Civil Services Exam (IAS) Dates – Key Dates, CSE Vacancies

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.

Get latest exam updates

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.

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31 May 2020

04 October 2020

IAS Prelims Exam likely to be conducted in offline mode. (Defered)

To be announced

IAS Prelim results 

18 September 2020

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.

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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

19th Apr 2020

06th September 2020

1 DAY

Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2020

12th Feb 2020 to 3rd March 2020

31st May 2020

04th October 2020

1 DAY

Indian Forest Service (Preliminary) Examination, 2020 through CS(P) Examination 

I.E.S./I.S.S. Examination, 2020

25th March 2020 to 13th April 2020

10th June 2020 to 30th June 2020

26th June 2020

16th October 2020 

3 DAYS

Combined Geo-Scientist (Main) Examination, 2020

27th June 2020

08th August 2020

2 DAYS

Engineering Services (Main) Examination, 2020

28th June 2020

09th August 2020

1 DAY

Reserved for UPSC RT/ Examination

 

5th July 2020

NA

1 DAY

Combined Medical Services Examination, 2020

8th April 2020 to 28th April 2020

22nd July 2020 to 11th August 2020 

19th July 2020

22nd October 2020

1 DAY

Central Armed Police Forces (ACs) Examination, 2020

22nd April 2020 to 12th May 2020

18th August 2020 to 07th September 2020

9th August 2020

20th December 2020

1 DAY

Reserved for UPSC RT/ Examination

23rd August 2020

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

13th September 2020

NA

1 DAY

Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2020

18th September 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

 

22nd November 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.

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