UPSC: 10 Facts You Must Know

1: The civil services include three types of services - the All India Services, Group A and Group B Central Services.

2: Eligibility: Candidate should be a graduate and must have attained 21 years of age. upper age limit is 32 years. Age relaxation available for OBC, SC, ST and PH candidates.

3: The UPSC exam is held in three stages - Prelims, Mains and Interview/personality test. The prelims: two papers of objective type questions. The mains: nine descriptive type papers.

4: The service allotted to the candidate depends on his/her preference indicated while applying. Commonly aspired services like the IAS, IFS and the IPS need a high rank.

5: The UPSC also conducts various other exams apart from the civil services - Engineering Services Exam, Combined Medical Services Exam, Indian Forest Service Exam, Combined Defence Services Exam, Indian Statistical Service, etc.

6: Civil services and the Indian Forest Services have a common prelims exam.

7: The UPSC syllabus is huge. There are several subjects to study along with current affairs.

8: Aspirants must read the newspaper every day to succeed in Civils.

9: Candidates must practice a lot of tests for both prelims and mains exams.

10: The Civils exam is one of the toughest exams in the world.