UPSC conducts civil services examination 2 times in a year to recruit candidates its elite services of IAS & IPS. The paper is very competitive and every year candidates are required to give this paper as an optional subject in the mains examination.

Qualification for appearing in this exam:

A graduate from a recognised board or institution can apply for the examination.  Candidates who are in the final year of qualifying examination can also sit for the examination but they have to produce the passing certificate on time of final selection. There is age limitation for the candidates of 21-30 years for the general category students but there is relaxation in the criteria for SC/ST candidates as per UPSC norms. Only Indian citizen can apply for the examination.

Scoring and Negative Marking:

There are descriptive questions only in the paper.  These questions are kept as 2-4 sub-questions for the comfort of students. Marks and scoring is based on the content of answers. There are no negative marking in the paper.

Mode of Exam:

Answers are given on answer sheet provided as a conventional type.

Format:

Paper contains theoretical questions and needed to be answered properly.

Paper Pattern:

Each question asked in the paper is of conventional type and of descriptive type. Total no. of questions is 8 and these questions are divided into 2 sections. Total question needed to be attempted is 5. 1st question from these 2 sections is compulsory to be attempted and remaining 3 questions are to be chosen from rest 6 questions.

Marking:

Paper is of 300 marks in it and each question is of equal value.

Schedule:

Paper is required to be solved within 3 hours.

Recommended Books:

• Persian History by Hans Baatliwala
• Persian Origin and culture by Moti Damani