IAS Selection Process & Exam Pattern 2025 (Updated)

Students must have a brief knowledge of the exam pattern and selection process for the IAS exam to know the difficulty and needed preparation for successful qualification (If don't then read the article till the end).

Every year around 900 to 1100 vacancies are released for the selection of civil services officers through the IAS examination.

Out of these final selected candidates after qualifying for the Prelims, Mains and Interview stage of the exam, only 80 to 100 (varies year by year) candidates get the chance to become an IAS officer.

IAS Selection Process

The IAS Selection process involves three stages - IAS Prelims, IAS Mains, and IAS Interview/ Personality Test. IAS Prelims act as an elimination round. 

The final merit or selection list is prepared by adding the IAS Mains and Interview Round marks. The Mains exam and Interview marks add up to 2025. 

The UPSC conducts this exam for many different job posts but the candidate needs to secure some top rank to be able to get the IAS officer job post.  

IAS Prelims Exam Pattern

The IAS exam is conducted in three stages - Prelims, Mains, and Interview/ Personality Test. The UPSC Prelims consist of two papers (General Studies I and CSAT).

In these CSAT is qualifying in nature. The total marks for both papers sum up to 400.

The GS I paper cut-off round decides the selection of the candidates. 

Particulars	Details
Exam Name	UPSC Prelims
Marks (Incorrect Response)	- 1/3 of 2 marks
Mode	Offline
Medium	Hindi and English
Type of questions	Objective (MCQ based)
Number of questions	Paper I - 100 & Paper II - 80
Duration	Both Paper I & II - 2 Hours
Marks (Correct Response)	+2 marks
Total Marks	Paper I - 200 & Paper II - 200

IAS Mains Exam Pattern

The UPSC Mains exam is the big giant having both qualifying and compulsory question papers. With Two Language Papers, Essay Writing, Two Optional Papers, and Four General Studies Papers, this main exam holds the utmost importance in the selection process.  

Out of these the language papers are of 300 marks each and are only qualifying in nature. The exam totals to be of 1750 marks excluding the language papers. 

Particulars	Details
Type of questions	Subjective (Descriptive based)
Number of questions	Generally 20 Questions Per Paper
Mode	Offline
Negative Marking	None
Duration	All Papers - 3 Hours
Exam Name	UPSC Mains
Medium	Hindi and English
Total Marks	1750 (250 per paper)

UPSC Interview/ Personality Test Pattern

UPSC conducts an interview round or personality test for candidates. This is the third and final stage of the IAS exam assessment. This is conducted at the UPSC office in New Delhi. 

A panel of highly experienced and authoritative assessors is appointed to test you. 

Particulars	Details
Exam Name	IAS Interview/ Personality Round
Duration	20-30 min
Mode	Offline
Medium	Hindi and English
Total Marks	275 marks

Conclusion

Knowing both the UPSC selection process and exam pattern is the most crucial step. It is the very first thing you should know. 

Now that you know these two things, keep this in mind while preparing for respective exams. One more thing you can do is get a printout of the latest syllabus of the UPSC. 

These three things if not known can do trouble to anyone.  All the best from our side for your IAS exam preparation. 

Note: You may be interested in finding the best IAS coaching in India for yourself or someone else. Therefore, we recommend that you take a look at the following list of top cities for IAS coaching. 

• IAS Coaching in Jaipur
• IAS Coaching in Dehradun
• IAS Coaching in Noida
• IAS Coaching in Kanpur
• IAS Coaching in Delhi
• IAS Coaching in Lucknow