Union Public Service Commission releases the UPSC notification every year in the month of February. Aspirants looking forward to the UPSC Exam can get all the relevant details in the notification.
The major things to note in the Notification are stated below:
- Important guidelines for the aspirants
- Eligibility Criteria
- UPSC Exam centers
- Exam Fees
- Application details
- Exam Plan & Scheme – UPSC Prelims & Mains
- List of Subjects in the exam
- General Instructions for all
- UPSC Exam syllabus
- Instructions for online applicants appearing for UPSC Exam
UPSC notification for 2020 will be released on February 12, 2020, and the exam dates for 2020 are as follows:
- UPSC Prelims – May 31, 2020
- UPSC Mains – September 18, 2020 (Starts from)
UPSC Exam Stages
As mentioned in the UPSC Notification, the important stages of the exam conducted by UPSC are:
- UPSC Prelims
- UPSC Mains
- Personality test/interview
UPSC Preliminary Exam
The UPSC Prelims exam is conducted every year in the month of May-August. This year it is scheduled for May 31, 2020.
The Prelims Admit Card would be released on the official website of UPSC 2-3 weeks prior to the commencement of the exam.
UPSC Prelims Exam Pattern is as follows:
| UPSC Preliminary Exam Pattern | General Studies I | General Studies II or CSAT |
| Number of questions | 100 | 80 |
| Negative Marking | (1/3rd of the maximum marks for the question)-0.66 marks for every incorrect answer | (1/3rd of the maximum marks for the question)-0.83 marks for every incorrect answer |
| Duration of exam | 2 hours | 2 hours |
| Language of exam | English/Hindi | English/Hindi |
| Maximum marks | 200 | 200 |
| Cut Off marks | Counted for Merit. Cutoff varies every year. | 33% qualifying criteria (66 marks) |
UPSC Prelims Syllabus
The Prelims syllabus is mentioned below for the UPSC exam:
Syllabus for General Studies Paper-1:
- Current Affairs
- Indian History (National Movement)
- Geography of World and India
- Polity and Governance
- Environment and Ecology
- Science (basics)
- Social and Economic Issues and Development
For a detailed Prelims syllabus, check the official notification.
Syllabus for General Studies Paper-2 (CSAT) Syllabus:
- Comprehension.
- Logical reasoning and analytical ability.
- Decision-making and problem-solving.
- General mental ability.
- Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency, etc.)
- English language comprehension skills
Aspirants should start preparing for the Prelims exam for 2020 to score qualifying marks in the exam. Practicing on a daily basis would help aspirants have a better understanding of the important topics.
UPSC Mains Exam
The UPSC Mains exam is the next stage of the Civil Services Examination after the Prelims. Aspirants who clear the Prelims i.e. those who score above the cutoff in General Studies Paper I and more than 33% marks in General Studies Paper-II (CSAT) are eligible to appear for the UPSC Mains.
UPSC Mains Exam is scheduled to commence from September 18, 2020.
The UPSC Mains exam consists of 9 papers in total and out of these, two are qualifying papers of 300 marks each.
The qualifying papers are stated below:
- Any Regional language (Indian)
- English Language
UPSC Personality Test
The Interview test will be allocated 275 marks and the total marks for the written examination is 1750. The final sheet will have the list of candidates who have scored more than 2250 (275 + 1750).
Aspirants should be very careful about this stage as it will decide their chances in the Civil Services list.
