Civils Syllabus Overview

Civils Syllabus Overview


Civls Prelims Syllabus and Notes

PAPER-I: General Studies
PAPER-II: Aptitude Test


The Civil Services Examination (CSE) is a nationwide competitive examination in India conducted by the Union Public Service Commission for recruitment to various Civil Services of the Government of India, including the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Revenue Service(IRS).  It is conducted in two phases - a preliminary examination consisting of two objective-type papers (general studies and aptitude test), and a main examination consisting of nine papers of conventional (essay) type followed by a personality test (interview). The entire process from the notification of the preliminary examination to declaration of the final results takes roughly one year.
Stage I: Preliminary examination - A qualifying test advertisied in May and held in August each year. Results are published in mid-October.
Stage II: Main examination - Held in December every year. Results are usually published in the second week of March.
Stage III: Personality Test (interview) - held in April/May each year. Final results are usually announced in May .
The training program for the selected candidates usually commences the following September.

Eligibility for the examination is as follows:
For the Indian Administrative Service, the Indian Foreign Service and the Indian Police Service, a candidate must be a citizen of India.
For the Indian Revenue Service, a candidate must be one of the following:
A citizen of India
a person of Indian origin who has migrated from PakistanMyanmarSri LankaKenyaUgandaTanzaniaZambiaMalawiZaireEthiopia or Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India
For other services, a candidate must be one of the following:
A citizen of India
A citizen of Nepal or a subject of Bhutan
a person of Indian origin who has migrated from PakistanMyanmarSri LankaKenyaUgandaTanzaniaZambiaMalawiZaireEthiopia or Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India
Education
All candidates must have as a minimum one of the following educational qualifications:
A degree from a Central, State or 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 degree but have not yet completed an internship
Candidates who have passed the final exam of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), ICSI and ICWAI
A degree from a private university
A degree from any foreign university recognized by the Association of Indian Universities
Age
A candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 32 years on August 1 of the year of examination. Prescribed age limits vary with respect to caste reservations. For other backwards castes (OBC) the upper age limit is 35, and for scheduled castes (SC) and scheduled tribes (ST) the limit is 37 years. The upper age limit is relaxed for certain candidates who are backward with respect to other factors and physically handicapped people.
Numbers of attempts
The number of times a candidate may attempt the exam is limited as follows:
·         General category candidates: 6 attempts
·         OBC category candidates = 9 attempts
·         SC/ST Candidates = unlimited
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.
Vacancies and Selection
Generally the number of vacancies varies every year. The number of candidates that pass the preliminary examination is generally 11 or 12 times the number of vacancies, and the number of candidates selected for the final interview is twice the number of vacancies. As per existing policies, reservation for SC/ST/OBC is applied to each level of the selection process.
Preliminary
The pattern of the Preliminary examination 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.[4][9] 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, now popularly known as the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) (officially it is still called General Studies Paper-1 and Paper-
2), 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 under:
·         Paper I tests the candidate's knowledge on current events, history of India and Indian national movement, Indian and world geography, Indian polity and governance, economic and social development, environmental ecology, biodiversity, climate change and general science.
·         Paper II tests the candidates' 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.
In August 2014, the Centre announced that English marks in CSAT-II 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 will be qualifying in nature i.e. it wouldn't be graded for eligibility in Mains Examination & a candidate needs to secure at least 33% marks in order to be eligible for graded on basis of Marks of Paper I of Preliminary Examination.
Mains
The Civil Services Mains Examination consists of a written examination and an interview.
Examination
The 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. Candidates who pass qualifying papers are ranked according to marks and a selected number of candidates are called for 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 the Prof. Arun. S. Nigavekar Committee. However, after some controversy, the qualifying papers for Indian languages and English were restored to the examination.
Civil Services New Mains Format
Paper
Subject
Marks
Paper A
(One of the Indian languages listed below, to be selected by the candidate (from the languages listed in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India) (Qualifying)
300
Paper B
English (Qualifying)
300
Paper I
Essay
250
Paper II
General Studies I (Indian heritage and culture, history and geography of the world and society)
250
Paper III
General Studies II (Governance, constitution, polity, social justice and international relations)
250
Paper IV
General Studies III (Technology, economic development, bio-diversity, environment, security and disaster management)
250
Paper V
General Studies IV(ethics, integrity and aptitude)
250
Papers VI, VII
Two papers on subjects to be selected by the candidate from the list of optional subjects below (250 marks for each paper)
500
Sub Total (Written Test)
1750
Personality Test (Interview)
275
Total Marks
2025
List of Languages
The examination is offered in the following languages, with the name of the script in brackets:
Dogri (Devanagari)
Hindi (Devanagari)
Konkani (Devanagari)
Maithili (Devanagari)
Manipuri (Bengali)
Marathi (Devanagari)
Nepali (Devanagari)
Sanskrit (Devanagari)
Santhali (Devanagri or Ol Chiki)
Sindhi (Devanagari or Arabic)
Urdu (Persian)
Optional subjects
The subjects available for Papers VI and VII are:
Agriculture
Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science
Anthropology
Botany
Chemistry
Civil Engineering
Commerce and Accountancy
Economics
Electrical Engineering
Geography
Geology
History
Law
Literature of any one of the non-English languages listed above
Management
Mathematics
Mechanical Engineering
Medical Science
Philosophy
Physics
Political Science and International Relations
Psychology
Public Administration
Sociology
Statistics
Zoology
Interview
Officially called the "Personality Test", 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 purposive conversation that is intended to reveal the mental qualities of the candidate.
The interview is not intended to be a test either of the specialised 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.

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