UPSC Exam Pattern 2025 for Prelims, Mains and Interview
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If you are a UPSC aspirant preparing for the upcoming UPSC CSE 2025 Exam, it is essential to understand the UPSC Exam Pattern for 2025. UPSC Civil Services Examination is conducted in 3 phases: Prelims, Mains and Interview. In this article, we have discussed the exam pattern for both the prelims and mains, along with a detailed marking scheme and other important points.
UPSC Exam Pattern 2025
The selection of the candidates for the UPSC Civil Service Examination will be done through three stages- Prelims, Mains, and Interviews. There are 2 papers in the UPSC CSE Prelims Exam, which consist of objective-type questions, while there are 9 papers in the UPSC CSE Mains Exam of descriptive-type questions. The elaborated details for the UPSC Exam Pattern 2025 for both Prelims and Mains have been tabulated below.
| UPSC CSE Exam Pattern 2025 | ||
| Parameters | Prelims Exam | Mains Exam |
| 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 | 200 + 200 | 1750 |
| Mode of Exam | Offline | Offline |
| Number of Papers | 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 Question Paper 2025- Click to Check
UPSC Prelims Answer Key 2025- Click to Check
UPSC Prelims Exam Pattern 2025
The 1st stage of the UPSC CCE Exam 2025 is the Preliminary Examination. Let's understand the UPSC Prelims Exam Pattern 2025 in detail.
- In the UPSC Prelims Exam, there are 2 papers - GS Paper and CSAT Paper.
- There will be 100 questions in the GS paper with 2 marks for each question and there will be a negative marking of 1/3rd or 0.66 marks.
- The CSAT paper is qualifying in nature. The marks scored in this subject will not be counted in the prelims scorecard.
- There will be 80 questions in the CSAT paper, containing 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 the UPSC CSE Prelims Exam, marks will not be counted in preparing the merit list.
| UPSC Prelims Exam Pattern 2025 | ||||
| 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 2025- Click to Check
UPSC Mains Exam Pattern 2025
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 2025 will be counted in preparing the merit list for final selection. The important points to remember for UPSC Mains Exam Pattern 2025 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 2025 | |||
| 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 |
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