Preliminary Examination

The Preliminary Examination will consist of two papers of Objective type (multiple choice questions) and carry a maximum of 400 marks

This examination is meant to serve as a screening test only; the marks obtained in the Preliminary Examination by the candidates who are declared qualified for admission to the Main Examination will not be counted for determining their final order of merit. The number of candidates to be admitted to the Main Examination will be about twelve to thirteen times the total approximate number of vacancies to be filled in the year through this examination. Only those candidates who are declared by the Commission to have qualified in the Preliminary Examination in the year will be eligible for admission to the Main Examination of that year provided they are otherwise eligible for admission, to the Main Examination

The Commission will draw a list of candidates to be qualified for Civil Services (Main) Examination based on the criterion of minimum qualifying marks of 33% in General Studies Paper-II of Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination and total qualifying marks of General Studies Paper-I of Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination as may be determined by the Commission.

There will be negative marking for incorrect answers.

Preliminary Examination - Syllabus

Paper I - (200 marks)

Duration: Two hours

Important Areas :

• Current events of national and international importance.
• History of India and Indian National Movement.
• Indian and World Geography-Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.
• Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
• Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development,Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.
• General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change - that do not require subject specialization.
• General Science.

Paper II-(200 marks)

Duration : Two hours

Important Areas :

• Comprehension.
• Interpersonal skills including communication skills.
• Logical reasoning and analytical ability, Decision making and problem solving.
• General mental ability.
• Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc.) (Class X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. — Class X level).

Note 1 :Paper-II of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination will be a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%.

Note 2 :The questions will be of multiple choice, objective type.

Note 3 :It is mandatory for the candidate to appear in both the Papers of Civil Services (Prelim) Examination for the purpose of evaluation. Therefore a candidate will be disqualified in case he/she does not appear in both the papers of Civil Services (Prelim) Examination.

Structure

Civil Service Preliminary Examination 2022 – Important Details

• Notification Date : February 02, 2022
• Online Application starts on : February 02, 2022
• Last Date of Receipt of Application : February 22, 2022 till 06.00 PM
• Preliminary Examination Date : June 05, 2022
• The eligible candidates shall be issued an e-Admit Card three weeks before the commencement of the examination
• Application Link : https://upsconline.nic.in
• Number of Preliminary Examination Centers : 77 ( Kerala – Thiruvananthapuram, Eranakulam, Kozhikkode )
• Number of Mains Examination Centers : 24 ( Kerala – Thiruvananthapuram )
• Number of Vacancies : 861 ( Which include 34 vacancies reserved for Persons with Benchmark Disability Category )
• Examination Application Fee : 100/- ( Excepting Female/ SC/ST/ Persons with Benchmark Disability )