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.
UPSC Prelims Syllabus
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.
Furthermore, if you advance to the interview stage, your Prelims results will not be taken into account when determining 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)
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)
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
- Interpretation of Data (charts, tables, graphs, data sufficiency, etc. – Also, class 10 level )
UPSC Mains Syllabus
The enormity of the UPSC syllabus is capable of sending even the most experienced applicants into nervous chills.
The key highlights from the UPSC Mains syllabus for IAS/IPS are provided in the image below:
This is due to the fact that only those applicants who pass Phase 1, or the Prelims, are eligible to take the Phase 2 or Mains exam.
In other words, only those applicants who pass the UPSC Prelims exam with a score higher than the UPSC cut-offs are eligible to take the Mains exam.
Fundamentally, the UPSC 2022 Mains exam is designed to evaluate your grasp of the many subjects covered by the UPSC 2022 Mains syllabus, and it is designed to do so in a timed manner.
It’s worth noting that, with the exception of the two language papers in the UPSCMains curriculum, all of the papers can be written in any of the languages listed in Schedule 8 of the Indian Constitution.
Read more: UPSC CSE
