🏛️ UPSC CIVIL SERVICES EXAMINATION (CSE)

For: IAS, IPS, IFS, and ~20 other Group-A/B central services. Conducted by: UPSC. Official site: upsc.gov.in · apply at upsconline.nic.in.

Eligibility (broad): graduate in any discipline · age 21–32 (relaxations for OBC/SC/ST/PwBD) · attempts 6 (General; more for reserved). Verify current limits on the official notification.

Stages & pattern

 1. PRELIMS  (screening, marks NOT counted for merit)
      GS Paper I  — 100 Q, 200 marks, 2 hrs
      CSAT Paper II — 80 Q, 200 marks, 2 hrs (QUALIFYING at 33%)
 2. MAINS   (written, 1750 marks — decides merit)
      Paper A (Indian language) + Paper B (English) — qualifying
      Essay (250) · GS-I, II, III, IV (250 each) · Optional Paper I & II (250 each)
 3. INTERVIEW / Personality Test — 275 marks
      FINAL MERIT = Mains 1750 + Interview 275 = 2025

Syllabus (at a glance)

• Prelims GS-I: current affairs, history, geography, polity, economy, environment, S&T, general science.
• Prelims CSAT: comprehension, reasoning, basic numeracy (Class X), data interpretation.
• Mains GS-I: heritage & culture, history, geography, society. GS-II: polity, governance, constitution, social justice, IR. GS-III: economy, agriculture, S&T, environment, security, disaster management. GS-IV: ethics, integrity, aptitude.
• Optional: one subject, two papers (see Optional Subjects).

What to study on this site

• Full syllabus: Prelims · Mains
• Notes: all of Subject Notes — this is the deepest content on the site
• Practice: 8 Prelims mocks · Mains answer-writing · Interview
• Plan: 15-month study plan · Start Here

Official links

• Notification & apply: upsc.gov.in / upsconline.nic.in
• Live openings: Govt Job Alerts

This entire website is built primarily for UPSC CSE — every subject note, mock, essay and interview guide feeds this exam. The other exam pages below reuse these same notes at their required depth.