Civil Services Examination

The Civil Service Examination consists of two successive stages-the Preliminary and the Main examination. The logic behind the Preliminary Examination is to screen the candidates who apply and select the most serious and qualified for the main examination.

The Preliminary is an objective type of examination and is held in two papers. A compulsory General Studies paper in which questions range from History to Current Affairs and Mental Ability to General Sciences. For the optional subject an aspirant can choose from a wide variety of subjects ranging from History to Public Administration, Geography to Sociology and Agriculture to Mathematics. The Preliminary examination is normally held in the month of May-June for which the notification is made in November/December. Approximately three lakh candidates apply and 12000-15000 qualifies for Main examination.

The Main examination is divided into two parts- the written and the personality test. The written test, held in November/December comprises three compulsory parts, which are General Studies and General Essay in English. Apart from this, the candidate must choose two optional subjects for the examination. The question papers are of conventional essay type. One Indian language and one English  paper are also to be written as qualifying papers i.e their marks are not counted for ranking.  Candidates who qualify at the written part of the main examination have to appear for the personality test held in Feb/March.

The personality test as the final stage where the candidate is interviewed to assess his/her personal suitability for a carrier in public service. The test is intended to judge the mental caliber of the candidate. The marks secured in the written test and the personality test are added to determine the final order of merit. Usually about 600 to 700 aspirants are certified for appointment.

Scheme of CS (Prelim) Examination

List of Optional Subjects CS (Preliminary)

Scheme - CS (Main)

List of Optional Subjects - CS (Main)