How many phase in upsc examination

UPSC conducts the civil services examination in three phase, viz; preliminary. mains, and interview. Each one of these is designed to test certain traits in the aspiring candidates which is briefly explained in the notification issued by UPSC itself. Thus, the primary objective of conducting the prelims exam is to test basic, fundamental knowledge of the candidates in subjects of general interest like history, geography, polity, economy current issues etc. Along with this, the aptitude is also sought to be tested by the CSAT paper in the prelims exam. Over the years , prelims has become highly unpredictable due to constant experimentation done by UPSC to surprise the students with unexpected questions. It has emerged as an exam where not only knowledge is tested , but your strategy to score enough marks to get past the cut –off limit is also put on test.However, the main exam is quite different from the prelims exam in so many ways. For the mains, you know the areas of study fairly well from where questions are going to be asked, There is no mystery about the mains question paper and there is no surprise element involved in the main exam unlike the prelims exam. Apart from four GS Papers, i.e., GS-I, GS-II, GS-3, and GS-IV, there is a separate essay paper also Thus, four GS papers and the essay paper account for 1250 marks in the main exam. Then, there is a compulsory language test comprising English and any Indian language included in the 8th schedule of the constitution. These language papers are of qualifying nature and one needs just to obtain the qualifying percentage in these language papers, i.e., 35% marks. It should be noted that the marks obtained in the language papers are not counted along with other papers. Finally, there is an optional paper that a candidate has to select out of the choices offered by UPSC. Almost all popular subjects taught in Indian universities are available to choose from , except some papers like, computer science, etc.Thus, the scheme of the main examination includes four GS papers, one essay paper, two language test papers and one optional paper. A total of 1750 marks are allotted to these papers .No doubt, mains exam is the decisive exam in the civil services as it carries maximum number of marks. In the final stage, which is called the personality test, those who qualify in the main exam have to appear before an interview board at UPSC. The IAS interview carries 275 marks. The final results are declared on the basis of marks obtained in the main exam and the personality test. The grand total of marks thus is 1750+275=2025. In order to get selected, a candidate is required to obtain at least 40-45 percent marks of this total. Needless to say that for the top posts of IAS, IPS, IFS, you need to secure 45% and above marksThough there is no single starting point for this exam and people begin their preparations at their own convenient time, an early start is highly recommended given the long preparation time consumed in commanding the entire syllabus. Ideally, a candidate must take a firm decision to appear in this exam at the school level itself. Since the school level syllabus of subjects like history, geography, economics and political science form the backbone of the material tested by UPSC, it helps to have a solid foundation.

Further, current affairs is the backbone of the civil services exam and it takes a very long time to comprehend current affairs which is very diverse and the candidates have little knowledge of many current issues. Newspaper reading, magazine reading, making notes on current issues on daily basis are habits that must be cultivated from an early age. Similarly, for interview also, you can not change your personality overnight. It is a matter of cultivation of leadership qualities, communication skills, projection of personality etc, which can be done only through consistent and regular practice. In other words, many aspects of the civil services preparation require early start and school is the right time for this.