UPSC Exam Pattern: Prelims, Mains Exam & Interview

  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 Starting off with the UPSC Prelims syllabus, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to you if I say that the syllabus is pretty vast in its own right. However, 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 stu...

  Basically, to ace the UPSC exams also, knowing the UPSC exam pattern is of utmost importance. Everything that you’ll ever learn and prepare for during your  IAS preparations  will have to ultimately be calibrated to the IAS exam pattern. That’s how important the topic of the UPSC exam pattern is.  So, to get to the real thing the UPSC exam is comprised of  3 stages . The  first stage as per the examination pattern is the Prelims round , which is essentially an elimination round designed to filter out a majority of unsuitable candidates.   Then comes the  second phase as per the examination pattern or the Mains round , which is basically the core of the UPSC exams and the most important step of selection.   Lastly, comes the  third stage as per the examination pattern, or the Personal interview round , which is designed to test your personality and...

   UPSC Books Right off the bat, I would like to point out that since the IAS prelims 2021 has been postponed to take place on 10 th  October (earlier it was scheduled on 27th June 2021) this year. To know about the important  UPSC IAS exam dates , read the blog I have written on the same. Now. since there is not much time left for the Prelims paper, it’s only logical that you pick from only the best UPSC books for your preparation. Now, according to me as well as several toppers of previous IAS exams, the best way to start your preparation is by reading through the NCERT books for UPSC and then moving on to the other books for UPSC (the standard ones). Also, you should be mindful about the type of IAS books that you choose for your preparation, given that the UPSC prelims and UPSC mains are very different from each other and would need 2 different sets of reading material for each. The UPSC Prelims, being an entirely objective type of paper would nee...

  Let’s go through some of the important points based on how the  UPSC Cut off  is calculated:   The  marks of Prelims Cut off  are  based on paper 1 of the prelims  or the GS paper  only . The marks that you secure in Paper 2 will not be considered when counting your merit ranking.  Paper 2 is qualifying in nature  and you need to  score at least 33 % in it to qualify for the Mains  round. The  cut-off marks  for the UPSC basically are the  marks secured that the last candidate  that was selected for that round. The cut-off marks for both the UPSC rounds of Prelims and Mains are released only after the final IAS results of the exams for the year are declared. Given below are a few cases that the UPSC has offered clarifications on:   Case 1 – If 2 aspirants score equal aggregate marks in the UPSC exam, then the aspirant who has secured more marks in the compulsory papers + the IAS Interview, i...