UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Exam Syllabus

Civil Services Exam is conducted by UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) every year to recruit candidates to various services & posts in the Government of India. It is a two stage exam consisting of:

1. Civil Services Preliminary Examination (Objective Type) for the selection of candidates for Civil Services (Main) Examination
2. Civil Services Main Examination (Written and Interview/Personality Test) for the selection of candidates for the various Services and posts.

Syllabus and Paper Pattern for the Preliminary Exam

• It is an objective type exam. It is a screening test for selection of candidates for the Main Examination.
• The UPSC CSE Prelims Examination shall comprise two papers of 200 marks each.
• The questions of both papers will be of multiple choice (objective) type.
• The General Studies Paper-II of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination will be a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%.
• The question papers will be set both in Hindi and English.
• There will be negative marking for incorrect answers. There are four alternatives for the answers to every question. For each question for which a wrong answer has been given by the candidate, one-third (0.33) of the marks assigned to that question will be deducted as penalty.

Paper I – General Studies I |100 Questions | 200 marks | Duration : Two hours |

• Current events of national and international importance.
• History of India and Indian National Movement.
• Indian and World Geography – Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.
• Indian Polity and Governance – Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
• Economic and Social Development Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector initiatives, etc.
• General issues on Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change – that do not require subject specialization.
• General Science.

Paper II – General Studies II (CSAT) |80 Questions | 200 marks | Duration: Two Hours

The General Studies-II or CSAT is qualifying in nature. Hence, you need to score 33% or 66.66 marks to qualify for this paper.

• Comprehension
• Interpersonal skills including communication skills;
• Logical reasoning and analytical ability
• Decision-making and problem-solving
• General mental ability
• Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc.) (Class X level),
• Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. – Class X level

UPSC Civil Services Prelims previously conducted on

• 10 October 2021
• 4 October 2020