What is upsc full form?
Let’s learn what is UPSC and how it is different from IAS, in this article.
After learning about the full form of UPSC; learn about the Commission and the IAS Exam conducted by it.
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Union Public Service Commission is the premier recruiting agency for the Government of India. UPSC is responsible for recruiting candidates for All India Services, Central Services, and Cadres, as well as the Armed Forces of the Union of India.
Some services for which the UPSC recruits candidates are the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service, Indian Foreign Service, Indian Revenue Service, etc.
The full form of the UPSC is Union Public Service Commission. To understand the meaning of UPSC exam, candidates can visit the civil services exam page.
UPSC conducts a National Level Exam for 24 services under the Central & State Government of India.
The UPSC is mandated by the Indian Constitution to make appointments to the All India Services and Central Services Group A and B, as well as to develop and update testing methodologies for these recruitments with input from various departments.
Apart from this, UPSC is also consulted on matters related to promotion and transfer of personnel as well as any disciplinary matters involving a civil servant serving in a civil capacity.
The headquarters of the commission is located in New Delhi. The contact details of the UPSC are as follows:
The working hours of the Union Public Service Commission are from 10:00 AM till 5:00 PM on all central government working days.
Though the UPSC has functioning helplines for different examinations which are staffed whenever a particular application process is underway, candidates are advised not to contact them unless answers to their queries regarding the process are not available online.
The UPSC conducts the Civil Services Examination (CSE) every year. As CSE recruits candidates also in IAS, it is often called as IAS Exam. To know the full form of IAS and learn how to become an IAS officer, check the linked article.
The UPSC CSE consists of three stages:
The UPSC then prepares the final merit list, cumulating the scores of the candidates in the mains examination and the personality test. The candidates are then allocated the services, based on their preferences, the merit list as well as the category of the candidate and the vacancies in each category.
Know the comprehensive UPSC Syllabus in detail and download the latest UPSC Civil Services Exam Syllabus PDF.
You can get more information on the UPSC and Civil Services Examination from the following Links:
- Sociology.
- Geography.
- Literature Subject (Any)
- Anthropology.
- Agriculture.
- Medical Science.
- Public Administration.
- Psychology.
If your dream career is a prestigious Central Government job like IAS or IPS, you should definitely know about UPSC.
Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is the recruiting agency for top-level Central Government jobs.
Union Public Service Commission usually recruits only for Group-A and a few Group-B level bureaucratic vacancies. Group C and Group D recruitments are conducted by other agencies/commissions.
UPSC is India’s central agency which conducts exams like Civil Services Exam (CSE) to recruit candidates into top government services like IAS, IPS, IFS etc. UPSC recruits candidates to both civil services as well as defence services.
The full form of UPSC is Union Public Service Commission.
Civil Services Examination (CSE) is one of the most popular exams conducted by the Union Public Service Commission. It is widely known as the ‘IAS exam’ even though CSE is a common exam to recruit candidates to about 24 top government services like IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS etc.
UPSC Civil Services Exam (CSE) consists of 3 stages. The stages are:
The exam window extends around 10-12 months (usually from June month of a year to June month next year when the results are announced).
Proper training and practice can significantly increase the chance of success of candidates in the UPSC Civil Services Examination.
In this age of the internet, you can clear the IAS exam by online preparation.
Please find the 7-steps we recommend for aspirants to succeed in the UPSC Services Examination.
Note: Once you join ClearIAS Online Classroom Program (ClearIAS Classes) you will get detailed guidance and personal mentorship regarding all stages of UPSC preparation.
There are 3 stages in the UPSC Civil Services Exam – (1) Preliminary Exam (Objective Test) (2) Main Exam (Written Test) (3) Personality Test (Interview).
Prelims – The Civil Services Preliminary exam comprises two compulsory papers of 200 marks each (General Studies Paper-I and General Studies Paper-II). The questions will be of multiple-choice, objective type. The marks in prelims will not be counted for final ranking, but just for qualification for the main exam.
Mains – The written examination (main) will consist of nine papers, but only 7 papers will be counted for the final merit ranking. For the rest two papers, the candidate should secure minimum marks prescribed by the commission each year.
Interview – The candidate will be interviewed by a Board who will have before them a record of his/her career. He/she will be asked questions on matters of general interest.
The marks of the Preliminary Exam is not counted for the final ranking. Prelims is a screening test to select the candidates for the Main Exam. A candidate’s final rank in the Civil Service Exam depends only on the mark scored in the Main exam and Interview. The main exam has 1750 marks while the interview has 275 marks. Total marks are calculated out of 2025.
Having said that, it is not easy to clear the Preliminary Exam without sufficient preparation. Only the top 3 out of 100 candidates are selected by the Union Public Service Commission to sit for the Main exam.
Note: You can read more about the UPSC syllabus from the link.
To attempt the IAS exam, the candidate should have crossed 21 years (by August 1, the year in which he/she attempts the exam).
The upper age limit is 32 for the General Merit category, 35 for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) and 37 for Scheduled Classes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST). Additional relaxations are provided for certain special cases.
Read more about the UPSC age limit here.
Any graduate can attempt the UPSC Civil Services Examination.
The graduation can be in any stream. It can be a regular degree or distance education.
Note: You can understand the eligibility criteria for writing the IAS/IPS exam from the link.
Yes. It is possible to clear the IAS exam by self-study. ClearIAS provides a lot of free resources for self-study.
However, proper guidance and practice are recommended even if you are not joining any formal coaching. ClearIAS value ‘time’ as an important resource and recommend aspirants to follow the concept of ‘smart study‘.
By smart study, we mean the combination of self-study with proper-training focused on fast and efficient learning. This helps aspirants save time, effort, and money.
PS: It is the vision of ClearIAS that no candidate should be left out of the UPSC competition due to financial constraints. In this aspect, along with our premium resources which help in smart study, ClearIAS also provides a lot of free resources for self-study.
Success in the Civil Services Examination (CSE) = 50% Knowledge + 50% Skills (Strategies).
ClearIAS recommends TTT Approach for success in the CSE. The ClearIAS TTT approach includes Textbooks, Test Series and Techniques.
We suggest aspirants start from our post – IAS beginner’s guide.
Usually, Union Public Service Commission conducts the Civil Services Preliminary Exam in June. The Main Exam is usually conducted in September. The Personality Test takes almost 3 months to finish. UPSC conducts the CSE interview (or personality test) in the months of February to April.
The notification for UPSC Civil Services Examination for 2022 will be published on February 02, 2022. You can apply for UPSC CSE 2022 between February 02, 2022, and February 22, 2022.
Check UPSC 2022 Exam Calendar for details.
The notification for UPSC Civil Services Examination for 2023 will be published on February 01, 2023. You can apply for UPSC CSE 2022 between February 01, 2023, and February 21, 2023.
Check UPSC 2023 Exam Calendar for details.
You can find it on the official UPSC website. ClearIAS also publishes relevant notifications on the website and app.
Be updated with the latest UPSC notifications.
For the latest updates, you can also refer to the below links:
Apart from NCERT Books (Class 6-12), 10-15 standard reference textbooks are recommended for UPSC preparation.
Some of the best-selling books are:
Check the UPSC Books section of ClearIAS online shopping for recommended books.
Yes!
Do first things first! Not last!
If you have decided that self-study and online preparation is your choice for the Civil Service Exam – then the first step you should make is to join ClearIAS Prelims Online Mock Test Series.
Yes.
As a beginner who does not know what to study and how to study – ClearIAS Timetable can be the best pathfinder.
We recommend taking ClearIAS Mock Exams right from the time you begin IAS exam preparation. Ideally, you should study what we mention in the timetable for a week, and then take a mock exam on weekends. By adopting this approach, you will never go deviated and will get a quick idea of the Civil Services Exam requirements.
To crack IAS in the first shot, you need the right strategy. Candidates often find Civil Services Exam a hard nut to crack not due to lack of hard work or potential, but due to lack of the right strategy.
ClearIAS has written a lot of articles on this website covering useful strategies for the IAS exam. Regularly check our blog.
Also, refer to our topper’s interview section to get better insights regarding exam preparation.
If you ask any ClearIAS mentor about the best strategy he/ she can suggest for an aspirant which offers the maximum Return on Investment (RoI), the immediate reply will be the ClearIAS Prelims cum Mains (PCM) Program.
ClearIAS Prelims cum Mains (PCM) course is an umbrella program which offers most of the resources of ClearIAS like video classes, mock exams, study materials etc in a single package.
The PCM Course of ClearIAS offers almost everything you need to crack the UPSC CSE like:
We also offer sub-sets of the PCM Programs to those aspirants who wish to subscribe to smaller packages. The popular sub-packages are the PMB Program and the PMB+ Program.
For those students, who cannot afford ClearIAS PCM, PMB, or PMB+ Programs, ClearIAS has conceptualised the TTT Approach to clear IAS – which includes 3 Ts (tools) – Textbooks, Test Series, and Techniques.
The core concept of the ClearIAS TTT Approach is to invest in 3 ‘T’s – Text-books, Test Series, and Techniques.
These three ‘Ts’ are the tools for you to succeed in the Civil Services Exam.
Regarding books, ideally, you should start your preparation from NCERT books and then move on to standard reference text-books.
The mock Test Series is very important for the UPSC Preliminary Exam (Objective) and Main Exam (Written).
ClearIAS Test Series integrates the textbooks and techniques into the model exams, which makes it unique.
UPSC Civil Services Exam demands not just knowledge but certain exam skills too.
ClearIAS has developed various techniques to clear the Civil Services Exam with ease. Some of those:
It varies from candidate to candidate. Most serious candidates start at least 1 year in advance. However, there are many who cleared with less than 6 months of preparation.
If you are a late starter, we recommend you adopt ClearIAS Test-based approach, to learn faster.
Also, refer to the below posts:
Are you wondering how to apply online for UPSC Exams? Once the details of exams are notified on the official website of UPSC – upsc.gov.in – you need to apply online.
There is a website for UPSC online applications – https://upsconline.nic.in/.
Once the application window for an exam opens (usually in Feb for UPSC CSE), you can apply online.
NB: We have addressed 50+ common queries and concerns of aspirants regarding the UPSC Online Application process here.
Results of all exams conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (as well as notifications for future exams) will be published on the homepage of the official website itself.
You can also check the same from the UPSC exam results page on ClearIAS.com.
Previous Year Question Papers of various exams conducted by UPSC are available online.
Check the link to download the previous year’s question papers of UPSC as PDF.
UPSC submits an annual report on the work done by it to the president.
The president places the report of the commission before the parliament along with a memorandum with regard to the cases where the advice of the commission was not accepted and the reasons for such non-acceptance.
Finally, the reports will be available on the UPSC website.
If you have questions in your mind, just go through our article ‘frequently asked questions on IAS exam preparation‘.
Is your ambition to become an IAS, IPS, or IFS officer?
Do you want to surprise all by cracking UPSC CSE in the shortest possible time?
Register now for a free UPSC Mentorship session with an expert mentor of ClearIAS!
