Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

UPSC stands for Union Public Service Commission.

UPSC is the Central Agency which recruits candidates into various services like Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) etc.

Civil Services are jobs like IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS, etc. directly related to public service and are widely considered prestigious in India.  UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) conducts Civil Service Exams for Central Government job vacancies.

The full form of IAS is Indian Administrative Service

The full form of IPS is Indian Police Service

The full form of IFS is Indian Foreign Service

The full form of IRS is Indian Revenue Service

The UPSC Examination that is Preliminary Exam are conducted in June and Mains are conducted in September.

The candidate must hold a Degree from a Government recognized University or must possess an equivalent qualification. Candidates who are in the final year or waiting for their results are eligible for appearing in the Preliminary exam.

There is a negative marking of (1/3), that means (1/3) mark will be deducted of the assigned mark to the questions.

Registration for UPSC Exam is done online. Candidates are required to visit the official website (www.upsc.gov.in) for registration.

Aspirants  can apply online for the UPSC Examinations by accessing the online portal here is website (https://upsconline.nic.in).

Time for applying on-line is clearly mentioned within the Examination Notice. A candidate gets concerning three weeks time to use on-line and may stock up {the on-line|the web|the net} application by following the directions provided on the web site for filling up online application.

The candidate should avoid submitting quite one on-line application, just in case of doing this, the info provided within the last application thats with success submitted on-line, is accepted by the Commission.

The point in time of submission of on-line application is clearly mentioned inside the Examination Notice. Candidates, United Nations agency produce payments through Bank Challan, a square measure required to submit an online application a minimum of daily before the notified point in time thus they will generate the Bank Challan to be submitted in any Branch of SBI at intervals Bank operative hours throughout Asian country. The Facility of Challan generation is deactivated on the Last Day of the online application automatically by the system. However, Candidates can submit Bank Challan on the Last Day in any Branch of the SBI. Bank Challan generation is in Part-II of the online Application.

Female candidates,

Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD),

Scheduled Caste,

Scheduled Tribe.

Please make sure that you have read the instructions carefully before filling up the Online Application Form.

Preliminary examination form of civil service exam contains two-stage of registration i.e for general study paper l and csat for paper ll, without completion of the second stages of the application the registration will be treated as unsuccessful.

If solely PART-I of the appliance is submitted while not submitting PART-II, the appliance remains incomplete and candidacy can not be registered. the appliance is incomplete even in cases wherever the applier has submitted PART-I and paid fee yet, however, has not completed PART-ll. 

ANS. Non-payment of Fee (if not exempted from Fee payment) will lead to cancellation of the candidature.

Generally there are three-stage i.e

Preliminary for 400 marks

Main for 1750 marks

Personality test for 275 marks.

It is the first stage to clear as IAS/IPS/IFS etc, those who qualify the first stage are allowed to write mains papers which is the second stage.

No, an attempt is counted only if a candidate has appeared in at least one paper in the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination.

The examination is comprised of two compulsory papers of 200 marks each.

Yes, The minimum qualifying mark in this Paper is 33%.

Yes, 1/3rd on each wrong answer to the questions

The candidate must be a graduate of a recognized university.

Yes

Reservations are going to be created for candidates happiness to regular Castes. scheduled Tribes, different Backward categories, Economically Weaker Sections and Persons with Benchmark Disabilities candidates in respect of vacancies as could also be mounted by the govt.

The question papers for the examination are of conventional writing type. Each paper is of three hours duration.

The candidate should refer to UPSC’s official Website www.upsc.gov.in

No. Applications once submitted are final and no changes can be made after submission.

You can register yourself by visiting the official website.

The delay in accessing the Page depends upon varied factors like web Speed, sizable amount of candidates attempting to register the appliance at a similar time etc. Therefore, if youre unable to urge the page for registration promptly, please hear once it is slow, ideally not throughout peak hours.

No, the fee can be deposited in cash through ORA-generated challan in the State Bank of India or its Associate Banks only.

No. An applicant must use the pay-in-slip generated by the ORA system. The Bank (SBI) will not accept the fee (in cash) through any other form or challan.

The photograph and signature should be scanned in .jpg format and are to be uploaded in the “Photo & Signature Upload” module.

Both Black & White and coloured pictures area unit acceptable as long as theyre as per the given specifications and additionally that the standard of the photograph is clearly recognizable and acceptable.

The candidate ought to scan his/her signature that has been placed on the white book with a black ink pen. every one of the scanned pictures of the photograph/signature shouldnt exceed forty kilobytes in size (for the photograph, the pixel size is a hundred and forty pixels height x110 pixels dimension and for signature, it ought to be a hundred and ten pixels height x140 pixels width).

You can make changes in the information filled in any of the modules (except Registration Module) of Online application before its submission. No changes can be made after the Online application is submitted.

It is powerfully suggested that once the completion of the method of submission of the web enlisting Application, you need to take a printout of the submitted online enlisting Application and keep the aforementioned printout for future reference.

you’re additionally suggested to stay the proof of the fee payment which could be needed by the Commission just in case of any discrepancy.

It is powerfully suggested that once the completion of the method of submission of the web enlisting Application, you need to take a printout of the submitted online enlisting Application and keep the aforementioned printout for future reference.

you’re additionally suggested to stay the proof of the fee payment which could be needed by the Commission just in case of any discrepancy.

You may contact the Facilitation Counter of UPSC on the following Nos. 011-23098543, 23385271 and 23381125 or visit UPSC Facilitation Counter at Dholpur House, Shahjahan Road, New Delhi – 110069 or visit UPSC website www.upsc.gov.in (Recruitment Link) for further details regarding recruitment by selection.

NO

Yes

No

There is no such percentage requirement, the candidate is only required to be completed or in the final year of his/her degree of graduation.

YES

An applicant should log on to https://upsconline.nic.in/ to access the home page of the online application.

An applicant should apply for a particular examination only when it has been notified by the Commission. Brief information containing the extracts of the examination which is being notified is published in the leading News Papers. The complete and detailed information is available on Commission's website HTTPS://www.upsc.gov.in and at the website for filling the online application for a particular notified exam/exams at https://upsconline.nic.in/.

Yes, an applicant who fulfils the eligibility criteria prescribed in the notification (i.e. the detailed information available on website

https://upsconline.nic.in/ ) of that particular examination can apply.

Yes, an applicant must refer to the detailed instructions which are available on website https://upsconline.nic.in/ for filling up the online application before doing so, which are available.

Due to security reasons, some reserved words and special characters like (!,@,#,$,%,^,&,*,(,),<,>,?,/,~,`, etc) are not acceptable in the Name and Address fields of the Online System. Please retry after deleting special characters.

If your name exceeds more than 30 characters, please abbreviate you name in Name Column, and then press TAB key. Full Name column displays below to facilitate the candidate to write his full name in Full Name column.

Do not forget to send a signed written request to Joint Secretary (Examination), UPSC, Dholpur House, Shahjahan Road, New Delhi 110069 by Speed-post or by Fax (011-23387310) giving details of the full name and reasons for abbreviation in this regard; otherwise your application / candidature may be rejected at a later stage.

It is calculated based on cut-off date according to the notification.

Candidates seeking reservation / relaxation benefits available for Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes / Other Backward Classes / Economically Weaker Sections / Persons with Benchmark disabilities / Ex-Servicemen must ensure that they are entitled to such reservation / relaxation in accordance with the eligibility prescribed in the Examination Rules/Notice. They should be in possession of all the requisite certificates in the prescribed format in support of their claims for availing reservation before applying for the examination, and these certificates should be dated earlier than the closing date for receipt of applications for the examination, unless otherwise prescribed in the Examination Notice/Rules.

No. All the applicants who are exempted from the payment of fee can straight away proceed to the part-II of the application. Moreover, such applicants will not be taken through the "fee payment details page" where the applicants are required to fill in the details for payment of fee.

Female/Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe/Physically Handicapped (40% and more)candidates are exempted from payment of fee.

In case you are claiming any relaxation against a certificate you are having with you, its date may be mentioned against certificate date.

At Present area PIN code is mandatory to be filed in by the candidate, rest of above indicated items are optional. However, it is advisable that these particulars may be filled up so that an applicant can be easily accessed/ contacted if required by the Commission.

An applicant should click on the "Continue" button at the bottom of the page to move to the next page.

Before filling up the application, please check that you have selected the right examination in case more than one exam is notified during that period. Although it may not happen as the required columns along with the drop-down menu for selection and inputting the information is available on the online form for a particular examination. In case, the applicant desires to opt for a criteria/parameter which is different from the one contained in the drop-down menu, would lead to the inference with the system that the candidate is not eligible for this examination on account of different parameter.

This may happen due to incompatible resolution of your computer and requires you to decrease the resolution before filling up Part II of the application form. Please hold the Ctrl keyof the keyboard and move the mouse wheel down (or press Ctrl and Minus “-” key) to change the resolution.

You are requested to clear cache of your browser (all time) from the browser settings and complete your  application form (Part-I & Part-II registration).

The applicant is required to first complete the part-I of the application and thereafter complete the part-II of the application. Both Part-I and Part-II of the application should be duly completed as per instructions.

Blank or Zero Registration number indicates that your application has not beensubmitted successfully. Please fill up the application form again and resubmit.

If you have made your payment successfully through Credit/ Debit card and have been redirected to the UPSC Online website for uploading photograph and signature, and if you haveuploaded your photo and signature and other information required to fill Part-II properly, yourapplication is ready to be submitted. Otherwise, there may be a connectivity problem with thePayment Gateway. In such a case, you may choose Cash option or Internet Banking option for payment of fee and proceed according to the guidelines/ instructions.

On completion of Part-I of application Registration ID (RID) is generated by the system. If the same has not been generated and you are disconnected midway due to any reason, you have to enter the details of the application again.

Please proceed with filling up Part-II Registration form even if such an alert/ messageis displayed. Users of Google Chrome or Mozilla browsers are advised to minimize problems[click on the “I Understand the risk (Mozilla) or Advanced (Google Chrome)” button as the casemay be to proceed further and finally click on “Add Exception with continue (Mozilla) or Proceed to https://upsconline.nic.in (unsafe) (Google Chrome)”]. Only Desktop or Laptop should be used to apply Online for examinations and Mobile Phones are not compatible with the OnlineSystem.

In case of correspondence with the commission an applicant must mention these details -Name of Examination, Applicant's name, father's name, date of birth and the Registration Identity Number(RID).

Please click on “Advanced” then click on “Proceed to upsconline.nic.in (unsafe)”.

Please ensure that you have typed the correct URL “https://upsconline.nic.in” in thebrowser address line and not reached the address through ‘search’ tools or other means.Thereafter, you may click on “Continue to this website (not recommended)”.

There are three options for the payment of fee-Pay

i) by Cash in any branch of State Bank of India,

ii) Pay by credit/debit Card and

iii) Pay by Net Banking facility of SBI.

An applicant who wants to pay the fee by cash should take a print of the PAY-IN SLIP (challan) by clicking on the option "Download and Print Bank Challan". Making use of this challan, an applicant can deposit the fee in cash at any branch of the State Bank of India. The bank will not accept any other challan/form for the payment of fee by cash. After depositing the fee by this challan, the bank will provide a "TRANSACTION ID". An applicant will again have to log in and start submission of the part-II of the online application. An applicant can also pay the fee online using the internet banking facility of the State Bank of India. An applicant can also pay the fee online using any VISA/MASTER DEBIT OR CREDIT CARD issued by any bank/institution.

No, the fee may be deposited in cash only in any branch of State Bank of India. 

An applicant, after having obtained the TRANSACTION ID number, should again log in by making use of the Registration ID number generated at the time of submission of Part-I of application & the date of birth of the applicant and thereafter enter the relevant particulars in the remaining columns. The Registration ID is also available on the challan.

No. An applicant must make use of the challan generated by the system. The Bank(SBI) will not accept the fee (in cash) by any form or challan.

An applicant, after having obtained the TRANSACTION ID number, should again login Part-II Registration Form by making use of the Registration ID number generated at the timeof submission of Part-I of application and his date of birth and thereafter select Pay by Cashoption again and then click on Continue button to enter the relevant particulars in the remainingcolumns. The Registration ID is also indicated on the pay-in slip.

UPSC has no provision to refund any fee amount paid by candidates. Concerned banks may be approached for claiming any extra/ unsuccessful payments made by the candidates.

Login into Part II, Click on Pay by Cash -> Through any SBI Branch to find that you have already generated the challan. All generated Challans are valid till its closing date. Click on continue on the screen page for filling Transaction-Id & Date and click on Submit.

On downloading challan form for cash payment visit Bank on next day & ask Bank to use Screen Reference No in case of difficulty.

Login into Part II, Click on Status at the end of the screen page if you have already paid fee through Net Banking.

UPSC will send you a rejection letter on your email address in such a case. You willbe required to submit the original Challan Slip issued by the State Bank of India as proof ofpayment in cash mode or the bank statement showing debit of fee amount as proof of payment offee. It would be advisable to send the original Challan Slip by Registered or Speed Post or Byhand to the Joint Secretary (Examination), UPSC.

UPSC does not refund any extra fee amount paid by candidates. The bank concerned may be approached for claiming refunds. In case of transaction failure, the amount deducted isbeing refunded within 4 / 5 working days by the bank concerned.

In case of payment made by Credit/ Debit card, the fee amount is credited back to your account due to failure of payment gateway, you are required to apply again to obtain a fresh RIDby submitting Part-I information and also make the fee payment again with new RID (if notexempted from payment of fee). Thereafter, you may submit the Part-II information once again with new RID.

Login to Part II using RID and DOB and select Pay by Cash through any SBI Branch,then click on Continue button of the Screen to enter Transaction Id and Date provided by theBank.

Click on the Part-II Registration link, A pop-up window will display on the screen, enter the Registration-id, date of birth and Confirm Random Image, Click the “Submit” button.The payment page will display with massage at the end of the screen page a massage “If youhave already paid fee (in case of payment failure), you can update the status by Clicking here” and the follow proceed according to instructions.

This means your transaction has failed and you have to make the payment afresh. Incase you are still facing difficulty in paying the fee using Debit/Credit card, you may choose topay in cash by generating Bank Pay-in-Slip (challan) or Internet Banking (INB).

Applicants should note that there is a ceiling on the number of candidates allotted toeach of the Centers (means city), except in Chennai, *Delhi, Dispur, Kolkata and Nagpur.Allotment of Centers will be made on the ‘first-apply-first-allot’ basis, and once the capacity of aparticular Centre is exhausted, the same will be frozen and displayed in a different colour in theDrop-Down menu. You are advised to apply early so that you get the Centre of your choice.Please also note that UPSC reserves the right to change the Centre at their discretion, if thesituation demands.

* For CSP, CAPF, NDA-I/NDA-II there might be a ceiling/ capping for Delhi Centre also.

Change of Centre cases are normally discouraged by UPSC. However, written request duly signed addressing to J.S. (Exam), UPSC may be sent for change of centre request towards its consideration based on its merit.

Please check the properties of photo and sign images. Resize them as per specifications given in instructions for filling online application on the website itself within FAQ.

UPSC is concerned with identification of a candidate at the Exam Hall based on the images uploaded by the candidate and not to cancel the candidature based on the size or color of ink used.

The images of the photograph and signature should be scanned in the “JPG” format.No other format is acceptable.

Please check the properties of the photograph and signature images. Resize themaccording to the specifications given in instructions for filling online application.

You should scan your signature which has been affixed on white paper preferably withblack ink pen for its better visibility. Each of the scanned images of the photograph / signatureshould not exceed 300 KB and must not be less than 20 KB in size. The resolution of photographand signature are 350 pixel (Width) * 350 pixel (Height) minimum and 1000 pixel (Width) *1000 pixel (Height) maximum. Also, please ensure that the uploaded photograph and signatureare clearly discernible.

Use any free image editing software such as MSPaint or Irfanview, to deletethe unnecessary print area. Use the CROP option after selecting the Image. To resize to properpixel size use the Resize option. If the image is in other formats such as .tiff, .bmp etc, then openthe photo in MSPaint or Irfanview and click Save as option to save it in the desired format (.jpg).

After photograph and the signature are uploaded, a fresh page shows the preview ofthe uploaded images. If you are satisfied with the uploaded images you may click on ConfirmUpload button. In case you are not satisfied with the uploaded images, you may click on theReload Photograph or Reload Signature button. The reloaded photograph and signature can againbe viewed by clicking on the Image refresh button. The process can be repeated till yoursatisfaction. You may please note that if the quality of photograph or signature is poor, theapplication is liable to be rejected. After having clicked on the Confirm Upload button, thesystem will not allow any changes in the photo / signature.

You will need to fill up the form once again and redo the entire process i.e. obtaining afresh RID by submitting the new application (Part-I Registration), fee payment (if applicable)and complete the Part-II application form as per instructions.

You should scan your photo identity card document / certificate related to writingextremity of PwBD (person with benchmark disability) not exceed 300 KB and must not less than 20 KB.

It is strongly advised that after the completion of the process of submission of the online application, the applicant must take a print out of the submitted application form and keep the same for future reference. The candidate is also advised to keep his fee payment proof which might be required by the commission in case of any discrepancy.

You may click on View/Print option at https://upsconline.nic.in/upsc/viewapplication.php site. Then enter RID & DOB to print your submitted application.

You are required to submit original challan issued by bank for payment in cash mode / Bank statements showing debit of Fee Amount for other authorized mode as documentary proof for payment of Fee in case any rejection letter received by you from UPSC during verification of payment.

You will need to fill up the application form once again, if you notice errors in an already submitted application form, and redo the entire process, i.e. obtain a fresh RID by submittingPart-I information, fee payment to be made by you again with new RID (if not exempted frompayment of fee), and upload the Part-II information again. Please note that your RID for lastsubmitted completed application will be considered for processing and all earlier applicationswill be treated as cancelled by the system.

All relevant particulars required according to Rules for a particular examination areprovided for in the Drop-Down menu. Before filling up the application, please check that youhave selected the right examination. Any attempt to enter any input other than the availableoptions will lead to rejection of your application.

Most of communications to candidates are carried out online by UPSC and address is hardly a matter in this regard. Please ensure your email-id & Mobile No is active.

There is no editing facility in the application. In case of any mistake in filling application, candidate is responsible. However, fresh application may be made for correction of earlier mistake.

Please retry after some time preferably not during peak hours. The time taken to access the page depends upon factors like Internet speed and number of applicants registering their applications at the same time. It would always help if applications are made earlier rather than later. It is a good practice not to wait for the last day or hours.

The system allows you to change entries in fields/ columns in Part-I of the online application by using the Update button. Please click on this button to make the desired changes. However, you cannot change the entries once you have submitted the application form by clicking on the “I Agree” button. Therefore, please submit only after carefully reviewing your entries.

After the completion of Part-I and Part-II of the online application, a fresh pagedisplays the message that the application has been submitted successfully. An auto-generatedemail / SMS are sent to you stating that you have successfully submitted your application. Pleasenote that your application is subject to the verification of information according to theExamination Rules as well as verification of the quality of photograph, signature, and paymentdetails (in case you are not a fee-exempted candidate).

The SMS message could be a delayed alert. If you receive such an SMS, first obtain aprintout of your submitted application form and check that all fields including photo, signature and the centre are filled up and are in order. If the centre is indicated in the printed applicationform, you may ignore the SMS alert. Please keep the printout of your submitted application forfuture reference. If the centre is not indicated, it means your application has not been submitted and you are advised to complete Part-II of the application by filling up Centre and submit it as per the procedure.

Please visit the Bank for payment a day after you have downloaded the pay-in-slip. Incase of difficulty, please request the Bank to use Challan Reference number for effectingpayment. You can also contact to UPSC by email- upscsoap[at]nic[dot]in / Telephone number – 011-23388088 / 23098591 Extn. 4930.

Auto-generated intimation is sent to candidates through email / SMS, which may nothave been received by you due to reasons like Inbox over loaded, cleaning of spam folder without checking, email-id inactive, jamming due to heavy rush/ traffic, congestion of packets inmail server etc. It is advisable to keep a hard copy of application for any future reference.

The eligible candidates shall be issued e-Admit Card three weeks before the commencement of the Examination. e-Admit Card will be made available on the UPSC Website[upsc.gov.in] for being downloaded by the candidate. No Admit Card will be sent by post.

All admitted candidates can download e-AC with details of centre address around three weeks ahead of Examination Date once Admit Card are uploaded on HTTPS://www.upsc.gov.in . No e-mails sent in this regard.

The successful submission of the online application requires the completion of two parts of the application correctly. After completing the part-I of the application the system generates a unique number which is known as the Registration ID. After the completion of all the columns in part-II, a fresh page displays the message that the application has been submitted successfully. The generation of the unique registration ID number combined with the display of this message indicates that the application has been registered.

Once an applicant has successfully submitted the Part-I and Part-II of the application through online, the same gets registered with the Commission and the applicant is not required to send a hard copy of the print out of his/her application to the Commission's office. However, it is strongly advised that the applicant keeps a hard copy of his /her application for his/her own record and future communication with the Commission, if any.

All admitted candidates can download e-Admit Card with details of centre address around three weeks ahead of Examination Date once Admit Card are uploaded on HTTPS://www.upsc.gov.in/

No hard copy to be sent to UPSC unless it is asked for any reason, However, it is strongly advised that the applicant keeps a hard copy of his /her application for his/her own record and future communication with the commission, if any.

You cannot use pay-in-slip (challan) and transaction-id of already submitted application form for another new application form. Otherwise your application form may be rejected.

For selecting IAS/IFS/IPS officers, UPSC every year conducts Civil Service Examination. Any aspirant for IAS/IFS/IPS needs to pass this exam for getting selected.

He examination is conducted in three stages– Preliminary, Mains and Personality Test. The Preliminary Examination consists of two papers of objective type (multiple-choice questions) carrying a maximum of 200 marks each. One paper is on General Studies and other is of Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT). The Question Papers (Test Booklets) are set in English & Hindi. Mains Exam is descriptive in nature and consists of 9 papers: Compulsory English, Compulsory Indian Language, Essay, General Studies I, General Studies II, General Studies III, and General Studies IV. Besides you need to choose one Optional subject on which you will have 2 papers. Personality Test of successful candidates will be conducted.

As per revised rules, any person from General category more than 21 and less than 32 years of age is eligible to appear for the above mentioned exam. The upper age limit is relaxed up to a maximum of five years for candidates belonging to SCs or STs Categories and up to a maximum of three years for candidates of OBC category among others.

As per revised rules, a candidate belonging to General category can take upto 6 attempts; those belonging to OBC can take up to 9 attempts. There is no limit on number of attempts available for candidates belonging to SC and ST communities. For more details visit the UPSC website: http://www.upsc.gov.in/

Optional subject should be such that you are comfortable with the subject. Following are some thumb-rules you may follow while selecting your optional: Look at your interests: Considering the comprehensive manner in which the study of subject is necessary, you must select only such subject that interests you. Refer to previous question papers (Available on http://www.upsc.gov.in) Look at your abilities: Though you may not be able to solve all the questions initially, select the subject you are most comfortable with as your optional.

Yes, you can either select the subject of your graduation (if it is available) or any other subject as your optional. The only criterion is that you should be comfortable with that subject.

Every year UPSC issues a notification before the Prelims of Exam. In that notification you can find the detailed syllabus. The notification for each year can be found on the UPSC’s website. www.upsc.gov.in I am not very good in English.

The Prelims exams are conducted in Hindi and English only. However, for Mains you can select any one of the 22 languages which includes English, Hindi as well as Marathi. In Personality Test you can select a language different from one selected for Mains. Thus, if you appear for Mains in English you can still appear for interview in one of the languages mentioned in the list.

Study of newspapers along with other books is crucial for success in UPSC exams. You should read one good quality national newspaper everyday. The Hindu and The Indian Express are two good newspapers from which you can choose. Those appearing in Marathi should either read Loksatta or Maharashtra Times. But it is still advisable to read one national newspapers.