IAS Exam Eligibility

When you are going to through hell just keep walking. This is the formula of competitive exams like an IAS exam. But there is a limited attempts and age is given for this exam. So if you are an IAS aspirant then you must know every detail about this exam. Also, go ahead with online age calculator to know the age criteria.


Degree of graduation from

  • Your graduation degree will be accepted if you have degree of any university incorporated by an Act of the Central or state Legislature in India.
  • Or even if you have degree from any educational institutions established by an Act of parliament.
  • Or any university which has received certificate from University Grants commission act, 1956.
  • Or have equal qualification.
  • Those who are final year students they can also go for this exam.


Age criteria for IAS exam

The minimum age which is required for appearing for this exam is 21 years. So if you are 21 years of age 1st august of that given year it means you can go for this exam. Well, one can check out the age using online age calculator.

Upper age limit

  • Upper age is equally important. One cannot appear for the exam of the date 1 august if he or she is upper that age. But there is profit to some people but there is even loss for some people because this varies according to category.
  • Those who are general category students they can only appear for this exam till 32 years.
  • Upper age limit for OBC – 35 years
  • Those who belong to SC/ ST age of group they get opportunity till 7 years.
  • Upper age limit for the defence services personnel disabled in operations during hostilities with any foreign country or in a disturbed area and released as a consequence thereof – it is 35 years.
  • Those who are Ex-service man and the upper age limit for such people is 37 years. This chance is given to such people who have served in the military service for 5 years.
  • Those candidates who are wishing to appear in this exam and they are blind, deaf mute and orthopedically handicapped persons (general category) the upper age limit for such candidates is 42 years.


Attempts for IAS candidates

This is important to know how many attempts will be there for UPSC Civil service candidates! Because all candidates have their age limit according to their category but those who might be thinking that if they have lost of attempt and it is just the age which is limited then they must halt there. So let’s know how many attempts you get?
  • The number of attempts for general category candidates is only 6 attempts till the age of 32 years.
  • Those who belong to OBC category they have 9 attempts till the age of 35 years.
  • Those who belongs to SC/ ST they have unlimited attempts till the age of 37 years.
Important note – Those who are handicapped and disabled from general categories they will have profit of 9 attempts till the age of 42 years.

The process of counting exam for civil service exam

So those candidates who fill up the form and appear at the exam! This will be counted as attempts. But if the candidate would have filled up the form and did not go to the prelims exam. That filling up form will not be counted.

Exam is divided into three stages

Those candidates who are preparing for the examination they will have to appear at the three stages assessment. The first stage will be for passing prelims and then there will be Mains and then personal interview. The Prelims is taken from the purpose of picking up the best candidates for Mains! About 15 lakhs students appear for the examination of prelims. The two papers are mandatory to them to attempt.

Syllabus of IAS exam

The syllabus of IAS exam is not an easy cake to eat. It demands a lot of preparation before you are actually preparing the cake instead. Syllabus of the exam is actually divided into three parts, prelims, mains and interview. The main exam has 9 papers and syllabus depends on the subject you have chosen. Prelims and mains syllabus is a written test.

Highlights of the exam

So it is obvious there will be an inner motivation that is why you are going behind such a tough exam. So 20 services falls under the category of this exam like IAS, IPS, IFS. All exam process starts in June month and it concludes in the month of May.

Roles and responsibility of IAS officer

So being an IAS officer is not an easy task obviously. From deciding to do IAS and getting result everything is going to be tough choice always. As it is a complete responsibility of your government. So no one could pick up candidates just for the sake of picking up. It demands a lot of preparation not just for the exam but also for the preparation mentally. There will be lots of such decisions which an IAS officer has to take. They need to help in implementing policies comprises disbursement of funds via personal supervision. Although the functions and responsibility of an IAS officer depends upon the level of career!

Things to do or not to do

  • When you are preparing for the exam you need to know few of things.
  • You should not write any irrelevant matters in the answer booklet.
  • The other thing will help you in increasing marks by not mentioning any particular his or her identity in the answer sheet.
  • Candidates should also ignore using ink and pencil in a wrong way.
  • Writing should be clean and clear. Otherwise it will be tough to read for the examiner.

Final words

These are some important details about an IAS aspirant. Do not try to take it lightly otherwise this will be tough to get what you want, before you appear for the examination it means you will have to think about your preparation and chances wisely.