IAS Mains Exam Pattern 2022

ByAnuj jindal

IAS Exam Pattern for UPSC Mains

The UPSC exam pattern for the Mains paper involves 9 papers that are conducted over a time period of 5-7 days.

The UPSC Mains exam will be available for you to appear, if and only if you are able to clear the Prelims exams.

This means scoring above the declared cut off marks for Paper 1 and scoring a minimum of 33% in paper 2 of the Prelims exam. 

UPSC CSE Exam Pattern for Mains - Qualifying (Language) & Merit (Esaay, GS & Optionals) Papers

Having said that it should be duly noted that, unlike the Prelims exam, the UPSC Mains exam consists of only Descriptive/subjective type questions of a total of 1750 marks, meaning you’d have to elaborately write your answers instead of choosing the right ones from among a host of choices.

IAS Mains Exam Pattern Summary

Papers Subjects Marks
Paper A Any Indian language (compulsory) – qualifying paper 300
Paper B English – qualifying paper 300
Paper 1 Essay (you can choose to write it in a medium of your choice) 250
Paper 2 General Studies 1 (Indian and World history, Culture, heritage, &Geography) 250
Paper 3 General Studies 2 (Polity, Constitution, Governance, International Relations & Social Justice) 250
Paper 4 General Studies 3 (Economic Development, Technology, Disaster Management & Security, Biodiversity) 250
Paper 5 General Studies 4 (Aptitude, Ethics, & Integrity) 250
Paper 6 Optional Subject: Paper 1 250
Paper 7 Optional Subject: Paper 2 250

Assuming you understood the table, here are some important points I’d like to add:  

  • Out of the 9 papers of the UPSC Mains exam, 2 are qualifying language papers, I.e, English and, any other Indian language. Both language papers hold a maximum mark of 300 each. The minimum qualifying marks in these 2 papers is 25%. The marks obtained in these papers will not be counted for ranking. 
  • Both language papers have 100 marks worth of essay questions, 60 marks worth of reading comprehension questions, 60 marks worth precis writing, 40 worth translation-based questions, and finally another 40, worth grammar-based questions.  
  • If you’re unable to secure the minimum 25% of the total 300 marks in the 2 language papers, the rest of your mains papers will not be considered for further evaluation by UPSC. 
  • You can write all the papers, apart from the 2 language papers, in the language of your choosing provided that it is listed in the 8th schedule of the Indian Constitution.
  • Paper A is not compulsory for you if you belong to certain North-Eastern states, or if you are hearing impaired and have supporting documents. 

That said, let us now look at the list of optional subjects for paper 6 and paper 7 of the UPSC Mains exam.

UPSC Mains Paper 6 & 7 Optional Subjects 

List of Optional Subjects
Agriculture Anthropology Chemistry Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science Botany
Geology Law Mathematcics History Management
Psycology Sociology Zoology Public Administration Statistics
Commerce and Accountancy Electrical Engineering Civil Engineering Economics Geography
Medical Science Physics Mechanical Engineering Philosophy Political Science and International Relations
Literature of any of the following languages: Bengali, Dogri, Hindi, Kashmiri, Maithili, Manipuri, Nepali, Punjabi, Santhali, Tamil, Urdu, Assamese, Bodo, Gujarati, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Telugu and English

The last thing to note is that you have the liberty to write both your optional papers, namely paper 6 and 7 in English, even if you have written all the other papers in some other language. 

I hope through this section you get to know everything there is to know about the Exam pattern of the UPSC Mains exam. 

IAS Exam Pattern for UPSC Interview Round  

The interview round is the final stage of the UPSC exams. If you are able to make it into this round, know that you did so by clearing through the written segments of one of the toughest exams in the world, and give yourself a pat on the back.

In this round, a panel of unbiased and competent individuals will take your interview in order to test your personality. 

The questions that the panel asks is to extract suitable answers out of you. Your answers will then be scrutinized meticulously, and you will be judged on your social and mental traits. 

Some of the qualities that the panel would be looking for in you are critical powers of assimilation, a balance of judgment, ability to lead and create social cohesion, mental alertness, clear and logical exposition, variety and depth of interest, and intellectual and moral integrity.  

The maximum marks allotted for the interview round for a candidate is 275, which brings the maximum marks of the final merit list to 2025 (1750 of the Mains exams + 275 of the interview round) 

Also check: UPSC Exam Vacancy 2022

Source by: https://www.anujjindal.in/upsc-exam-pattern-apply-online-admit-card/

The UPSC Civil Services Exam (CSE) is conducted every year to recruit candidates to various civil services of the Indian central government such as IAS, IPS, IFS (Foreign), IRS, IP & TAFS, IFoS (Forest), ITS, etc. It is one of the toughest exams in the country.

The UPSC CSE is also popularly known as the IAS exam and is conducted subsequently after the official release of the UPSC vacancy memo.

The UPSC exam is no shorter than a marathon I tell you. It has three rounds that you need to clear in order to get selected as an IAS officer. The first round that you’d need to clear is the Prelims, the second round is Mains, and,the third and final round is the personal interviews.