The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) administers the IAS exam, also referred to as the Civil Services Examination, once a year. On February 14, 2024, the official UPSC notification for the IAS exam was made public. IAS Exam 2023 is now taking place. The prelims phase of the 2024 IAS Exam was set for May 26, 2024. However, the IAS preliminary examination has been moved to June 16, 2024, because of the approaching general elections. The start date of IAS Mains 2024 is September 20, 2024. See the details by clicking on the links below.
The dates for the IAS Mains and Prelims are available in the IAS Exam Calendar 2024.
- The date of the 2024 IAS Prelim Exam is set for June 16th.
- The 12th of June, 2023, saw the announcement of the IAS Prelim Results.
- The UPSC Mains Exam 2024 is scheduled to begin on September 20, 2024.
- On May 23, 2023, the UPSC 2022 Final Results were released. Get ready for the most crucial and last part of the exam: the IAS Interview.
- An announcement for the 2023 IAS contained 1105 UPSC Vacancies. For further information, see the article that is linked.
- The final IAS 2022 results are available. This year’s IAS Topper is Ishita Kishore. Download the findings from the article that is linked.
Those who clear all three stages of the IAS exam enter into the prestigious civil services of the country and become officers in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), and a host of other services. Although regarded as one of the toughest exams in the country, with the right approach and strategy, an aspirant can crack the IAS examination in the very first attempt. Aspirants need to know and understand the requirements of the IAS exam 2024 such as the UPSC syllabus for the IAS Exam (Prelims and Mains), pattern, eligibility criteria, application procedure, and other such significant details before kick-starting the preparations. Here, we present all the relevant UPSC Exam details for aspirants planning to crack the IAS Exam.
IAS Exam Date
| IAS Exam Conducting Body | UPSC |
| Mode of IAS exam | Offline |
| Number of times conducted | Once every year |
| Prescribed age limit | 21 – 32 years (upper age relaxation for reserved candidates) |
| IAS Exam – Prelims 2024 | Sunday – 26th May 2024 Postponed to 16 June 2024 |
| IAS Exam – Mains 2024 | 20th September 2024 onwards (exams for five days) |
| BYJU’S IAS Tablet Course | Prepare for IAS, anytime, anywhere at your own pace! |
| IAS Exam Pattern | Prelims (MCQs), Mains (Descriptive papers) |
The net worth of Byju Raveendran has decreased to zero from 17,545 crore in 2023. What took place?
Check the UPSC Exam Date page for the details on Prelims, Mains, and Interview dates.
The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is one of the 20-odd services for which candidates are recruited by the UPSC via the Civil Services Exam. However, the CSE exam is commonly referred to as the UPSC IAS exam as well.
You can check the IAS Exam Calendar 2023 for details in the linked article:
- Currently, the UPSC 2023 process is underway. For the latest details, refer to the links below:
- IAS 2024 Interview Questions
- UPSC Marksheet
- UPSC Cut Off
For free study material and the latest current affairs for the IAS Exam 2024, you can check our UPSC 2024 page.
IAS Exam Pattern
The IAS Exam pattern is:
- Stage I: Preliminary Examination (IAS Prelims)
- Stage II: Mains Examination (IAS Mains)
- Stage III: UPSC Personality Test (IAS Interview)
Stage I: IAS Exam – UPSC Prelims
| S. No. | Name of the Paper | Nature of the Paper | Duration of the Exam | Questions | Marks |
| 1 | IAS Exam Paper – I: General Studies | Merit Ranking Nature | 2 Hours | 100 | 200 Marks |
| 2 | IAS Exam Paper – II: General Studies (CSAT) | Qualifying Nature | 2 Hours | 80 | 200 Marks |
- The questions in the IAS Exam (Prelims) are of the objective type or Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
- There is a ‘Negative Marking’ in the IAS Exam for each incorrect answer but only in the Prelims stage. The negative marking for incorrect answers will be 1/3rd (0.66) of the allotted marks of that question.
- The GS Paper II (CSAT) in the IAS exam is of qualifying nature and candidates should score a minimum of 33 percent in this paper to qualify for the next stage of the IAS exam i.e. the Mains.
- Blind candidates are given an extra time of 20 minutes for each paper in the IAS Exam (Prelims).
- The candidates must appear in both the papers of the civil services prelims exam for the evaluation.
- The marks scored by the candidates in the preliminary examination are not counted for the final score. It is only a screening test where candidates not secure the cut-off marks are eliminated.
Stage II: IAS Exam – UPSC Mains
The second stage of the IAS Exam is called the Mains Exam, which is a written descriptive examination and comprises 9 papers. The 9 papers in IAS Exam (Mains) are as follows: Paper-A (Compulsory Indian Language); Paper –B (English) which are qualifying in nature, while the other papers like Essay, General Studies Papers I, II, III, and IV, and Optional Papers I and II are considered for the final ranking.
| Sl. No. | IAS Exam Paper | Name of the Paper | Nature of the Paper | Duration of the Exam | Marks | ||
| 1 | Paper – A | Compulsory Indian Language | QUALIFYING NATURE | 3 Hours | 300 Marks | ||
| 2 | Paper – B | English | 3 Hours | 300 Marks | |||
| 3 | Paper – I | ESSAY | MERIT RANKING NATURE | 3 Hours | 250 Marks | ||
| 4 | Paper – II | General Studies I | 3 Hours | 250 Marks | |||
| 5 | Paper – III | General Studies II | 3 Hours | 250 Marks | |||
| 6 | Paper – IV | General Studies III | 3 Hours | 250 Marks | |||
| 7 | Paper – V | General Studies IV | 3 Hours | 250 Marks | |||
| 8 | Paper – VI | Optional Paper I | 3 Hours | 250 Marks | |||
| 9 | Paper – VII | Optional Paper II | 3 Hours | 250 Marks | |||
| TOTAL | 1750 Marks | ||||||
| Interview or Personality Test | 275 Marks | ||||||
| GRAND TOTAL | 2025 Marks | ||||||
NOTE:
The candidates can select their medium of writing the UPSC Civil Services IAS Mains Exam as Hindi English or any other language listed in the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution.
The Indian Languages included in the IAS exam are languages listed in the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution.
The candidates who score above the prescribed cut-off marks in the IAS exam (Mains) will get the summons for the Personality Test (the last stage of the IAS exam).
The final ranking of the candidates is based on the marks obtained by them in the Main Examination and Personality Test/Interview Round of the IAS exam.
Stage III: IAS Exam – UPSC Interview/Personality Test
Candidates who clear the Mains stage of the IAS exam with the required cut-off marks qualify for the final stage of the IAS exam i.e., the Personality Test or Interview round with the UPSC Board Members. The candidates who qualify for the final stage will be sent an e-summon by the Commission for a face-to-face discussion round with the board members. In this round, the board assesses the personality traits of the candidates and questions will be asked on their hobbies, current affairs, general knowledge, situation questions, etc. to evaluate if they are fit for a career in the civil services or not. The UPSC personality test will be held only in the UPSC Bhavan in New Delhi.
IAS Exam Age Limit and Attempts
There are conditions of nationality, age, number of attempts, and educational qualification if candidates wish to take the IAS exam. For the general category aspirants, the candidate must be a citizen of India or a PIO, must have a graduate degree, must be between the ages of 21 and 32, and must not have attempted the IAS exam 6 times. But there are certain relaxations and other conditions to the above.
For details on the IAS Exam Eligibility, please check the linked article.
IAS Exam Application Procedure
The application procedure for UPSC exams is online and UPSC Admit cards are also issued online, which IAS exam aspirants should download from the UPSC official website. For more, please read Apply Online for the IAS Exam 2024.
IAS Exam Preparation
Read on for IAS exam preparation strategy:
- Analysing the trend, more current affairs-based questions are being asked in both, Prelims and Mains stage of the IAS exam. Select only credible sources like PIB, The Hindu, Yojana etc. and align the current events as per the IAS exam syllabus. For the IAS exam, current affairs usually comprise events of national and international importance in the last 10-12 months.
- Go through the previous years’ IAS exam questions to gauge the amount of preparation needed from your end.
- Read the NCERT books and make notes. You will have to make at least two sets of notes i.e. short notes for Prelims and descriptive notes for UPSC Mains.
- The preparation for Prelims and Mains must be done simultaneously until 1-2 months before the date of the Prelims exam. Identify the syllabus overlap between Prelims and Mains and focus on those areas first.
- Select an Optional subject for the IAS exam based on your aptitude, interest and experience. Few optional subjects have a significant overlap with the General Studies syllabus in Mains, however, their syllabi are rather vast so do your due diligence before finalising one.
- Go through the standard books for each subject. Find the IAS exam book list, Current Affairs notes, NCERT notes and other information in the links below.
- Do not take lightly the CSAT paper in Prelims and Ethics paper in Mains. Similarly, the two qualifying language papers in Mains are also important as failing to score at least 25% in them will automatically eliminate you from the IAS exam process notwithstanding your stellar performance in all the other papers.
- Take out time for MCQ solving practice for Prelims and answer writing practice for Mains.
- Revise multiple times, update your notes, and revise some more.
IAS Exam Preparation
| IAS Exam – Prelims 2024 | IAS Exam – Mains |
| IAS Exam Pattern | IAS Coaching |
| UPSC Books | Daily News Analysis |
| IAS Previous Year Question Papers | IAS Current Affairs |
| NCERT Notes For IAS Exam | Daily Video Analysis: The Hindu |
| IAS Salary | UPSC Full Form |
