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The UPSC conducts various types of exams such as civil services, forest services, defence services, engineering services, and economic service exams.
How many papers are there in the UPSC IFoS exam?
There are 6 papers in the UPSC IFoS mains exam and two papers in the IFoS prelims exam.
Which is the most popular UPSC exam?
The Civil Service Exam is the most popular exam conducted by UPSC.
How many attempts are there in the UPSC exam?
In UPSC there is a limit of a maximum of 6 attempts for general category candidates and 9 attempts for OBC.
How Many UPSC Exams Are There, Check List
Wondering how many UPSC exams are there? The answer is that approximately 14 exams are conducted by UPSC. Top UPSC exams, including CSE, EPFO, IFoS, and their respective subjects, are discussed here.
Anil Solonki1 Apr, 2025
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The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is an authorized constitutional body to recruit Group A and Group B officers. While it is well known for conducting the UPSC Civil Service Examination (CSE) annually, it organizes many other recruitment exams. As many as 14 UPSC exams are there each with unique selection criteria.
Some of the popular exams like UPSC CSE, UPSC IES, and UPSC IFoS are held annually, and exams such as UPSC CDS, UPSCNDA, etc. are held biannually. Also a few exams are like UPSC EPFO, Geologist, etc. are conductedafter one or three years.Candidates who clear UPSC exams are posted as officers in the elite services in India. Find out about UPSC exams and how many subjects are there in the UPSC exam in the below article.
How Many Exams Are There in UPSC?
UPSC exams are the gateway to becoming a Gazetted Officer in India. UPSC is entrusted with the authority to make rules, announce the exam date, release notifications, conduct the application process, organise the selection process, and publish the results of approximately 14 UPSC exams. The list of UPSC exams, excluding various other recruitment tests, mentions the following exam names as per the official website:
Civil Services Examination (UPSC CSE)
Indian Forest Service Examination (UPSC IFoS)
Indian Economic Service/Indian Statistical Service Examination (IES/ISS)
Employees Provident Fund Organisation EO/AO Examination
Combined Geo-Scientist Examination
Combined Defence Services Examination (I and II)
National Defence Academy (I and II)
Naval Academy Examination (I and II)
SO-Steno (GD-B-GD-I) LDCE
CISF AC(EXE) LDCE
Combined Medical Services Examination
Engineering Services Examination
Central Armed Police Forces (ACs) Examination
Geologist Examination
UPSC CSE Exam 2025
The UPSC Civil Service Examination (CSE) is one of the most popular among all UPSC exams. This exam is held to recruit the best candidates for the elite Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), and Indian Foreign Service (IFS) services. The UPSC CSE exam is conducted only once a year for 21 to 24 central government services.
UPSC Exam Pattern
The UPSC organizes CSE in three stages which are:
Preliminary:Also known as UPSC Prelims, this is the eliminator stage where candidates are shortlisted for the Main exam. The prelim is an objective examination with two papers worth 200 marks each. Candidates who score 33% marks in Paper II and above cut off of Paper I are selected for the next stage.
Mains: The UPSC Mains Examination is regarded as one of the most challenging stages among all major UPSC exams. A total of 9 descriptive type papers of 3-hour duration are there and candidates have to obtain maximum marks from a total of 1750. The score of this stage is calculated in the final UPSC merit list.
Personality Test: The third and last stage is the interview which is known as the Personality Test (PT) worth 275 marks. In this stage candidates selected in mains are examined by a panel of experienced professionals through a rigorous interview of 30 to 45 minutes duration.
Total Subjects in UPSC CSE
The UPSC CSE subjects are distributed into prelims and main stages. Usually, the notification of UPSC exams mentions the detailed syllabus from where candidates can know how many subjects are in UPSC. As per the latest UPSC exam pattern, there are two papers in UPSC prelims and nine papers in UPSC mains. The total subjects in the UPSC CSE exam are mentioned in the below table as per the stage:
UPSC Subjects List for Compulsory Papers
Stage
Paper
Subjects
UPSC Prelims
General Studies I
History
Geography
Political Science
Economics
General Science
Environmental Science
Current Affairs
General Studies II (CSAT)
Mathematics
Reasoning
English/Hindi Comprehension
UPSC Mains
Essay
General Studies I
Indian Heritage and Culture
Indian History
World History
Geography of India
World Geography
Society
General Studies II
Governance
Constitution
Indian Polity
Social Justice
International Relations
General Studies III
Science & Technology
Economic Development
Biodiversity
Security
Disaster Management
General Studies IV
Ethics
Integrity
Aptitude
In the UPSC Mains stage, candidates are allowed to pick any one subject for two mandatory optional papers. Candidates are free to choose any one subject from the list of48 subjects including literature subjects. Here is the list of 25 general optional subjects and 23 literature subjects:
UPSC Subjects List for Optional Papers
General Subjects
Literature Subjects
Agriculture
Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science
Anthropology
Botany
Chemistry
Civil Engineering
Commerce and Accountancy
Economics
Electrical Engineering
Geography
Geology
History
Law
Mathematics
Management
Mechanical Engineering
Medical Science
Physics
Philosophy
Political Science and International Relations
Psychology
Public Administration
Sociology
Statistics
Zoology
Assamese
Bengali
Bodo
Dogri
Gujarati
Hindi
Kannada
Kashmiri
Konkani
Maithili
Malayalam,
Manipuri
Marathi
Nepali
Odia
Punjabi
Sanskrit
Santhali
Sindhi
Tamil
Telugu
Urdu
English.
UPSC IFoS Exam
The Indian Forest Service (IFoS) is another well-known exam of the Union Public Service Commission. The UPSC IFoS is an All India Services (AIS) apart from the IAS and IPS. Candidates selected for this service work for the conservation and management of Indian wildlife. The selection process for IFoS is somewhat similar to the UPSC CSE exam
UPSC IFoS Exam Pattern
While the pattern of UPSC exams is different, the UPSC CSE and UPSC IFoS are similar in some extent. This is why the prelims stage is the same for both exams. The UPSC IFoS exam pattern is as follows:
Prelims: UPSC IFoS prelims and UPSC CSE prelims are the same only their cut-offs are announced separately. Since the number of vacancies is limited in IFS, the UPSC IFoS cut off is always higher than the UPSC CSE cut off.
Mains: It is this stage where both UPSC exams diverge. The UPSC IFoS Mains exam is conducted a few weeks after the UPSC CSE. There are six papers worth 1400 marks in IFoS Mains. The names are General English, General Knowledge, and four optional papers.
Interview: Candidates shortlisted in the written exam are invited for a UPSC IFoS interview worth 300 marks. Finally, the merit list is prepared ranking candidates in order of total marks scored out of 1700.
Total Subjects in UPSC IFoS
In the UPSC IFoS mains exam, there are 6 papers and 4 subjects. The compulsory subjects are General English and General Knowledge. Other than these two subjects are optional and candidates will have to appear in two papers for each optional subject. The UPSC has allowed to select any two optional subjects from the given list of 14 subjects. Here is the list:
Agriculture
Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science
Agricultural Engineering
Botany
Chemistry
Chemical Engineering
Civil Engineering
Forestry
Geology
Mathematics
Mechanical Engineering
Physics
Statistics
Zoology
Other Popular UPSC Exams
The UPSC Recruitment 2025 has started and other than fourteen regular exams it organizes certain recruitment tests for various government departments. Due to the specific nature of the exam, the syllabus and exam pattern differ which are detailed in the official notification. Here’s a list of some other popular UPSC exams, apart from the well-known CSE, EPFO, and IFoS:
Indian Economic Service (IES)/Indian Statistical Service (ISS): Focuses on economics and statistics.
Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS): For those interested in the Indian Railway's operations and management.
Indian Foreign Service (IFS): Diplomacy-focused exam, for those aiming to represent India in foreign countries.
Combined Medical Services (CMS): For recruitment to various medical posts in government services.
Geologists Examination: Focuses on geological sciences, intended for those pursuing a career in the Geological Survey of India.
Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF): For recruitment into the paramilitary forces like CRPF, BSF, etc.
Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner (APFC): For recruitment into the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).
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