Everything About Exams......: Civil Services

What is it:

Well, first of all let me tell you this. Civil Services exams are considered to be one of the most difficult exam across the the whole country, India. People prepare for 2,3 or maybe 4 years just in order to clear this exam. Some of them go on a medical leave from their office and prepare, some of them just don't join any office after their graduation and prepare, some go for coaching for 2 or 3 years and prepare etc etc etc. By telling you all this I am not trying to scare anyone for sure. The reason I am telling you all this is that if you are seriously preparing to crack the civil services exam, just don't loose hope or determination if you fail the first or the second time because its nothing unusual. Rather I would say that its very common to fail the first or the second time. Government has made the exam in such a manner so that it gets only the best available from the lot. But remember, once you clear this damn exam, believe me you will on the top of the world. The amount of respect and power which follows is immense. But also the responsibility which follows is also immense as well. One IAS in a single family can change the tide altogether.

For those who don't know anything about it, let me give you a brief introduction. Its UPSC which conducts the civil services exams every year and admits students based on merit. Anyone who's a graduate or is in the last year of his graduation can sit for this exam whose preliminary round takes place in the month of May. Those who clear it are then asked to sit for the mains exam and then finally the lucky ones who clear it as well go for interviews. Interviews are the last stage and if you clear it, you are through!

Syllabus:
In the preliminary round there are two papers. Paper 1 is of general studies which is of 150 marks and paper 2 is of the optional subject you choose which is of 300 marks. Both the papers are objective in nature. Below is the list of optional subjects you can choose.

Agriculture	Mathematics
Animal Husbandry & Vetinary Science	Mechanical Engineering
Botany	Medical Science
Chemistry	Philosophy
Civil Engineering	Physics
Commerce	Political Science
Economics	Psychology
Electrical Engineering	Public Administration
Geography	Sociology
Geology	Statistics
Indian History	Zoology
Law

Paper 2 which is the mains exam is subjective in nature is of 2000 marks. I am giving you information about it in the form of the following table. In it is also mentioned about the interview part which you ought to give provided you clear the mains exam.

Paper-I	One of the Indian Languages to be selected by the candidate from the 18 languages included in the VIIIth Schedule to the Constitution (Qualifying Paper)	300 Marks
Paper-II	English (Qualifying Paper)	300 Marks
Paper-III	Essay	200 Marks
Papers IV & V	General Studies (300 Marks for each paper)	600 Marks
Papers VI, VII, VIII & IX	Any two subjects (each having 2 papers) to be selected from the prescribed optional subjects (300 marks for each paper)	1200 Marks
Total Marks for Written Examination		2000 Marks
Interview Test		300 Marks
Grand Total		2300 Marks

Below is the list of optional subjects of literature for the mains exam.

Arabic	Gujarati	Manipuri	Sanskrit
Assamese	Hindi	Nepali	Sindhi
Bengali	Kannada	Oriya	Tamil
Chinese	Kashmiri	Pali	Telugu
English	Konkani	Persian	Urdu
French	Marathi	Punjabi
German	Malayalam	Russian

Below is the list of optional subjects you may take for the papers 6,7,8 and 9.

Agriculture	Management
Animal Husbandry & Vetinary Science	Mathematics
Anthropology	Mechanical Engineering
Botany	Medical Science
Chemistry	Philosophy
Civil Engineering	Physics
Commerce & Accountancy	Political Science & International Relations
Economics	Psychology
Electrical Engineering	Public Administration
Geography	Sociology
Geology	Statistics
Indian History	Zoology
Law

Coaching:

Well, different people have different perceptions as to about whether to take some coaching assistance for preparing for one of the most tough exam around or no, "self study is the best study". I am not going to debate on this issue because this has no end. All I am going to to is give you a list of available coaching centres in your city and let you decide for yourself whether to go for it or not. But yes, if it was me, I would surely have taken some coaching for preparation.
Go here to find out the coaching centres in your city.

Age limit and number of attempts :

For general category, the maximum number of attempts is 4 which they can give till the age of 30 starting from 21.For SC/ST category people, the upper age limit is relaxed for a maximum of 5 years and there is no restriction to the number of attempts. For OBS's, the maximum number of attempts is 7 and the upper age limit is relaxed to a maximum of 3 years. This is as per the latest information available which may change next year.

How to register:

Get a form and a brochure from designated head post offices throughout India. You can find out more information on their website.

Sample papers:
Preliminary exam-2009(general studies)

List of Optional Subjects for Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2009
Agriculture	Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science
Botany	Chemistry
Civil Engineering	Commerce
Economics	Economics (for Visually Impaired candidates)
Electrical Engineering	Geography
Geology	Geology (for Visually Impaired candidates)
Indian History	Law
Mathematics	Mechanical Engineering
Medical Science	Philosophy
Philosphy (for Visually Impaired candidates)	Physics
Political Science	Public Administration
Psychology	Statistics
Sociology	Zoology