UPSC Exam is conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to test the academic expertise of candidates, and also their ability to excel in various prestigious positions in Indian government services. That is why it is critical for the aspirants to have a detailed understanding about the IAS Exam Pattern. A clear understanding of the IAS Exam Pattern would help the candidates to effectively manage their time and make their preparation more efficient.
The UPSC exam is conducted in three phases- first phase is Preliminary Exam, second phase is Mains Exam, and the third and last phase is Personality Test. In this post, we are going to cover the UPSC Exam Pattern for all these three stages and the marking scheme for each round.
| UPSC 2022 Phases | Total Marks | Type of the Exam |
| IAS Prelims | UPSC Prelims Total Marks- 400 | Objective Type |
| IAS Mains | UPSC Mains Total Marks-1750 | Descriptive Test |
| IAS Interview | 275 | Personality Test |
| UPSC Total Marks | Mains Marks+Interview Marks=2025 Marks |
UPSC Prelims Exam Pattern
As per the official notification released by UPSC on 2nd February 2022, the Prelims exam 2022 is all set to be conducted on 5th June 2022. The UPSC Exam Pattern for Prelims includes two papers namely General Studies-1 and General Studies-2 (also known as CSAT). Prelims exam for both papers will be conducted in one day.
GS-1 is the merit ranking in nature, while CSAT is qualifying in nature. Candidates need to score at least 33% in the CSAT exam to qualify. Understand the UPSC CSAT Syllabus to ensure that you clear the paper in the first attempt.
Candidates should remember that the UPSC Prelims exam is conducted to filter the candidates for the Mains exam, and marks secured in Prelims won’t be counted in the final merit list. Along with the IAS Exam Pattern for Prelims, aspirants must also check UPSC Prelims Syllabus.
As per the UPSC Prelims Exam Pattern, candidates will be given 2 hours of time duration for each paper.
GS-1 will have a total of 100 questions and GS-2 carries 80 questions. Total marks for each paper will be 200 as per UPSC Prelims marking scheme.
Check out the complete pattern of UPSC Prelims below.
| Paper Name | Type | Nature of Paper | No. of questions | Marks for Each Paper | Duration |
| General Studies 1 | Objective | Merit Ranking | 100 | 200 | 2 hours |
| General Studies 2 (CSAT) | Objective | Qualifying | 80 | 200 | 2 hours |
| UPSC Prelims Total Marks | 400 |
UPSC Prelims – Beware of Negative Marking
As per the UPSC Exam Pattern for Prelims, each question of General Studies-1 carries 2 marks, and for the CSAT paper, each question carries 2.5 marks. There will be a negative marking of 1/3 of the mark allotted to that particular question. This means for IAS Prelims Paper 2, there will be a negative marking of 0.66, and for CSAT the negative marking will be 0.83 as per the UPSC Marking Scheme.
| Paper | Number of Question | UPSC Prelims Total Marks | UPSC Prelims Marking Scheme- Negative Marks |
| General Studies-1 | 100 | 2*100=200 | 0.66 |
| General Studies-2 (CSAT) | 80 | 2.5*80=200 | 0.83 |
