Know Civil Services exam pattern and eligibility

The notification for the Civil Services preliminary exam will be released by UPSC on May 17, 2014. The exam is scheduled to be conducted on August 24, 2014. Last date to apply for the civil services exam is June 16, 2014.

Civil Services Preliminary Examination is an objective type exam conducted for the selection of candidates for the Main Examination.

Eligibility:

• For the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service, a candidate must be a citizen of India. For other services, a candidate must be either:—

(a) A citizen of India, or

 (b) A subject of Nepal, or

(c) A subject of Bhutan, or

(d) A Tibetan refugee who came over to India before 1st January, 1962 with the intention of permanently settling in India, or

(e) a person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia and Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India.

A candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 30 years on August 1, 20134, i.e. he/she must have been born not earlier than August 2, 1983 and not later than August 1, 1992.

The candidate must hold a degree of any of Universities incorporated by an Act of the Central or State Legislature in India or other educational institutions established by an Act of Parliament or declared to be deemed as a University Under Section-3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956, or possess an equivalent qualification

Every candidate appearing at the examination who is otherwise eligible, shall be permitted four attempts at the examination

A candidate who is appointed to the Indian Administrative Service or the Indian Foreign Service on the results of an earlier examination and continues to be a member of that service will not be eligible to compete at this examination.

Candidates must be physically fit according to physical standards for admission to Civil Services Examination, 2014 as per guidelines given in Appendix-III of Rules for Examination published in the Gazette of India Extraordinary dated 5th March, 2013.

Pattern:

• The two hour preliminary exam comprises two compulsory papers of 200 marks each.
• Being an objective type paper, it comprises multiple choice questions and can be taken in both Hindi and English.
• However, questions relating to English Language Comprehension skills of Class X level will be tested through passages from English Language only without providing Hindi translation there-of in the question paper.

Paper 1: 200 marks: Two hours

• 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 do not require subject specialization.
• General Science.

Paper II: 200 marks: Two hours

• 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)

Note: 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.

Centers:

The Civil Services (Main) examination will be conducted in December this year and applications for the same will be called in from may to June.