IAS Exam Mains Examination

MAIN EXAMINATION DETAILS

The Main Examination will consist of written examination and an interview test.

The written examination will consist of 9 papers of conventional essay type in the subjects set out in sub-section (B) of Section II out of which two papers will be of qualifying in nature.

Also see Note (ii) under Para I of Section II (B) Marks obtained for all the compulsory papers (Paper-I to Paper-VII) and Marks obtained in Interview for Personality Test will be counted for ranking.

Candidates who obtain such minimum qualifying marks in the written part of the Main Examination as may be fixed by the Commission at their discretion, shall be summoned by them for an interview for a Personality Test, vide sub-section ‘C’ of Section II.

The number of candidates to be summoned for interview will be about twice of the number of vacancies to be filled.

The interview will carry 275 marks (with no minimum qualifying marks).

Marks thus obtained by the candidates in the Main Examination (written part as well as interview) would determine their final ranking.

Candidates will be allotted to the various Services keeping in view their ranks in the examination and the preferences expressed by them for the various Services and posts.

SCHEME AND SUBJECTS FOR THE  MAIN EXAMINATION

MAIN EXAMINATION

The written examination will consist of the following papers

Qualifying Papers:

Paper-A

• (One of the Indian Language to be selected by the candidate from the Languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution). 300 Marks

Paper-B

• English 300 Marks Papers to be counted for merit

Paper-I

• Essay 250 Marks

Paper-II

• General Studies-I 250 Marks (Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society)

Paper-III

• General Studies -II 250 Marks (Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations)

Paper-IV

• General Studies -III 250 Marks (Technology, Economic Development, Bio-diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management)

 Paper-V

• General Studies -IV 250 Marks (Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude)

Paper-VI

• Optional Subject - Paper 1 250 Marks

Paper-VII

• Optional Subject - Paper 2 250 Marks

TOTAL MARKS

Sub Total (Written test) - 1750 Marks

Personality Test - 275 Marks

Grand Total - 2025 Marks

Candidates may choose any one of the optional subjects from amongst the list of subjects given in below
NOTE:
          (i) The papers on Indian languages and English (Paper A and paper B) will be of Matriculation or equivalent standard and will be of qualifying nature. The marks obtained in these papers will not be counted for ranking.
         (ii) Evaluation of the papers, namely, 'Essay', 'General Studies' and Optional Subject of all the candidates would be done simultaneously along with evaluation of their qualifying papers on ‘Indian Languages’ and ‘English’ but the papers on Éssay', General Studies and Optional Subject of only such candidates will be taken cognizance who attain 25% marks in ‘Indian Language’ and 25% in English as minimum qualifying standards in these qualifying papers.

LANGUAGE SCRIPT

Assamese

Bengali

Gujarati

Hindi

Devanagari

Kannada

Kashmiri

Persian

Konkani

Malayalam

Manipuri

Marathi

Nepali

Odia

Punjabi

Gurumukhi

Sanskrit

Arabic

Tamil

Telugu

Urdu

Bodo

Dogri

Maithili

       (iii) The paper A on Indian Language will not, however, be compulsory for candidates hailing from the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim.

       (iv) The paper A on Indian Language will not, however, be compulsory for Candidates belonging to Persons with Benchmark Disability (only Hearing Impairment sub-category) provided that they have been granted such exemption from 2nd or 3rd language courses by the concerned education Board/University. The candidate needs to provide an undertaking/self declaration in this regard in order to claim such exemption to the Commission.

      (v) Marks obtained by the candidates for the Paper I-VII only will be counted for merit ranking. However, the Commission will have the discretion to fix qualifying marks in any or all of these papers.

      (vi) For the Language medium/literature of languages, the scripts to be used by the candidates will be as under:—

Note:
For Santhali language, question paper will be printed in Devanagari script; but candidates will be free to answer either in Devanagari script or in Olchiki.

List of optional subjects for Main Examination:

1.    Agriculture

2.    Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science

3.    Anthropology

4.    Botany

5.    Chemistry

6.    Civil Engineering

7.    Commerce and Accountancy

8.    Economics

9.    Electrical Engineering

10. Geography

11. Geology

12. History

13. Law

14. Management

15. Mathematics

16. Mechanical Engineering

17. Medical Science

18. Philosophy

19. Physics

20. Political Science and International Relations

21. Psychology

22. Public Administration

23. Sociology

24. Statistics

25. Zoology

26.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.