Overview of the UPSC Syllabus 2022
Without beating much around the bush let me get straight to the point. The UPSC exam is a 3-phase affair:
Phase 1 is the UPSC Preliminary Examination, also called UPSC Prelims. This exam contains questions of the objective type.
Phase 2 is the UPSC Mains Examination, also called UPSC Mains. This exam contains descriptive-type questions.
Phase 3 is the Personal Interview round conducted to test the Personality of the Candidate.
Starting with the UPSC Prelims syllabus, it should come as no surprise that the syllabus is quite extensive in and of itself.
The UPSC Prelims examination, on the other hand, is mostly used for screening purposes. As a result, if you pass the Prelims exam, you will be qualified to take the Mains exam.
In addition, if you make it to the interview phase, your Prelims scores will not be factored towards your final order of merit.
The UPSC prelims examination consists of two papers: a general studies paper and a CSAT (Civil Services Aptitude Test) paper.
UPSC Prelims Syllabus for Paper 1: General Studies (GS)
This GS paper, also known as paper 1, is aimed to assess your broad knowledge of your surroundings and the globe, as well as your perceptive nature, by posing questions on current events.
The UPSC prelims syllabus for 2022 includes themes from a wide range of courses, making it impossible to predict the types of questions that will be asked in the forthcoming paper.
Getting back, I have written down the list of major topics from the UPSC Prelims syllabus that you’d need to broadly cover for GS Paper (Paper 1) below:
- Current events of national and international importance
- History of India and Indian National Movement
- Indian & World Geography – Social, Physical, Economic Geography of the World and India.
- Governance and Polity in India –Rights Issues, Constitution, Public Policy, Political System, Panchayati Raj, etc.
- Social & Economic Development –Social Sector initiatives, Demographics, Sustainable Development, Inclusion, Poverty, etc.
- General issues on Biodiversity, Environmental Ecology, & Climate Change – these topics do not require subject specialization.
- General Science
UPSC Prelims Syllabus for Paper 2: Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT)
The CSAT, also known as Paper 2, is an exam that assesses your thinking, understanding, and analytical abilities.
This is because, as a Civil Servant, it is critical that you have the ability to understand the world and its problems with extreme clarity and logic.
Questions from the subjects of Reasoning & Analysis and Reading Comprehension appear on the CSAT paper. It also periodically puts your decision-making abilities to the test by asking you questions about them.
Given below is the list of major topics of the syllabus from which questions are asked in the UPSC CSAT Paper:
- Comprehension
- Communication and Interpersonal Skills
- Analytical ability and Logical Thinking
- Problem Solving and Decision Making
- General Mental ability
- Basic Numeracy, i.e. orders of magnitudes, numbers & their relations, etc (class 10 level)
- Interpretation of Data (charts, tables, graphs, data sufficiency, etc. – Also, class 10 level )
That pretty much sums up the IPS/IAS syllabus for the Prelims exam. Now it’s time to get down to the big daddy of all exam syllabi, The UPSC Mains syllabus.
The syllabus for Mains is no less than an ocean. It is huge. I repeat, it is absolutely and horrendously immense. So, without wasting a single second, let’s get to the IPS/IAS mains syllabus 2022.