Syllabus for both Prelims and Mains UPSC Civil Services Examination

Part A – Preliminary Examination Compulsory Subject General Studies
Optional Subjects

Part B – Main Examination Compulsory Subjects English and Indian Languagues
Essay

General Studies – Paper I & II
Optional Subjects

Aim of Main Examination

Part A – Preliminary Examination – Optional Subjects

Agriculture

Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science

Botany

Chemistry

Civil Engineering

Commerce

Economics

Electrical Engineering

Geography

Geology

Indian History

Law Mathematics

Mechanical Engineering

Medical Science

Philosophy

Physics

Political Science

Psychology

Public Administration

Sociology

Statistics

Zoology


Aim of Main Examination

The main Examination is intended to assess the overall intellectual traits and depth of understanding of candidates rather than merely the range of their information and memory.

The scope of the syllabus for the optional subject papers for the examination is broadly of the honours degree level i.e. a level higher than the bachelors degree and lower than the masters degree. In the case of Engineering and law, the level corresponds to the bachelor’s degree.

Part B – Main Examination – Optional Subjects


Total number of questions in the question papers of optional subjects will be eight. All questions will carry equal marks. Each paper will be divided into two parts, viz. Part A and Part B, each part containing four questions. Out of eight questions, five questions are to be attempted. One question in each part will be compulsory. Candidates will be required to answer three more questions out of the remaining six questions, taking at least one question from each part. In this way, at least two questions will be attempted from each Part i.e. one compulsory question plus one more.

LIST OF OPTIONAL SUBJECTS FOR CIVIL SERVICES (MAIN) EXAMINATION

Agriculture

Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science

Anthropology

Botany

Chemistry

Civil Engineering

Commerce & Accountancy

Economics

Electrical Engineering

Geography

Geology

History

Law

Arabic

Assamese

Bengali

Bodo

Chinese

Dogri

English

French

German

Gujarati

Hindi

Kannada

Kashmiri

Konkani

Maithili

Malayalam

Manipuri

Marathi

Nepali

Oriya

Pali

Persian

Punjabi

Russian

Sanskrit

Santali

Sindhi

Tamil

Telugu

Urdu

Management

Mathematics

Mechanical Engineering

Medical Science

Philosophy

Physics

Political Science and International Relations

Psychology

Public Administration

Sociology

Statistics

Zoology