The Civil Services Examination consists of two successive stages: (I) Civil Services Preliminary Examination; and (ii) Civil Services Main Exam(Written & Interview) for selection of candidates for the various services and posts given below:
1. Indian Administrative Service
2. Indian Foreign Service
3. Indian Police Service
4. India P&T Accounts & Finance Service, Group A
5. Indian Audit and Accounts Service, Group A
6. Indian Customs and Central Excise Service, Group A
7. Indian Defence Accounts Service, Group A
8. Indian Revenue Service, Group A
9. Indian Ordnance Factories Service, Group A
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.Posts of Assistant Security Officer, Group A in Railway Protection Force
16.Indian Defence Estates Service, Group A
17.Indian Information Service(Junior Grade), Group A
18.Posts of Assistant Commandant, Group A in Central Industrial Security Force
19.Posts of Deputy Superintendent of Police Group A in the Central Bureau of Investigation
20.Central Secretariat Service, Group B(Section Ofiicers' Grade)
21.Railway Board Secretariat Service(Section Officers' Grade)
22.Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service, Group B
23.Customs Appraisers' Service, Group B
24.Pondicherry Civil Service, Group B
CS (Preliminary)
Scheme of CS (Preliminary) Examination
The Preliminary Examination consists of two papers of objective type (multiple-choice questions) carrying a maximum of 450 marks.
The Question Papers (Test Booklets) are set in English & Hindi
Paper - I General Studies 150 Marks
Paper - II One of the optional subjects to be selected from the prescribed optional subjects 300 Marks
List of Optional Subjects CS (Preliminary) - Total 23
Agriculture Mathematics
Animal Husbandry & Vetinary Science Mechanical Engineering
Botany Medical Science
Chemistry Philosophy
Civil Engineering Physics
Commerce Political Science
Economics Psychology
Electrical Engineering Public Administration
Geography Sociology
Geology Statistics
Indian History Zoology
Law
CS (Main)
Scheme - CS (Main)
Paper-I One of the Indian Languages to be selected by the candidate from the 18 languages included in the VIIIth Schedule to the Constitution (Qualifying Paper) 300 Marks
Paper-II English (Qualifying Paper) 300 Marks
Paper-III Essay 200 Marks
Papers IV & V General Studies (300 Marks for each paper) 600 Marks
Papers VI, VII, VIII & IX Any two subjects (each having 2 papers) to be selected from the prescribed optional subjects (300 marks for each paper) 1200 Marks
Total Marks for Written Examination 2000 Marks
Interview Test 300 Marks
Grand Total 2300 Marks
List of Optional Subjects - CS (Main) - (Total 25)
See Note below List of Optional Subjects (Literature)
Agriculture Management
Animal Husbandry & Vetinary Science Mathematics
Anthropology Mechanical Engineering
Botany Medical Science
Chemistry Philosophy
Civil Engineering Physics
Commerce & Accountancy Political Science & International Relations
Economics Psychology
Electrical Engineering Public Administration
Geography Sociology
Geology Statistics
Indian History Zoology
Law
List of Optional Subjects (Literature) - CS (Main) - (Total 26)
Arabic Gujarati Manipuri Sanskrit
Assamese Hindi Nepali Sindhi
Bengali Kannada Oriya Tamil
Chinese Kashmiri Pali Telugu
English Konkani Persian Urdu
French Marathi Punjabi
German Malayalam Russian
Note : Total Optional Subjects : 51
Note (i) : Candidates have the option to answer all the question papers, except the language papers, viz, Paper-I and Paper-II, in any one of the languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution or in English
Note (ii) : Candidates who have opted for an Indian Language as language medium for the Main Examination have an option of being interviewed either in English or in the same language which they have opted for the Main Examination