IAS exam selection procedure 2011 - 2012 by guide for study

Civil services officers are selected through IAS exam organised by UPSC. this exam has three stages, Civil service aptitude test (CSAT), mains exam and an Interview.
The general tentative schedule for the upsc IAS exam is as follows:

(i) Notification of Examination	February/March
(ii) Conduct of Pre - Examination(CSAT)	June-july
(ii) Result OfPre - Examination(CSAT)	September
(ii) Conduct of Mains Examination	October – November
(ii) Conduct of Personality Test(Interview)	March-April

Civil service aptitude test(CSAT)

Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has changed the pattern of highly respected IAS exam from 2011 .
In the new pattern the Preliminary Test (PT) for IAS exam is replaced by Civil Service Aptitude Test (CSAT).
From Civil Service Examination 2011, Preliminary Examination would consist of two papers- Paper I and Paper II.

Syllabus for CSAT as proposed by UPSC

(Paper 1) (200 marks) - Duration : Two hrs.

• 
  
• Current events of national and international importance
• History of India and Indian national movement
• Indian and World Geography- physical, social, economic geography of India and the world
• Indian Polity and governance – constitution, political system, panchayati raj, public policy, Rights issues, etc.

• Economic and social development – sustainable development, poverty, inclusion, demographics, social sector initiatives etc.
• General issues on environmental ecology, bio-diversity and climate change-that donot require subject specialization
• General science.

(Paper II) (200 marks) – Duration : Two hrs

• 
  
• 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. (Class X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. –Class X level)
• English language comprehension skills (Class X level)
• Questions relating to English Language Comprehension skills of Class X level(last item in the Syllabus of Paper-II) will be tested through passages from English language only without providing Hindi translation thereof in the question paper.
• The questions will be of multiple choice, objective type.

Click Here For more Info about CSAT(Sample CSAT Papers, Expert Tips on CSAT Etc.) Or Read about Description and Effects of NEW IAS PATTERN

The prelim stage, consisted of two objective exams: one for general studies carrying 150 marks and one for an optional subject choosen by candidate from a list of 23 subjects(carrying 300 marks). this exam was purely qualifying and has no part in final rankings. About 5000-6000 candidates pass this exam and they were selected for more exhaustive mains stage which has 9 papers and 2 of them are qualifying in nature.

List of optional subjects:(Prelim)

• Agriculture
• Animal Husbandry & Vetinary Science
• Botany
• Chemistry
• Civil Engineering
• Commerce
• Economics
• Electrical Engineering
• Geography
• Geology
• Indian History
• Law
• Mathematics
• Mechanical Engineering
• Medical Science
• Philosophy
• Physics
• Political Science
• Psychology
• Public Administration
• Sociology
• Statistics
• Zoology

IAS exam Mains Examination

In the mains exam, one has to choose 2 optional subjects instead of one. there are total 9 papers in Mains exam(the description is as shown below).

Paper-I	One of the Indian Languages to be selected by from 18 languages (Qualifying )	300 Marks
Paper-II	English (Qualifying)	300 Marks
Paper-III	Essay	200 Marks
Papers IV & V	General Studies (300 Marks for each paper)	600 Marks
Papers VI, VII, VIII & IX	Any two subjects (each having 2 papers) to be selected from the 25 optional subjects (300 marks for each paper)	1200 Marks
Total Marks for Written Examination		2000 Marks
Interview Test		300 Marks
Grand Total		2300 Marks

Compulsory subjects

• General Studies (2 papers of 300 marks each)
• Essay (1 paper of 200 marks )
• English (qualifying)(1 paper of 300 marks)
• 
  • Arabic
  • Assamese
  • Bengali
  • Bodo
  • Chinese
  • Dogri
  • English
  • French
  • German
  • Gujarati
  • Hindi
  • Kannada
  • Kashmiri
  • Konkani
  • Maithili
  • Malayalam
  • Manipuri
  • Marathi
  • Nepali
  • Oriya
  • Pali
  • Persian
  • Punjabi
  • Russian
  • Sanskrit
  • Santali
  • Sindhi
  • Tamil
  • Telugu
  • Urdu

Optional subjects

Any two subjects (each having 2 papers) to be selected from the 25 optional subjects (300 marks for each paper)

Agriculture Animal husbandry and veterinary studies Botany Chemistry Civil engineering Commerce Economics Electrical engineering Law Geography Geology Indian History Mathematics Management Mechanical Engineering Medical science Philosophy Physics Political Science Psychology Public Administration Sociology Statistics Zoology Anthropology

About 1200-3000 candidates pass this exam and are selected for the final stage, Interview.
The final interview is of 300 marks. Every candidate is asked for his preferences in civil services. Mostly choose IAS but a few also choose Indian Foreign Service.
The entire selection process lasts 15-20 months. a Candidate may make 4 repeated attempts. About 300-400 candidates are finally selected but a rank in 50-60 can guarantee IAS-IFS selection.

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Statistical Data - CS (PRE)

Year of Exam	No of Candidates
	Applied	Appeared
1997	2,65,761	1,30,198
1998	2,71,517	1,22,363
1999	3,09,501	1,35,086
2000	2,25,555	1,19,398
2001	2,56,673	1,38,240
2002	3,01,585	1,57,486

Statistical Data - CS (Main)

Year Of Exam	Vacancies					Candidates Recommended
	SC	ST	OBC	GEN	TOTAL	SC	ST	OBC	GEN	TOTAL
1995	98	49	165	333	645	101	49	192	303	645
1996	125	57	174	383	739	138	59	212	330	739
1997	89	43	166	323	621	94	46	215	266	621
1998	53	28	114	275	470	60	30	142	238	470
1999	53	27	97	234	411	63	30	127	191	411
2000	54	29	100	244	427	58	34	128	207	427
2001	47	39	97	234	417	52	42	131	192	417
2002	38	22	88	162	310	38	22	88	138	286