The UPSC IAS Prelims is the first stage of the Civil Services Exam. UPSC Prelims is the screening test for the Mains stage of the Civil Services Exam. The nature of questions in IAS Prelims is of objective type (MCQ). There are two papers in Prelims, namely, General Studies 1 and General Studies 2 (CSAT).
| Exam | Total Marks | No. of Questions | Duration | Negative Marks | Nature |
| GS I | 200 | 100 | 120 minutes | Yes | Merit ranking |
| CSAT | 200 | 80 | 120 minutes | Yes | Qualifying Nature- Candidates will have to score 33% to qualify CSAT. |
(i) Indian Administrative Service
(ii) Indian Foreign Service
(iii) Indian Police Service
(iv) Indian Audit and Accounts Service, Group ‘A’
(v) Indian Civil Accounts Service, Group ‘A’
(vi) Indian Corporate Law Service, Group ‘A’
(vii) Indian Defence Accounts Service, Group ‘A’
(viii) Indian Defence Estates Service, Group ‘A’
(ix) Indian Information Service, Group ‘A’
(x) Indian Postal Service, Group ‘A’
(xi) Indian P&T Accounts and Finance Service, Group ‘A’
(xii) Indian Railway Protection Force Service, Group ‘A’
(xiii) Indian Revenue Service (Customs & Indirect Taxes) Group ‘A’
(xiv) Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax) Group ‘A’
(xv) Indian Trade Service, Group ‘A’ (Grade III)
(xvi) Indian Railway Management Service, Group ‘A’
(xvii) Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service, Group ‘B’ (Section Officer’s Grade)
(xviii) Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Civil Service (DANICS), Group ‘B’
(xix) Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Police Service (DANIPS), Group ‘B’
(xx) Pondicherry Civil Service (PONDICS), Group ‘B’
(xxi) Pondicherry Police Service (PONDIPS), Group ‘B’
Deciding what to read keeps most aspirants pretty confused about this exam. A prudent selection of sources for prelims, mains and interview is a must right from the beginning. Here is what mostly referred sources for CSE Prelims :
Polity: Laxmikanth ( you must read this book multiple times for better grasp over it). At least 10-15 questions might come straight from this book! Revise this book at least 3-4 times before prelims properly.
History: Spectrum History of Modern India, NCERT New Books on History – Themes in Indian History Part I, II and III, Old NCERT Ancient history (by RS Sharma), Medieval history (by Satish Chandra), * Modern history(by Bipin Chandra), Remember that the weightage of ancient culture, history and freedom struggle has been relatively more than medieval history. So devote your time accordingly.
Additionally you can refer to the Tamil Nadu Board XIth class book for Ancient and Medieval history. (This book is crisp and concise with a lot of information especially about southern India).
Art & Culture: NCERT Fine Arts Book ( class XI), Art & Culture (by Nitin Singhania) and CCRT website.
Economy Micro: NCERT books from class XI and XII (not all details to be read, you can refer to Mrunal sir for this as he explains economy really well – and Mrunal VIDEOS are essential)
NOTE: Please remember that from economics micro, UPSC asks questions based on fundamentals and some on basic current affairs. Nothing too deep is needed.
Economy Macro: NCERT books from class XI and XII
Sanjiv Verma or Vivek Singh book (either of them).
current affairs such as survey, budget and important policy news.
Summary of Economic survey and Key highlights of Budget( of current year in which you are aspiring to give exam) is also a must read.
Geography: NCERTs from Class 6th to 12th. ( Special focus on class 11th & 12th books). Also Certificate Physical and Human Geography by Goh Cheng Leong.
At least one Atlas (Oxford School Atlas or orient Black Swan school Atlas)
Environment: Shankar IAS Book or PMF IAS book (either of them both are good).
Mostly Questions are based on current events and news like global summits , species related, rivers, national parks, etc.
Also XIIth Biology book’s last 5 chapters.
Science: NCERT Class VI to X science books for non-science students. Mostly focus should be on the Biology section. Questions are mostly current affairs based, one should read NCERTS for basic understanding of science.
Current Affairs: Selective newspaper(The Hindu or Indian Express ) reading. Learn how to read a newspaper in a smart way ( this can be done by memorizing syllabus and its keywords ).
Use one standard current affairs magazine of any renowned institute.
Use old UPSC papers of at least last 12-15 years for prelims. Practice PYQs to align your thought process with UPSC.
Mock Test papers of good institutes ( Practice at least 30-40 sectional and full length tests ). The purpose of solving these tests is to minimize the mistakes and develop intelligent guesses to eliminate the options.
The Best Strategy to prepare for CSAT is to solve past years CSAT Papers from 2011 to the recent year.
For CSAT, test series are the best way to prepare. First, attempt a few tests and then figure out which areas or topics are challenging for you. For example, questions with clocks, seating arrangements, and blood relation questions are a few difficult topics.
You should focus mix of all the sections ( ie. Quant, reasoning , comprehension etc.) and should not rely only on one section.
In case, you still need additional inputs, you may refer to such books for developing basic concepts and practice :
Paper – 2 Manual by MHE (CSAT – Paper 2)
Analytical Reasoning – M. K. Pandey (CSAT – Paper 2: Analytical Reasoning)
Verbal & Non-Verbal Reasoning – R. S.Aggarwal (CSAT Paper 2: Reasoning)
NOTE: The CSAT paper is not to be taken lightly else this might stop you entering into the Mains examination.
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