How to Become IAS Officer: Governance is present in various states all over India, apart from this, there are various administrative departments under Union Territories and Government of India. In which the responsibility of smoothing the administrative machinery falls under the respective state and central government. In most of the administrative departments, the high level officers are of the IAS level / status, about which most of the people are curious to know.
If you also want to know what happens after the IAS officer and on which various posts are appointed in the administration, then the information given by the article will prove to be important for you.
Here we will tell you what is the required exam for an IAS officer, eligibility, exam syllabus, various posts given under IAS, salary given to an IAS officer, IAS full form etc. It will be our endeavor to keep all the aspects related to this subject in front of you so that you can get more benefit.
Full Form of IAS: How to Become IAS Officer
Often most of you must have read or heard the word IAS many times or have seen an officer working in such a post in your district, city or state. If you do not know the full form of this IAS yet, then let us tell you that the full form of IAS is ‘Indian Administrative Service‘, which translates to Indian Administrative Service in Hindi.
In India, this post and the people working in the post are considered very prestigious, who are generally addressed as IAS officers.
Further, we will introduce you to more interesting things related to this post, which will also solve many doubts in your mind.
Exam To Become an IAS Officer
If there will be a question in your mind that what to do so that you too can become an IAS officer in future, then tell you that every year Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) all over India. The exam is conducted under C.
This commission completes the selection process of high level officers on various posts for Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service, Indian Revenue Service, Indian Foreign Service, Statistics Department, Indian Forest Department etc.
This exam is also known mainly as Civil Services Examination. Combined examination is taken for Indian Police Service, Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service, and Indian Revenue Department, which candidates are in selected for various departments on the basis of the last obtained marks.
Here, the candidates who get high marks on the first rank according to the category are given the option for the Indian Administrative Service, after that there are options for other departments, the details of which we have given you above.
Eligibility To Become an IAS Officer
Many times there is confusion in the mind of some candidates that what eligibility criteria have to be fulfilled, due to which they are considered eligible for the IAS exam.
Here we want to assure you that we will try to solve your curiosity and doubts in an easy way with the right information, the details of which are as follows:
1. Age Eligibility – Age Limit Criteria
The minimum age of the interested candidate should be 21 years and the maximum age should be 32 years, here the candidates who have got caste reservation are given age relaxation for the examination. Under which Other Backward Classes (OBC) get 3 years, SC/ST candidates get age relaxation of up to 5 years.
10 years for Physically Challenged / Disabled candidates in other reserved category, 5 years for Ex-Serviceman, Same Ex-Security Personnel who is Physically Disabled Ex-Servicemen in any way They are given age relaxation up to 3 years here.
2. Citizenship Eligibility
All the candidates who want to apply for the IAS exam, it is mandatory for all of them to have citizenship of India here.
Apart from this, the citizens of Nepal, Bhutan, the neighboring country of India, all those who have Indian citizenship are all considered eligible for this exam.
According to other citizenship norms, citizens who have migrated from Tibet and settled in India before January 1, 1962 and have Indian citizenship, they are all considered eligible for this exam.
Talking about the people displaced from other countries of the world, then Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, East African countries, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Zaire and Asian countries came from Vietnam and settled in India who had Indian citizenship. All of them are considered eligible for this exam.
3. Educational Eligibility – Education Criteria
Here we will tell you which eligibility related to education you have to fulfill, by which you are considered eligible for IAS, these include the following important things such as:
- When it comes to eligibility related to education, then it has to be understood here that if you are interested for IAS, then it is mandatory to pass your minimum graduation / bachelor’s degree. Here, even if you have passed a bachelor’s degree from any education stream, you are considered eligible, this means that the commission has not made any specific education stream mandatory.
- The interested candidate is required to have passed the bachelor’s degree from any recognized university, that means the university from where you have passed the bachelor’s degree should be under UGC.
- Students studying in the final year of graduation can also apply for the IAS exam, here it is important that such candidates should have successfully completed the final year of graduation till the final selection process.
4. Attempt Limit for Exam – Number Attempts Limit
We will understand in detail that what has been decided by the commission for the examination of the candidates who come under different categories, the details of which are as follows:
- Candidates belonging to the general category are given the maximum number of attempts in the civil examination 6 times, which means that the candidates belonging to the general category can attempt 6 times for 32 years of age.
- The candidates belonging to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) can attempt a total of 9 times to crack the civil examination, according to this criterion up to 35 years of age, the candidates appearing in this category can try to pass.
- There is no limit for the candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes category, which clearly means that the candidates who come under this category will try to get success in this examination till 37 years of their age.
- Ex-Serviceman, Physically Disabled Ex-Serviceman and general candidates who are physically challenged, all of them have been given the maximum number of attempts in the civil examination 9 times.
Read More:
- How to Become a Professor
- How to Become an Advocate
- How to Become an Accountant
- How to Become ACP
- How to Become Army Officer
IAS Officer Exam Format
Now we will give information on that important aspect, about which it is absolutely necessary for all of you to know, that is the basic format of IAS exam, the details of which are given below, such as:
- Civil Service Preliminary Exam
- Civil Service Main Exam
- Interview
You can achieve the status of IAS only after successfully passing the above-given examination in all the three stages.
Although you do not have to qualify any type of written or multiple choice test in the interview stage, but the marks obtained in this stage are added with your final result. Therefore, the students who are not able to perform better or fail in this stage have to start again from the first stage.
1. Format of Pre Exam – Civil Service Preliminary Exam Format
The format of the pre-examination is multiple choice, where you have four options available as answer for the given question, out of which you have to choose one of the correct options as the answer.
A total of 2 papers of this type (General Study 1 and General Study 2) are fixed for the pre-examination, which carry 200 marks independently, thus combining the marks of both the papers, there is a pre-examination of 400 marks. To solve both these papers, you are given 2 hours independently, in which the mark of your correct answer is deducted for the wrong answer of 3 questions.
2. Format of Main Exam – Civil Service Main Exam Format
Now you have to understand the format of the exam to be taken in this stage by paying deep attention, because most of the people have a lot of confusion about the format of the main exam. So our request to you is that there is absolutely no need to worry more, because we will provide you information about this subject in a very simple way.
So let’s have a look at the main exam format which is as follows:
- Eligibility for Paper 2 (Paper A and Paper B)
- Essay paper
- General Study Paper (Total Paper No. 4)
- Optional Paper / Elective Paper (Total Paper No. 2)
The main thing here is to understand that all the papers given above have to be solved in writing, initially both the papers to be taken for eligibility are 300 marks independently. While all the other seven papers carry 250 marks independently, in this way you have to solve a total of 9 papers in the main exam in writing.
In Paper A of the eligibility paper, you have to select any one language for the examination out of the 22 languages accepted as a language in the Constitution of India, the list of which you get on the official website of the Commission.
Paper B is of English language, in which you have to solve various questions in writing, here your understanding and knowledge related to English language is tested.
Let us tell you that the candidates who pass both these papers with good marks, their other papers are taken into consideration by the commission and the results are declared accordingly. In other cases, the candidates who fail in the first two papers of the eligibility test are considered ineligible.
Next, you have to clear a total of seven papers, the format of which is written, mainly 1 essay paper, 4 papers of general studies and 2 optional subject papers.
Here for the optional subject paper, you are given the option to choose the subject according to your wish by the commission. For this, the list of optional subjects is made available by the commission on the official website.
3. Interview
The final stage of the Civil Services Examination is of Interview, in which the time-keeping, decision-making ability, etiquette, reasoning, etc. of the candidate are tested by the committee of experts formed by the commission.
Let us tell you that the interview carries a total of 275 marks, according to which the final result is declared by adding the total marks obtained in the interview and the marks of the main examination.
Civil Service Exam Syllabus
Pre Exam Syllabus – Civil Service Preliminary Exam Syllabus
General Studies (Paper – 1)
- National and International Current Affairs.
- History of India and Indian National Movement.
- Geography of India and the World – Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.
- Indian Polity and Administrative System – Constitution of India, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues.
- Social and Economic Development – Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Population Statistics, Social Department Initiatives etc.
- General issues related to environmental ecology, biodiversity, environmental change.
general Science
General Study Paper (Paper – 2)
- Comprehension
- Interpersonal skills including communication skills
- Logical Reasoning & Analytical Ability
- Decision Making & Problem Solving
- General Mental Ability
- Basic Numeracy
IAS Exam Syllabus
Qualifying Papers
English Language
- comprehension of given passage
- precision writing
- Usage and Vocabulary
- short essay
Indian Language
- precision writing
- comprehension of given passage
- short essay
- Usage and Vocabulary
- Translation from English to the Indian Language and Vice Versa
Papers to be counted for Merit
- Paper 1 – Essay (250 Marks)
Write an essay on the given topics.
- Paper 2 – General Studies – 1 (250 Marks)
Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society
- Paper 3 – General Studies – 2 (250 Marks)
Administrative System, Indian Constitution, Politics, Social Justice and International Relations
- Paper 4 – General Studies – 3 (250 Marks)
Technology, Economic Development, Biodiversity, Environment, Security and Emergency Situation Control
- Paper 5 – General Studies – 4 (250 Marks)
ethics, integrity, competency
- Paper 6 – Optional Subject-1 – 250 Marks
- Paper 7 – Optional Subject – 2 (Optional Subject 2) – 250 Marks
IAS Officer Salary
Initially a salary of about Rs.57,000 per month is given to an IAS officer, which increases by about Rs.2,50,000 per month according to promotion.
Designation Held by IAS Officer
Below we have given the details of some of the major posts, on which the selected candidates are appointed by the IAS, these prominently include.
- Deputy District Officer
- CEO Of District Council
- Municipal Corporation
- District Collector
- Divisional Commissioner
- Member of Revenue Board
- Chairman of Revenue Board
- Assistant District Officer (Joint Collector)
- Chief Development Officer
In this way, till now you have learned about all the major aspects related to IAS, we are sure that you would have liked the given information very much and it will definitely benefit you in future.
If you like the information, then definitely share it with other people, thank you very much for staying connected with us.
Read More:
Most Frequently Asked Questions Related to IAS
Q1. How to Prepare for IAS?
Ans: From the time of graduation you should start collecting books related to civil service exam. Make a habit of reading various newspapers coming daily, out of which read the information of important national and international events, which will strengthen your current affairs. The format of the main exam is written, so practice writing as well as reading, practice solving math’s questions and other questions related to reasoning power with English language as much as possible. For the study of this competitive examination, submit various educational materials, old question papers, notes etc. or take the help of internet. Pay attention to study more than NCERT books, continuity in studies is essential here.
Q2. Which optional subjects prove to be better for IAS Mains exam?
Ans: Public Administration, Geography, History, Social Science, Political Science, Psychology etc.
Q3. Who can suspend an IAS officer?
Ans: IAS officers work in various positions in the state government, union territory etc. Therefore, according to Indian law, if an IAS officer is found guilty, then necessary things are investigated by the concerned state government or central government. In this situation, if the charges are proved against such officer, then the state government and the central government have all the right to suspend them.
Q4. What is the full form of IAS?
Ans: Indian Administrative Service.
Q5. Tell me what is the age limit for IAS exam?
Ans: Minimum 21 years and maximum 32 years.