Civil Service Examination is being conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and the examination includes two stages of written test namely; preliminary Examination and Main Examination. Generally, UPSC issues notification to the preliminary examination in magazines/dailies/employment news/ UPSC web site during the Month of November or December each year, for the examination to be conducted in the month of May of the following year.

Eligibility to apply for Civil Services Preliminary Examination:

Only candidates in the age group of 21 and 30 years as on 1st of August each year will be eligible to apply for the notification issued in the month of November/December. As far as educational qualification is concerned, candidates must be degree holders in any discipline from a recognized Indian university.

Even candidates who are waiting of their results in the final year/semester of the degree course can apply and these candidates if they clear the preliminary examination will have to submit the passing certificate of degree course when applying for the main examination.

Scheme of Preliminary Examination:

Preliminary Examination will be conducted in two papers of Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) format carrying total marks of 450 divided as follows:

• Paper I  - General Studies for 150 Marks

• Paper II – Any of the optional subjects for 300 marks

List of optional papers:

For the paper II of the preliminary examination, candidates have the following 23 optional papers from which they can select any one of the papers:

• Zoology

• Statistics

• Sociology

• Public Administration

• Psychology

• Political Science

• Physics

• Philosophy

• Medical Science

• Mechanical Engineering

• Mathematics

• Law

• Indian History

• Geology

• Geography

• Electrical Engineering

• Economics

• Commerce

• Civil Engineering

• Chemistry

• Botany

• Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science

• Agriculture

Tips for Cracking Preliminary Examination:

It is the dream of many candidates to get through the Civil Service Examination in such a way that they can get placed in some of the top level government job positions in India. As a first step towards getting through the Civil Service Examination, candidate will have to pass in the preliminary examination. Here are some useful tips for candidates to clear the preliminary examination at the very first attempt itself:

• Reading Newspapers and Magazines: Keeping themselves updated by reading latest newspapers and magazines is a known tip for most of the candidates. But, when reading newspapers and dailies, candidates can focus on one good newspaper and a good magazine rather than going for several newspapers. They can go for any one reputed newspaper like The Times of India/the Indian Express or the Hindu rather than referring many newspapers. When it comes to magazines, the two popular magazines for civil service exam preparation are ‘Civil Services Times’ and ‘Civil Service Chronicle’ and referring any one of the these magazines can be fruitful for the candidates. Going for one newspaper and one magazine is the best to avoid confusion arising when multiple newspapers and magazines are referred.

• Manorama Year Book: In addition to magazines and newspapers, candidates should also refer Manorama Year Book, which will be helpful not only for current affairs, but also for general knowledge as well.

• Solved Question papers: Most of candidates refer to past question papers only after they complete the whole preparation process for Preliminary examination. Rather than doing so, candidates can refer to past question papers immediately after they complete a particular chapter from the syllabus. By doing so, they can ensure whether they are able to answer the questions without any difficulty and in case of any difficulty in answering they can again go for a revision of that particular chapter.

• Focusing on scoring topics at the initial process of preparation: When preparing for the preliminary examination, candidates should not just study whatever topic they come across, on the other hand, they will have to plan and prioritize among the topics in the syllabus. For instance, topics like maps, polity and general knowledge can be easily prepared and candidates can easily score marks in these areas as well.

• Micro notes: Taking of micro notes in the process of preparation will be of great use to the candidates for final revision before the preliminary examination.

According to a popular saying ‘A good start is half the battle won’, candidates preparing for Civil Service Preliminary Examination can easily crack the examination in the first attempt when they properly focus on the aforesaid points right from the beginning of their preparation process.