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Union Public Service Commission (UPSC)

Updated: Mar 10, 2024

UPSC has recently released the calendar including the 2024 examinations, and the UPSC CSE or the IAS exam is also there. Although many people think that IAS 2024 or UPSC CSE is the same thing, it is not.  


What are UPSC CSE and IAS?

The full form of UPSC CSE is the Union Public Service Commission Civil Service Examination through which candidates are selected for the civil services in various Indian government bodies. On the other hand, the IAS full form is Indian Administrative Services which is a department of civil services. 


In Indian civil services, there are three major departments, IAS, IPS, and IFS. The candidates for all three departments are selected through the same examination which is UPSC CSE.


Moreover, candidates are recruited in these departments based on their rank and performance in the interview rounds. Candidates preparing for the 2024 IAS exams have only 5 months left. 


To get all the information regarding the examination from dates to preparation strategy, go through this page thoroughly and make notes if needed.


IAS 2024 Eligibility Criteria

To appear for the UPSC civil service examination, candidates must fulfill these eligibility criteria: 

Age:

The age limit is 21-32 years. It means that anyone who is younger than 32 and older than 21 years of age. However, there is age relaxation for special candidates which is mentioned below: 


  • OBC candidates get an age relaxation of 3 years

  • SC/ST candidates get an age relaxation of 5 years

  • Defense servicemen who went disabled in their service period get 5 years of age relaxation

  • Ex-servicemen who have served for 5 years (applicable till 1st August 2021) get 5 years of age relaxation

  • Candidates with disability get 10 years of age relaxation

  • Candidates who have lived in Jammu and Kashmir (Applicable for the period of 1st Jan 1981 to 31st December 1989) get 5 years of age relaxation

Educational Qualifications:

Any student holding a graduate degree in any specialization from any recognized university can apply for IAS 2024.

Nationality:

Only Indian nationals are eligible to appear for the UPSC 2024. People of Indian origin who came to India to settle down before 1962 from Nepal, Bhutan, Burma, Tibet, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and African countries like Tanzania, Ethiopia, Zaire, Malawi, Uganda, and Kenya will also be considered Indians. Therefore, they can appear for the examination. 

Attempts:

A candidate can take only a selected number of attempts which are mentioned in the list below: 

  • General - 6 attempts

  • OBC - 9 attempts

  • SC/ST - Unlimited attempts

  • General+ PH - 9 attempts

  • OBC+PH - 9 attempts

  • SC/ST +PH - Unlimited attempts

  • Disabled Servicemen - Unlimited attempts

IAS/UPSC CSE Important Dates 2024

In the calendar, UPSC has mentioned the prelims and main exam dates only. The exact dates for registration will be updated in further notification. However, the dates can still be predicted which is mentioned in this table. 


Dates

Exam Regarding Events

Official Notification Update

Feb 14th, 2024

Beginning of the Registration Process

Feb 14th, 2024

Application Submission

Same as above

End of Application Process

March 5th, 2024

Last Fee Payment Date

Same as Above

Admit Card Release

Not Updated Yet

Prelims Exam Date

May 26th, 2024

Answer Key Out

No Information is Out

Final Results

No Information is Out

First Notification for UPSC Mains

July 2024

Registration for UPSC CSE Mains

Same as Above

Application Submission Deadline

No Specific Details

Fee Payment Deadline

No Specific Details

Admit Card Collection

Will be Updated

Mains Exam Date

Sep 20th, 2024

Answer Key Out

No Information Available

Final Results

No Information Available

UPSC 2024 Step-by-Step Application Procedure

Filling out the UPSC 2024 application form is easy if you follow some steps. Remember, if any information that you provide is wrong, you might be expelled from appearing for this examination. The steps elaborated in this table placed below:


Registration

To appear for the IAS exam 2024, students need to visit https://upsc.gov.in/. After opening the “examination” tab, they will see the active examination option, they must click on that to reach the registration page where they need to give their details and create an account.

Application Submission

After the students have successfully registered, they can start filling up the application form and upload the documents.


Tip: 1. Double-check the information

       2. Always upload the documents in PDF format

Fee Payment

As the last step, candidates need to pay the fees. They will not receive any admit card without paying the fees.

Admit Card Collection

Candidates need to use the same credentials that they created at the time of registration to log in again and collect their UPSC 2024 admit cards. All; the information regarding the examination dates, and centers will be there on the admit card.

UPSC 2024 Exam Fee

General candidates need to pay Rs 100 for the prelims and Rs 200 for the mains. Other candidates can appear without paying any application fees. 

UPSC 2024 Exam Centers

For the UPSC 2024 prelims exam, a total of 79 exam centers, and for the Mains 22 exam centers have been allocated. The below-mentioned list is of the same.

Prelims Exam Centers:

  • Prayagraj 

  • Ahmedabad

  • Hyderabad

  • Sambalpur

  • Bengaluru

  • Jammu

  • Puducherry

  • Aizawl

  • Imphal

  • Pune

  • Agartala

  • Gorakhpur

  • Patna

  • Agra

  • Aligarh

  • Indore

  • Raipur

  • Almora (Uttarakhand)

  • Itanagar

  • Rajkot

  • Gurgaon

  • Portblair

  • Ajmer

  • Gwalior

  • Aurangabad

  • Jaipur

  • Shillong

  • Bareilly

  • Jodhpur

  • Shimla

  • Bhopal

  • Jorhat

  • Siliguri

  • Bilaspur

  • Ananthapuru

  • Jabalpur

  • Ranchi

  • Kochi

  • Srinagar

  • Chandigarh

  • Kohima

  • Srinagar (Uttarakhand)

  • Chennai

  • Warangal

  • Ghaziabad

  • Panaji (Goa)

  • Dharamsala (New)

  • Mandi (New)

  • Kolkata

  • Surat

  • Coimbatore

  • Kozhikode (Calicut)

  • Thane

  • Cuttack

  • Ludhiana

  • Tirupati

  • Dharwar

  • Madurai

  • Udaipur

  • Dispur

  • Leh

  • Thiruvananthapuram

  • Dehradun

  • Lucknow

  • Tiruchirapalli

  • Delhi

  • Mumbai

  • Varanasi

  • Faridabad

  • Mysuru

  • Vellore

  • Gangtok

  • Nagpur

  • Vijayawada

  • Gautam Buddha Nagar

  • Nasik

  • Vishakhapatnam

  • Gaya

  • Navi Mumbai

Mains Exam Centers:

  • Ahmedabad

  • Delhi

  • Hyderabad

  • Aizawl

  • Dispur (Guwahati)

  • Prayagraj ( Allahabad)

  • Thiruvananthapuram

  • Raipur

  • Patna

  • Lucknow

  • Bhopal

  • Jaipur

  • Ranchi

  • Chandigarh

  • Bengaluru

  • Jammu

  • Shimla

  • Cuttack

  • Kolkata

  • Dehradun

  • Mumbai

  • Vijayawada

  • Shillong

  • Chennai

How to choose UPSC Exam Centers?

You will be asked to choose an exam center while filling out the application form. We suggest you choose the earnest exam center in your city. However, if no exam center is allocated to your city, choose the nearest one.


Always remember, if you choose any exam center which is far away from your native place, in case of any mishappening UPSC will not be responsible or answerable to any allegations. 

UPSC CSE Vacancy List 2024

UPSC CSE vacancy list will be out with the first notification. In 2023, there were a total of 1105 vacancies.

IAS 2024 Exam Pattern

The UPSC CSE exam happens in three stages: prelims, mains, and interviews. The prelims happen in one day while it takes 5-7 days for the mains. Moreover, the paper mode is also different for both. The interview part comes much later.  Candidates who have completed the Mains examination and have secured marks above the cut-off will be called for the interviews. 

Prelims Pattern:

Mode of Exam: MCQ

Number of Papers: 2

Total Marks: 400 (200 each)

Papers: General Studies 1 and General Studies 2

Language: English/Hindi

Time: 2 Hours for each paper

Marking System: For GS 1, 2 marks will be given for every right answer, and for GS 2, 2.5 marks will be given for every right answer. ⅓ marks will be deducted for every wrong answer. However, unattempted questions hold no value. 

Mains Pattern:

Mode of Exam: Descriptive

Number of Papers: 7

Total Marks: 1750 marks (300 each)

Papers: Compulsory Indian Language, English, Essay, General Studies - I, II, III, IV, Optional Subjects: I, II

Language: English/Hindi

Time: 3 Hrs each paper

Interview:

Test Type: Personality Test

Marks: 275

UPSC CSE 2024 Syllabus

The UPSC CSE syllabus is pretty huge. Being one of the toughest exams in India, the questions asked in the examination are well-researched and need deep knowledge to be answered. 


Exam Type

Paper

Syllabus




  Prelims

General Studies I

Current Affairs, Indian Polity and Governance, Economy, General Science, Environmental Issues, etc.

General Studies II

Data interpretation, Numerical skills, logical ability, etc.








 



    Mains

Compulsory Indian Language

Knowledge of the language, literature, history, etc.

English

Knowledge of literature

Essay

Essay Writing

General Studies I

Indian Culture, Role of Women, Modern History, World Geography, Social Empowerment, industries, etc.

General Studies II

Indian constitution, Judicial bodies, Important aspects of governance, International relations, Hunger and poverty issues, etc.

General Studies III

Security challenges, scene, technology, corps, food management, government budgeting, etc.

General Studies IV

Probity in governance, ethics, and values of civil services

Optional Subjects (2)

Specified Syllabus


To get the detailed syllabus visit the official website after the notification releases. 

2023 Cut-Off

The cut-off for the UPSC CSE 2023 has not been released. However, you can find it here https://upsc.gov.in/examinations/cutoff-marks– once it is available.

How Many Students Appeared for UPSC in 2023?

Last year, 13 lakh students appeared for the examination and only 14624 candidates were able to appear for the mains. Therefore, the UPSC CSE 2024 is going to be a more challenging examination than the previous year. 

UPSC CSE 2024 Response Sheet

Candidates can collect the response sheet from the UPSC official website. The link to get the same will be there after the conclusion of the examination.

UPSC 2024 Answer Key Challenge

Unlike other examinations, the UPSC CSE examination is not open for students to challenge answer keys. The marks given by the authority will be considered as the final one.

UPSC 2023 Toppers

  • Ishita Kishore

  • Garima Lohia

  • Laghima Tiwari

  • Anoushka Sharma

  • Prasanjeet Kaur

  • Abhinav Siwach

  • Vidhushi Singh

  • Krithika Goyal

  • Swati Sharma

  • Shishir Kumar Singh

  • Uma Harathin N

  • Smriti Mishra

  • Mayur Hazarika

  • Gahana Navya James

  • Waseem Ahmad Bhat

  • Avinash Kumar

  • Siddharth Shukla

  • Anirudh Yadav

  • Kanika Goyal

  • Rahul Shrivastava

How to Prepare for UPSC?

  • Develop the mindset of studying and analyzing concepts, not just memorizing them.

  • Mark the chapters that you are weak in and start with them first.

  • Give equal importance to each subject and practice them daily

  • No need to study all day, just make a schedule and stick to that

  • Go through IAS officers’ interviews to understand the system more.

  • Spend time outside your home and make yourself open to various experiences as you can learn from them as well. 

  • Go through previous years’ question papers to know the question standards

  • Take regular mock tests

  • Practice descriptive writing

Is IAS Coaching Needed?

Yes, it is indeed needed. You can crack the prelims all by yourself if you are disciplined but for the mains, it becomes difficult to manage everything all by yourself. You can find offline coaching in your state or if your state does not have any, shift somewhere else. 


Coachings in Kota, New Delhi, and Chandigarh are some of the most popular ones with the highest success rates. Coachings Institute provides you with a premium study schedule, strategies, study resources, and tests that boost your confidence. You can also take online coaching as it is also a useful way to prepare for IAS. 



Remember, it is your preparation. You don’t have to follow the same routine as the topper of the previous year, try to set a routine that justifies your strength, capabilities, and efficiency. Do not compromise on your health or sleep. Just try to utilize the maximum amount of time when you are not eating, sleeping, or bathing. And save the rest of the time for these things. 


Engage yourself in physical activity to stay active and healthy. Try to develop healthy habits like reading or researching as questions will be asked about your hobbies so if you have one, try to gather knowledge about the same. If you don’t have any hobbies, no need to lie just be yourself, be respectful, take your time while answering and that’s all. 


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