UPSC IAS Exam Pattern 2020

When a candidate starts preparation he/she must know the exam pattern of IAS exam. A complete knowledge of exam pattern will give an edge to the aspirant.

UPSC IAS 2020 Exam will be conduct in three different stages:

• Preliminary Exam
• Mains Exam
• Interview

Candidates who clear all three stages will be granted the offer letter by Union Public Service Commission.

IAS PRELIMS Exam Pattern

The Prelims Exam Consists of GS (General Studies) & CSAT (Civil Service Aptitude Test). All candidates appearing in the Preliminary Exam must qualify the cut-off.

Exam Pattern:

Paper	No. of Question	Total Marks	Duration	Nature of paper
Paper-1 (General Studies)	100	200	2 hours	Considered for cut off
Paper-2 (General Studies)	80	200	2 hours	Qualifying Nature

 

Negative Marking: 1/3^rd of the total allotted marks of a particular question will be deducted if the question is attempted wrong.

Important Points:

• All Questions in UPSC IAS Prelims Exam will be of objective nature. MCQs (Multiple Choice Questions) will be asked in the Preliminary Exam.
• The CSAT Paper will be of qualifying nature and it is mandatory for all candidates to score a minimum of 33% in the paper to qualifying Preliminary Exam.
• Each question of General Studies (Paper-1) consist of 2 marks
• Each question asked in General Studies (Paper-2) consist 2.5 marks.
• Visually Impaired Candidates will be given an additional time of 20 minutes (Each Paper) to complete the Preliminary exam.
• The Question Paper will be bilingual. Question asked both English & Hindi.
• It is mandatory for all aspirants to appear in both the papers of Prelims to qualify for the Mains Exam.
• The score of Preliminary Exam is just for screening purpose, thus the score of this exam will not be considered in the final evaluation of the candidates when the final result id declared after the interview.

IAS MAINS EXAM PATTERN:

Mains Exam has two type of Papers One will be of qualifying nature and other will be of merit purpose.

Paper	Subject	Total Marks	Duration
Paper A	One of the Indian Language to be selected by the candidate from the Languages include in the Eight Schedule of the Constitution	300	3 hours
Paper B	English	300	3 hours
Paper 1	Essay	250	3 hours
Paper 2	General Studies-1 (Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the world and Society)	250	3 hours
Paper 3	General Studies-2 (Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations)	250	3 hours
Paper 4	General Studies-3 (technology, Economic Development, Bio-diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management)	250	3 hours
Paper 5	General Studies-4 (Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude	250	3 hours
Paper 6	Optional Subject (Paper-I)	250	3 hours
Paper 7	Optional Subject (Paper-II)	250	3 hours

 

Total Marks Of Mains Exam 1750.

 

Important Points Of Mains Exams:

• All the papers are of merit nature except the language Papers A and B
• Paper A and B are qualifying nature
• All the paper is descriptive means you have to write the answer it is not a MCQs exam.
• Candidate need to score a minimum of 25% marks in all paper 1 to 7.
•  Paper A is not compulsory for candidates from the state of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim.
• The Indian Language Paper cover any of the languages include in the 8^th schedule of the constitution.
• All papers asked in both language English and Hindi.

Interview Process:

 All the candidates are called for the final Interview and personality test that is counted as the part of merit list.

Boards of recruiters sit together and ask candidates questions related to his/her field.

Some of the important qualities that the board looks for are:

• Mental Alertness
• Critical Powers Of Assimilation
• Clear And Logical Exposition
• Balance Of Judgment
• Variety And Depth Of Interest
• Ability For Social Cohesion And Leadership
• Intellectual And Moral Integrity

The Maximum marks allotted for the interview stage is 275. Total numbers of marks for the merit list is 2025