UPSC Mains Exam

All About UPSC Mains Exam

About UPSC Prelims: UPSC Civil Service prelims exam is the initial stage of Civil Service examination process for screening the candidates into mains examination (the ratio of 1:12 or 1:13 students of the jobs are selected are selected for the mains exams), the marks obtained in the mains exams are not counted for deciding the final list after mains exam.

UPSC Civil’s Examination Pattern: (3 Stage Examination Pattern)

S.NO	Exam Stages
1	Prelims (GS Paper-I and CSAT Paper-II)
2	Mains (5 Compulsory Subjects + 2 Optional Subjects)
3	Interview (Interview by UPSC Board)

UPSC Exam Mains Pattern

After successful clearing of prelims the aspirant needs to apply for the mains exam which will be conducted from the 3^rd month of prelims completion, generally in the month of December which lasts for 5 days, refer UPSC Calendar for accurate dates and notifications which will be released by UPSC Board.

Mains exam is the descriptive type paper consists of totally 9 papers, all the papers are compulsory, except few exceptions in two non ranking papers for reservation candidates Scheduled tribes of Nagaland and others, Here is a list of Books for Mains UPSC Examinations, but our sincere request is, not to buy all the Books please take the advantage of the free resources available at this site, and if necessary to buy the book read the reviews of the books before opting to buy

UPSC Civil Service Mains Exam Pattern

The civil s mains Examination is in the month of October/November (old pattern), now the exam is scheduled in the month of December every year from 2014 on wards

Totally there are 9 papers as described below

Essay(paper-1)	250 marks	3 hours	Compulsory paper
General studies-1(paper-2)	250 marks	3 hours	Compulsory paper
General studies-2(paper-3)	250 marks	3 hours	Compulsory paper
General studies-3(paper-4)	250 marks	3 hours	Compulsory paper
General studies-4(paper-5)	250 marks	3 hours	Compulsory paper
Optional subject paper-1(paper-6)	250 marks	3 hours	Need to choose from 26 Optional Subject List
Optional subject paper-2(paper-7)	250 marks	3 hours
Indian language(paper-8)	300 marks	3 hours	(NON RANKING Paper)
English language(paper-9)	300 marks	3 hours	(NON RANKING Paper)
Total	1750 marks + 600Marks Non Ranking papers	Nil	Nil

Mains Examination Marks Break Up

Mains Examination has 7 papers which are of ranking type: Total Marks 7 Papers Each 250*7=1750 (Ranking Type), The merit of the candidate is decided only by the ranking papers and the candidate need to qualify the non ranking papers, candidate need to obtain minimum qualifying as prescribed by UPSC, 2015 it went less than 50% of total marks, the final score is determined after considering the marks of interview which is for 275 marks. So order of merit list will be decided by total marks of mains and interview test (marks obtained from mains) + (marks obtains in interview) i.e. for total marks for 2025 marks (1750+275)

Qualifying Papers

Apart from above 7 subjects the candidates have to qualify qualifying exam contains 2 papers (Paper-A and Paper-B) which are not counted for deciding merit of the candidate 

Paper A: (One of the Indian Language to be selected from the ones included in the 6th Schedule of the Constitution – 250 Marks)

Paper B: English – 250 Marks

UPSC Mains Topics in Brief

UPSC Mains Topics in Brief
Mains Subjects	Brief
GS-I: Essay	Word limit: 3000 words Click Here to download previous 10 year essay topics
GS-II Paper – 1	(General Studies II,  Paper – I): India heritage and culture, history and geography of the world and Indian society, Indian Heritage and Culture
GS-III Paper – 2	(General Studies III, Paper – II): Governance, constitution, polity, social justice and international relations)
GS-IV Paper 3	(General Studies- Paper III) Technology, economic development, bio diversity, environment, security and disaster management)
GS-V Paper 4	(General Studies Paper IV): Ethics integrity and aptitude
(Paper 6 and Paper 7)	Optional Subjects: Click Here for more details on Optional Subjects
(Paper 8 and Paper 9)	Qualifying Papers: just need 1 or 2 weeks preparation. Click here for More

UPSC (Civil Service) Mains Exam Books

UPSC (Civil Service) Mains– Exam Books
Mains Books                         Compulsory Subjects Paper- I Essay Paper- II (GS paper-I) Paper –III (GS paper-II) Paper-IV (GS paper-III) Paper –V (GS paper-IV)  Optional Subjects Paper –VI (Optional – I) Paper – VII (Optional –II)	Click Here

UPSC Subject Wise Books List
Essay Paper-1	Click Here
GS-I Paper –2 (History, Geography, Etc)	Click Here
GS-II Paper- 3 (Polity, IR, Etc)	Click Here
GS-III Paper-4 (Economics, Sci & Tech, Etc)	Click Here
GS-IV Paper-5 (Ethics, Integrity, Aptitude)	Click Here

Paper 6 and Paper 7 Optional Subjects
List of Optional Subjects Click Here
Majority Opted Optional Subjects	Books
History	Click Here
Geography	Click Here
Political Science	Click Here
Public Administration	Click Here
Economics	Click Here
Sociology	Click Here
Anthropology	Click Here
Philosophy	Click Here
Psychology	Click Here
Optional Subjects Books List	Click Here
Literature Books List	Click Here

UPSC Exam Complete Details

UPSC Exam- Complete Details

For Complete UPSC Exam Details (Eligibility/Pattern/Syllabus/Services/fee Etc) Click Here

UPSC Civil Service Exam- Complete Syllabus

For Complete UPSC Civil Service Exam Syllabus Click Here

UPSC Exam-  ALL Books

UPSC Exam – All Exam Books Details Click Here

Official Website’s UPSC

Official Websites of UPSC Exam
www.upsc.gov.in	https://upsconline.nic.in/
UPSC Important Exam Dates: Click Here

Authors Note

Total Applicants and the competition or UPSC Civil Service Exam

As there are 10 lakhs of applicants this stage of examination acts as a screening test apart from testing the aptitude of the candidate and decision making abilities of the candidates, this exam acts as the primary stage of filtering the candidates and screening those who are not serious candidates, the marks scored by the candidate are not counted for deciding the merit of the candidate it merely serves as the examination process to select the candidates for the mains examination process

As we see know and then in news that they are many controversies and other disturbances from different groups in regarding the examination pattern, so keep a watch on the prelims pattern changes and syllabus regarding it and see how the UPSC is taking decision in modifying /altering the changes to the examination pattern so that it helps in your preparation the changes can be at any time instance are there that the changes happened just before 2 months of examination. So have an eye on this.

All the Best aspirants