UPSC Civil Services Exam 2021: Prelims notification released, application process begins

Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Friday released the official advertisement for civil services prelims exam 2021 as well as Indian Forest Services Prelims exams 2021. The official notification can be downloaded from the official website- upsc.gov.in. With the release of notification, the online application process has also been started. According to the calendar, the UPSC will conduct the preliminary exams for civil services and forest services on June 27, 2021. 

The last date to apply for UPSC Civil Services Prelims Exams 2021 and Indian Forest Services Prelims Exams 2021 is March 24, 2021 (till 6 pm). Aspirants can apply online at upsconline.nic.in or upsc.gov.in. Candidates who have a bachelor's degree in any discipline from any recognized university can apply for the UPSC civil services prelims exam 2021. Earlier, the UPSC civil services prelims notification 2021 was scheduled to be released on February 10. However, the release was delayed. 

Age Limit: A candidate must be aged between 21 years and 32 years on the 1st of August, 2021. This means the candidate must have been born not earlier than 2nd August 1989 and not later than 1st August 2000. Relaxation in the upper age limit has been provided to the candidates belonging to reserved categories. 

Click here for UPSC annual calendar 2021-22.

Number of Attempts: Candidates of an unreserved category can attempt the civil services paper a maximum of six times. Candidates of the PwD (persons with disability) category under OBC, GL/EWS/OBC can attempt the paper nine times while there is no limit for SC/ST category candidates. However, the candidates who have not crossed the upper age limit can avail a maximum number of attempts.

Application Fee: Candidates (excepting Female/SC/ST/Persons with Benchmark Disability Candidates who are exempted from payment of fee) are required to pay a fee of Rs. 100/- (Rupees One Hundred only) either by remitting the money in any Branch of State Bank of India or by using Visa/Master/RuPay Credit/Debit Card or by using Internet Banking of SBI.

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UPSC IFS Educational Qualification: A candidate must hold a Bachelor's degree with at least one of the subjects namely Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science, Botany, Chemistry, Geology, Mathematics, Physics, Statistics and Zoology or a Bachelor's degree in Agriculture, Forestry or in Engineering of any of the recognized universities. Candidates are advised to read the official notification of IFS Prelims 2021 Exams for age limit, the number of attempts, and exam pattern.

UPSC IAS, IPS Civil Services 2021 Exam Pattern

Candidates will have to clear a preliminary exam of 400 marks. The questions will be objective in nature. The General Studies Paper-II of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination will be a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%.The duration of each paper will be two hours.

Click here to apply online for UPSC civil services prelims exam 2021
Click here for UPSC civil services exams 2021 notification

Candidates who clear the prelims exam will have to appear for the main exam. Two papers- A and B will be of 300 marks each. These will be qualifying papers. Paper A will be one of the Indian Language to be selected by the candidate from the Languages while paper B will be English. Check exam pattern of papers to be counted for merit here :

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