Civil Services Preliminary Exam Pattern

Aspirants who are going to appear for Civil Services Exam are in the correct place, as they must check the concerned Civil Services Exam Pattern from here. Aspirants are required to undergo three progressive stages to qualify this competitive exam (Stage I, Stage II & Stage III).Candidates may also download the new paper pattern in PDF form from Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) official site. Candidates can collect more details about Civil Services Exam New Pattern through this site.

First stage of the Civil Services Exam is called as the Preliminary Examination.Civil Services Preliminary Examination is common for Civil Services Examination (CSE) and Indian Forest Service (IFoS) Examination.

Preliminary Examination consists of two papers of Objective type and carries the maximum of 400 marks. This exam is only a screening test, the marks obtained in the prelims are only for qualifying for mains exam and they are not counted for determining the final order of merit.

Paper – I: General Studies (GS)
Duration of the exam: 2 hours
Total questions: 100
total marks: 200 marks

Paper II: General Ability or Aptitude (CSAT)
Duration of the exam: 2 hours
Total questions: 80
total marks: 200 marks

Note :

• The questions are objective type or Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
• There is a ‘Negative Marking’ for each incorrect answer. The negative marking for incorrect answers will be
  1/3rd (0.66) of the allotted marks for that question.
• Paper II: General Ability or Aptitude (CSAT) is qualifying in nature and candidates should score a minimum of 33 percent in this paper to qualify to the next stage i.e. Civil Services Mains Exam.
• Blind candidates are given an extra time of 20 minutes for each paper in the prelims exam.
• The marks scored by the candidates in the preliminary examination are not counted for the final score.

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