UPSC Syllabus for the Civil Services Exam: Prelims, Mains and Interview

How the three stages connect

Think of the Civil Services Examination as a funnel. Lakhs of graduates sit the Preliminary exam each year, and only around twelve to thirteen times the number of vacancies move on to Mains. Mains then filters people down to roughly twice the vacancies for the interview.

• Prelims: General Studies Paper I and the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT, also called GS Paper II). Your GS Paper I score decides whether you clear the cut off; CSAT only needs a qualifying score.
• Mains: two language papers you must pass but which do not count, plus seven merit papers: Essay, four General Studies papers and two papers of the optional subject you choose.
• Personality Test: a board interview that judges your suitability for a career in public service.

Nothing you score in Prelims travels with you to the next stage. Rank is built only from Mains and the interview.

UPSC CSE syllabus and exam pattern in one table

A wrong Prelims answer pulls back one third of the marks that question carries. In the two Mains language papers you need at least 25% in each, or your other papers are not evaluated. Candidates from some north eastern states and certain PwBD candidates are exempt from Paper A, so check the exemption list in the notification.

UPSC pre syllabus: General Studies and CSAT topics

The official Prelims syllabus is short, but each line covers a wide field. GS Paper I lists:

• Current events of national and international importance
• History of India and the Indian National Movement
• Indian and world geography: physical, social and economic
• Indian polity and governance: Constitution, political system, Panchayati Raj, public policy, rights issues
• Economic and social development: sustainable development, poverty, inclusion, demographics, social sector initiatives
• Environmental ecology, biodiversity and climate change (general issues, no specialisation needed)
• General science

CSAT tests comprehension, interpersonal and communication skills, logical reasoning and analytical ability, decision making and problem solving, general mental ability, and basic numeracy and data interpretation at Class 10 level. The UPSC Prelims syllabus page breaks GS Paper I into subtopics, and the CSAT syllabus page covers Paper II.

IAS syllabus for Mains: essay and four GS papers

Mains moves from facts to analysis. You write long answers, so the same polity or economy topic you met in Prelims now needs causes, data, examples and a balanced view.

Essay

You write two essays, picking one topic from each of two sections. Topics range from philosophical lines to social and economic themes.

GS I

Indian heritage and culture (art forms, literature, architecture), modern Indian history including the national movement, post independence consolidation, world history from the 18th century, Indian society and its diversity, women and population issues, urbanisation and globalisation, and world physical geography, resources and natural hazards.

GS II

The Constitution and its working, Parliament and state legislatures, the executive and judiciary, federal issues, statutory and constitutional bodies, government policies and welfare schemes, health and education, governance and transparency, and India's international relations.

GS III

The Indian economy, growth and planning, inclusive growth, budgeting, agriculture and food processing, infrastructure, science and technology, environment and biodiversity, disaster management, and internal security.

GS IV

Ethics, integrity and aptitude: ethics in public life, attitude, emotional intelligence, thinkers from India and the world, probity in governance, and case studies. The ethics paper syllabus lists every line. For the complete GS topic list, see the UPSC Mains syllabus.

Optional subject and the two language papers

Your optional subject carries 500 of the 1,750 written marks, so the choice matters. You can pick any subject from the list in the notification, including literature of an Indian language or English, even if you did not study it in college. Popular choices each have their own page here: sociology, geography, political science and international relations, public administration and anthropology.

Paper A (an Indian language from the Eighth Schedule) and Paper B (English) are pitched at about Class 10 level: comprehension, precis, letter or essay writing, translation and grammar. They need steady practice but rarely months of study.

Reading the syllabus on the UPSC official website

The authoritative text is in the Civil Services notification, published on the Union Public Service Commission website each year. The appendix of the notification holds the scheme and the detailed syllabus, including the full topic list of every optional paper. Print the GS sections and keep them on your desk; aspirants who tick off each line tend to waste less time on topics that are never asked.

A UPSC syllabus study plan that follows the papers

Because Prelims and Mains share most of their subjects, the smart route is integrated preparation: study each GS subject once, in Mains depth, and then revise it with objective questions before Prelims.

1. Foundation (first 3 to 4 months): NCERT books for history, geography, polity, economy and science, plus a daily newspaper.
2. Core GS and optional (next 5 to 6 months): one standard book per subject, the optional syllabus paper by paper, and weekly answer writing.
3. Prelims phase (last 3 to 4 months before Prelims): objective practice, CSAT drills and repeated revision.
4. Mains phase (the gap after Prelims): essay practice, GS IV case studies and timed full papers.

UPSC syllabus books: what to read first

Start with school NCERT books (middle school through senior secondary) on history, geography, polity, economics and science. They are written for the same general reader the Prelims paper targets. After that, keep one standard reference per subject rather than three, the Constitution's bare text for polity, the latest Economic Survey and Union Budget documents for economy, and official reports for environment and governance.

For the optional, use university level textbooks that match the topic list line by line. Your own notes, revised many times, will matter more than the number of books on your shelf.

UPSC syllabus in Hindi

UPSC सिविल सेवा परीक्षा तीन चरणों में होती है: प्रारंभिक परीक्षा, मुख्य परीक्षा और साक्षात्कार। प्रारंभिक परीक्षा में दो पेपर होते हैं: सामान्य अध्ययन पेपर I और CSAT, दोनों 200 अंकों के। CSAT में केवल 33% अंक लाने होते हैं। मुख्य परीक्षा में निबंध, सामान्य अध्ययन के चार पेपर और वैकल्पिक विषय के दो पेपर मेरिट में गिने जाते हैं, कुल 1750 अंक। भारतीय भाषा और अंग्रेजी के पेपर केवल क्वालिफाइंग हैं। साक्षात्कार 275 अंकों का होता है। आप परीक्षा हिंदी माध्यम में भी दे सकते हैं।

Hindi medium candidates can write Mains in Hindi, and the Prelims papers are printed in both Hindi and English. If you searched for the IAS syllabus in Hindi or simply typed UPSC ka syllabus, the summary above gives you the same scheme as the English sections.