CIVIL SERVICE MAIN EXAM:
The Civil Services Main examination is designed to test the academic talent of the aspirant, also his/her ability to present his/ her knowledge in a clear and coherent manner. The main Examination is intended to assess the overall intellectual traits and depth of understanding of candidates rather than merely the range of their information and memory.
The UPSC has revised the pattern of Civil Services Main examination from 2013.
Now there are 7 papers to be answered in the main examination and all of them are of descriptive type.
The total marks of the written examination will be 1750 Marks.
The Interview/Personality Test will be of 275 marks.
The Grand Total 2025 Marks
- The candidate is allowed to use any one language from the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution or English as the medium of writing the examination.
- There is only “ONE” optional subject to choose from the list of subjects. It comprises of two papers each of 250 marks with a total of 500 marks.
- Candidate is allowed to take up literature as an optional subject “without the conditionality of having to do his/her graduation in that language’s literature.
- The scope of the syllabus of optional paper is higher than the bachelor’s degree but lower than the master’s level.
- According to the new pattern there are “FOUR” General Studies paper each comprising of 250 Marks with a total of 1000 Marks. So the weight-age of General Study papers is increased.
- The scope of the syllabus of General Studies is of degree level.
Summary of the Latest Pattern of Civil Services (Mains) Examination
All the details of the subjects in each paper will be given in a simple PDF format in the end.
The Optional Subjects :
(is there any topic exclusively for a dentist)
Of the entire schedule of exams Paper VI& paper VII are optional which the candidates chose as per their preference. ( from a list of subjects supplied by the exam committee)
List is divided into two groups.
Candidate can chose any optional subject from group 1 as an optional subject for IAS Mains exam.
Candidate is allowed to chose optional subject from group 2 only if the candidate has graduated in the literature of that particular language as the main subject.
In the table below there is a complete list of the currently approved optional subjects.
Now for a dental student its gets little tricky to choose the optional subject (PAPER 1 & PAPER 2 ) As at present there is no exclusive dental subject as such. But there are subjects related to medical science.
Below is the list of the medical subjects that are approved in the exam at the end of the article in the PDF format. So as you see most of the topics in relation to medical science are MBBS topics. There is no exclusive topic that is from dentistry only. You can of course choose from the topics listed above. But after interacting with dentists who are preparing for civil service exams you can choose public health & any other topic of your interest. It’s always better to choose a topic on which you have some prior idea.
For a dental student this is a crucial decision choosing that optional subject as there is no specialized dental topic in the list. So as told before choose the topic that you already have an idea about and you feel that with preparation you will master it more more efficiently. For example Public Health that all BDS students read in their curriculum and already have some prior knowledge about it. But ultimately it comes down to your choice & preference.
Choose wisely.
