UPSC Prelims Syllabus PDF download

Welcome to upscfreematerials.org, a hub for all your study material requirement. Here you will find the UPSC prelims syllabus PDF for the Civil Services Examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

The phases of the Civil Services Exam.

The civil services exam comprises of three phases:-

Phase 1: Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination (Objective Type)
Phase 2: Civil Services (Mains) Examination (Descriptive Type)
Phase 3: Personal Interview (Personality Test)

What is the Civil services preliminary examination?

This post is all about the Civil Services Preliminary Examination.[For Civil Services (Mains) Examination click here.

The Civil Services Preliminary Examination is an objective type of exam where the candidate has to choose one option out of four. This examination is basically a screening test to filter out the candidates and acts as an eligibility test for the mains exams.

The marks obtained in the Preliminary Examination by the candidates who are declared qualified for admission to the Main Examination will not be counted for determining their final order of merit.

The Civil Services Preliminary Examination comprise of two papers:-

Paper	Subjects	Total Marks	Duration
I	General Studies (GS)	200	2 Hours (9:30 AM to 11:30 AM)
II	CSAT	200	2 Hours 2 hours (2:30 PM to 4:30 PM)

Why read UPSC Syllabus?

UPSC exam is considered as one of the toughest and most prestigious examinations in India. Over a million aspirants are sitting in this exam every year and the competition level is very high.

To get an understanding of the UPSC exam one must have a good hold of the UPSC exam syllabus. Analyzing the syllabus is necessary to get the whole idea of the UPSC examination pattern, the type of questions asked, and the demand for the questions.

This helps to eliminate wasteful efforts like reading unnecessary topics leading to a loss of time & efforts and keeps one strictly aligned in the right direction from day one.

Points to be remembered

There will be negative marking for every incorrect answer (as detailed below) for all questions except some of the questions where the negative marking will be inbuilt in the form of different marks being awarded to the most appropriate and not so appropriate answer for such questions.

There will be four options to every question. For each question for which a wrong answer has been given by the candidate, one-third (0.33) of the marks assigned to that question will be deducted as penalty.
If a candidate gives more than one answer, it will be treated as a wrong answer even if one of the given answers happens to be correct and there will be the same penalty as above for that question.
If a question is left blank, i.e. no answer is given by the candidate; there will be no penalty for that question.

Syllabus of UPSC Prelims Syllabus PDF in English.

Part-A Preliminary Examination Paper I – (200 marks) Duration: Two hours

Current events of national and international importance.
History of India and Indian National Movement.
Indian and World Geography – Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.
Indian Polity and Governance – Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy,
Rights Issues, etc.
Economic and Social Development – Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion,
Demographics, Social Sector initiatives, etc.
General issues on Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity, and Climate Change – that do not
require subject specialization

Grab your copy here – Indian Polity by Laxmikant 6th Edition

General Science. Paper-II- (200 marks) Duration: Two hours

Comprehension Interpersonal skills including communication skills; Logical reasoning and
Analytical ability Decision-making and problem solving
General mental ability Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc.)
(Class X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency, etc. – Class X level)

Note 1: Paper-II of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination will be a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%

Note 2: The questions will be of multiple choice, objective type.

Note 3: It is mandatory for the candidate to appear in both the Papers of Civil Services (Prelim) Examination for the purpose of evaluation.