How to become an IAS?

     The trend that exists among students in our country as we all know is that after our graduation we hope to get a decent job in a corporate company and make a living out of it.Most of us pretty much hate it but we still opt to go for it because we think that we have no other choice.But the contrary truth is that there are lots of prestigious jobs in the country and we are NOT AWARE of it.

    This article is about one such prestigious job.Yes! the IAS(Indian Administrative Services) is a term we are all familiar with but not knowing the pathway to achieve it.

This is how you start with....


  

What is IAS?

       IAS is the short form of Indian Administrative Service. It is one of the prestigious services among the 24 services like IPS, IFS etc for the which the UPSC conduct Civil Services Examination for selecting the candidates.

About Civil Services

       Civil Services are jobs directly related with public service and are widely considered prestigious in India. UPSC(Union Public Service Commission) conducts Civil Service Exams for Central Government job vacancies while PSC (Public Service Commission)in each state(like TNPSC in TamilNadu) fills the State Government job vacancies. There are about 24 services which come under the Civil Services Exam conducted by UPSC every year. These 24 services are..

Types of Civil Services in India

1. Indian Administrative Service.
2. Indian Foreign Service.
3. Indian Police Service.
4. Indian P & T Accounts & Finance Service, Group ‘A’.
5. Indian Audit and Accounts Service, Group ‘A’.
6. Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise), Group ‘A’.
7. Indian Defense Accounts Service, Group ‘A’.
8. Indian Revenue Service (I.T.), Group ‘A’.
9. Indian Ordnance Factories Service, Group ‘A’ (Assistant Works Manager, Administration).
10. Indian Postal Service, Group ‘A’.
11. Indian Civil Accounts Service, Group ‘A’.
12. Indian Railway Traffic Service, Group ‘A’.
13. Indian Railway Accounts Service, Group ‘A’.
14. Indian Railway Personnel Service, Group ‘A’.
15. Post of Assistant Security Commissioner in Railway Protection Force, Group ‘A’
16. Indian Defence Estates Service, Group ‘A’.
17. Indian Information Service (Junior Grade), Group ‘A’.
18. Indian Trade Service, Group ‘A’ (Gr. III).
19. Indian Corporate Law Service, Group “A”.
20. Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service, Group ‘B’ (Section Officer’s Grade).
21. Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Civil Service, Group ‘B’.
22. Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Police Service, Group ‘B’.
23. Pondicherry Civil Service, Group ‘B’.
24. Pondicherry Police Service, Group ‘B’.

Eligibility criteria

•  You must have completed your graduation in any stream.
•  Final year candidates may also apply.
•  Your age should be between 21 to 30 years.

Number of attempts:

4                in case of general

7                in case of OBC & 

unlimited     in case of SC/ST till they attain the age of 35 years.

Civil Service Examination

      There are many who consider this exam as the toughest exam in India (and even at the world-stage!). The exam is attempted by around 5 Lakh candidates each year. UPSC Civil Services exam is conducted in 3 phases: 

1) Prelims

2) Mains 

3) Interview.

 The exam window extends over a year (from August month of an year to June month next year when the results are announced).

Civil Service Prelims Examination

    There are two papers in Civil Service Prelims Examination. The questions are objective in nature.

1. General Studies Paper 1 [which deals with subjects like History, Polity, Economics etc.]
2. General Studies Paper 2 [which deals with subjects like Mental Ability, English Comprehension etc. This paper is popularly known as CSAT – Civil Services Aptitude Test).

Date of Notification of Civil Services Prelims      : May/June.

Date of UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Exam     : August.

Preliminary Examination is mainly an elimination test and hence its marks are not considered for final ranking. 

Civil Service Main Examination

       

      The mains stage is subjective in nature as the answers have to be written on paper. The papers in Civil Service Mains as per revised syllabus are as below.

      It consists of 9 papers. Marks of 7 out of these 9 papers will be counted for final ranking, while 2 papers will be of qualifying nature.

7 Mark-Counted Papers in UPSC Civil Services Mains Exam

1  paper on essay. (250 marks x 1)

4  papers on from General Studies ( which covers topics like History, Geography  Economics, Polity, Technology, Ecology, Ethics etc). (250 marks x 4)

2  papers on one Optional subject – which can be from selected from 25 subjects and 22 languages. (250 marks x 2)

2 Qualifying Papers in UPSC Civil Services Mains Exam

1 English Language Paper (Comprehension, Precis Writing etc).

1 Regional Language Paper (Comprehension, Precis Writing, Translation etc).

The Civil Service Main Exam marks are calculated out of 1750.

Date of Notification of UPSC Civil Services Mains   : Sep/Oct.

Date of UPSC Civil Services Main Exam                 : December.

Civil Service Interview

     Interview is a face to face process which evaluates a candidate’s potential and commitment to the society. Interview is out of 275 marks.

     Final ranks are calculated by adding Mains (Out of 1750) and Interview marks (Out of 275) and the rank list will be prepared based on marks scored out of 2025.

Date of Notification of UPSC Civil Services Interview   : February/March.

Date of UPSC Civil Services Interview                        : April-May.

Finally if you are selected in the interview you will be allotted a post based on your ranking that you have secured in the examination.

Hope this was useful and any civil service aspirants out there who wants to get more details can contact me and ill be glad to help you in all ways possible :)

Share this info!

KiShORE :)