Stage 2: UPSC CSE Mains Exam Pattern
The UPSC CSE exam pattern for the Mains stage consists of 9 papers conducted over 5-7 days. Only those candidates who secure at least the declared cut off in General Studies I and 33% in General Studies II in Prelims will be allowed to appear for the Mains Examination.
As per the exam pattern of UPSC IAS Mains all of the papers consist of descriptive answer type questions. It is an exhaustive phase and the total marks in UPSC mains can directly affect your final scores. Thus, the UPSC exam marks for the mains phase are extremely valuable as it acts as a key factor in merit declaration. The details of UPSC syllabus with marks are given below:
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UPSC CSE Exam Pattern – Mains | |||
Paper | Subject | Duration | IAS Total marks |
Paper A | Compulsory Indian language | 3 hours | 300 |
Paper B | English | 3 hours | 300 |
Paper I | Essay | 3 hours | 250 |
Paper II | General Studies I | 3 hours | 250 |
Paper III | General Studies II | 3 hours | 250 |
Paper IV | General Studies III | 3 hours | 250 |
Paper V | General Studies IV | 3 hours | 250 |
Paper VI | Optional I | 3 hours | 250 |
Paper VII | Optional II | 3 hours | 250 |
All of the mains papers except for the language papers A and B are of a merit ranking nature. Paper A and B are of qualifying nature and candidates must score at least 25% in each for the marks from their Paper I – Paper VII to be given weightage.
Paper A is not compulsory for candidates from the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim as well as candidates with hearing impairment, provided they can prove that they have been exempted from such 2nd or 3rd language courses by their concerned board or university. The Indian Language paper covers any of the languages included in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution.
General Studies I | General Studies II | General Studies III | General Studies IV |
Indian Heritage and Culture | Governance | Technology | Ethics |
History and Geography of the World | Constitution | Economic Development | Integrity |
Society | Polity | Bio-diversity | Aptitude |
Social Justice | Environment | ||
International relations | Security and Disaster Management |
The Optional subjects for Paper VI and VII of the mains examination have to be any one of the subjects from the following list:
Agriculture | Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science | Anthropology | Botany | Chemistry |
Civil Engineering | Commerce and Accountancy | Economics | Electrical Engineering | Geography |
Geology | History | Law | Management | Mathematics |
Mechanical Engineering | Medical Science | Philosophy | Physics | Political Science and International Relations |
Psychology | Public Administration | Sociology | Statistics | Zoology |
The literature of any one of the following languages: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu and English. |
All the papers except the Language papers A and B can be answered in English or any of the languages listed in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution of India. The optional papers can be answered in English even if none of the other papers has been answered by the candidate in English.