Civil Services Examination is conducted annually to fill vacancies in 24 different Government services.Apart from Civil Service Examination, the other different national level exams conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) are Combined Geo-Scientist and Geologist Examination, Engineering Services Examination, Combined Defence Service Examination, National Defence Academy and Naval Academy Examination, Central Armed Police Forces Examination, Combined Medical Services Examination.

Candidates can download the UPSC Admit Card by visiting the official website (www.upsc.gov.in).To download the admit card, a candidate needs his date of birth and registration ID or roll number. UPSC Admit Card for Civil Services examination, 2021 is expected to be released 3 weeks before the date of examination. Once the candidates visit the website, the link for admit card will be available on the home page.

UPSC Online Application Form for 2021 will be released with UPSC Notification. The ‘apply online’ portal for registration will open then. UPSC online application can be downloaded from the official website. UPSC Online application will commence from 10th February 2021. The UPSC 2021 Prelims exam will be conducted on 27th June 2021. The results of the Prelims exam will be released in Mid-July 2021. The Civil Service Mains examination is scheduled to be held on 17th September 2021. The third stage, the interview dates will be announced at a later stage.

UPSC conducts Civil Service examination for recruitment in the following  services: Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Forest Service, Indian Revenue Service (IRS), Indian Trade Service, Group ‘A’, Indian Corporate Law Service, Group “A”, Indian P & T Accounts & Finance Service, Group ‘A’,Indian Postal Service, Group ‘A’, Indian Audit and Accounts Service, Group ‘A’, Indian Defence Estates Service, Group ‘A’, Indian Customs & Central Excise Service, Group ‘A’, Indian Defence Accounts Service, Group ‘A’, Indian Ordnance Factories Service, Group ‘A’ (Assistant Works Manager, Administration), Indian Railway Traffic Service, Group ‘A’, Indian Civil Accounts Service, Group ‘A’, Indian Railway Personnel Service, Group ‘A’, Indian Railway Accounts Service, Group ‘A’, Post of Assistant Security Commissioner in Railway Protection Force, Group ‘A’, Indian Information Service (Junior Grade), Group ‘A’, Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service, Group ‘B’ (Section Officer’s Grade), Pondicherry Civil Service, Group ‘B’, Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands,Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Civil Service, Group ‘B’ Service, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Police Service, Group ‘B’, Delhi, Pondicherry Police Service, Group ‘B’ .

The Civil Services Mains examination will have 9 papers. The duration of all the nine papers are 3 hours. Paper A and B are of 300 marks each and Papers I to VII are of 250 marks each. Overall in the Mains stage of the UPSC Examination, the candidates will be assessed for a maximum score of 1750 marks. Candidates who clears the mains examination will move onto the next and final stage i.e. interview stage. In the Interview stage, candidates will be assessed for a maximum score of 275 marks. In the mains stage of civil service examination, two papers are dedicated for optional subjects. Candidates can choose any one optional subject from a range of 25 different optional subjects. Some of the optional subjects available are Political Science & International Relations, Commerce & Accountancy, Public Administration, Law, Physics, Statistics etc. Paper A is a compulsory Language paper, candidates can choose one of the Indian languages from the list, provided by the UPSC.