UPSC IAS 2025: Mains Exam Schedule Out, DAF, Vacancies, Syllabus, Pattern
UPSC is a top government exam that is held at the All India Level for the recruitment of suitable candidates in the Civil Services. The candidates are selected through three examinations, Prelims, Mains and Interview. Those who qualify the exam are appointed to the post of Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and other Central Services posts. The UPSC has released the UPSC CSE Mains exam timetable on its website on upsc.gov.in.
UPSC 2025 Exam
The UPSC CSE Mains exam schedule 2025 has been released by the UPSC on upsc.gov.in. The Mains exam shall begin from 22 August 2025 and end on 31st August 2025. The detailed application form or DAF will be released on 17th July 2025.
The UPSC CSE Prelims result 2025 has been released online on upsc.gov.in. Candidates who have appeared for the UPSC exam 2025 held on 25th May can download the UPSC Prelims result PDF of the candidates shortlisted for Mains exam.
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has officially released the e-Admit Card for the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2025. All registered candidates can now download their admit cards from the UPSC official website. The exam is scheduled for 25th May 2025. Candidates are advised to download the UPSC CSE admit card online to appear for the exam.
The UPSC extended the last date to apply online for the UPSC IAS exam 2025. As per the notice issued, the last date to apply online was 21st February 2025, up to 6 PM. In addition to this, the form had to be corrected from 22nd February to 28th February 2025.
UPSC IAS Exam 2025 Highlights
| UPSC Notification 2025 | |
| Name of Exam | UPSC Civil Services Examination 2025 |
| Conducting Body | Union Public Service Commission |
| Posts | Group A and Group B Officers |
| Popular Services | IAS, IPS, IFS, and IRS |
| Application Mode | Online |
| Mode of Exam | OMR/Pen and Paper Based |
| Selection Process |
|
| Age Limit | 21 to 32 years (Relaxable) |
| Number of Attempts | 6 (Relaxable) |
| Starting Salary | INR 56,100/Month (7th Pay Commission) |
| Official Website | upsc.gov.in |
UPSC Admit Card 2025
UPSC will release the UPSC admit card 2025 on its website for each stage of the exam. To be able to download the UPSC IAS call letter candidates would be required to login using their UPSC IAS registration number and date of birth. UPSC Admit Card is released for Prelims, Mains and Interview separately by the Commission on its website. UPSC does not send the hall ticket to the candidates through offline mode.
UPSC IAS 2025 Exam Date
In the table below, you can check out the important dates related to UPSC IAS 2025 exam. The UPSC IAS notification was released on 22nd January 2025 at upsc.gov.in. The Mains exam timetable has also been released. The following table has the list of the important events associated with the exam.
| UPSC IAS 2025 Events | Dates |
| UPSC 2025 Notification Release Date | 22nd January 2025 |
| UPSC IAS Application Form 2025 Release Date | 22nd January 2025 |
| Last Date to apply | 21st February 2025, up to 6 PM. |
| UPSC IAS Admit Card release date | 13th May 2025 |
| IAS Exam Date 2025 for Prelims | 18th May 2025 |
| IAS Prelims Result releases on | 11th June 2025 |
| UPSC Mains admit card release date | August 2025 |
| UPSC Mains Exam Date | 22nd to 31st August 2025 |
| Result 2025 date for Mains Exam | To be updated |
| IAS Interview Date | To be updated |
| IAS Final Result date releases on | To be updated |
UPSC IAS 2025 Notification
UPSC is going to release the UPSC IAS 2025 notification on its website on 22nd January 2025. Candidates will be able to apply for the exam from 22nd JAnaury onwards. UPSC conducts the Civil Services exam every year to recruit IAS/IPS/IFS officers at an All-India level. The recruitment is carried out through two different phases - IAS Prelims Exam and IAS Mains Exam & Interview Round. You can check the UPSC IAS 2025 notification PDF by clicking on the link that is given below.
| UPSC IAS Notification PDF 2024 (Last year) |
The UPSC IAS notification PDF consists the important information related to the exam such as exam date, vacancy, syllabus, pattern, etc.
UPSC 2025 Vacancy
Last year, the UPSC had notified a total of 1206 vacancies. The UPSC vacancy 2025 will be notified along with this year's notification PDF. We shall update the latest vacancy detials here once it is released.
UPSC IAS 2025 Application Form
UPSC has activated the online link of IAS Application Form 2025 on 14th February @upsc.gov.in. Candidates need to apply online and pay the application fee on time to sit for IAS Prelims Exam 2025. Have a look at the detailed application process below:
Step 1: IAS Registration 2025
Candidates who apply for the UPSC exam 2025 will have to register themselves on the UPSC website to get UPSC registration number. Here is the step-wise process to apply for UPSC IAS 2025 exam.
• Visit upsc.gov.in
• Click on ‘UPSC Civil Services Examination 2025’
• Fill your Name, Date of Birth, Mobile Number, Email Address & captcha code
• You get your IAS Registration Number
Step 2: IAS Application Form 2025
To fill the UPSC Civil Services application, follow these steps:
• Log-in by entering your Roll Number and Password or Date of Birth
• Fill your personal details, educational qualification, age, gender, religion, & others
• Upload scanned images of your Photo & Signature
• Pay the IAS Application Fee through Debit Card/Credit Card/Internet Banking or Offline through the e-challan of SBI Bank
IAS Eligibility Criteria 2025
The eligibility criteria for the UPSC IAS Civil Services exam include age limit, educational qualification, nationality and the number of attempts. The IAS eligibility criteria are different for all categories such as GEN/EWS/OBC/SC/ST/PWD. Have a look:
Nationality: Citizen of India OR Tibetan refugee who came to India before January 1, 1962, OR person of Indian origin who migrated from Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Burma, Vietnam, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, and Ethiopia
Educational Qualification: Graduate Degree in any discipline of University/Institution established or incorporated by an Act of Parliament or declared a Deemed University under the UGC Act, 1956
Note: No requirement for any minimum percentage
Age Limit: The minimum age limit is 21 years and the maximum age limit is different for different categories:
• General: 32 years
• OBC: 35 years
• SC & ST: 37 year
• PwD: 42 Years
Number of Attempts: Have a look at the maximum number of attempts allowed for each category:
• General: 6 Attempts
• EWS: 6 Attempts
• OBC: 9 Attempts
• SC & ST: Till the Age limit
• PwD: 9 Attempts for OBC; Till the Age limit for SC/ST
IAS Selection Process 2025
The UPSC IAS selection process is done through three stages, Prelims, Mains and Interview. A candidate has to qualify at each stage to be eligible to be appointed to the post of IAS/IPS/IFS/IRS and other posts.
- UPSC IAS Prelims
- UPSC IAS Mains
- UPSC IAS Interview
UPSC IAS Prelims is qualifying in nature. The marks of IAS Prelims are not considered in the final merit list, from which the selection of candidates is made. The UPSC prepares the final merit list on the basis of marks secured by candidates in the IAS Mains exam and Interview. Hence, all the candidates must obtain maximum marks in the Mains and Interview to be eligible for an appointment.
UPSC IAS 2025 Prelims Exam Pattern
UPSC IAS exam pattern has been mentioned in the following table below. The Prelims exam consists of two papers, General Studies and CSAT. The IAS GS paper is for 100 marks while CSAT is for 80 marks. It is mandatory to obtain at least 33% in CSAT to be eligible to UPSC Prelims Paper 1 marks will be used to determine the merit list, while the CSAT Paper 2 will be of qualifying in nature (33% marks).
• IAS Prelims exam will have questions that are in Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) format
• There will be a Negative Marking of 1/3rd marks (0.66) for each wrong answer
• GS Paper II (CSAT) is qualifying in nature; you need only 33 per cent marks to clear this paper
• In the PwD category, blind candidates are allotted 20 minutes extra for each paper
| Paper | Total Questions | Marks | Time Duration |
| Paper I: General Studies | 100 | 200 | 2 Hours |
| Paper-II: GS (CSAT) | 80 | 200 | 2 Hours |
IAS Mains Exam Pattern
Candidates who qualify UPSC IAS prelims exam 2025 exam by securing the cutoff marks will fill in the detailed application form or DAF and appear for the Mains examination. UPSC Mains Exam consists of two types papers, qualifying papers and merit.
- IAS Mains papers A and B are qualifying in nature. On the other hand, Papers 1 to 7 of the Mains exam will be used to determine the final merit list of the candidates.
- Candidates must choose one UPSC optional subject for the Mains exam.
- IAS Mains exam is objective as well as descriptive in nature
- Candidates need to obtain IAS Cut off marks to qualify this round
- The cut off is decided on the basis of total vacancies, the difficulty level of paper and candidates appearing for the exam.
- There will be a Negative Marking of 1/3rd marks (0.66) for each wrong answer in objective paper only
| Paper | Name of Paper | Nature of Paper | Time Duration | Marks |
| Paper – A | Any Indian Language (objective) | Qualifying | 3 Hours | 300 |
| Paper – B | English (objective) | 3 Hours | 300 | |
| Paper I | Essay | Merit Ranking | 3 Hours | 250 |
| Paper II | General Studies I | 3 Hours | 250 | |
| Paper III | General Studies II | 3 Hours | 250 | |
| Paper IV | General Studies III | 3 Hours | 250 | |
| Paper V | General Studies IV | 3 Hours | 250 | |
| Paper VI | Optional Paper I | 3 Hours | 250 | |
| Paper VII | Optional Paper-II | 3 Hours | 250 | |
| Total | 1750 | |||
| Interview Round | 275 | |||
| Grand Total | 2025 | |||
UPSC Optional Subjects
Every candidate has to choose one optional paper for the IAS Mains exam. UPSC has given a list of 48 subjects that the candidates can select in the IAS optional subject. T
| List of Optional Subjects for UPSC Exam 2025 | |
| Agriculture | Assamese |
| Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science | Bengali |
| Anthropology | Bodo |
| Botany | Dogri |
| Chemistry | Gujarati |
| Civil Engineering | Hindi |
| Commerce & Accountancy | Kannada |
| Economics | Kashmiri |
| Electrical Engineering | Konkani |
| Geography | Maithili |
| Geology | Malayalam |
| History | Manipuri |
| Law | Marathi |
| Management | Nepali |
| Mathematics | Oriya |
| Mechanical Engineering | Punjabi |
| Medical Science | Sanskrit |
| Philosophy | Santhali |
| Physics | Sindhi |
| Political Science & International Relations | Tamil |
| Psychology | Telugu |
| Public Administration | Urdu |
| Sociology | English |
| Statistics | |
| Zoology | |
IAS Syllabus 2025
The UPSC Syllabus covers subjects like History, Polity, Geography, Economy, Environment & Ecology, General Science and Current Affairs. Have a look at the detailed syllabus of UPSC IAS Civil Services on the link mentioned below:
UPSC IAS Question Paper 2025
UPSC question paper forms the most important part of the preparation strategy for any IAS aspirant. Going through the previous year question paper gives you an insight into the questions that have been asked in the UPSC exam over the previous years.
UPSC Mains Exam Schedule
IAS 2025 Exam Preparation Tips & Strategy
Cracking the UPSC exam requires a huge amount of practice and patience as the IAS syllabus is very vast. One has to be consistent in learning and practicing things while preparing for the IAS exam. Here are some tips for the UPSC IAS preparation tips that will guide you toward your preparation for the exam.
- Read newspapers daily such as The Hindu, Economic Times, others. Stay updated with GK from every domain.
- Get yourself acquainted with the most important Current Affairs topics by going through reliable sources such as Jagranjosh.com; Yojana & Frontline magazines; PIB, News on Air.
- Keep an eye on the latest happenings and try to link them with the UPSC IAS Syllabus. If you find it relevant, then prepare it thoroughly.
- Go through the IAS Previous Year Question Papers to brush up on your preparations
- Read complete NCERT books from 9th to 12th standard of subjects link Geography, Polity, Economics, History, Science, and Maths.
- Prepare notes every time you are reading. For IAS Prelims, prepare short notes in bullet points and for IAS Mains, prepare descriptive notes.
- Prepare for General Studies CSAT by practising more and more mock tests and important questions. CSAT paper tests your accuracy and time management.Revise the sample papers or practice sets you have already attempted. This will help you in knowing your weak and strong areas.