IAS Exam 2023: Exam Date, Eligibility, Syllabus, & Exam Pattern

What is IAS?

IAS Exam (Indian Administrative Service) was formerly known as ICS (Imperial Civil Services). The Civil Services Examination is conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to recruit officers for the All India Administrative Civil Service. Hierarchy-wise, IAS is the top-level post among the 24 civil services like IFS, IPS, etc. IAS Exam is popularly known as Civil Services Examination, which is conducted annually.

It is important to know that those who clear all stages of the IAS Exam will be employed by the Union government, state governments, and/or public-sector undertakings. They will get exposure to various job roles like the head of public sector units, chief secretary, collector, cabinet secretary, etc. Candidates who apply for IAS 2023 must know the exam patterns and eligibility criteria to get a detailed answer to the question on what IAS is. 

IAS Exam 2023

The IAS exam 2023 calendar is out now, and it is critical for all applicants to keep track of the dates to plan well. Around 13 thousand candidates appeared for mains exam. UPSC Mains result 2022 has been released on the official site, the qualified candidates will be able to proceed to the next level of UPSC recruitment which is the personality test.

IAS Exam Date 2023

UPSC 2023 Exam dates have been released by the commission on the official website. The Union Public Service Commission will conduct IAS 2023 as per the schedule given below.

IAS Exam Eligibility Criteria

Before applying for IAS Exam, candidates must check the eligibility criteria for IAS 2023. Below we have mentioned the UPSC eligibility criteria like age limit, educational qualification, nationality, and the number of attempts to which candidates must adhere. 

IAS Age Limit 

Per the IAS Exam 2023 age limit criteria, candidates who have attained 21 years of age and less than 32 years as of August 2023 can apply for the IAS Exam. However, 3-10 years of age relaxation will be applicable as per the category.

IAS Educational Qualification 2023

Candidates willing to appear for IAS Exam 2023 must meet the educational qualification set by the authorities. The minimum educational qualification for IAS 2023 exam is listed below.

• Candidates must have graduated from a recognized university or have an equivalent qualification. 
• Candidates who are in their final year can also apply for IAS 2023
• Candidates having professional and technical qualifications recognized by the government as equivalent to technical and professional degrees are also eligible for the IAS Exam.

IAS 2023 Nationality Requirements 

Candidates applying for the IAS Exam need to meet the following nationality criteria. The candidate must be 

• A citizen of India, 
• A subject of Nepal
• A subject of Bhutan, Or 
• A Tibetan refugee who came to India before 1st January 1962 to settle in India permanently or
• A person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Zaire, and Vietnam, intending to settle in India permanently.

Read More-

• IAS Full Form
• 10 Tips to Clear IAS Prelims Exam

How to Apply for IAS 2023

It is advised to the candidates to check the eligibility criteria before filling in the application form. Candidates who want to apply for IAS 2023 need to follow these steps:

• Visit the official website of UPSC
• Click the UPSC IAS application form
• Enter the required details in the asked fields to register
• After that, the registration ID and Password will be sent to your given phone number and email,
• Log In using the ID and Password
• Fill rest of the application form
• After that, upload the scanned documents
• Make the payment, and check all the details before submitting

IAS Exam 2023 Application Fee

The IAS Exam application fee can be paid by both online and offline mode. For online payment, candidates need to use a credit card/debit card/Rupay card or Internet banking. For offline payment, candidates need to download the e-challan and submit the fee in cash at SBI bank.

IAS DAF Form 2023

The aspirants who will be clearing the prelims exam will be able to proceed further to the mains exam. The DAF form releases the form on the official site. The candidates getting selected for the Mains exam must be filling the UPSC DAF form to be able to proceed further.

IAS 2023 (UPSC CSE) Vacancy

The Union Public Service Commission will be releasing the IAS 2023 vacancies on the official site. The candidates can take a look at the vacancies released previous year to gain knowledge of the vacancies released each year. The vacancies are the major determining factor in the selection of candidates.

IAS 2022 Vacancy

A total of 1011 vacancies have been declared for various posts like IAS, IFS, IRS, and IPS, etc. Earlier in the IAS Exam, 2022 official notification was released by UPSC, the commission announced a total of 816 vacancies. But later UPSC increased the IAS vacancies to 1011. Let’s take a look at the year-wise IAS vacancies.

IAS Exam Pattern

IAS Exam will be conducted in three stages namely Prelims, Mains, and Personality Test. Candidates who clear all three rounds will be recruited into the Civil Services of India. Each round of the IAS 2023 will be a qualifying round so candidates need to qualify each to appear in the next one. That is why it is necessary to thoroughly understand the IAS Exam Pattern and figure out a strategy to make the UPSC preparation. We have provided the IAS 2023 exam pattern for Prelims, Mains below.

IAS Prelims Exam Pattern

IAS Prelims Exam has two papers, General Studies 1 and CSAT (General Studies Paper 2). CSAT is qualifying in nature and needs to score a minimum of 33% in this paper to qualify. This means the General Studies paper will define your selection. There will be a negative marking of 1/3rd of the marks assigned to the question. The questions in the Prelims exam will be objective types of MCQs.

IAS Mains Exam Pattern

The second stage of the IAS Exam is called the UPSC Mains, and those who qualify for the Prelims exam will be eligible for this round. Mains is a written descriptive exam and comprises 9 papers. Paper VI, VII is the optional papers, and the candidates get to choose any subject he/she wants for the optional from a list of 48 subjects. Paper-A and Paper-B will be qualifying in nature and other papers are of merit ranking nature.

• Candidates get the option to choose their medium of writing in the IAS Mains exam as English, Hindi, or any other language mentioned in the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution.
• Candidates who qualify for the Mains exam will be called for the Personality Test round.
• The final result will be based on the marks scored by the candidates in the Mains exam and the Personality Test round of the IAS Exam.

IAS Interview

As mentioned above, candidates who have cleared the Mains stage of the IAS Exam will be summoned for the Personality Test or UPSC Interview round with the UPSC board members, which is the final stage. In this round, candidates will be asked questions on various topics. This round of the IAS Exam will be held at UPSC Bhavan in New Delhi.

IAS Syllabus

IAS Exam has a diverse range of syllabus including a wide range of topics. To fetch good marks in the IAS 2023 exam, candidates must have a comprehensive idea of the topics covered in the UPSC Syllabus. Below we have provided the complete IAS syllabus for Prelims and Mains.

IAS Prelims Syllabus

IAS Prelims is the primary round of the selection process, and there are two papers in the Prelims syllabus- General Studies-I and General Studies-II (CSAT). CSAT is qualifying in nature whereas General Studies-II is merit ranking in nature. Below check out the UPSC Prelims Syllabus.

IAS Mains Syllabus

The IAS Mains exam comprises nine theory papers, and seven are considered for preparing the merit list. The other two papers namely Indian Language and English are qualifying in nature. Additionally, there will be two optional papers carrying 250 marks each. Candidates can choose any subject from the list of 48 UPSC optional subjects. Below we have covered the UPSC Mains Syllabus for each paper in the IAS 2023 Mains exam.

Optional Subjects in IAS

As we have mentioned before, there are a total of 48 optional subjects in the IAS Mains exam. Candidates can choose any subject they want to. Each paper consists of 250 marks and a total of 500 marks. The questions from the UPSC Optional Subjects will be descriptive in nature. Here is a list of IAS Exam optional subjects along with the detailed syllabus.

IAS Exam 2023 Admit Card

The admit card for IAS 2023 will be released by the Union Public Service Commission on its official website. Candidates can download the Prelims admit card 2023 directly from the official website. Candidates need to enter their application number, and password/date of birth to get access to admit card. Candidates must remember that they won’t be allowed inside the exam hall without the admit card.

Details Mentioned on IAS Exam Admit Card

After downloading the admit card 2023 for the IAS Exam, candidates need to check the following details on their card- Name of the Candidate, Mother’s Name, Father’s Name, Date of Birth, Exam Center, Roll Number, etc. if candidates find any kind of issue with the admit card then they are advised to contact the UPSC helpline number.

IAS Exam Centers

Candidates get the freedom to choose from the listed examination center for the IAS Exam. Applicants must choose their preference in the application form. The IAS exam centers for the prelims exam are also mentioned below. 

The exam centers for the Mains exam are given below. The mains exam is conducted for the candidates selected after the prelims exam. Hence, the number of exam centers reduce for the mains exam. 

IAS Exam Cut Off 2022

IAS exam 2022 cut off has not been released yet, however, we have mentioned expected UPSC Prelims 2022 Cut Off. The IAS cut-off is determined by factors like the difficulty level of questions, the number of vacancies, and the number of applicants who applied. Candidates can check the IAS exam cut-off for the previous year to get an idea about the expected cut-off for IAS 2022 exam.

IAS 2019 Cut Off

Check here the IAS exam cut off released in 2019. The aspirants can check the prelims, mains and final cut off. The complete details of the cut off has been presented here.

IAS Exam 2018 Cut Off

The aspirants can check the previous year prelims and mains cut off. This will allow the candidates in gauging the difficulty level of the exam. The minimum marks obtained by the candidates in the prelims, mains and final cut off has been elaborated here-

IAS Exam 2023 Preparation

IAS exam is known as one of the toughest exams in the country, and candidates need to have a foolproof strategy to crack this examination. IAS requires sheer will, determination, focus, hardwood combined with a solid preparation strategy. Here are some of the IAS exam preparation tips that will pave the way for higher ranks in IAS 2023.

• Current affairs-based questions are asked in both Prelims and Mains exams, so make sure to stay updated with credible sources like The Hindu, PIB, Yojana, etc. Additionally, keep track of national and international events of the last 10-12 months.
• Go through IAS Previous Year’s Question Papers, to get an idea about the pattern, and trending topics from the UPSC syllabus. 
• Read the NCERT books to build a solid base, and try to make two types of notes. Short notes for the IAS Prelims exam and descriptive notes for IAS Mains.
• Start your preparation for both Prelims and Mains exam simultaneously, but 3 months before the IAS 2023 Prelims exam date, shift your focus completely in the preparation of the Prelims exam. 
• Choose an optional subject based on your interest, and experience.
• Go through the standard books after completing the NCERTs
• Don’t take the qualifying papers lightly as you can’t crack IAS if you fail in them.
• Practice previous year’s question papers, and attempt mock tests to be familiar with the exam pattern, and syllabus, build confidence and find out your weaknesses. 
• Revise multiple times, and prepare separate short notes for the revision period.

IAS Question Paper

IAS previous year question paper play an integral role in the preparation for the upcoming exam. Those candidates who are appearing for their first IAS exam would be benefitted by the question paper from previous years. The question paper will give them a clear picture of what kind of questions they will be facing, and help them to be familiar with the exam pattern. IAS Prelims has been conducted on 5th June 2022, candidates can check out the UPSC prelims question paper. Candidates can also check out the previous year's IAS question paper as illustrated below-

Let’s take a look at the IAS Exam Prelims 2021 question paper below.

IAS Exam Result

The Union Public Service Commission releases the IAS exam results every year on its official website. The candidates who appear for the exam can check the result by following these simple steps.

• Visit the official website of UPSC
• Click on “Written Result”
• Find the result link
• Search results using the roll number
• Download the result and keep it for future reference

IAS Mains Result 2022 Declared

The IAS Mains result 2022 has been declared by the authorities on the official website on 6th December 2022. The aspirants who took the exam can check the UPSC result and track their selection status. The qualified candidates can commence their preparation for the next round of the selection process, which is the interview. The mains exam was held from 15th September to 25th September. The interview dates will be released soon by the official authorities. The qualified candidates can fill in UPSC DAF form II for interview.

IAS Prelims 2022 Results Declared

The IAS Prelims 2022 has been declared on 22 June 2022 by UPSC on its official website. Candidates who have qualified for the UPSC Prelims 2022 should start preparing for the UPSC Mains 2022, which is the second stage of the UPSC Exam. The UPSC Prelims 2022 was held on 05 June 2022.

IAS Final Result 2021 Declared

The IAS final result 2021 has been declared on 30 May 2022 by UPSC on its official website. Candidates who have cleared the UPSC Mains can check their final results on their official website. The interview was the last stage of the UPSC examination which began on April 5 and concluded on May 26 and after that UPSC Published the final result of UPSC 2021. A total of 685 candidates have been selected for the civil services. Shruti Sharma has secured All India Rank 1.