Scheme – Civil Services Examinations
All India Civil Service which replaced the British colonial ICS, happens to be apex administrative service in India. It is an important arm of the executive branch of the government. There are as many as 24 services in the central government, almost all of them in Group A service for which UPSC conducts examination. Three topmost and most sought services happen to be Indian Administrative service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Foreign Service (IFS). The other Services, termed as Central Services are Indian Revenue Service (IRS), Income Tax, Central Customs and Excise, Indian Audit and Account Service, Indian Postal Service, Indian Defense Accounts Service, Indian Railway Traffic Service, Indian Railway Personnel Service, Indian Railway Accounts Service, etc. Central Services serve Union Government, not state services like IAS and IPS. There are Group B services as well, assigned to various departments and services. Civil services recruitment is done for about 24 services and about 900(Approximate) officers are selected every year.
Following is scheme of examination for All India Civil Services conducted by UPSC.
| Paper | Details | Marks |
| Paper1 | One of the Indian Languages to be selected by the candidate from the 18 languages included in the VIIIth Schedule to the Constitution (Qualifying Paper) | 300 |
| Paper-II | English (Qualifying Paper) | 300 |
| Paper-III | Essay | 200 |
| Papers IV and V | General Studies (300 Marks for each paper) | 600 |
| Papers VI, VII, VIII & IX | Any two subjects (each having 2 papers) to be selected from the prescribed optional subjects (300 marks for each paper) | 1200 |
| Total Marks for Written Examination | 2000 | |
| Interview Test | 300 | |
| Grand Total | 2300 |
List of Optional Subjects - CS (Main) - (Total 25)
List of Optional Subjects (Literature) - CS (Main) (Total 26).
Note (i) :
Candidates have the option to answer all the question papers, except the language papers, viz, Paper-I and Paper-II, in any one of the languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution or in English.
Note (ii) :
Candidates who have opted for an Indian Language as language medium for the Main Examination have an option of being interviewed either in English or in the same language which they have opted for the Main Examination.
Civil Service Examination conducted by State Governments:
State Public Service Examinations of all State Governments conduct examinations for the State Civil Services for Class I and Class II posts more or less in the same manner as UPSC. Please go to corresponding Public Service Commission Portals to find out exact details.