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IAS Exam Pattern – Preliminary Exam Pattern – For IAS Examination.
The Prelims stage of IAS consists of 2 compulsory papers- General Ability Test (GAT) and the Civil Service Aptitude Test (CSAT). This will test the analytical skills of the candidates.Continue Reading IAS Exam Pattern – Preliminary Exam Pattern – For IAS Examination.
The UPSC exam pattern for the Preliminary stage consists of two papers, conducted on one day. Both the papers comprise objective type questions with multiple choice of answers.
The prelims examination is a qualifying stage to filter candidates for the mains exam. The marks secured at this stage are not counted towards the final merit list, though candidates have to prepare well for this exam as cut-offs are unpredictable and depend on the average score every year. The details of UPSC Prelims Exam are given below:
| Paper | Type | No. of questions | Marks | Duration | Negative marks |
| General Studies I | Objective | 100 | 200 | 2 hours | Yes |
| General Studies II (CSAT) | Objective | 80 | 200 | 2 hours | Yes |
| IAS Exam Pattern for Prelims | |
|---|---|
| Exam Mode | Offline |
| Number of Papers | 2- General Studies and Civil Service Aptitude Test (CSAT) |
| Number of Questions | Paper 1- 100; Paper 2- 80 |
| Question Paper Type | Multiple Choice Questions |
| IAS Prelims Total Marks | 400 |
| Nature of Exam | Qualifying |
| Exam Duration | 2 hours each, +20 minutes for blind students |
| Exam Language | English and Hindi |
IAS Marking Scheme for Prelims
- Each question in the General Studies paper carries 2 marks.
- Each question in the Civil Service Aptitude Test paper carries 2.5 marks.
- For each question for which a wrong answer has been given by the candidate, one-third (0.33) of the marks assigned to that question will be deducted as penalty.
- If a candidate gives more than one answer, it will be treated as a wrong answer even if one of the given answers happens to be correct and the penalty will be the same as mentioned above for that question.
- If a question is left blank, i.e. no answer is given by the candidate, there will be no penalty for that question.
- Paper-II (CSAT) in the IAS exam is of qualifying nature and candidates should score a minimum of 33 percent in this paper to qualify for the next stage of the IAS exam i.e. the Mains.
Negative Marking
The aspirants may get negative marks in the IAS Prelims Exam. More specifically, in the case of three incorrect answers, the aspirants will get a deduction of 1 mark. That is, the aspirants will get 1/3 mark deduction for every incorrect answer. On the other hand, there will be no deduction if the candidates will leave blank any of the answers.
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