Worried About UPSC Exam Preparation?

UPSC conducts Preliminary Examination of the Civil Services
Examination for recruitment to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS),
Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and other Central
Services and posts in accordance with the Rules published by the
Government (Department of Personnel & Training) in the Gazette of India
Extraordinary.

This Examination is meant to serve as a screening test only; the marks
obtained in the Preliminary Examination by the candidates, who are declared
qualified for admission to the Main Examination, are not counted for
determining their final order of merit. Only those candidates, who are
declared by the Commission to have qualified in the Preliminary Examination
in the year, will be eligible to appear at the Main Examination of that year
provided they are otherwise eligible for admission to the Main Examination.

(i) An attempt at a Preliminary Examination shall be taken as an
attempt at the Civil Services Examination.

(ii) If a candidate actually appears
in any one paper in the Preliminary Examination, it shall be taken as an
attempt at the Examination.

(iii) Notwithstanding the disqualification/
cancellation of candidature, the fact of appearance of the candidate at the
Examination will count as an attempt.

No, an attempt is counted only if a candidate has appeared in at
least one paper in the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination.

Yes, the General Studies Paper-II is of qualifying nature. The minimum qualifying standards in this Paper is indicated in the Examination
Rules and at present, it is 33%.

Candidates should note that there is penalty (negative marking) for
wrong answers marked by a candidate in the Civil Services (Preliminary)
Examination. There are four alternatives for the answers to every question.
(i) For each question for which a wrong answer has been given by the
candidate, one-third (1/3rd) of the marks assigned to that question is
deducted as penalty.

(ii) If a candidate gives more than one answer, it is treated as a wrong answer even if one of the given answers happens to be correct and there will be same penalty as above for that question.

(iii) If a question is left blank, i.e. no answer is given by the candidate; there will be no penalty for that question.

The candidate must hold a degree of any of Universities incorporated by an Act of the Central or State Legislature in India or any other educational institution 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.

The Persons with Benchmark Disabilities candidates shall also be required to meet eligibility criteria in terms of physical requirements/functional classifications (abilities/disabilities) consistent with the requirements of the identified Service/Post as may be prescribed by its Cadre Controlling Authorities. The details of physical requirements and functional classifications are given in the Rules/Notice of the Examination.

Persons already in Government Service, whether in a permanent or temporary capacity or as work charged employees other than casual or daily
rated employees or those serving under the Public Sector Enterprises, are
required to submit an undertaking that they have informed their Head of
Office/Department, in writing, that they have applied for the Examination.
Candidates should note that in case a communication is received from their
employer, by the Commission, withholding permission to the candidates applying for/appearing at the Examination, their applications will be liable to be rejected/candidature will be liable to be cancelled.