The Civil Services Examination (CSE) is a

standardized test A standardized test is a Test (assessment), test that is administered and scored in a consistent or standard manner. Standardized tests are designed in such a way that the questions and interpretations are consistent and are administered and scored ...

in India conducted by the

Union Public Service Commission The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is a constitutional body tasked with recruiting officers for All India Services and the Central Civil Services (Group A and B) through various standardized examinations. In 2023, 1.3 million applica ...

for recruitment to higher

civil services The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

in the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

, such as the

All India Services The All India Services (AIS) comprises three Civil Services of India common to the centre and state governments, which includes the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), the Indian Police Service (IPS), and the Indian Forest Service (IFS). ...

and

Central Civil Services The Central Civil Services (CCS) encompass the various Civil Services of India that are exclusively under the jurisdiction of the Government of India. This is in contrast to the All India Services, which are common to both the central and state go ...

(Group A and a few Group B posts). It is conducted in three phases: a preliminary examination consisting of two objective-type papers (Paper I consisting of General Studies and Paper II, referred to as the Civil Service Aptitude Test or CSAT), and a main examination consisting of nine papers of conventional (essay) type, in which two papers are qualifying and only marks of seven are counted; finally followed by a personality test (interview). A successful candidate sits for 32 hours of examination during the complete process spanning around one year.

List of services

Those who pass the Civil Service Examination may be selected to join the following services: ;

Indian Administrative Service The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the Public administration, administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. The IAS is one of the three All India Services along with the Indian Police Service (IPS) and the Indian ...

(IAS) *

Indian Police Service The Indian Police Service (IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became Partition of India, independent from the British Empire. Along with the Indian Admini ...

(IPS) ;

(Group A) *

Indian Foreign Service The Indian Foreign Service (IFS) is a diplomatic service and a Central Civil Services, central civil service of the Government of India, Government of the Republic of India under the Ministry of External Affairs (India), Ministry of External A ...

(IFS) *

Indian Audit and Accounts Service Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IA&AS) is a group 'A' central civil service under the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, the supreme audit institution of India. Its central civil servants serve in an audit managerial capacity in the ...

(IA&AS) *

Indian Civil Accounts Service The Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS; Hindi: भारतीय सिविल लेखा सेवा ''Bharatiya Civil Lekha Seva'' ) is one of the Civil Services of India. ICAS is under the Department of Expenditure in the Union Minis ...

(ICAS) *

Indian Corporate Law Service The Indian Corporate Law Service (Hindi: भारतीय कॉरपोरेट विधि सेवा), abbreviated as ICLS, is one of the Central Civil Services (India), Central Civil Services (Group A) and it functions under the Min ...

(ICLS) *

Indian Defence Accounts Service An overview of the Indian Defence Accounts Service (IDAS), one of the oldest Central Group 'A' Civil Services of India. Indian Defence Accounts Service (IDAS) (Hindi: भारतीय रक्षा लेखा सेवा) is a Central ...

(IDAS) * Indian Defence Estates Service (IDES) *

Indian Information Service The Indian Information Service (IIS) () is the central civil service under Group A and Group B of the Central Civil Services of the executive branch of the Government of India. Indian Information Service officers are the media managers of the ...

(IIS) *

Indian Postal Service The Department of Posts, d/b/a India Post, is an Indian public sector postal system statutory body headquartered in New Delhi, India. It is an organisation under the Ministry of Communications. It is the most widely distributed postal system in ...

(IPoS) *

Indian P&T Accounts and Finance Service The Indian Post & Telecommunication Accounts and Finance Service / IP&TAFS (now known as Indian Communication Finance Service / ICFS) is a Group "A" Central Civil Services of the Union of India. The Service was started in the year 1972 for pr ...

(IP&TAFS) * Indian Railway Protection Force Service (IRPFS) *

Indian Revenue Service The Indian Revenue Service (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ), often abbreviated as IRS, is a civil service that is primarily responsible for tax collection, collecting and administering Direct tax, direct and indir ...

(IRS-IT) *

(IRS-C&CE) *

Indian Trade Service The Indian Trade Service (ITdS) is a civil service under Group A of the Central Civil Services of the executive branch of the Government of India. It was created as a specialized cadre to handle India's international trade and commerce on the ...

(ITrS) *

Indian Railway Management Service Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fourth largest national railway ...

(IRMS) * Indian forest service (IFS) ;Central Civil Services (Group B) *

Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Services Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Services (AFHQCS) is a Group A Central Civil Services with induction at Group B grade, responsible for policy formulation, implementation and providing administrative support through civilian officers and sta ...

(AFHCS) *

Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service The Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli (Civil) Services, abbreviated DANICS and formerly called the Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service is the civil service of the Union Terr ...

(DANICS) *

Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Police Service The Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli (Police) Services, abbreviated as DANIPS, formerly called the Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Police Service, is the police service of the Union ...

(DANIPS) * Pondicherry Civil Service (PCS) * Pondicherry Police Service (PPS) * Previously, passing the Civil Services Examination also allowed candidates to join the

Central Secretariat Service Central Secretariat Service (; abbreviated as CSS) is the Public administration, administrative Civil Services of India, civil service under Group A and Group B of the Central Civil Services of India, Central Civil Services of the executive bra ...

(CSS),

Indian Ordnance Factories Service The Indian Ordnance Factories Service (IOFS) is a civil service of the Government of India. IOFS officers are Gazetted (Group A) defence-civilian officers under the Ministry of Defence. They are responsible for the administration of the Indian ...

(IOFS) or the Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS).

Process

The Civil Services Examination is based on the British era

Imperial Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million p ...

tests, as well as the civil service tests conducted by old Indian empires such as the

Mauryan Empire The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in South Asia with its power base in Magadha. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya around c. 320 BCE, it existed in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE. The primary sourc ...

and

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an Early modern period, early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to ...

. It is one of the most difficult competitive examinations in not just India but across the world, with more than a million candidates every year. A single attempt can take two complete years of preparation - one year before the prelims and one year from the prelims to the interview. As of 2014, on an average, 900,000 to 1,000,000 candidates apply every year and the number of candidates sitting in the preliminary examination is approximately 550,000. Results for the Prelims are published in mid-August, while the final result is published in May of the next year. * Stage I: Preliminary Examination - Held in May every year. Results are announced in August. * Stage II: Mains # Examination - Held in October every year. Results are announced in January. # Personality Test (interview) - Held in March. Final results are usually announced in May. After the completion of the Medical examination of the successful candidates and other necessary formalities, the training program for the selected candidates usually commences the following September.

Eligibility

Eligibility for the examination is as follows:

Nationality

* For the Indian Administrative Service, the Indian Police Service and the Indian Foreign Service the candidate must be a citizen of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. * For other services, the candidate must be one of the following: # A citizen of India. # A citizen of

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

or a subject of

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

. # A

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

an refugee who settled permanently in India before 1 January 1962. # A person of Indian origin who has migrated from

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

Zaire Zaire, officially the Republic of Zaire, was the name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1971 to 18 May 1997. Located in Central Africa, it was, by area, the third-largest country in Africa after Sudan and Algeria, and the 11th-la ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

with the intention of permanently settling in India.

Educational qualification

All candidates must have as a minimum one of the following educational qualifications: * A degree from a Central, State or a Deemed university * A degree received through correspondence or distance education * A degree from an open university * A qualification recognized by the Government of India as being equivalent to one of the above The following candidates are also eligible, but must submit proof of their eligibility from a competent authority at their institute/university at the time of the main examination, failing which they will not be allowed to attend the exam. * Candidates who have appeared in an examination the passing of which would render them educationally qualified enough to satisfy one of the above points. * Candidates who have passed the final exam of the

MBBS A Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (; MBBS, also abbreviated as BM BS, MB ChB, MB BCh, or MB BChir) is a medical degree granted by medical schools or universities in countries that adhere to the United Kingdom's higher education tradi ...

degree but have not yet completed an internship. * Candidates who have passed the final exam of

ICAI The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, abbreviated as ICAI, is India's largest professional accounting body under the administrative control of Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India. It was established on 1 July 1949 ...

, ICSI and

ICWAI The Institute of Cost Accountants of India (ICMAI), which was previously known as The Institute of Cost & Works Accountants of India (ICWAI) is a professional accountancy body in India. It is under the ownership of the Ministry of Corporate Af ...

. * A degree from a private university. * A degree from any foreign university recognized by the

Association of Indian Universities Association of Indian Universities (AIU) is an organisation and association of universities in India including central, state, institutes of National Importance and Deemed Universities. It is based in Delhi. It evaluates the courses, syllabi, s ...

Age

The candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 32 years (for the General category candidate) on 1 August of the year of examination. Prescribed age limits vary with respect to caste reservations. * For Other Backward Castes (OBC) the upper age limit is 35 years. * For Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST), the limit is 37 years. * For Defence Services Personnel disabled in operations during hostilities, the limit is 40 years. * For Candidates belonging to ex-servicemen including

Commissioned officers An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent c ...

and ECOs/SSCOs who have rendered

military service Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job (volunteer military, volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Few nations, such ...

s for at least five years as of 1 August, of the year and have been released *# on completion of assignment (including those whose assignment is due to be completed within one year from 1 August of the year otherwise than by way of dismissal or discharge on account of misconduct or inefficiency ''or'' *# on account of physical disability attributable to Military Service ''or'' *# on invalidation ''or'' ** Relaxation of up to a maximum of five years will be given in the case of ECOs/SSCOs who have completed an initial period of assignment of five years of Military Service as of 1 August of the year and whose assignment has been extended beyond five years and in whose case the Ministry of Defence issues a certificate that they can apply for civil employment and that they will be released on three months' notice on selection from the date of receipt of an offer of appointment, the limit is 32 years. * For ECOs/SSCOs who have completed an initial period of assignment of five years of Military Service, the limit is 32 years. * For

PWD pwd (print working directory) is a shell command that reports the working directory path to standard output. Although often associated with Unix, its predecessor Multics had a pwd command (which was a short name of the print_wdir command) from ...

candidates, the limit is 37 years. * For Domiciles of

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory since 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered by India as a state from 1952 to 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (prin ...

from 1 January 1980 to 31 December 1989, the limit is 32 years. * For the

Economically Weaker Section Economically Weaker Section (EWS) in India is a subcategory of people having an annual family income less than and who do not belong to any category such as SC/ST/ OBC (Central list) across India, nor to MBC in Tamil Nadu. A candidate who doe ...

(EWS) category, the standard age limits apply.

Number of attempts

The number of times a candidate can appear for the exam are given below. * General category candidates – 6 * OBC category candidates – 9 * SC/ST candidates – unlimited attempts till 37 years of age. Appearing to attempt one of the papers in the preliminary examination is counted as an attempt, including disqualification/ cancellation of candidature. However, applying to sit the exam but failing to attend is not counted as an attempt.

Preliminary

The pattern of the Preliminary examination, also known as the Prelims exam up to 2010 was based on the recommendations of the Kothari Commission (1979). It included two examinations, one on general studies worth 150 marks, and the second on one of 23 optional subjects worth 300 marks. Until 2011, when it was revamped, the preliminary pattern was sustained with only minor changes once every ten to fifteen years. From 2011 onwards, the preliminary examination intends to focus on analytical abilities and understanding rather than the ability to memorize. The new pattern includes two papers of two hours duration and 200 marks each. Both papers have multiple-choice objective type questions only. They are as follows:

General Studies Paper I

Tests the candidate's knowledge of current events, the history of India and the Indian national movement, Indian and world geography, Indian polity Panchayati Raj system, and governance, economic and social development, environmental ecology, biodiversity, climate change, and general science, Art and culture.

General Studies Paper II (CSAT or Civil Services Aptitude Test)

Tests the candidate's skills in comprehension, interpersonal skills, communication, logical reasoning, analytical ability, decision-making, problem-solving, basic numeracy, data interpretation, English language comprehension skills, and mental ability. It is qualifying, and the marks obtained in this paper are not counted for merit. However, the candidate must score a minimum of 33 percent in this paper to qualify for the Prelims exam.

Changes

In August 2014, the Centre announced that English marks in CSAT will not be included for gradation or merit and 2011 candidates may get a second chance to appear for the test next year. In May 2015, the Government of India announced that Paper II of the preliminary examination would be qualifying in nature i.e. it will not be graded for eligibility in the Mains Examination and a candidate will need to score at least 33% to be eligible for grading based on marks of Paper I of the Preliminary Examination. Those who qualify in the Prelims become eligible for the Mains.

Mains

The Civil Services Mains Examination consists of a written examination and an interview.

Mains Examination

The Civil Services Main written examination consists of nine papers, two qualifying and seven ranking in nature. The range of questions may vary from just one mark to sixty marks, twenty words to 600 words answers. Each paper is of a duration of 3 hours. Candidates who pass qualifying papers are ranked according to marks and a selected number of candidates are called for an interview or a personality test at the Commission's discretion. According to the new marks allocations in Civil Service Examination 2013, there are some changes made in the examination according to the suggestion of Prof. Arun. S. Nigavekar Committee. However, after some controversy, the qualifying papers for Indian languages and English were restored. 1.The paper A on Indian Language will not, however, be compulsory for candidates hailing from the states of

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeast India. It was formed from the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and India declared it as a state on 20 February 1987. Itanagar is its capital and la ...

Manipur Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...

, Meghalya,

Mizoram Mizoram is a states and union territories of India, state in northeastern India, with Aizawl as its Capital city, capital and largest city. It shares 722-kilometres (449 miles) of international borders with Bangladesh to the west, and Myanmar t ...

Nagaland Nagaland () is a States and union territories of India, state in the northeast India, north-eastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south, and the Naga Sel ...

and

Sikkim Sikkim ( ; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Koshi Province of Nepal in the west, and West Bengal in the ...

List of languages

The examination is available in the following languages, with the name of the script in parentheses: * Assamese ( Assamese) *

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

(

) *

Bodo Bodo may refer to: Ethnicity * Boro people, also called ''Bodo'', an ethno-linguistic group mainly from Northwest Assam, India * Bodo-Kachari people, an umbrella group from Nepal, India and Bangladesh that includes the Boro people Culture an ...

(

Devanagari Devanagari ( ; in script: , , ) is an Indic script used in the Indian subcontinent. It is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental Writing systems#Segmental systems: alphabets, writing system), based on the ancient ''Brāhmī script, Brā ...

) * Dogri (Devanagari) *

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

(

) *

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

(

) *

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

(Devanagari) *

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

(

) *

Kashmiri Kashmiri may refer to: * People or things related to the Kashmir Valley or the broader region of Kashmir * Kashmiris, an ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley * Kashmiri language, the language of the Kashmiris ethnic group People with the nam ...

(

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

) *

Konkani __NOTOC__ Konkani may refer to: Language * Konkani language is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Konkan region of India. * Konkani alphabets, different scripts used to write the language **Konkani in the Roman script, one of the scripts used to ...

(Devanagari) * Maithili (Devanagari) *

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

(

) * Manipuri (Bengali) *

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

(Devanagari) * Nepali (Devanagari) * Odia ( Odia) *

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabis, Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a ...

(

Gurumukhi Gurmukhī ( , Shahmukhi: ) is an abugida developed from the Laṇḍā scripts, standardized and used by the second Sikh guru, Guru Angad (1504–1552). Commonly regarded as a Sikh script, Gurmukhi is used in Punjab, India as the official scrip ...

) *

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

(Devanagari) * Santhali (Devanagri or

Ol Chiki The Ol Chiki () script, also known as Ol Chemetʼ (, , ), Ol Ciki, Ol, and sometimes as the Santali alphabet is the official writing system for Santali, an Austroasiatic language recognized as an official regional language in India. It was ...

) * Sindhi (Devanagari or

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

) *

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

(

) *

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

(

) *

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

(Persian)

Optional subjects

The subjects available for Papers VI and VII are: *

Agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

Animal Husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, animal fiber, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, management, production, nutrition, selective breeding, and the raising ...

and

Veterinary Science Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in non-human animals. The scope of veterinary medicine is wide, covering all animal species, both ...

Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

Botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

Chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

Civil Engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

Commerce Commerce is the organized Complex system, system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions that directly or indirectly contribute to the smooth, unhindered large-scale exchange (distribution through Financial transaction, transactiona ...

and

Accountancy Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the process of recording and processing information about economic entities, such as businesses and corporations. Accounting measures the results of an organization's economic activities and conveys ...

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

Electrical Engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

Geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

Geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

Literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

of any one of the languages listed above *

Management Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a Government agency, government bodies through business administration, Nonprofit studies, nonprofit management, or the political s ...

Mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

Mechanical Engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

Medical Science Medicine is the science and practice of caring for patients, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pra ...

Philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

and

International Relations International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

Public Administration Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day",Kettl, Donald and James Fessler. 2009. ''The Politics of the ...

Sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

Statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

Zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

Personality test

Unofficially called the "interview", the objective of the interview is to assess the personal suitability of the candidate for a career in public service by a board of competent and unbiased observers. The test is intended to evaluate the mental calibre of a candidate. In broad terms, this is really an assessment of not only a candidate's intellectual qualities, but also social traits and interest in current affairs. Some of the qualities to be judged are mental alertness, critical powers of assimilation, clear and logical exposition, balance of judgement, variety and depth of interest, ability for social cohesion and leadership, and intellectual and moral integrity. The technique of the interview is not that of a strict cross-examination, but of a natural, though directed and purposeful conversation that is intended to reveal the mental qualities of the candidate. The interview is not intended to test either of the specialized or general knowledge of the candidate, which has been already tested through written papers. Candidates are expected to have taken an intelligent interest not only in their special subjects of academic study, but also in the events which are happening around them both within and outside their own state or country as well as in modern currents of thought and in new discoveries which should rouse the curiosity of all well-educated youth. The interview standards are generally high and require thorough preparation as well as commitment.

Notes

References

External links

Union Public Service Commission official website

Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2020 official website

archive of previous exams
{{Civil service Standardised tests in India Union Public Service Commission Civil service tests in India 1922 establishments in British India