Union Public Service Commission has released the examination notification for recruiting the Most powerful Government officers in India.
Civil Services Examination, mostly preferred as IAS Exam, is conducted every year by the UPSC. This year UPSC has published its notification on February 12, 2020.

The candidates who qualify for this exam, are selected and appointed for the various posts and Services like – IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS, etc. accordance with the Rules and Procedures published by the Department of Personnel & Training Govt. of India.

Number of Vacancies

As per the official data, UPSC has reduced 100 vacancies as compared to the last year.
This year, data shows that the total number of vacancies to be filled through the examination is 796 including 24 vacancies reserved for Persons with Benchmark Disability Category.

In 2019 total 896 vacancies were filled. However, the Commission or the Government has not given any reason for the reduction in the total number of vacancies in 2020.

Examination Schedule

These are the important dates for Civil Services Examination – 2020.

Online Registration Started	12-02-2020
Last Date For Receipt of Applications	02-03-2020
Civil Services (Prelims) Examination	31-05-2020
Civil Services (Mains) Examination	18-09-2020

How to apply ?

Candidates who are willing to appear in the examination, can apply online at the official website of the UPSC.

Official website – https://upsconline.nic.in

Fee

While applying for the Civil Services Preliminary Examination – 2020, you need to pay fee of Rs. 100/ – (Rupees Hundred only).

However, Some candidates, for example – SC/ST/FEMALE and Persons with Benchmark Disability, are exempted from payment of the fee.

Eligibility

Age Limits: A candidate aged between 21 to 32 is eligible to apply for the examination where the 21 is treated as a minimum and 32 is the maximum age of the candidate in years.

The relaxation in upper age, if applicable, will be provided accordingly:

Candidates	Relaxable age
SC/ST	Up to 5 years
OBC	Up to 3 years
Ex-servicemen	Up to 3 years
Deaf/blindness	Up to 10 years

Educational Qualification: To apply the exam, a candidate is required to have a minimum educational qualification as per the below:

• He must hold a valid graduation degree

As an exception, the final year students can also apply for the Civil Services Preliminary examination but the condition is that the final result of the degree must be declared before applying the Mains Examination.

Nationality: Allotment of the various Services and posts are determined by the Nationality of the Candidate as per the below:

Service (s)	Nationality
IAS/IPS/IFS	Must be an Indian Citizen
For other Services	Must be either – a citizen of India, Nepal or Bhutan etc.

Number of attempts: The qualification for admission in the Civil Services Examination (Preliminary or Mains) is demarcated on the basis of candidates’ last number of attempts to the examination. The candidate appearing in the examination, who is otherwise eligible, shall be permitted only 6 attempts at the examination. Exceeding this limit will be regarded as a disqualification of the candidate.

Provided that, this restriction on the number of attempts does not apply in the case, if the candidate is given an extra number of attempt as per the rules. These attempts may be based on –

Candidates	No. of attempts
SC/ST	Unlimited
OBC	Total 9 attempts
Persons with Benchmark Disability	Up to 9 attempts

Recruitment Process

This process is completed in three tiers. To qualify the exam candidates are required to pass all these levels.

1. Preliminary Examination
2. Mains Examination
3. Personality Test or Interview

Exam Pattern

A. Preliminary Examination

This is a very first stage of the examination, You need to clear this examination to reach the next level. This examination comprises two compulsory (objective type) papers each of having 200 Marks.

Sr.	Subject	Total Marks
Paper – I	General Studies	200 Marks
Paper – II	CSAT	200 Marks

Paper-II is only a qualifying paper, where the minimum qualifying marks are fixed at 33%.

The above question Papers will be printed in both Hindi and English languages. Candidates should also note that there will be a penalty of 1/3 Marks for wrong answers marked by a candidate in the Objective Type Question Papers.

B. Main Examination

This is the second level of entire selection process. After clearing first stage (Prelims) of the examination, you will automatically be qualified for appearing in the Main Examination.

Main examination is quite different from the preliminary examination as this does not allow objective type papers. This is a written type-examination consist of the following Papers.

Qualifying Papers

These are only qualifying Papers, and their marks will not be counted by the UPSC for final merit.

Name	Subject	Marks
Paper – A	Any One of the Indian Language. (included in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution)	300
Paper – B	English	300

Papers to be Counted for the Merit

Total marks obtained in these papers are directly responsible for the allotment of Services and Posts to the candidate. These papers have total 1750 Marks excluding the above marks of qualifying papers.

These 1750 Marks are later considered for preparing the final Merit.

Paper Name	Subject	Marks
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
Paper – VI	Optional Subject – Paper 1	250
Paper – VII	Optional Subject – Paper 2	250

C. Personality Test

Once the Candidate qualifies the last two levels of the examination, He will enter the final stage. This may be regarded as the completion of the examination/recruitment process. The marks obtained in the Interview/Personality test are counted for merit.

In this phase, the candidate is interviewed by a Board. The Board asks some questions from the candidate on matters of general interest. The object of the interview is to assess the personal suitability of the candidate and check his mental ability in different-different situations. These situations are hypothetically formed in the candidate’s mind through the questions.

Interview

275 Marks

Total Marks

GRAND TOTAL MARKS (to be counted for merit) = MAINS (except: qualifying papers marks) + INTERVIEW

Mains (Except qualifying Papers marks)	Interview	Grand Total
1750 Marks	275 Marks	2025 Marks

Merit is prepared on the basis of the total marks scored by the Candidate at each level.

Download Syllabus and Notification

To download the full syllabus of the examination, a candidate can visit the official website of the Union Public Service Commission of India.

To download the syllabus now – Click here

Help Center

If candidates are facing any difficulty in registration or any other matters relating to the Examination can contact on these helpline numbers between 10:00 hrs to 17:00 hrs on any working day.

Telephone Numbers: 011-23385271, 011-23381125, 011-23098543.