UPSC IAS Exam Dates – Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the UPSC IAS 2020 prelims (which was scheduled to be held on 31 May, 2020) was postponed. The new exam dates of the Prelims exam were expected to be announced on 20th May 2020. As per the latest announcement by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on 05th June 2020, “The UPSC Civil Services (IAS) and IFS preliminary examinations will now be conducted on 04th October 2020 (Sunday). The Civil Services (Mains) exam will be conducted on 08th January 2021 while India Forest Services (Main) exam will be held on 28th February 2021”.
Read this article to know everything related to the UPSC IAS 2020 exam dates.
Latest Update: The new dates for UPSC Civil Services Examination (Prelims) have been released on 05th June 2020 (Friday). As per the new schedule, the prelim examinations for IAS and IFS will be held on 04th October 2020 (Sunday). Furthermore, the Civil Services (Mains) exam ad IFS (Main) exam will be held on 08th January 2021 and 28th February 2021 respectively.
Civil Services Exam Dates – Key Dates
Key Events in UPSC IAS 2020 examination
|
12 February 2020 |
UPSC issued the Civil Services (IAS) Exam notification. About 796 vacancies will be filled with the posts. |
|
3 March 2020 |
IAS online application was accepted till this date. |
|
04 October 2020 |
IAS Prelims Exam likely to be conducted in offline mode. (Defered) |
|
To be announced |
IAS Prelim results |
|
08 January 2021 |
IAS Main Exam |
Civil Services Exam Dates – Number of Attempts
The number of attempts allowed is a key factor in deciding your candidature for IAS exam dates. General category candidates are allowed six attempts to qualify in the IAS exam while other category candidates are allowed a maximum of 9 attempts.
To know how to check results for CSE, read Civil Services (IAS) exam results here.
|
Category |
No. of Attempts |
|
General/EWS |
6 |
|
Other Backward Classes |
9 |
|
SC/ST |
Till the age limit |
|
Person with Disabilities |
Till the age limit |
Civil Services Exam Dates – Filling IAS DAF Form
Candidates who pass the IAS prelims exam are required to fill the Detailed Application Form(DAF) for the IAS main exam. The DAF is a very important document and plays a crucial role in the IAS Interview and during the service allocation process.
The DAF is important because the candidates mention their service preference and state preference in this form. Based on the information given in the DAF and the number of vacancies available, the services and the state cadres are allocated to the candidates after the IAS result.
Civil Services Exam Dates – Some Key Information
Although the Baswan Committee recommended the removal of the optional subject, there is no change in the IAS syllabus and exam pattern, as per the UPSC notification 2020. The list of optional subjects have also not changed in the new notification. It is interesting to note that there will be no penalty in case a candidate does not appear in the IAS prelims exam.
Out of 796 vacancies announced in the UPSC notification 2020, it is expected that about 180 vacancies will be reserved for IAS officers, 150 vacancies for IPSC officers and around 32 vacancies for Indian Foreign Services (IFS). There is a decline in the number of vacancies in other services.
According to the latest updates on UPSC IAS, tier breaking policies have been reintroduced in 2020. According to this policy, if two candidates have equal marks in the final aggregate total (as mentioned in the mark sheet), the commission will give preference to the candidate whose sum total of the marks (of IAS main compulsory papers i.e Essay & General Studies papers and the Personality Test) is greater. The age factor will also play a role.
Civil Services Exam Dates – Previous Year CSE Vacancies
180 IAS officers are recruited each year based on the cadre allocation documents given in the SSC (Staff Selection Commission) website.
The service-wise UPSC vacancies in all the Civil Services are as follows:
|
Service |
2017 |
2016 |
|
Indian Administrative Service |
180 |
180 |
|
Indian Foreign Service |
42 |
45 |
|
Indian Police Service |
150 |
150 |
|
Indian P & T Accounts & Finance Service, Group ‘A’ |
29 |
29 |
|
Indian Audit and Accounts Service, Group ‘A’ |
25 |
28 |
|
Indian Customs & Central Excise Service, Group ‘A’ |
41 |
104 |
|
Indian Defence Accounts Service, Group ‘A’ |
15 |
15 |
|
Indian Revenue Service (I.T.), Group ‘A’ |
180 |
200 |
|
Indian Ordnance Factories Service, Group ‘A’ (Assistant Works Manager, Administration) |
3 |
9 |
|
Indian Postal Service, Group ‘A’ |
25 |
9 |
|
Indian Civil Accounts Service, Group ‘A’ |
12 |
8 |
|
Indian Railway Traffic Service, Group ‘A’ |
63 |
65 |
|
Indian Railway Accounts Service, Group ‘A’ |
31 |
31 |
|
Indian Railway Personnel Service, Group ‘A’ |
27 |
23 |
|
Post of Assistant Security Commissioner in Railway Protection Force, Group ‘A’ |
15 |
15 |
|
Indian Defence Estates Service, Group ‘A’ |
19 |
9 |
|
Indian Information Service (Junior Grade), Group ‘A’ |
65 |
24 |
|
Indian Trade Service, Group ‘A’ |
5 |
4 |
|
Indian Corporate Law Service, Group ‘A’ |
10 |
30 |
|
Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service, Group ‘B’ (Section Officer’s Grade) |
67 |
218 |
|
Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Civil Service, Group ‘B’ |
22 |
5 |
|
Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Police Service, Group ‘B’ |
31 |
2 |
|
Pondicherry Civil Service, Group ‘B’ |
0 |
4 |
|
Pondicherry Police Service, Group ‘B’ |
1 |
2 |
|
Total |
1058 |
1209 |
Civil Services Exam Dates – UPSC Exam Schedule 2020
UPSC Exam Calendar
To follow current updates, check UPSC website here.
|
Exam Name |
Opening & Closing Date of Exam |
Commencement of Exam |
Duration |
|
Engineering Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2020 |
25 Sep 2019 to 15 Oct 2019 |
5th Jan 2020 |
1 DAY |
|
Combined Geo-Scientist (Preliminary) Examination, 2020 |
25 Sep 2019 to 15 Oct 2019 |
19th Jan 2020 |
1 DAY |
|
Reserved for UPSC RT/ Examination |
– |
19th Jan 2020 |
1 DAY |
|
C.D.S. Examination (I), 2020 |
30 Oct 2019 to 19 Nov 2019 |
2nd Feb 2020 |
1 DAY |
|
Reserved for UPSC RT/ Examination |
– |
23 Feb 2020 |
1 DAY |
|
CISF AC(EXE) LDCE-2020 |
4 Dec 2019 to 24 Dec 2019 |
1st March 2020 |
1 DAY |
|
Reserved for UPSC RT/ Examination |
8th March 2020 |
1 DAY |
|
|
N.D.A. & N.A. Examination (I), 2020 |
8 Jan 2020 to 28 Jan 2020 |
06th September 2020 |
1 DAY |
|
Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2020 |
12th Feb 2020 to 3rd March 2020 |
04th October 2020 |
1 DAY |
|
Indian Forest Service (Preliminary) Examination, 2020 through CS(P) Examination |
|||
|
I.E.S./I.S.S. Examination, 2020 |
10th June 2020 to 30th June 2020 |
16th October 2020 |
3 DAYS |
|
Combined Geo-Scientist (Main) Examination, 2020 |
– |
08th August 2020 |
2 DAYS |
|
Engineering Services (Main) Examination, 2020 |
– |
09th August 2020 |
1 DAY |
|
Reserved for UPSC RT/ Examination |
NA |
1 DAY |
|
|
Combined Medical Services Examination, 2020 |
22nd July 2020 to 11th August 2020 |
22nd October 2020 |
1 DAY |
|
Central Armed Police Forces (ACs) Examination, 2020 |
18th August 2020 to 07th September 2020 |
20th December 2020 |
1 DAY |
|
Reserved for UPSC RT/ Examination |
– |
NA |
1 DAY |
|
N.D.A. & N.A. Examination (II), 2020 |
10th June 2020 to 30th June 2020 |
6th September 2020 |
1 DAY |
|
Reserved for UPSC RT/ Examination |
– |
NA |
1 DAY |
|
Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2020 |
– |
08th January 2021 |
5 DAYS |
|
Reserved for UPSC RT/ Examination – EPFO |
NA |
1 DAY |
|
|
C.D.S. Examination (II), 2020 |
5th August 2020 to 25th August 2020 |
8th November 2020 |
1 DAY |
|
Indian Forest Service (Main) Examination, 2020 |
28th February 2020 |
10 DAYS |
|
|
S.O./Steno (GD-B/GD-I) LDCE |
16th September 2020 to 06th October 2020 |
12th December 2020 |
2 DAYS |
|
Reserved for UPSC RT/ Examination |
20th December 2020 |
1 DAY |
Civil Services Exam Dates – FAQs
Q. Why has IAS Prelims 2020 been postponed or deferred?
Due to the spread of novel coronavirus across the country, the prelims exam have been deferred. As per the latest announcement, the new exam date for civil services prelim examination is 04th October 2020.
Q. When is the IAS Prelims 2020 scheduled to be conducted?
The IAS Prelims 2020 exam was scheduled to be conducted on 31 May 2020. But now the exam has been postponed and the new date is 04th October 2020, as per the latest announcement.
Q. When was the UPSC IAS prelims and mains held in 2019?
IAS Prelims 2019 was held on 2 June, 2019 and the mains exams were held on multiple days based on papers - 20 September 2019, 21-22 September 2019, and 28-29 September 2019.
