UPSC Syllabus 2021
I get down to writing about the UPSC syllabus in detail, I would like to mention in brief the exam pattern.
Basically, the UPSC exam is a 3-phase affair:
Phase 1 is the UPSC Preliminary Examination, also called UPSC Prelims. This exam contains questions of the objective type.
Phase 2 is the UPSC Mains Examination, also called UPSC Mains. This exam contains descriptive-type questions.
Phase 3 is the Personal Interview round conducted to test the Personality of the Candidate.
UPSC Prelims Syllabus
The UPSC Prelims examination is basically conducted for the purpose of screening only. Thus if you clear the Prelims exam, you will be eligible for the Mains exam.
Also, your Prelims marks will not be considered in your final order of merit, provided you manage to make it through to the interview round.
The UPSC prelims examination comprises 2 papers, namely the General studies paper and the CSAT paper or the Civil Services Aptitude Test.
Prelims Syllabus Highlights
UPSC Prelims Syllabus for Paper 1: General Studies (GS)
This GS paper or paper 1 is designed to test your overall knowledge about your surroundings and the world, and also to test how observant you are as a person, by asking questions related to current affairs.
The paper contains 100 objective-type questions. Each right answer would fetch you 2 marks, whereas selecting the wrong answer will cost you 1/3 of those 2 marks, or in other words, 0.66 marks will be deducted for every wrong answer.
Leaving out a question will not cost you any marks.
The UPSC prelims syllabus for the GS paper consists of topics from a wide range of subjects making it extremely difficult to pinpoint the kind of questions that might be asked in the upcoming paper.
Getting back, I have written down the list of major topics from the UPSC Prelims syllabus that you’d need to broadly cover for GS Paper (Paper 1) below:
- Current events of national and international importance
- History of India and Indian National Movement
- Indian & World Geography – Social, Physical, Economic Geography of the World and India.
- Governance and Polity in India –Rights Issues, Constitution, Public Policy, Political System, Panchayati Raj, etc.
- Social & Economic Development –Social Sector initiatives, Demographics, Sustainable Development, Inclusion, Poverty, etc.
- General issues on Biodiversity, Environmental Ecology, & Climate Change – these topics do not require subject specialization.
- General Science
UPSC Prelims Syllabus for Paper 2: Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT)
The CSAT or Paper 2 is conducted with the intention to test your reasoning, comprehension, and analytical abilities.
This is because, as a Civil Servant it is of paramount importance that you are able to perceive the world and the problems therein with utmost precision and rationality.
The CSAT paper includes questions from the subjects of Reasoning & Analysis and Reading Comprehension. It also occasionally tests your decision-making skills by asking you questions pertaining to the same.
Rest assured, the decision-making-based questions do not carry negative marking.
Given below is the list of major topics of the syllabus from which questions are asked in the UPSC CSAT Paper:
- Comprehension
- Communication and Interpersonal Skills
- Analytical ability and Logical Thinking
- Problem Solving and Decision Making
- General Mental ability
- Basic Numeracy, i.e. orders of magnitudes, numbers & their relations, etc (class 10 level)
- Interpretation of Data (charts, tables, graphs, data sufficiency, etc. – Also class 10 level )
That pretty much sums up the IAS/IPS syllabus for the Prelims exam. Now it’s time to get down to the big daddy of all exam syllabi, The UPSC Mains syllabus.
UPSC Mains Syllabus
The vastness of the IAS/IPS syllabus for the Mains is quite capable of stirring up anxiety-ridden shivers in even the most seasoned aspirants.
The key highlights from the UPSC syllabus for IAS/IPS are provided in the image below:
Mains Syllabus Highlights
This is because only the candidates that are able to successfully clear Phase 1, or the Prelims, are allowed to appear for the Phase 2 or Mains exam. In other words, only the candidates that are able to score above the UPSC cut offs for the Prelims are then allowed to take the Mains exam.
Moreover, the UPSC Mains exam consists of 9 subjective type papers out of which 2 are qualifying language papers, one English, and any other Indian language of 300 marks each.
The rest of the 7 papers have a maximum mark of 250. Also, it should be noted that not qualifying in the 2 language papers will cause the rest of your 7 papers to be disbarred from further evaluation. The minimum qualifying mark in the language papers is 25%.
I have provided a table listing all the subjects of the 7 papers comprising the Mains syllabus along with their weightage:
List of Papers in UPSC Mains Exam
| Papers | Subjects | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| Paper A | Any Indian Language (compulsory) - qualifying paper | 300 |
| Paper B | English - qualifying paper | 300 |
| Paper 1 | Essay (you can choose to write it in a medium of your choice) | 250 |
| Paper 2 | General Studies 1 (Indian and World History, Culture, Heritage, & Geography) | 250 |
| Paper 3 | General Studies 2 (Polity, Constitution, Governance, International Relations & Social Justice) | 250 |
| Paper 4 | General Studies 3 (Economic Development, Technology, Disaster Management & Security, Biodiversity) | 250 |
| Paper 5 | General Studies 4 (Aptitude, Ethics, & Integrity) | 250 |
| Paper 6 | Optional Subject: Paper 1 | 250 |
| Paper 7 | Optional Subject: Paper 2 | 250 |
UPSC Syllabus for Language Papers: (Any Indian Language & English)
In these papers there’d be:
- An essay question of 100 marks where you’d have to select one out of a few given topics.
- 5-6 questions related to reading comprehension: of a maximum of 60 marks.
- Precis writing questions worth 60 marks which you’d have to attempt on special answer sheets with grid lines.
- Translation-based questions: English to the chosen Indian language & vice versa for 20 marks each, totaling 40 marks.
- Questions based on grammar, synonyms, sentence corrections, and basic language usage, of a total of 40 marks.
UPSC Mains Syllabus for Optional subject (2 papers – Paper 1 and paper 2)
For the optional subject papers, you need to choose a subject of which you have an in-depth understanding.
The UPSC allows you to choose one out of a total of 48 different subjects. There’ll be 2 papers, Paper 1 and Paper 2 of 250 marks each pertaining to the subject that you choose.
Having said that, I have shared a table listing all the optional subjects for UPSC, below:
| Subjects | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture | Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science | Anthropology | Botany |
| Chemistry | Civil Engineering | Commerce and Accountancy | Economics |
| Electrical Engineering | Geography | Geology | History |
| Philosophy | Political Science and International Relations | Psychology | Public Administration |
| Physics | Sociology | Law | Mathematics |
| Management | Medical Science | Statistics | Mechanical Engineering |
| Zoology | |||
Click Here to Read About: upsc mains management coaching
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