UPSC IES Exam Pattern 2025: Know Prelims & Mains Marking Scheme, Exam Duration

The Commission conducted the UPSC IES 2025 Prelims exam in an offline mode. It was held on June 8, 2025 at various centres across the country. 

The UPSC (ESE) IES 2025 prelims exam carry a total of 500 marks. 
Paper 1: 200 marks
Paper 2: 300 Marks

Yes. In UPSC IES 2025, there is a negative marking. As per the official notification, there are four alternatives for the answers to every question. For each question for which a wrong answer has been given by the candidate, one-third of the marks assigned to that question will be deducted as a penalty.

The UPSC IES 2026 Mains exam will be conducted on June 21, 2026. It is a descriptive type exam. That assesses candidates' technical knowledge and problem-solving abilities in engineering disciplines. The Engineering Services Mains Examination  consists of two conventional-type papers in engineering disciplines, each with a duration of three hours and a maximum score of 600 (300 marks in each paper).

The UPSC ESE (IES) 2025 Mains exam was conducted on August 10, 2025. Only those candidates who were declared by the Commission qualified in the Preliminary Examination in the year was eligible for admission to the Main Examination of that year provided they are otherwise eligible for admission to the Mains Examination. Further, the Marks obtained in Preliminary Examination by the candidates who were declared qualified for admission to the Mains Examination was counted for determining their final order of merit.  

The UPSC IES 2026 Stage 2 is the Mains Exam. The examination comprises two papers. Both papers are based on the candidates' chosen engineering discipline. Details of subjects are provided below:

• Civil Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Electrical Engineering
• Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering

Candidates can check below in detail:

• Each paper in the Mains exam is of three hours duration.
• Each paper carries 300 marks.
• Total marks: 600

The commission allocated 200 marks for the UPSC IES 2025 personality test or an interview. This is the third stage, or the final stage, of the UPSC IES exam. The first stage is the preliminary examination, and the second stage is the Mains examination.

No, the interview of UPSC IES exam is not qualifying in nature. The number of candidates to be summoned for Personality Test will be about twice the number of vacancies to be filled. The Personality Test will carry 200 marks (with no minimum qualifying marks). Marks obtained by the candidates in the Preliminary Examination, Mains Examination and Personality Test would determine their final ranking. Candidates will be allotted to the several services keeping in view their ranks in the examination and the preference expressed by them for the various services/posts as per the official notification.

UPSC appoints a panel of experts to conduct the personality test for the IES or ESE examination. The panel includes senior officers and technical experts. The personality test or interview is a crucial stage of the UPSC IES selection process. It is conducted at the UPSC Bhawan in New Delhi.

The main purpose of conducting the UPSC IES face to face interview is to know about the candidates overall character, including mental alertness, critical thinking, leadership qualities, intelligence, honesty, confidence, depth of understanding of several concepts, communication skills, understanding of ground realities, etc.