IAS Exam Pattern

UPSC Exam Pattern

Exam Pattern	Prelims	Mains
Exam Mode	Offline	Offline
Exam Duration	2 papers of 2 hours each	9 papers of 3 hours each
Type of Paper	Objective	Descriptive
Type of Questions	MCQs	Descriptive
Total Number of Questions	CSAT: 80 questions GS: 100 questions	Usually, 20 questions per paper
Total Marks	400	1750
Marking Scheme	+2 for correct answer, negative marking of 1/3 of 2 marks	No negative marking

As I have mentioned before, to ace in any field, may it be at sports or at academics, you’d need to analyse and know the playing ground like the back of your hand. As a sportsman and a successful academician, I can vouch for the importance of knowing your playing field and the rules of the game wholeheartedly. 

Basically, to ace the UPSC exams, 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 your acumen as a bureaucrat. We’ll go through each stage in detail. 

IAS Exam Pattern for UPSC Prelims

The Prelims stage IAS exam pattern basically consists of 2 papers, both conducted on the same day. The question type in both papers is objective with one right answer out of several multiple choices.

IAS Exam Pattern for UPSC Mains

The UPSC exam pattern for the Mains paper involves 9 papers that are conducted over a time period of 5-7 days.

The UPSC Mains exam will be available for you to appear, if and only if you are able to clear the Prelims exams.

This means scoring above the declared cut off marks for Paper 1 and scoring a minimum of 33% in paper 2 of the Prelims exam. 

Having said that it should be duly noted that, unlike the Prelims exam, the UPSC Mains exam consists of only Descriptive/subjective type questions of a total of 1750 marks, meaning you’d have to elaborately write your answers instead of choosing the right ones from among a host of choices.

IAS Exam Pattern for UPSC Interview Round  

The interview round is the final stage of the UPSC exams. If you are able to make it into this round, know that you did so by clearing through the written segments of one of the toughest exams in the world, and give yourself a pat on the back.

However, you should not rejoice as yet, because the war’s not yet won.  

You still have to clear the last round or the Interview round. 

In this round, a panel of unbiased and competent individuals will take your interview in order to test your personality. 

Also check: UPSC Exam Recruitment

Source by: https://www.anujjindal.in/upsc-exam-pattern-apply-online-admit-card/