Every individual in the world aspires to do something big in his league. Irrespective of gender and qualification, it is the dream of all people to land a job that gives them power, authority, and status quo in society’s eyes.
The job role of the IAS officer is something true to the lines mentioned above. Although IAS exams which are held by the UPSC are touted as one of the toughest in the whole country, that doesn’t deter candidates from appearing for them.
Every year there are more than lakhs of applicants who dream big to lead the country as the face of the next IAS officer. But that sad reality is that more than 99.99% of students fail to make a mark in the field.
This has lead to many theories revolving around the pattern of exam conducted for the post of Indian Administrative Service. As many candidates appear for the exams each year, in this blog, we will decode the exams’ pattern step by step.
Read Also– UPSC exam: Paper pattern and stages of the IAS exam
Why Becoming an IAS Is Many Students Dream?
There is literally no one in the world who would not want a job role where you would be allowed to make decisions regarding the state and the country. If a job role is given to you, exactly according to your dreams, won’t you toil hard to accomplish it? Yes, you would, and becoming an IAS falls under all these categories mentioned above.
IAS or the Indian Administrative Service is one of the top-ranked jobs in the Indian nation today. It is a high profile work position that allows selected people to exert and make decisions for state and country as a whole.
As per India’s education norms, students are always given a broader picture of how government jobs will turn out in a year. It is also a well-established fact that government jobs are more secure and hence are a source of inspiration for every intelligent student.
Therefore becoming an IAS and achieving the position merely on the merit level is a tough thing to crack, but it is also a dream many students aspire for.
Read Also – Exam Pattern and the Selection Procedure for UPSC IAS exam
What Are The Steps To Walk Upon To Become An IAS Officer?
There is no journey in the world that can be achieved in a day. And same is the case for becoming an IAS officer. Before you start accessing all the things and materials you require for well-proofing your IAS dream, you need to prepare yourself first.
Now, this might look like a very basic thing, but without getting mentally prepared, you will not be able to get into the meat of the matter correctly. There are over lakhs of students from all fields every year who appear for the IAS examination.
And the competition is very tough. The UPSC IAS exam takes place through two main tests that are carried over the year. First is the preliminary exam, and the second is the Mains exam, which is followed by the personality interview.
In order to help you prepare beforehand, the article uncovers step by step and the whole process of both the exams to help aspirants get a clear understanding of what they are up to face.
Step By Step Revelation Of The IAS Exam Pattern
The UPSC governs the Indian Administrative Service exam, and all individual state governments govern the exams. There are three main exams for which the students have to prepare themselves:
- UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Exams.
- UPSC Mains Exam.
- Personality test.
UPSC Prelim Exam: Every student who aspires to join the higher ranks in government offices as an IAS has to first appear for the preliminary exam. The exam has two papers with 200 marks each. The total time allotted for both the papers is 2 hours each, i.e., in a total of 4 hours. The first paper is the General Studies paper, which has 100 questions and plays a major role in securing a cut-off.
| Name of paper | Questions | Marks | Exams Nature |
| General studies-1 | 100 | 200 | Cut-off exam |
| General Studies-2 | 80 | 200 | Qualifying exam |
Always remember for each question there is a negative marking based on which 1/3 of marks will be deducted. The questions asked in the paper are bilingual and has Hindi and English both.
UPSC Main Exam: Candidates who secure the minimum cut-off marks are then entitled to sit for the UPSC Main exam. The qualifying criteria are to secure 33% in the general studies two papers and the declared cut-off mark for the first one.
Unlike the preliminary exams where the questions were mostly objective type, UPSC Mains has only descriptive type questions. Except for the language paper A and B, all other documents can be answered in English.
