UPSC IAS 2020: Window to Change Exam Centre Opens, New Exam Dates Released, Syllabus, Preparation Tips

UPSC IAS 2020: It goes without saying that the Civil Services is undoubtedly one of the toughest examinations to be conducted in this country. Due to the Covid-19 crisis, the Prelims have been rescheduled to October 04, 2020, from May 31, 2020. Similarly, the tentative date of conducting the Main exam is January 08, 2021. The Commission announced the rescheduled dates after a long period of wait. Now, the UPSC has released a notice, allowing candidates to change their exam centre, official notice is given below. As we know, there are three stages of the exam viz. the preliminary, main, and personal interviews. At the end of all the stages, the final results are declared by the Union Public Service Commission on the official website i.e. upsc.gov.in. Read on to know everything about UPSC IAS 2020.

Latest:
>> UPSC has released the link to revise the exam center for Civil Services Exam 2020. Scroll down to check more details.

>> UPSC has announced the new dates of conducting the IAS Prelims and Mains. The Prelims are now scheduled on October 04, 2020, while the Main exam is scheduled on January 08, 2020.

UPSC IAS 2020

Keeping aside the level of difficulty of the UPSC IAS exam, we are not surprised that the Commission allows only a limited number of attempts to crack the exam. A candidate belonging to an unreserved category is allowed to attempt the UPSC IAS exam only 06 times. OBC candidates are allowed as many as 09 attempts while there are no restrictions on the number of times an SC/ST candidate can attempt the UPSC IAS 2020 exam. We do not recommend leaving out any effort to crack the exam the first time. Know when different events related to the UPSC IAS 2020 exam is scheduled to be conducted and get going.

UPSC IAS 2020 Latest Updates

Important Notice for the candidates to submit a choice of center

UPSC is conducting the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2020 on October 04, 2020. Keeping in view a large number of applicants for Civil Services (Preliminary) Exam, 2020 (including Indian Forest Service, Exam 2020) and requests received from candidates to change their centers, the commission has decided to give them the opportunity to submit the revised choice of the Centre. Besides this, there is an option to change centers for Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2020 and Indian Forest Service (Main) Examination, 2020 is also underway.

The request of the candidates to change their exam centers will be considered against the additional/enhanced capacity estimated by the centers for the accommodation of additional candidates.

The window of submission of the revised choice of centers by applicants will be operational in two phases that is from July 07 to 13, 2020 and July 20 to 24, 2020, on the Commission’s website. Hence, candidates are advised to submit their choices of centres for the said examination from the official website, if required. In addition, the Commission also makes a decision for Withdrawl Window that is available to candidates on the official website from August 01 – 08, 2020. For detailed notice regarding the submit a choice of center download it from the below link.

Change Exam Centre: Click here to change the exam center.

Click here to check Important Notice for the candidates to submit a choice of center.

Note: Candidates of Civil Services Examination, 2020, if do not want to change the Centre, are not required to log into the UPSC Change of Examination Centre system.

New Dates of IAS Prelims & Mains announced

The UPSC has released the rescheduled time table of exams indicating the fresh dates of the IAS 2020 exam. As per the time table, the Prelims exam are scheduled to be conducted on October 04, 2020 while the Main stage exam is scheduled to be conducted on January 08, 2020. To check the new time table, visit the official website at upsc.gov.in.

IAS Prelims Postponed; New Dates Releasing after June 05, 2020

UPSC has conducted the meeting on May 20, 2020 for reviewing the situation after the third phase of the lockdown of the country due to the spread of COVD-19. After reviewing the situation, the commission has said that it is not possible to resume examinations and interviews. Further, the commission has decided to review the situation once against after the fourth lockdown of the country. The commission will release the new schedule of examination and interview which was postponed with the last two months in the next meeting. The details of the new calendar of UPSC 2020 recruitment will be published on the official website, after the meeting on June 05, 2020.

IAS Prelims Postponed; New Dates Releasing on May 20, 2020

UPSC announced the postponement of the IAS 2020 Prelims in May 2020. The preliminary stage exam of the 2020 Civil Services exam was earlier scheduled to be held on May 31, 2020. In this context, UPSC first announced that they are reviewing the dates of all upcoming examinations due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis in India. However, now, as per the latest updates, the IAS 2020 Prelims stand postponed. The Commission has indicated that fresh IAS 2020 Prelims date can be announced after reviewing current situations. The new dates are tentatively releasing on May 20, 2020. Below is the official press release regarding the postponement of the Civil Services preliminary exam 2020.

UPSC To Review The Dates of All 2020 Exams

UPSC recently issued a public notice (see below) indicating that it is in the process of reviewing the dates of all upcoming examinations due to the restrictions imposed as a measure to tackle the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in India. As per the notice, a special meeting was held on April 15, 2020, to review the situation arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the dates pf UPSC IAS 2020 remain unchanged as of now, any rescheduling of the exam date if required will be notified on the official website.

Overview Of UPSC IAS 2020

The national level Indian Administrative Service (IAS) exam is conducted by the Union Public Service Commission every year. It is one of the most prestigious and hardest competitive examinations in the country. Some few lakh applicants apply for the UPSC IAS exam every year. It is also informally referred to as the Civil Service exam. This is because UPSC IAS qualifiers are recruited as IAS Officers in administrative roles. Here are some important facts and a brief overview of the UPSC IAS 2020 exam.

UPSC IAS Admit Card 2020

UPSC issues e-admit cards to eligible candidates to appear in each stage of the exam. UPSC IAS Admit Card 2020 is released through the official website of the Commission as per schedule. Candidates must download the admit card from the website by entering the registration id or roll number to log in. It is not sent by the Commission by post. However, UPSC IAS 2020 admit card is mandatory to be produced at the exam hall. Candidates are not allowed to enter the exam hall at any cost if they fail to produce the admit card. Follow the simple steps below to download the admit card.

#1: Go to the website of the UPSC at upsc.gov.in

#2: There is a link to download the admit card. Click on it.

#3: Within this link, there are all the links to download admit card for various UPSC exams. Click on the one for UPSC IAS 2020 exam.

#4: Enter login credentials to log in and open the admit card when released.

#5: Download and print out the admit card.

UPSC IAS 2020 Syllabus

The syllabus is perhaps the first point where preparations for the UPSC IAS exam commences. We advise that one should carefully go through the IAS syllabus, prescribed by the authorities even before devising any plans for preparation. Now that the written exam of UPSC IAS 2020 is conducted in two phases viz. the Preliminary exam and Main exam, the syllabus of both stages of the exam are given below.

UPSC IAS Syllabus For Preliminary

Paper 1:

• Current events of national and international importance.
• History of India and Indian National Movement.
• Indian and World Geography
• Indian Polity and Governance
• Economic and Social Development
• General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change
• General Science.

Paper 2:

• 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.) of class 10th level, Data interpretation (graphs, charts, tables, data sufficiency, etc.Class 10th level)

UPSC IAS Syllabus For Main

Click here to download UPSC IAS 2020 Syllabus.

UPSC IAS 2020 Exam Pattern

Knowing the examination pattern helps the candidate to have an idea about the duration, number of questions, etc. It helps a candidate to know about the weightage of sections asked in UPSC IAS 2020. Read on through the details given below to know the exam pattern of both the phases.

Pattern of Preliminary Exam:

• Language: Question paper of preliminary exam is set in both English and Hindi language.
• Exam Mode: IAS 2020 is conducted in Offline mode.
• Sections: Preliminary exam is divided into 02 sections.
• Negative Marking: 0.33 marks assigned to the question will be deducted in case of wrong answer.
• Type of Questions: Preliminary exam is based on Multiple Choice Questions.
• Minimum Qualifying Marks: Candidates have to score minimum of 33% marks to qualify the preliminary exam.

Pattern of Main Exam:

• Language: Question papers for main exam are set in English and Hindi, except for the literature of language papers.
• Exam Mode: Main exam of IAS 2020 is conducted in offline mode.
• Sections: It consists of 9 papers, out of which 2 are qualifying papers and rest 7 are taken into consideration to prepare the merit list.
• Type of Questions: Main exam or the written test consists of descriptive type questions.
• Duration: Each paper of main exam is of 03 hours.
• Total Marks: Descriptive/main exam is of 1750 marks

Personality Test/Interview:

Candidates qualifying the Main exam of IAS 2020, will be called for the Interview round. This round is of 275 marks, where personal suitability is judged by the experts. Not just the intellectual qualities, an interview helps in assessing the social traits of the candidate. This also helps to know, what knowledge a candidate has of current affairs.

How to Prepare for UPSC IAS 2020?

IAS 2020 Preparation by Let’s Crack UPSC CSE

Complete 1 Year Preparation Strategy by UPSC Topper 2018 Akshat Jain by Let’s Crack UPSC CSE

IAS 2021 – Self Study Strategy by Raj Malhotra’s IAS Coaching in Chandigarh

100 Days Strategy for UPSC Civil Service Prelims Exam 2020 by INDiASHASTRA

UPSC IAS Prelims 2020 Preparation Tips & Important Books

Most of the IAS aspirants wish to crack examination in the first attempt. Hard work and smart work together is required to crack UPSC IAS. Here are some preparation tips that will help the IAS aspirants to prepare for their big day.

IAS 2020 Preparation Tips

Syllabus of IAS and Exam Pattern: Why is it so important to know the syllabus and exam pattern? The answer is, knowing the syllabus and pattern well, gives the right direction to the preparation. It is necessary to divert the efforts towards correct side, and syllabus and exam pattern helps in doing the same.

Right Guidance: Seek the right supervision for the preparation of prelims examination. Aspirants can either join coaching centres or go for self-study. Listen to the interviews of previous year IAS toppers, understand what strategy they adopted. Accordingly, prepare your own strategy, do not try to follow the routine of somone else.

Test Knowledge Regularly: Studying regularly for hours is good. However, testing the knowledge which aspirants have accumulated after studying for a while, is great. Cadidates should refer to previous year question papers and mock test and score their performance, after attempting them. Candidates should keep check on their strong and weaker areas. This helps in creating a right preparation strategy.

Dedication and Determination: Having persistence and perseverance during the complete procedure for IAS recruitment 2020 is important. Never lose hope thinking about the long path ahead. Just keep in mind that as a civil service aspirant it is mandatory to main the calm and composure. Out of all these seats, candidate need only one and by pure dedication and hope it will surely be their.

IAS 2020 Preparation Books

Candidates can refer these books to prepare for IAS 2020:

UPSC IAS 2020 Previous Year Question Papers

In order to prepare well to be an IAS officers, question papers help alot. Below are given the previous year question papers that candidates can use and prepare for the exam.

UPSC IAS 2020 Mock Test

Everybody knows that IAS is one of the vital tests that need lots of preparation and dedication. Keeping this in mind, we have created some free mock tests that can help the candidates to prepare better for the exam.

UPSC IAS 2020 Selection Procedure

The UPSC conducts selection for the IAS recruitment through the Civil Service exam. The exam consists of three stages. The first stage is a preliminary exam, the second stage is the main exam and the final stage is the personality test. Read about the details of all the selection stages below.

Preliminary exam

This is the first stage of the complete selection process for IAS recruitment. It consists of two compulsory papers of 200 marks each. The candidates are allowed 04 hours duration to complete the two papers consisting of objective type questions only. Candidates who qualify in the preliminary exam by securing a minimum of 33% marks are shortlisted for the main stage exam.

Main exam

This is the next stage and can only be taken by candidates who clear the preliminary exam first. It is a descriptive paper of 1750 marks in total. It consists of compulsory as well as optional subjects to choose from. Each paper is of 03 hours duration.

Personality test

This is the final stage of the UPSC IAS 2020 recruitment. Candidates qualifying in the main stage exam are shortlisted and notified through the results. These candidates are allowed to appear in the personality test. Finally selected candidates are offered appointment in the Indian Administrative Services as per vacancies advertised by the Commission.

UPSC IAS Answer Key 2020

The Commission releases the answer keys of all objective questions in the UPSC IAS 2020 exam. As the preliminary exam consists of only objective type questions, therefore, the official answer keys of the UPSC IAS preliminary exam is available for the year 2020 as per schedule. It is released by the Commission shortly after the exam has concluded.

UPSC IAS Answer Key 2020 contains all the correct answers to the preliminary question paper. Therefore, it can be used to estimate the score before the result. Furthermore, candidates who do not qualify in the first attempt can also check the correct answer to improve in subsequent attempts. Besides, unofficial answer keys are also available right after the exam. Although not official, these can be useful to unofficially predict the score.

UPSC IAS Result 2020

The results of UPSC IAS 2020 are published at the website as per schedule. Preliminary results are available after the preliminary exam. Similarly, the results of the main exam are available after the exam. Final results of the UPSC IAS 2020 exam are available after the completion of the final interview. The final results are compiled on the basis of the marks obtained in the main exam and the interview.

UPSC IAS 2020 Tie Breaking Rule

The Commission implements a two-stage tie-breaking rule in cases where two or more candidates secure the same aggregate marks. In order to determine the candidate with higher merit, the tie-breaking rule uses two factors. The marks scored in compulsory papers and personality test, taken together is used in the first stage. If the marks still remain the same, then the factor of seniority is used where the candidate with higher age is allowed the merit.

UPSC IAS 2020 Cut Off

Refer the cutoff of previous year to get an idea of the IAS 2020 Cut Off 2020.

Cut-off List of IAS 2018:

Cut-off list of IAS 2017:

UPSC IAS 2020 Exam Centres

The exam center is allocated to candidates on an availability basis. Refer to the table below to know more about the IAS exam centers.

IAS Exam centre for Preliminary Exam:

IAS Exam centres for Main Exam:

UPSC IAS 2020 Eligibility Criteria

In order to apply for the IAS exam, one must have the minimum educational qualifications and meet with the other specified qualifications first. Even if the application form is accepted, chances are, an ineligible candidate will be rejected when the Commission eventually finds out during the later stages. Read on through this section and learn about all the eligibility aspects in detail for the UPSC IAS 2020 exam.

Nationality: Only those having an Indian citizenship are eligible to apply for UPSC IAS 2020.

Age Limit: One must be compliant with the maximum and minimum age limits as specified by the Commission. The details for the same can be checked below.

Check out the applicable age relaxation for candidates belonging to reserved categories below

Educational Qualifications: One must be compliant with the specified minimum educational qualification to apply for the UPSC IAS 2020 exam. Read about the minimum educational qualification below.

• It is mandatory for the candidate to hold a graduation or post-graduation degree to apply for the UPSC IAS 2020 exam.
• The degree should be awarded either by a deemed, State or Central University.
• Candidates who received a degree through distance or correspondence mode of education are also eligible to apply.
• Candidates who obtained their degree from an open university are also eligible to apply for UPSC IAS 2020.

Physical Standards:

Candidates should be physically fit and comply with physical standards as specified by the Commission. These standards are set and notified through the official UPSC IAS 2020 notification.

UPSC IAS 2020 Application Form

Candidates who wish to apply for the UPSC IAS 2020 can do so through the official website i.e. upsc.gov.in. The application link remains active till the last date of application. During the process of submitting the IAS Application Form 2020, one must exercise the utmost care so as to not make any mistake. IAS Application Form 2020.

The application form for the Preliminary stage exam of IAS 2020 can be filled up in two stages as indicated below.

Part I – Application form fill up.

Part II – Selection of examination center, payment, uploading of documents, final submission.

Click Here to know the step by step process of filling the UPSC IAS 2020 Application Form.

UPSC IAS 2020 Application Fee

An application fee is charged by the Commission from all unreserved candidates to apply for the exam. Candidates belonging to reserved categories are allowed an exemption from payment of the application fee. Check out the categories that are exempted from the table below.

Mode of Fee Payment

The application fee must be deposited during the online application process through the available modes. The UPSC provides the facility to pay the fees through both online and offline modes.

• Candidates can pay the fee by depositing the cash in any branch of State Bank of India
• The application fee can also be paid using the State Bank of India’s internet banking facility or RuPay Credit/Master/Visa/Debit Card.
• Candidates who opt for ‘Pay by Cash’ mode must generate a pay-in-slip and deposit the fee at an SBI branch.

UPSC IAS 2020 Application Form Withdrawal

The UPSC is offering the opportunity to withdraw applications for the first time in the history of the IAS exam in India. Previously, there was no option to withdraw applications once submitted. However, many a time, a candidate might decide that they do not want to appear for the exam even after they have already applied online. The application form withdrawal process initiated in 2020 allows such unwilling candidates to withdraw application form after the registration process. Know about the complete process of application form withdrawal below.

1. Only complete applications can be withdrawn. This includes only those applications that are finally submitted. There are no provisions to withdraw incomplete application forms.

2. The UPSC does not refund the application fee. Therefore, candidates are not given back any refund even if they withdraw the application form.

3. Application form withdrawal can be made only during the schedule notified by the UPSC. Candidates are not allowed to withdraw applications before or after the schedule.

4. Candidates need to enter the registration number. Besides, OTPs are sent to the registered mobile number and email ID. These are necessary to withdraw application forms.

5. In such cases when the candidate has submitted more than one application, the one with the higher registration number is considered for withdrawal. All the other applications are considered canceled.

6. Candidates must take care to generate the authenticated receipt after the successful withdrawal of the UPSC IAS 2020 application form.

7. In any case, if a candidate does not withdraw the form but a get a message regarding the same at registered mobile/e-mail, we advise contacting the UPSC at [email protected] immediately.

UPSC IAS 2020 Notification

When it comes to communication of the details of any competitive examination, the Commission releases an official notice regarding the same. The official UPSC IAS 2020 notification is published by the Commission on the website of the UPSC. We extracted a snapshot of the official notice and provided it here for the convenience of our readers. Besides, one can easily download the full notice by clicking on the download link provided at the end of this article.

UPSC IAS 2020 Vacancy Details

The Commission has notified that 24 vacancies are reserved for PWD candidates in the total number of vacancies advertised for recruitment through UPSC IAS 2020.

UPSC IAS 2020 Salary

IAS officers are one of the highest-paid government servants in India. Besides the basic salary, these officers are also entitled to receive allowances, perks, and benefits. The salary of the IAS officer is governed by the provisions of the 7th Pay Commission.

Recommended: Click here to know more about the salary of an IAS officer

About UPSC

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) conducts the recruitment for Civil Services for the Government of India. This includes the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS). Exams of civil services are based upon the tests conducted in the British era, Mughal Era, and Mauryan Empire. It is considered one of the toughest exams and requires years of rigorous preparation by the candidate. IAS is considered as the permanent part of the nation’s bureaucracy and remains inseparable to the executive as well as to the Government of India.

Official Website: upsc.gov.in

For more information about UPSC IAS 2020, download notification.

UPSC Recruitment