UPSC Exam Pattern 2025 serves as the roadmap for effective preparatio of IAS exam. It allows candidates to set specific time slots for each section and focus more on high-weightage topics. The UPSC CSE 2025 exam is primarily divided into three stages, such as preliminary, mains exam and personality test/interview. The prelims exam carries a total of 400 marks and the mains exam is conducted for 1750 marks. The interview round holds a weightage of 275 marks. Read on for complete details about the UPSC Exam Pattern 2025 along with the marking scheme, distribution of marks, and negative marking here.
UPSC Exam Pattern 2025
Aspirants must go through the UPSC exam pattern to learn about the exam requirements of all the stages. Recently, the Union Public Service Commission released a notification to fill up 979 vacancies for IAS, IPS, IFS, etc posts through the UPSC civil service exam. The selection process involves three stages, such as preliminary, mains exam and personality test/interview. According to past trends, the level of questions asked in the UPSC exam is usually moderate to difficult. So, aspirants must check the UPSC question paper pattern 2025, strategise rigorously and carefully answer the questions in the exam to avoid losing marks as there are also negative markings.
Also Check,
| UPSC and State PCS Ancient History Questions |
|
| Top YouTube Channel for UPSC |
|
| UPSC Strategic Preparation Guide | UPSC IAS Syllabus 2025 |
| NCERT Books for UPSC Preparation | IAS Officer Salary |
UPSC Exam Pattern 2025 Highlights
As per the UPSC selection process, candidates who are successful in the preliminary exam will only be shortlisted for the next round, i.e. the mains exam and all the main qualified test-takers will be then called to appear in a personality test/interview. Here is the detailed overview of the UPSC exam pattern shared below for the reference of the aspirants.
| Particulars | Details |
| Exam Mode | Offline |
| Stages | Prelims, Mains, and Interview |
| Type of Questions | Prelims: Objective Mains: Descriptive |
| Maximum marks | Prelims: 400 Mains: 1750 Interview: 275 |
| UPSC marking scheme | Prelims: 1/3rd mark of Negative Marking Mains: No negative marking |
| Duration | Prelims: 2 hours for each paper Mains: 3 hours for each paper |
UPSC Prelims Exam Pattern 2025
The UPSC Prelims exam comprises a total of two compulsory papers i.e. General Studies Paper I and General Studies Paper II. It carries objective-type questions for 200 marks each. However, the GS Paper-II is a qualifying paper with a minimum mark of 33%. The prelims question paper will be available in Hindi and English. There will also be a negative marking of 1/3rd mark for each incorrect answer in the UPSC prelims exam. Check the detailed UPSC Exam Pattern 2025 for the prelims exam tabulated below.
| Subject | Number of Questions | Maximum Marks | Duration |
| General Studies Paper I | 100 | 200 | 2 hours |
| General Studies Paper II | 80 | 200 | 2 hours |
UPSC Mains Exam Pattern 2025
The UPSC mains 2025 exam comprises a total of 9 conventional (essay) type papers. The exam duration for each main paper shall be 3 hours. However, the Indian languages and English (Paper A and Paper B) subjects will be qualifying in nature and scores achieved in these papers will not be considered for the ranking. Check the detailed UPSC Exam Pattern 2025 for the main exam tabulated below.
| Paper | Subject | Maximum Marks | Duration |
| Paper-A | One of the Indian Languages to be opted by the aspirant from the Languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution | 300 marks | 3 hours |
| Paper-B | English | 300 marks | 3 hours |
| Paper-I | Essay | 250 marks | 3 hours |
| Paper-II | General Studies-I (Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society) | 250 marks | 3 hours |
| Paper-III | General Studies -II (Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International Relations) | 250 marks | 3 hours |
| Paper-IV | General Studies -III (Technology, Economic Development, Bio-diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management) | 250 marks | 3 hours |
| Paper-V | General Studies -IV (Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude) | 250 marks | 3 hours |
| Paper-VI | Optional Subject- Paper 1 | 250 marks | 3 hours |
| Paper-VII | Optional Subject- Paper 2 | 250 marks | 3 hours |
| Total | 1750 marks | ||
UPSC Mains Exam Pattern 2025 Optional Subject
Here is the list of optional subjects for the UPSC Main Examination for Paper VI and VII shared below for the reference of the candidates:
(i) Agriculture
(ii) Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science
(iii) Anthropology
(iv) Botany
(v) Chemistry
(vi) Civil Engineering
(vii) Commerce and Accountancy
(viii) Economics
(ix) Electrical Engineering
(x) Geography
(xi) Geology
(xii) History
(xiii) Law
(xiv) Management
(xv) Mathematics
(xvi) Mechanical Engineering
(xvii) Medical Science
(xviii) Philosophy
(xix) Physics
(xx) Political Science and International Relations
(xxi) Psychology
(xxii) Public Administration
(xxiii) Sociology
(xxiv) Statistics
(xxv) Zoology
(xxvi) Literature of any one of the languages i.e. Assamese, Hindi, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Kannada, Kashmiri, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Gujarati, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Sanskrit, Telugu, Urdu and English.
UPSC Exam Pattern 2025 for Interview
The final round of the UPSC selection process is an interview or personality test. This round evaluates the candidate’s suitability for a career in public service. It is conducted by a board of competent and unbiased observers who have a record of the candidate’s career. The UPSC interview round carries a total of 275 marks.
UPSC Exam Pattern 2025: Marking Scheme
The UPSC exam follows a simple marking scheme in the prelims. There shall be a negative marking of 1/3rd mark for an incorrect answer or when the candidate gives more than one answer. However, there shall be no penalty for unattempted questions. Check the UPSC marking scheme for the prelims exam detailed below.
- For each correct answer, marks are awarded.
- For each incorrect answer, the 1/3rd mark is deducted.
- If a test-taker gives more than one answer, it will be considered as a wrong answer and the same penalty will be imposed.
- No negative marking is applicable for unattempted questions.
UPSC Exam Pattern-Previous Year Trends
Here is the topic-wise weightage of the UPSC prelims exam pattern from 2022-2024 shared below for the reference of the candidates.
| Subject | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
| Environment | 14-15 | 12-13 | 22-23 |
| Geography | 18-19 | 16-17 | 18-19 |
| Economics | 14-15 | 14-15 | 17-18 |
| History | 12-13 | 13-14 | 15-16 |
| Science & Technology | 13-14 | 15-16 | 11-12 |
| Polity | 15-16 | 12-13 | 9-10 |
| Misc | 13-14 | 18-19 | 18-19 |
Comments
All Comments (0)
Join the conversation