Civil Services

Competitive examinations provide a strong institutional mechanism for scrutinizing, recruiting, and appointing the persons of merit and ability, in an open and impartial manner. UPSC the Union Public Service Commission organizes various competitive examinations in India for recruiting the suitable candidates for jobs in most of the public sector organizations. It has set high standards for itself and for the recruitment of a suitable candidate. The competitive examinations are held in a variety of stages and at different times of the year. The eligibility criteria for the competitive examinations also differ. Most of these examinations follow a multi stage approach of evaluating a candidate.

UPSC has a range of set standards for various examinations. Every year a calendar is released which gives us a comprehensive referral of the examination and its details that would include: Date of Notification, Last date of receipt of application, Date of commencement of examination, and the duration of examination. The notification for the examination is published in the employment news, which is circulated on a weekly basis. Students can refer to the employment news to obtain information on examination, education qualification, medical standards, and instructions for filling the form. Once the candidate fills in the application form and submits it, the UPSC scrutinizes the application and dispatches the roll number of the qualifying candidates. The roll number consists of venue, date and time of the examination.    

The most prominent competitive examinations conducted by UPSC are listed below:


Civil Services
Civil services examination is conducted on a common basis for various services included under all India services. The major services that are covered under civil services are:

•    Indian Administrative Service
•    India Foreign Service
•    Indian Police Service
The successive stages of examination are:
•    Preliminary Examination for the selection of candidates for the Main Examination
•    Main Examination (Written) for the selection of candidates for interview for a Personality Test.
•    Interview (Personality Test)


NOTIFICATION:
The forms for prelims are filled usually in the month of January and the examination is conducted in the month of May.


ELIGIBILITY: 
A candidate holding a degree from recognized university or equivalent are eligible for appearing in the prelims.
A candidate between the age of 21 – 30 years is eligible. And the maximum number of attempts allowed for a student belonging to general category is 4, those belonging to OBC are 7 and unlimited for those belonging to SC/ST.


PATTERN:
PART A: PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION
The Preliminary Examination consists of two papers of objective type (multiple-choice questions) carrying a maximum of 450 marks. The Question Papers (Test Booklets) are set in English & Hindi
# There is a proposal that the Civil Services (preliminary) will be replaced by a new recruitment process of civil service exam called the CSAT (Civil service aptitude test) which is expected to come into effect from 2011.This provides a common basis for selection without any subject specification.

The existing pattern is

Paper 1:
General studies      (150 marks)
•    General Science.
•    Current events of national and international importance
•    History of India and Indian National Movement
•    Indian and World Geography
•    Indian Polity and Economy
•    General Mental Ability

Paper 2:
One of the optional subjects chosen from the prescribed optional subject    (300 marks)
•    General Studies
•    Agriculture Syllabus
•    Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science
•    Botany Syllabus
•    Chemistry Syllabus
•    Civil Engineering Syllabus
•    Commerce Syllabus
•    Economics Syllabus
•    Electrical Engineering Syllabus
•    Geography Syllabus
•    Geology Syllabus
•    Indian History Syllabus
•    Law Syllabus
•    Mathematics Syllabus
•    Mechanical Engineering Syllabus
•    Medical Science Syllabus
•    Philosophy Syllabus
•    Physics Syllabus
•    Political Science Syllabus
•    Psychology Syllabus
•    Public Administration Syllabus
•    Sociology Syllabus
•    Statistics Syllabus
•    Zoology Syllabus


PART B: MAIN EXAMINATION
The main examination is to assess the overall intellectual traits and the depth of understanding of the candidate. The Main examination comprises of nine papers, all of them of a descriptive type conducted within a span of 20 days. The total marks for written examination is 2000 marks
 

PAPER	SUBJECT	DURATION	MARKS	TYPE
1	One Indian language (Qualifying paper)	3 Hours	300	Essay
2	English (qualifying paper)	3 Hours	300	Conventional
3	Essay (In the medium you choose)	3 Hours	200	Essay
4 and 5	General Studies	3 Hours	300 for each Paper	Essay
6, 7, 8, and 9	Two papers from the optional subject	3 Hours	300 for each	Essay

 

# Languages are: Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Marathi, Malayalam, Manipuri, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu.


# Optional Subjects for the Main Examination: Agriculture, Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science, Anthropology, Botany, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Commerce & Accountancy, Economics, Electrical Engineering, Geography, Geology, History, Law, Management, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Medical Science, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science & International Relations, Psychology, Public Administration, Sociology, Statistics, Zoology, Literature of one of the following languages: Arabic, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Marathi, Malayalam, Manipuri, Nepali, Oriya, Pali, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu.


PART C: INTERVIEW
Interview carries 300 marks with no minimum qualifying marks and it is the deciding factor for the candidate to be in the civil services. The interview can be on a personal basis as well as on the educational basis. It is mostly advised to the candidate to emphasis here on the personality development as that is the main thing that matters. The questions may vary from personal to the subjective as well as the current affairs.

Generally there are 5 members of the board for the interview. And the candidate is seated at the center. Candidate should emphasis on intelligent listening, eye contact and confidence. Their should be no unnecessary talking and your answers should convey more than your movement. This is the most crucial stage in civil services and the candidate should be fully prepared to face it.

Civil services is considered one of the most toughest examinations conducted in India and there is a fierce competition among the aspirants. The candidate requires a lot of hard work and dedication so as to be successful. And only being successful is not the only criteria, holding a strong position in the merit list (which is formed on the overall performance evaluation of the candidate) is also important. Therefore a candidate must be committed with complete dedication towards clearing the examination which is the only mantra for cracking the civil service examination.