IAS Selection Process
Last verified 31 Jul 2026
UPSC Civil Services Examination (IAS) selection runs through the stages below, each of which must be cleared in sequence.
- Preliminary Examination (objective, screening only)
- Main Examination (written, descriptive)
- Interview / Personality Test
Exam pattern by stage
| Paper | Subjects | Questions | Marks | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prelims Paper-I | General Studies | 100 | 200 | 2 hours |
| Prelims Paper-II | CSAT — comprehension, reasoning, basic numeracy (qualifying at 33%) | 80 | 200 | 2 hours |
| Mains Paper-A | Indian Language (qualifying) | Descriptive | 300 | 3 hours |
| Mains Paper-B | English (qualifying) | Descriptive | 300 | 3 hours |
| Mains Paper-I | Essay | Descriptive | 250 | 3 hours |
| Mains Paper-II to V | General Studies I, II, III and IV | Descriptive | 250 each | 3 hours each |
| Mains Paper-VI and VII | Optional Subject Paper 1 and Paper 2 | Descriptive | 250 each | 3 hours each |
| Personality Test | Interview board | — | 275 | — |
Document verification
UPSC verifies eligibility against original documents only after a candidate has qualified for the Interview or Personality Test. Until that point, admission to every stage is purely provisional — the issue of an e-Admit Card does not mean your candidature has been cleared. A candidate can therefore sit and clear a paper and still be found ineligible later.
Final merit
Merit is prepared from the marks that count for this examination, and posts are allotted by merit-cum-preference against the confirmed vacancies. Ties are broken by rules published by the Commission — typically the marks in the compulsory papers, and where those are equal, seniority in age.