UPSC Exam Pattern 2024: UPSC Civil Service Examination is conducted at the national level for shortlisting candidates for prestigious job profiles in all India Services and various Central Civil Services. Every year, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) conducted the UPSC CSE Exam and thousands of UPSC aspirants attempt the examination. The beginning of UPSC CSE Exam starts with Preliminary Examination followed by Mains Examination and Interview (Group discussion). If you are UPSC aspirant and planning to begin your preparation for the upcoming UPSC CSE 2024 Exam, then very first you must understand the UPSC Exam Pattern 2024. In this article, we have discussed the UPSC prelims and mains exam pattern with a detailed marking scheme and other important points.
UPSC Exam Pattern 2024
The selection of the candidates for the UPSC Civil Service Examination will be done through three stages- Prelims, Mains, and Interview. There are 2 papers in the UPSC CSE Prelims Exam which are of Objective type while there are 9 papers in the UPSC CSE Mains Exam of descriptive type. The elaborated details for UPSC Exam Pattern 2024 for both Prelims and Mains have been tabulated below.
| UPSC CSE Exam Pattern 2024 | ||
| Parameters | UPSC Prelims | UPSC Mains |
| Medium of Exam | English & Hindi | English & Hindi (Except for language) |
| Type of Questions | MCQs (Objective) | Descriptive |
| Number of Questions | CSAT: 80 questions GS: 100 questions | Usually, 20 questions per paper |
| Total Marks | 400 | 1750 |
| Mode of Exam | Offline | Offline |
| Exam Duration | 2 papers | 9 papers |
| Exam Duration | 2 hours for each paper | 3 hours for each paper |
| Negative Marking | 1/3rd of 2 marks | No negative marking |
UPSC Prelims Exam Pattern 2024
The 1st stage of the UPSC CSE 2024 Exam is the Preliminary Examination. Let’s understand the UPSC Prelims Exam Pattern 2024 in detail.
- In UPSC Prelims Exam, there are 2 papers – GS Paper and CSAT Paper.
- There will be 100 questions in GS paper with 2 marks for each question and there will be a negative marking of 1/3rd or 0.66 marks.
- There will be 80 questions in the CSAT paper contains with 2.5 marks for each question with 1/3rd or 0.83 marks of negative marking.
- No marks will be deducted for questions that you choose to leave unanswered.
- The marks scored in UPSC CSE Prelims Exam, marks will not be counted in preparing the merit list.
| UPSC Prelims Exam Pattern 2024 | ||||
| Papers | Subjects | No. of questions | Total Marks | Duration |
| Paper 1 | General Studies (GS) | 100 | 200 | 2 hours |
| Paper 2 | CSAT | 80 | 200 | 2 hours |
| Total | 180 | 400 | 4 hours | |
UPSC Prelims Syllabus 2024- Click to Check
UPSC Mains Exam Pattern 2024
The second phase of the UPSC CSE Exam is the Mains Examination which consists of 9 papers with different subjects. The marks scored in the UPSC Mains Exam 2024 will be counted in preparing the merit list for final selection. The important points to remember for UPSC Mains Exam Pattern 2024 are as follows-
- Paper 1 (Language Paper) and Paper 2 (English language) are qualifying in nature with 300 marks each. The minimum qualifying marks in papers 1 and 2 is 25%.
- Attempting all papers is compulsory.
- The duration of each paper is 3 hours (180 minutes).
- The subject-wise papers consist of 250 marks.
- In case you don’t qualify in Paper 1 and Paper 2, the rest of the mark sheets shall not be considered for evaluation and you will be declared disqualified/failed.
| UPSC Mains Exam Pattern 2024 | |||
| Papers | Subjects | Marks | Duration |
| Paper A | Any Indian language (compulsory) – [Qualifying paper] | 300 | 3 hours |
| Paper B | English – [Qualifying paper] | 300 | 3 hours |
| Paper I | Essay (you can choose to write it in a medium of your choice) | 250 | 3 hours |
| Paper II | General Studies 1 (Indian and World History, Culture, Heritage, &Geography) | 250 | 3 hours |
| Paper III | General Studies 2 (Polity, Constitution, Governance, International Relations & Social Justice) | 250 | 3 hours |
| Paper IV | General Studies 3 (Economic Development, Technology, Disaster Management & Security, Biodiversity) | 250 | 3 hours |
| Paper V | General Studies 4 (Aptitude, Ethics, & Integrity) | 250 | 3 hours |
| Paper VI | Optional Subject: Paper 1 | 250 | 3 hours |
| Paper VII | Optional Subject: Paper 2 | 250 | 3 hours |
UPSC Mains Syllabus 2024- Click to Check
List of Optional Subjects- Click to Check