UPSC IAS 2022: Mains Exam Date Out, Syllabus, Preparation Tips

UPSC IAS 2022 Exam Highlights

The candidates can see here the important details related to UPSC Civil Service (IAS) exam.

Exam name	Civil Services Exam (CSE), 2022
Conducting body	Union Public Service Commission (UPSC)
Exam Purpose	To recruit the candidates for All India and Central Civil Services
Exam level	National
Vacancies	861 1011 (180 IAS, 200 IPS)
No. of applicants	Approximately 10 lakh
No. of applicants appeared in the exam	Approximately 6.5 lakh
Exam frequency	Once a year
Exam mode	Offline - pen and paper mode
Exam stages	Prelims (Qualifying Only) - 400 Marks Mains (written) - 1750  Marks Mains (Personality Test) - 275 Marks
Exam Duration	Prelims - 2 hours for each paper Mains - 3 hours for each paper Personality Test  - not fixed
Application fee(Prelims)	INR 100
Exam helpdesk no.	011-23098543 / 23385271 / 23381125 / 23098591
Official website	https://www.upsc.gov.in/

IAS exam analysis 2022 is available here with the video from the UPSC exam centre. Shiksha.com shared the video of the candidates who appeared in the IAS prelims exam 2022. IAS exam analysis can become an important factor for exam preparation because it is the real feedback from the candidates appearing in the exam. IAS 2022 exam analysis of previous years provides an idea about the paper's difficulty level.

IAS 2022 Cutoff 

IAS cutoff 2022 (expected) will be at par with the previous years with the variation of 5 to 7 marks. The Commission releases the official category-wise IAS cutoff for all the stages after the final result. The cutoff is the marks of the last candidates selected in a particular category.

IAS Admit Card 2022

IAS Application

IAS 2023 applications will start with the release of official notification. UPSC will release the IAS 2023 application link on February 1, 2023, and the last date for the application will be February 21. UPSC IAS 2022 applications were started on February 2 and the last date to apply for the exam was February 22. UPSC provide 20 days for filling out the application. Once the application form is filled, candidates also need to pay the IAS application fee online or offline mode as per their category. The details of the category-wise IAS application fee are as follows.

Category	Preliminary Exam Fee	Mains Exam Fee
General/ EWS/OBC	INR 100	INR 200
Females/ SC/ ST/ Persons with Benchmark Disability	Nil	Nil

IAS Eligibility

IAS eligibility criteria 2023 will be defined in the IAS 2023 notification. The eligibility criteria are defined based on the age limit, and educational qualifications and the permitted in the IAS exam. Notification is the official source of all the rules and regulations that will govern recruitment till its completion. The candidates need to read and understand all the eligibility conditions prescribed in the official notification and if they conform to the eligibility conditions laid down in the notification, to ensure that they fulfil the criteria.

Nationality

For Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), a candidate must be a citizen of India. For all other services, a candidate can either be a citizen of India or

• A subject of Nepal/Bhutan
• A Tibetan refugee who came over to India before January 1, 1962, with the intention of permanently settling in India
• 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

Note: Candidates who are subjects of Nepal/ Bhutan or Tibetan refugees are not eligible to apply for Indian Foreign Service (IFS).

Age Limit for IAS 2023

UPSC prescribes the age limit for the IAS exam in the official Civil Service notification. The prescribed age limit for the IAS exam is mentioned below.

Age on 01-Aug-2023 (in years)
Minimum limit	21
Maximum limit	32

Age Relaxation in IAS Exam

There is also age relaxation of some years for reserved category candidates:

Category	Age Relaxation (in years)
SC/ ST	5
OBC	3
Defence Services Personnel, disabled in operations during hostilities with any foreign country or in a disturbed area and released as a consequence thereof	3
Ex-servicemen including commissioned officers and ECOs/SSCOs who have rendered at least five years of military service as on August 1, 2022 and have been released	5
PwD [(a) blindness and low vision; (b) deaf and hard of hearing; (c) locomotor disability including cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack victims and muscular dystrophy; (d) autism, intellectual disability, specific learning disability and mental illness; and (e) multiple disabilities from amongst persons under clauses (a) to (d) including deaf-blindness]	10

No age relaxation was provided to the Economically Weaker Sections in the UPSC Civil Services (IAS) Exam 2022.

Educational Qualification for IAS

Candidates must hold a graduation degree in any stream from any university established under the act passed by the Parliament of India or the State legislature. Candidates who are in the last year of graduation and awaiting results are also eligible to apply for IAS preliminary exam. However, such candidates need to submit proof of passing the requisite exam at the time of applying for the Main exam.

Number of Attempts in IAS Exam

All candidates are allowed to have six attempts in the IAS exam. However, it may be noted that the restriction of the number of attempts is not applicable for candidates belonging to SC/ST category. Also, candidates belonging to OBC and Persons with Benchmark Disabilities categories are allowed a maximum of nine attempts in the exam.   

If a candidate appears in any one paper of the IAS prelims exam, then it is deemed that s/he has made an attempt in the IAS exam.

Category	Number of Attempts (Allowed)
General/Economically Weaker Section(EWS)	6
Other Backward Classes (OBC)	9
SC/ST	Till the age limit
Person with Disabilities (PwD)	Till the age limit

IAS Exam Vacancies 2022

The number of UPSC vacancies now stands at 1011. The total number of vacancies works as a motivation factor for the candidates. Union Government of India revised the number of vacancies in the Indian Police Service (IPS) to 200. Around 180 IAS officers are also recruited every year. The post-wise UPSC vacancies are released by the Ministry of Personnel every year.

IAS Exam vacancies 2023 are bound to decrease because of the IRMS. It is most likely that the number of vacancies in IRMS will reduce from 150.

UPSC IAS 2022 Selection Process

The IAS exam selection process starts with the UPSC CSE notification. The notification is issued in February every year. UPSC provides 20 days period to apply online for the CSE. IAS exam is conducted in two stages – preliminary (objective-type paper) and main (descriptive paper and interview). UPSC IAS preliminary paper is conducted to select candidates for the main (written) exam. IAS prelims exam is just a screening test. IAS selection process is fully defined in the official UPSC notification. The stages of the IAS exam are given below.

• IAS notification
• IAS application
• IAS prelims exam
• IAS prelims result
• IAS Main (written)
• IAS Main (personality test)
• Medical Examination after a personality test

UPSC Civil Service's main exam, as the name suggests, is the most important phase of the IAS exam process. The marks of the IAS main exam are taken into consideration for the IAS final result. The final merit list for the UPSC Civil Services exam provides the ranks to the candidates. Based on these ranks, services are allotted to the candidates.

IAS Notification

IAS notification 2023 will be issued on February 1. The official advertisement will notify the eligibility conditions, vacancies, recruitment rules, exam dates and other important aspects related to the exam such as the list of optional subjects in the IAS exam. 

IAS notification 2022 was issued on February 2. Civil Service notification for the IAS exam is a very important document because all the process of the IAS exam is governed as per the instructions and procedures provided in the notification. In addition to the IAS exam 2022 notification, UPSC also releases the Civil Services exam conducting rules on the same day. The rules and procedures for the IAS exam are provided in that notification.

IAS Application 

The application link was activated with the release of the notification. The candidates got twenty days time to fill out the UPSC application.

IAS 2022 Preliminary Exam

The IAS prelims exam 2022 will be conducted on June 5. IAS prelims exam is a screening test that filters out and limits the number of candidates for the IAS main exam. The IAS prelims exam is an objective type exam conducted on the following pattern:

Paper	Questions	Marks
General Studies Paper- I	100	200
General Studies Paper-II (Aptitude Test)	80	200
Total		400

UPSC IAS Prelims Result

The IAS prelims result will be declared within thirty days of the exam. IAS results will be released online only and the candidates need to search for their roll number in the result PDF. The UPSC prepares an IAS Prelims to answer key for the prelims exam but releases it only after the exam process is over.

IAS Main DAF

The candidates, who will clear the IAS prelims exam, need to fill out the Detailed Application Form (DAF) for the IAS main exam. The DAF is a very important document and plays a very important role in the IAS Interview and during the service allocation process. It is important because the candidates mention their service preference and state preference in this form only. Based on the information given in the DAF and the IAS vacancies, the services and the state cadres are allotted to the candidates after the IAS result.

IAS Main Exam

IAS main exam 2022 will be conducted from September 16 to 25, 2022. Candidates need to appear for the IAS mains exam as per the details mentioned on the admit card. IAS mains exam consists of a total of nine descriptive papers. Out of nine, two papers are qualifying in nature. The qualifying IAS question papers are General English and General Language papers. Apart from that, there are four general studies papers, one essay paper and two optional subject papers. The marks of each paper are as follows:

Sl.No.	Name of the Paper	Marks allotted
A	One of the Indian Languages to be selected by the candidate from the languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution	300 (qualifying only)
B	English	300 (qualifying only)
1	Essay	250
2	General Studies I	250
3	General Studies II	250
4	General Studies III	250
5	General Studies IV	250
6	Optional Subject Paper I	250
7	Optional Subject Paper I	250
IAS Main (written) total		1750
Personality Test (IAS Interview)		275
Total		2025

After the IAS main (written) exam, the candidates will be called for the IAS interview based on the IAS main (written) result. The IAS interview will be conducted at the UPSC building, New Delhi.

IAS Personality Test

IAS personality test is the official name of the interview. The candidates who clear the IAS main exam will be called for the personality test. IAS personality test will be conducted at the UPSC office premises in New Delhi only. The candidates must prepare dedicatedly for the personality test because it can make or break the dream of becoming IAS. The candidates can see here the IAS interview preparation tips in detail.

Medical Examination after IAS Interview

Each candidate has to undergo a medical examination after the IAS personality test. There will be a Central Standing Medical Board (CSMB) which will examine the mental and physical status of the candidate based on which the service will be allocated. The UPSC has empanelled the below-given hospitals and the candidates are sent to these designated hospitals for the medical examination. The list of the hospitals is given below.

• Safdarjung Hospital
• Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital
• Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital
• Sucheta Kriplani Hospital
• Guru  Teg Bahadur Hospital
• Deen  Dayal Upadhyay Hospital
• B.R. Ambedkar Hospital
• AIIMS, New  Delhi

IAS Exam Centres

The number of IAS exam centres increased to 77 exam cities across the nation. UPSC has added four more exam centres for the IAS Prelims Exam 2022. IAS mains exam is conducted in a total of 24 cities across India. The IAS exam centres for prelims and main exams are notified in the official UPSC notification every year.

IAS Exam 2022 Important Dates 

Candidates can go through important IAS 2022 Dates below:

Event	Dates	Salient Features
IAS 2022 notification	02-Feb-2022	The UPSC issued the Civil Services (IAS) Exam Notification 2022 online only
IAS application start date	02-Feb-2022	UPSC activated the application link with the release of the notification
Last date to apply	22-Feb-2022	UPSC accepted the duly filled UPSC 2022 Applications online till this date
IAS exam admit card 2022	10-May-2022	UPSC released the IAS 2022 prelims admit card online much before the scheduled date
IAS prelims exam 2022	05-Jun-2022	UPSC 2022 prelims were conducted offline across the nation
IAS prelims 2022 result	26-Jun-2022(Tentative)	UPSC announces the CSE (IAS) prelims result 2022 online only within one month of the exam.
IAS main 2022 admit card	26-Aug-2022 (Tentative)	The candidates will be able to download the IAS main admit card online only
IAS main exam 2022	16-Sep-2022 to 25-Sep-2022	UPSC will conduct the IAS main 2022 exam offline at the designated exam centres across the nation.
IAS main 2022 result	December 2022 (Tentative)	The IAS Main Exam result 2022 will be released online only
IAS Interview e-summon	January 2023 (Tentative)	The IAS interview e-summon letter will be issued to the candidates online only
IAS Interviews 2022	March/April 2023 (Tentative)	The UPSC IAS interviews will be conducted at the Dholpur House (UPSC office) New Delhi

IAS Exam 2022 Preparation

IAS exam preparation required more than one year of focused effort. IAS preparation starts with the careful analysis of the IAS syllabus, previous years' papers, official answer keys and official cutoff. The candidates can take the average of the last five year's cutoff and take it as the target to achieve in the exam. IAS main exam will be conducted from September 16 to 25 (on weekends). IAS preparation requires a concentrated study of more than one year to cover the IAS syllabus. IAS preparation plan should be based on the strengths and weaknesses of the candidate. It is important to plan pragmatically for IAS preparation. Every candidate is an individual with a different perspective and worldview. It is the opinion and the worldview that changes the orientation of the candidate. A consistent effort of over one year can help in cracking the IAS exam.

IAS Exam 2022 Syllabus

IAS exam syllabus has no limit since UPSC can ask anything from any topic and no one can question the UPSC about the depth of the IAS topics. The UPSC designs the IAS question paper in a way so that the standard of the question paper remains the same. The question break-up from the IAS topics is altered every year. There is nothing that can be termed as out of IAS syllabus. There is one common saying about the IAS syllabus "Everything under the Sun is IAS Syllabus".

With a thorough analysis and understanding of the IAS question papers and exam patterns, we can limit the IAS syllabus to the relevant topics. Relevancy is the only criterion that can define the contours of the IAS syllabus. IAS prelims exam is the first stage of the selection process and is considered a hard nut to crack. IAS prelims syllabus is not given in an elaborate manner, only topics are given in the official syllabus. The candidates can see here the detailed IAS Prelims syllabus.

IAS Exam Pattern 2022

IAS exam pattern 2022 is not changed. The candidates can check the previous year's exam pattern to prepare well for the exam. The exam pattern plays a crucial role in the preparation because it helps in time management for the exam.

IAS Exam 2022 Current Affairs

This year also Current Affairs has the highest share in the IAS prelims question paper hence we can say that Current Affairs is the key to IAS preparation. The IAS preparation is the interplay of current events of national and international importance and the general studies topics. The Current Affairs syllabus is very vast and unique. There is a need to correlate the developing events with past experiences and government approaches towards an issue.

The IAS preparation is guided by the current affairs and its backlinks with the state General Studies topics. The current affairs section is the tip of the iceberg and the candidates need to prepare the background of the current events. IAS toppers and mentors suggest effectively preparing the current affairs to get a grip on the general studies topics. The candidates should plan for preparing the Current Affairs for the IAS exam because it is the most important section in the IAS exam.

IAS Question Paper 2022

IAS question paper 2022 was released by the Commission on the same day of the exam. It is one of the critical and important components in the IAS preparation. IAS question paper provides a clear outline of the syllabus and works as an eye-opener for the IAS aspirants. The candidates should practice with the previous years' question papers of IAS so that they can tackle the actual question paper in a better way.

IAS Toppers Tips

IAS toppers are very helpful in providing all the details about their IAS preparation strategy. The IAS toppers suggest that candidates should always take tips from IAS toppers' strategy but re-design that considering their own strengths and weaknesses. One model does not fit all. Every IAS aspirant is unique and his/her reason for preparation is also unique which serve as the motivation factor for the candidates. IAS toppers suggest that the candidates must find the answer to "Why do you want to become an IAS" . The rest will follow. We are providing a compilation of IAS Prelims tips from Toppers.