Hello, .


UPSC Civil Service Exam consists of three stages

• Preliminary
• Mains
• Interview

To give you a brief about the exam;

Preliminary consists of 200 Marks for each paper.It mainly consists of GS Paper-I consists of the following topic such as History of India and Indian national movement, Indian and World geography, Economic and social development- sustainable development, poverty,inclusion demographics, social sector initiatives etc,Indian polity and governance-constitution,political system,Current Events nationally and Internationally, General Science,General Issues on environmental ecology,biodiversity and climate change. you just need to score the required cut offs against your category.

And then we have qualifying CSAT(you need to score 33%) which includes topics such as basic numeracy, comprehension, logical reasoning and analytical ability, general mental ability, decision making and problem solving, interpersonal skills including communication skills. Both consists of 200 marks, MCQs based. Prelims is mcq based, but still it requires knowledge coupled with speed in order to ace it, it's numbers are not added in the final list,


Coming to Mains it's more of a subjective type, one needs to write answer for Four General Studies Paper such as

GS-I includes Indian Heritage and Culture,History and Geography of the World and Society,
GS-II includes Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International Relations,
GS-III includes Technology, Economic Development, Bio-Diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management,
GS-IV includes Ethics, Integrity, and Aptitude
Two Optionals, One Essay, two language paper

There are total nine papers here. 250 marks for each paper, total is 1750 marks followed by Personality Test of 275 marks.

Your biggest advantage right now is "TIME" if you use it well, you can succeed in the very first attempt,  go through the following;

First step which the most important thing is to be well acquainted with UPSC Syllabus, learn it by heart, that's the most crucial step to crack this exam, to know what to read and what to skip. In addition to this, never ever make a differentiation between prelims and mains, because nowadays what's happening is even in prelims, UPSC frame questions based on Mains syllabus, So, the first towards preparation shall be an integrated approach for both.

Another equally important part is to start reading any newspaper like The Hindu, or Indian Express on a regular basis to be updated as well as gaining knowledge which shall be highly useful to you in future exam preparation part. Put a more emphasis on editorial parts,with regular reading your perspective will become broader, one of the key thing in answer writing is if you can connect any event with current details by providing an answer in politically,economically,geographically it enhances the quality so newspaper reading is must and whatever opinion you form it should be well balanced.


Make a timetable,set targets on a daily,weekly and monthly basis,that's the only way to complete this extensive syllabus.

When it comes to reading books ,start with basics, for each subject, you can do with NCERTs for this. This will build your foundation strong,as you progress, move on to other relevant books, like Polity by Laxmikanth, History of Modern India by Bipin Chandra etc. Always keep resources minimal, read one book many a times instead of many a book one time.

Start practicing answer writing in advance, even in a little way, writing mains is a huge task for nine paper, it requires immense practice along with knowledge. There are many sites which provide questions on daily basis you can find that very useful.

Practice previous year question paper which you can get from the site of UPSC,in addition mock papers, and test series which you can get it from any of the sites extensively dedicated to UPSC, , it's highly important to evaluate your performance while doing so.

This exam takes two years,one year to prepare and another one to appear for exams such as prelims,mains and interview,so perseverance is the key to success here, this exam tests patience like no other exam, but if you're determined and focused, you'll make it. Remember, there are going to be time when there will be frustration and anxiety, with long hours of study it happens, so have other interests or hobbies as well, do talk with your parents and support system, and take care of your health, being disciplined academically as well as spiritually helps a lot, do meditation on a daily basis it'll lower anxiety levels, all the very best.