The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has released the official UPSC 2025 Notification on 22nd January, 2025. The UPSC Civil Services Exam is considered to be one of the toughest exams in India, but despite its high difficulty level, lakhs of aspirants appear for this prestigious examination every year. For candidates planning to appear for the UPSC Prelims 2025 scheduled to be conducted on 25th May, 2025, it is important to understand the UPSC Exam Pattern 2025 in depth and detail. The IAS Exam is conducted in 3 stages - Prelims, Mains and Interview/Personality Test. 

• As per the IAS exam pattern, the Prelims will be an Objective-type paper, consisting of 2 papers of 2 hours each, namely GS Paper 1 and CSAT. 
• The IAS Mains Exam will comprise descriptive type questions, across 9 papers of 3 hours each.
• The Prelims will be conducted for a total of 400 marks, while the Mains will constitute 1750 marks. The Interview round constitutes 275 marks. 
• Both the Prelims and Mains will be conducted in offline mode. 
• There will be negative marking of 1/3rd marks for every incorrect answer as per the official IAS Prelims exam pattern. 

The UPSC Exam Pattern is designed by the Union Public Service Commission to test the candidate's expertise and knowledge. Since 2013, the paper pattern of IAS has remained unchanged. The IAS Exam is considered one of the toughest exams in the country so understanding the comprehensive details of the UPSC CSE Exam Pattern will help candidates to plan their preparations accordingly. In this article, let us understand the details of UPSC Exam Pattern for Prelims, Mains and Interview stages thoroughly. 

Also check UPSC Syllabus for Prelims and Mains exams here!

What is UPSC Exam Pattern 2025?

As per the IAS Selection Process, the UPSC CSE Exam Pattern is divided into three major stages – Prelims, Mains, and an Interview-cum Personality stage. Each stage of the examination carries a weightage of different marks. To become an IAS officer, candidates need to clear all three stages starting with the Prelims stage. Once the Prelims stage is cleared, candidates become eligible for Mains and later for the Interview stage.

Let us go through a quick overview of the UPSC IAS Exam Pattern in the table below –

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UPSC Prelims Exam Pattern 2025

UPSC Exam Pattern For Prelims Stage – The Prelims exam is the first stage of the UPSC IAS Exam Pattern. This stage is conducted in order to filter out deserving candidates for the Mains exam. Only the candidates who qualify the Prelims will be eligible to appear for the next stage, i.e., the Mains exam. Let us look at the UPSC Exam Pattern for Prelims stage below –

Note –

1. There will be 2 Papers in UPSC Prelims Exam Pattern namely – GS Paper 1 and GS Paper 2 (CSAT). Both papers will be an objective-type, MCQ-based exam.
2. The CSAT Paper (GS Paper 2) is qualifying in nature, where applicants must score at least 33% to qualify. The Prelims Cut-Off is calculated based on GS Paper 1 only.
3. Marks obtained in the prelims stage are not counted in the Final Merit List.
4. As per the UPSC Prelims Exam Pattern, both papers in the prelims stage will have a negative marking scheme.
5. There will be a penalty of ⅓ marks for every incorrect answer in UPSC Prelims.

Candidates can also check the UPSC Prelims Syllabus to get started with their exam preparations.

UPSC Mains Exam Pattern

UPSC Mains Exam Pattern – Candidates who have scored the cut-off marks in IAS Prelims GS-1 Paper and 33% in the Prelims GS-2 Paper (CSAT) will be called to appear for the IAS Mains exam which will have 9 Descriptive type papers, including Language Papers and Optional Subject Papers. Let us go through the exam pattern for UPSC Mains exam below –

Note –

1. The UPSC Mains Exam Pattern consists of a total of 9 papers:
   • 1 Compulsory Indian Language Paper 
   • 1 English Paper
   • 1 Essay Paper
   • 4 General Studies Papers (GS1, GS2, GS3 & GS4)
   • 2 Optional Papers
2. As per the UPSC Mains exam pattern, all the papers in the mains stage will be of descriptive type.
3. The time duration for each paper is 3 hours. Extra 30 minutes will be given to the blind candidates.
4. The total marks scored in the mains exam will be counted in the final merit list.
5. The language papers (Mains Paper A & Paper B) are qualifying in nature.
6. Paper A is not compulsory for candidates from the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim as well as candidates with hearing impairment. However, they have to provide confirmation about the exemption of such 2nd or 3rd language courses from their concerned university or board.
7. Candidates can choose any one optional subject from the list of 48 optional subjects provided by UPSC.

Download subject-wise UPSC Mains Syllabus to streamline your preparation for UPSC Mains.

List of Optional Subjects for UPSC Mains

As discussed above, the UPSC Mains Exam Pattern consists of two optional papers and each paper carries 250 marks. Candidates are allowed to select their preferred optional subject for Paper VI & Paper VII of the mains exam. The optional subject should be anyone from the list of 48 optional subjects provided in the table below –

Also read – Which is the Best Optional Subject for UPSC?

Negative Marking in UPSC Exam Pattern

As discussed above, both GS Paper 1 & GS Paper 2 paper of Prelims stage will have a negative marking scheme. 1/3rd mark of each question will be deducted for wrong answers. According to the UPSC Paper Pattern for the Prelims stage, each question of GS Paper 1 will carry 2 marks, while each question of GS Paper 2 (CSAT) will carry 2.5 marks. Have a look at the negative marking scheme for the Prelims exam stage in the table below.

Since the Mains exam is a descriptive type exam, there will be no negative marking in the UPSC Mains Examination.

Have a detailed look at Negative Marking in UPSC in the linked article now!

UPSC Exam Pattern for Interview 

The personal interview cum personality test will be the last stage of the UPSC IAS exam. The candidates who clear the main examination will be called up for the interview process. In this stage, the candidate's mental and social traits will be tested by asking questions of general interest. The following are the highlights of the UPSC Interview pattern –

• Candidates will be selected for the UPSC IAS based on the marks they score in the mains exam and personal interview.
• Some of the qualities that the board looks for are mental alertness, critical powers of assimilation, clear and logical exposition, a balance of judgment, variety and depth of interest, the ability for social cohesion and leadership, and intellectual and moral integrity.
• The interview process will be for a total of 275 marks.

You must have a complete idea by now of the UPSC Exam Pattern. Now, to stand ahead in the competition, you should make sure to prepare and practice according to the UPSC Exam Paper Pattern as given above. The UPSC CSE Exam is difficult and the intensity increases every year.

Attempt UPSC Mock Test Series to get an understanding of the UPSC Exam Pattern.

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