The IAS Exam will consist of three stages: Prelims, Mains, and Interview (Personality Test). While the Preliminary exam will be objective in nature, the mains will be written while the personality test is verbal.

You have to clear the preceding stage to reach the next stage of IAS 2013 Exam. For instance you will need to first crack the IAS prelims, then appear for the mains, and based on the marks obtained you may be called for the IAS interview, the final frontier.

Educational Eligibility for IAS

To appear for the IAS exam you will first need to apply for it. All the three stages of the IAS exam are conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), a Constitutional body answerable to the Union Parliament.

The notification for the Civil Services Preliminary Examination (or just IAS prelims) will appear in the Employment News and on UPSC's website on 02-02-2013 and you can apply either online or through application forms available at the Head Post Offices throughout cities in India.

Remember: You cannot directly appear for the Mains or Interview. Rather you have to first apply for the Preliminary examination conducted by UPSC before proceeding to the next stage.

The last date of receipt of your application is 04-03-2013. At this stage you don't have to send any documents about your age or educational qualifications. They will be required at the time of filling the IAS Mains form.

The Preliminary exam or the first stage of the IAS Exam 2013 will be held on 19-05-2013.

Here is some basic and important information about the Prelims if you intend to appear for the ias exam in 2013.

• The IAS Prelims will be objective in nature and consist of two papers compulsory to all
• Most questions carry a negative penalty or negative marking of 0.33 marks for each wrong answer
• Each paper will of 200 marks each and 2 hours in duration. The number of questions in each paper is not fixed and can vary every year
• You have to appear for both papers, held on the same day, for your papers to be checked
• Even if you appear for one paper, your attempt is counted
• If you merely apply for the Prelims but do not appear for the exam then your attempt is not counted

As already mentioned, the Prelims is objective in nature and each question carries four choices out of which the candidate has to select one right option. The new CSAT or Prelims syllabus was introduced from the 2011 exam and is as follows.

(Paper 1) (200 marks) - Duration : Two hrs

• Current events of national and international importance
• History of India and Indian national movement
• Indian and World Geography- physical, social, economic geography of India and the world
• Indian Polity and governance constitution, political system, panchayati raj, public policy, Rights issues, etc.
• Economic and social development sustainable development, poverty, inclusion, demographics, social sector initiatives etc.
• General issues on environmental ecology, bio-diversity and climate change-that donot require subject specialization
• General science.

(Paper II) (200 marks) Duration : Two hrs

• Comprehension
• Interpersonal skills including communication skills
• Logical reasoning and analytical ability
• Decision making and problem solving
• General mental ability
• Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude etc. (Class X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. Class X level)
• English language comprehension skills (Class X level)
• Questions relating to English Language Comprehension skills of Class X level (last item in the Syllabus of Paper-II) will be tested through passages from English language only without providing Hindi translation thereof in the question paper.
• The questions will be of multiple choice, objective type.

IAS 2013 Mains Examination Details