UPSC Mains Syllabus
Civil Services Main Examination consists of written examination and interview (personality test). Civil Services Main Examination consists of following papers divided into 2 categories – qualifying & papers to be counted for merit.
| Qualifying Papers | Subject | Time | Marks |
| Paper-A | One of the Indian Language to be selected by the candidate from the Languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution | 3 hours | 300 |
| Paper-B | English | 3 hours | 300 |
(i) The papers on Indian languages and English (Paper A and paper B) will be of Matriculation or equivalent
standard and will be of qualifying nature. The marks obtained in these papers will not be counted for
ranking.
(ii) Evaluation of the papers, namely, ‘Essay’, ‘General Studies’ and Optional Subject of all the candidates
would be done simultaneously along with evaluation of their qualifying papers on ‘Indian Languages’ and
‘English’ but the papers on Éssay’, General Studies and Optional Subject of only such candidates will be
taken cognizance who attain 25% marks in ‘Indian Language’ and 25% in English as minimum qualifying
standards in these qualifying papers.
(iii) The paper A on Indian Language will not, however, be compulsory for candidates hailing from the States
of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim.
(iv) The paper A on Indian Language will not, however, be compulsory for Candidates belonging to Persons
with Benchmark Disability (only Hearing Impairment sub-category) provided that they have been granted
such exemption from 2nd or 3rd language courses by the concerned education Board/University. The
candidate needs to provide an undertaking/self declaration in this regard in order to claim such an
exemption to the Commission.
(v) Marks obtained by the candidates for the Paper I-VII only will be counted for merit ranking. However,
the Commission will have the discretion to fix qualifying marks in any or all of these papers.
(vi) For the Language medium/literature of languages, the scripts to be used by the candidates will be as
under :—
Papers to be Counted for Marit (1750+275=2025 marks)
| Merit Papers | Subject | Time | Marks |
| Paper-I | Essay (Philosophical topics & Contemporary issue (Socio-Economic) related) | 3 hours | 250 |
| Paper-II | General Studies-I (Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society) |
3 hours | 250 |
| Paper-III | General Studies-II (Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations) |
3 hours | 250 |
| Paper-IV | Genera Studies-III (Technology, Economic Development, Bio-diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management) |
3 hours | 250 |
| Paper-V | General Studies-IV (Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude) |
3 hours | 250 |
| Paper-VI | Optional Subject – Paper 1 | 3 hours | 250 |
| Paper-VII | Optional Subject – Paper 2 | 3 hours | 250 |
| Personality Test | Time | Marks |
| About three months after the declaration of the main exam result | Approximately 30 minutes | 275 |
Grand Total = 1750 + 275 = 2025 marks
