This article will give you guidance on UPSC Civil Services Exam Preparation – Information regarding the new pattern of Preliminary Exam (Civil Services Aptitude Test – CSAT), syllabus for the exam, books for exam preparation and tips for preparation for IAS Exam.
IAS Examination Overview
The Examination comprises two successive stages.
(i) Civil Services (Preliminary) Examinations (Objective Type) for the selection of candidates for Main Examination; and
(ii) Civil Services (Main) Examination (Written and Interview) for the selection of candidates for the various services and posts.
New syllabus for 2011 prelims (CSAT)
The new syllabus will have two common papers with equal weightage (200 marks each), unlike the current system which gives more weightage to subject paper (300 marks) than the common general awareness paper (150 marks). The first paper under the new syllabus will be more or less like the current general awareness paper. The second paper, being introduced by replacing the optional (subject) paper, will have aptitude, data interpretation and English language comprehension skills.
Main Examination Model
Scheme of the Main Examination.
Paper I: One of the Indian languages to be selected by the candidate from the Languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. 300 marks
Paper II: English. 300 marks
Paper III: Essay. 200 marks
Papers IV and V: General Studies. 300 marks for each paper
Papers VI, VII, VIII and IX: Any two subjects to be selected from the list of the optional subjects. Each subject will have two papers. 300 marks for each paper
Interview test. 300 marks
Note: The Papers on Indian Languages and English will be of qualifying nature; the marks obtained in these papers will not be counted for ranking.
Civil Services Exam Books
- Our Constitution – Subhash Kashyap
- India’s struggle for independence- Bipan Chandra
- Geography of India – D.R.Khullar
- Certificate Physical and Human Geography – Goh Cheng Leong
- Indian Economy- Dutt and Sundaram
- Human Geography – Majid Hussain
- Yojana
- Oxford Atlas India
- India Year Book
- Economic Survey of India
- The Hindu
- The Times of India
- Kurukshetra
- World Focus
- Frontline
All the best for all the persons who are attending IAS Exams. If you know any good sites that provide IAS tutorials, do share comments on this article