Civil Services Exams (CSE) → IAS Exams

Civil Services Exams (CSE)

• Though popularly known as ‘IAS exam’, the official name of the exam is UPSC Civil Services Exam.
• The Civil Services Examination of India is considered to be one of the most difficult and competitive examinations in India
• UPSC conducts Civil Service Exams for Central Government job vacancies
• On an average, 9 to 10 lakh candidates apply every year and the number of candidates appearing is roughly 4 to 5 lakh for the examination
• The entire process from the notification of the Preliminary examination to declaration of the final results takes roughly one year

What are Civil Services

• Jobs directly related with public service viz. IAS, IFS, IPS, IRS among others
• There are about 24 services which come under the Civil Services Exam conducted by UPSC every year viz.

• Indian Administrative Service
• Indian Foreign Service
• Indian Police Service
• Indian P & T Accounts & Finance Service, Group ‘A’
• Indian Audit and Accounts Service, Group ‘A’
• Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise), Group ‘A’
• Indian Defence Accounts Service, Group ‘A’
• Indian Revenue Service (I.T.), Group ‘A’
• Indian Ordnance Factories Service, Group ‘A’ (Assistant Works Manager, Administration)
• Indian Postal Service, Group ‘A’
• Indian Civil Accounts Service, Group ‘A’
• Indian Railway Traffic Service, Group ‘A’
• Indian Railway Accounts Service, Group ‘A’
• Indian Railway Personnel Service, Group ‘A’
• Post of Assistant Security Commissioner in Railway Protection Force, Group ‘A’
• Indian Defence Estates Service, Group ‘A’
• Indian Information Service (Junior Grade), Group ‘A’
• Indian Trade Service, Group ‘A’ (Gr. III)
• Indian Corporate Law Service, Group “A”
• Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service, Group ‘B’ (Section Officer’s Grade)
• Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Civil Service, Group ‘B’
• Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Police Service, Group ‘B’
• Pondicherry Civil Service, Group ‘B’
• Pondicherry Police Service, Group ‘B’.

Frequently Asked Questions on UPSC Civil Service Exams

What is Civil Services Exams (CSE)?

Though popularly known as ‘IAS exam’, the official name of the exam is UPSC Civil Services Exam. The Civil Services Examination of India is considered to be one of the most difficult and competitive examinations in India. UPSC conducts Civil Service Exams for Central Government job vacancies IAS, IPS, IRS etc.

What is IAS?

IAS is the short form of Indian Administrative Service. It is one of the prestigious services among the 24 services like IPS, IFS etc for which the UPSC conduct Civil Services Examination (CSE) for selecting the candidates.

How to become an IAS officer?

Even though the exam to be undertaken is popularly known as IAS exam, it is officially called UPSC Civil Services Exam. The UPSC CSE consists of 3 stages – Prelims, Mains, and Interview. After clearing all three stages a candidate is eligible for civil services.

Civil Services Examination (CSE)

UPSC is the government agency responsible for selecting the right candidates for this service. Every year only around 1000 candidates is selected for all the 24 services combined. The number of candidates who applied for UPSC Civil Service Exam was about 9 lakh in 2015, out of which around 4.5 lakh candidates appeared on the exam day.

This exam is widely considered as the toughest exam in the world, considering the exam duration (extends 1 year), depth of the syllabus and the competition involved. The first stage of the exam – Preliminary (objective) – is usually conducted around August, while the second stage, Mains (written), is conducted around December. Those who clear Mains will have to face interview/personality test during April-May period. The final result usually comes in June/July.

How to Clear Civil Services Exam?

To clear IAS Exam, aspirants are advised to have a long-term strategy. Though most of the serious candidates start preparation 9-12 months before the exam date, there are candidates who successfully achieve top ranks with only a few months of dedicated study. So what matters is not the duration of the preparation, but the quality of the same.

A disciplined and focused mind with a passion for learning and reading is the basic trait of all successful candidates. The UPSC Civil Services exam is more a test of the analytic and presentation skills along with knowledge gained by the candidate rather than a test which checks candidate’s mathematical or verbal skills.

Coachings vs Self Study?

When it pours down to this particular question one thing I must clear you that coachings are utter waste of your time. They don’t teach anything new & refer the same standard books that you do. You just need to get your basics right to master civil services examination which can be mastered well using abundant resources available at your disposal.

Preparing for UPSC requires a focused mind with the right approach viz. one must know what not to study in your whole 12 months span rather than what to study. At the most one shall join the test series to check how one stands with his preparation at a particular time but apart from that coachings will just squeeze you out with cash & fill you with tonnes of waste material, not necessary to clear UPSC.

What are the best recommended Books For IAS Exam?

• Recommended Books For UPSC Preliminary Exam
• Recommended Books For UPSC Main Exam
• Books & Tips to Crack UPSC Interview
• Recommended Books for UPSC Optional Subjects

What is the salary of an IAS officer?

IAS salary structure consists of different Pay Scales viz.

The above mentioned figures are basic salaries. You may also be entitled for HRA (40% of Basic or official accommodation), DA (the DA has increased from 72% in 2012 to 107% of of Basic Salary in 2015), TA etc. DA is revised on half yearly (January and July every year) basis depending on the inflation index. One can also expect further increase in package once the 7th pay commission reports are accepted.