UPSC Syllabus, IAS Syllabus 2021

The full form of UPSC is Union Public Service Commission which conducts Civil Services Examination (CSE) across India. Above all, it is a National level competitive examination in which millions of aspirants across the nation take part. Because of these much applicants, the exam becomes lot more competitive and rigorous to crack. But, if you know the syllabus for the exams, you can prepare wisely by making schedules and you can appear for the exams fully prepared with no worries! Excited? So, let’s go through the syllabus.

Civil Services Exam (UPSC Exam) consists of overall two exams:

Preliminary Exam (Objective)

Preliminary Exam is the first exam which an aspirant attends firstly. Secondly, it is an objective type exam. A candidate needs to pass this exam in order to qualify for the Main Examination.

Main Examination (Written and Interview)

Main Examination consists of written part as well as the interview part. Subsequently, qualifying this exam will result the candidate to be placed for various services and posts mentioned in the official notification according to their performance.

Preliminary Exam Syllabus and pattern

Preliminary Exam is the first step towards cracking the UPSC. This exam involves two papers : General studies I (GS I) and General studies II (GS II) or CSAT. Both papers are mandatory to attempt with each paper carrying a maximum marks of 200. Therefore, total marks for the Prelims will be 400. The cutoff is based on GS I only. GS I consists of 100 questions and CSAT consists of 80 questions both of which are in MCQ format. Moreover, there is also a negative marking with 1/3 of the mark allotted to a question will be deducted if the answer is incorrect.

G S I consists of several subjects like Indian history, Post Independence era, Indian National movement, Geography, General Science (Physics, Chemistry, Biology), Indian polity, Environment, Economical studies, Technology and current affairs, issues on biodiversity, environment and climate. In contrast, CSAT paper is more of logical reasoning and analytical type. Moreover, the subjects covered in CSAT are logical reasoning, analytical ability, English passage comprehension, communication skills, mental ability, data interpretation, numeracy.

After clearing the Prelims, it’s time to head for the Mains!

Subjects to be covered in Prelims:

  1. Sociology
  2. Economics
  3. History
  4. Geography
  5. General Science (Physics, Chemistry, Biology)
  6. Indian polity/civics
  7. Environmental Science (EVS)

Book recommended : NCERT

Mains Examination Syllabus and Pattern (UPSC Exam)

After an applicant qualifies Preliminary Examination, he appears for the Mains. Therefore, it is necessary for an applicant know the subjects of the Mains. The Mains syllabus is generally Degree level type. Additionally, it consists of total of 9 papers, out of which 7 are ranking type and two are qualifying in nature. In addition, mains syllabus is widespread and it covers some part of the prelims itself. Therefore, it is generally advised to prepare the prelims syllabus as well for the Mains.

Syllabus covered in Mains are :

  1. GS 1 (From Prelims)
  2. GS 2 (From Preliminary)
  3. General Studies 3 – Technology, biodiversity, disaster management, economic development,
  4. General Studies 4 – Integrity, aptitude, ethics
  5. Essay
  6. Indian languages
  7. English
  8. Optional Subjects

Apart from the General Studies, the mains exam have two optional papers, two language papers, and one essay paper which are qualifying in nature. Similarly, essay paper has 2 sections with each section consisting of 4 essays. Further, in the case of optional subjects you can choose from 25 subjects and 23 language literatures.

Compulsory PapersScienceSocial ScienceLanguagesOther Subjects
General Studies (I, II,III,IV)BiologyEconomics Assamese, BodoMedical Science
EnglishChemistryGeographyGujarati, ManipuriCivil Engineering
EssayAnthropologySociologyBengali, MarathiMechanical Engineering
Indian LanguagesAgricultureLawNepali, OriyaElectrical Engineering
MathematicsPublic AdministrationDogri, EnglishManagement
StatisticsIndian HistoryUrdu, MalayalamCommerce
PhysicsPhilosophyHindi, Sanskrit
GeologyPolitics/CivicsMaithili, Telugu
Veterinary ScienceKonkani, Tamil
Kashmiri, Kannada
Santali, Sindhi
Punjabi
Syllabus for Prelims

Personality Test

When the applicant qualify Mains he will be called for the personal interview. This round is conducted by the UPSC board to select the desired candidate for the career based on his mental ability, decision making skills. Confidence and integrity plays a major role in this round.

In UPSC, a candidate’s final merit list depends upon the mains and personality test. The cut-off is calculated based on the marks scored by a candidate out of 2025.

UPSC Syllabus for Anthropology

Anthropology is the study of what makes us human. An Anthropologist is the person who studies Anthropology. He conducts studies through the fossils, archaeological remains and observes different aspects of human experience from the past to the present. Anthropology is one of the optional subjects for the mains. Above all, aspirants who are opting Anthropology should know the syllabus which can come in the Mains. Therefore the syllabus for the Anthropology for UPSC are:

IAS Anthropology syllabus: Paper I
Anthropology Optional subject for UPSC has 2 papers. Each paper is of 250 marks with total marks of 500.
1) Meaning, Scope and development of Anthropology.
2) Anthropology relation with other disciplines : Social Sciences, behavioural sciences, Medical, Earth sciences.
3) Main branches of Anthropology, scope and relevance : Social-cultural, Biological, Archaeological, Linguistic Anthropology.
4) Human evolution
5) Characteristics of Primates : Evolutionary trend, taxonomy, behaviour,
6) Phylogenetic status : Australopithecus, Homo erectus, Neanderthal man, Rhodesian man, Homo sapiens.
7) Cell, DNA, replication, Gene, Mutation, Chromosomes, cell division.
8) Principles of prehistoric Archaeology, Chronology, Relative and absolute dating methods.
9) Cultural Evolution
10) Nature of Culture, Society, Marriage, family, Kinship, Economic organization, Political organization and social control, religion.
11) Anthropological theories
12) Culture, Language and Communication.
13) Research methods in Anthropology
14) Human Genetics
15) Applications of Anthropology
IAS Anthropology syllabus : Paper II
1) Evolution of Indian culture and Civilization
2) Palaeo
3) Ethno-archaeology in India
4) Demographic profile of India
5) Caste system in India
6) Indian village
7) Tribal situation in India
8) Problems of tribal communities

Dear aspirants, please stay tuned for more updates and study hard.
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