IAS Papers : IAS Exam Pattern

By admin on June 13th, 2009

Step I- Preliminary Examination
IAS prelims is written objective type examination and is conducted in the month of June every year with two following papers:

Paper I- iaspapers.info/category/general-studies" title='Read more about General Studies'>General Studies paper with maximum mark 150 against 150 questions. The exam expands over two hours and questions are asked from six topics which are Indian iaspapers.info/category/history" title='Read more about History'>History, Constitution of India, iaspapers.info/category/geography" title='Read more about Geography'>Geography, iaspapers.info/category/economics" title='Read more about Economics'>Economics, Science and iaspapers.info/category/current-affairs" title='Read more about Current Affairs'>Current Affairs.

Paper II- The second paper is an optional of student’s choice which may include Political Science, Psychology, iaspapers.info/category/economics" title='Read more about Economics'>Economics, Physics, and iaspapers.info/category/economics" title='Read more about Economics'>Economics etc. This exam has maximum marks 300 against 120 questions and is two hour long.

Step II- Main Examination
IAS Mains is a written examination which is a subjective or essay type format. This is generally conducted in the month of November/December. IAS Mains expands over nine papers:

Paper I & II- Language papers with maximum marks 300 each. One paper is iaspapers.info/category/english" title='Read more about English'>English which is mandatory and the other is any Indian language mentioned in the eighth schedule of Indian Constitution. Passing these papers with a certain minimum percentage is necessary.

Paper III- This is a subjective type paper with maximum marks 200. Student can opt to write in either iaspapers.info/category/english" title='Read more about English'>English or any other Indian language mentioned in the eighth schedule of the Constitution.

Paper IV and V- iaspapers.info/category/general-studies" title='Read more about General Studies'>General Studies with General Knowledge and iaspapers.info/category/current-affairs" title='Read more about Current Affairs'>Current Affairs and maximum marks of 300

Paper VI, VII, VIII and IX- Two optional subjects, with two papers thereby making it four papers with 300 each and total marks of 1200.

Those who pass IAS mains are further reduced with a ratio of 1:10 to direct students to the next level that is Personality Test.

Step III- Personality Test
This is the final elimination stage and as expected the competition is highest at this stage. Candidates are selected with a ratio of 1:2 and therefore with 10 vacancies, twenty candidates are called for interview. These candidates are tested on their personality, social traits, teamwork and leadership qualities and their aptitude and skills that are usually involved in work.

After the personality test, the candidates have to also undergo a mandatory training at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussorie as a probationary officer. This is the foundation course, after which specific job-oriented training is conducted separately by each service.