional 2 | 3 hours | 250 |
Paper A is not compulsory for candidates from Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim.
- Important topics for main exams are:
- Art and culture.
- history, geography and society.
- Technology, economics, environmental biodiversity, homeland security and disaster management.
- Ethics, integrity and access.
The last and the most important is the Interview round in which the final merit and rank are prepared by adding the marks of Mains+Interview (1750+275=2025) and after which if you get selected you are given the rank of an IAS officer.
