3/22/13

New IAS Mains Pattern from 2013 Notified - IAS Kracker

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New IAS Mains Pattern from 2013 Notified

March 7, 2013 by Lazylord Tw eet 19 C omments

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After a long delay of more than 30 days, UPSC has finally notified the Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2013 and along with it introduced far reaching changes in the IAS Mains pattern. There are approximately 1000 vacancies in the 2013 civil services exam. The Prelims pattern and syllabus is the same as before. So lets discuss the important changes in Civil Services Mains pattern and how it will impact your IAS exam preparation.
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New IAS Mains Pattern

The mains exam now consists of 2075 marks as against 2300 marks previously. The distribution is as follows: Paper I Section-1 Essay Section-2 English Comprehension and English Precis II General Studies-I 250 Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society III General Studies-II 250 Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International Relations IV General Studies-III 250 Technology, Economic Development, Bio-diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management V General Studies-IV
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Marks Description 200 100 Of Matriculation/Xth standard level

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General Studies-IV VI Optional SubjectPaper 1 VII Optional SubjectPaper 2 Sub Total (Written Test) Personality Test Grand Total 275 2075 Oral 1800 250 250

New IAS Mains Pattern from 2013 Notified - IAS Kracker

Choose one subject from more than 30 subjects including literature

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As you can see from the above table, marks in the Main exam have been scaled down to 2075 as against 2300 marks in the old pattern. But lets list the major highlights of the new IAS Mains pattern below: New Pattern Only one optional subject GS now 1000 marks Optional paper only of 500 marks Old Pattern Two optional subjects Previously 600 marks Optional papers of 1200 marks English precis and comprehension added To choose literature subject, have to graduate in the subject Interview of 275 marks Ethics and Decision Making added World History and Geography part of syllabus UPSC reserves right to specify qualifying marks for individual papers All papers are scoring Two qualifying but nonscoring compulsory papers Not present

No such requirement

300 marks Not present Only Indian History and Geography No qualifying marks

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New IAS Mains Pattern

The major change is the increased importance of General Studies in the new pattern. Previously, veteran candidates used to primarily focus on the optional papers and ignored the GS paper relying heavily on the optionals to boost their score. Now there is no alternative but to prepare the GS papers seriously. After all, GS has 55 percent weightage of total 1800 marks in the written papers. Since two optional subjects have been replaced by only one, it implies more even competition among candidates as scaling, which many aspirants complained of, will be limited to only one subject and that too of 500 marks as against 1200 marks in the old pattern. So expect the competition to become tougher as the advantage of some optional papers has been done away with. Decision making and ethics that were introduced in the Prelims two years back find their way in the new Mains syllabus as well. This implies UPSC wants to test, not just the theoretical knowledge of candidates, but also their aptitude for civil services, their integrity and honesty, and decision making capabilities. Role of coaching institutes is bound to reduce drastically. Since GS marks will be the deciding point now, it will become ever tougher to guess the Mains papers and you can expect big surprises in the four GS papers. Previously, questions in the optional papers used to be repeated very often and anyone who went through the last 5 years papers could easily guess the questions that would be asked in the exam. Not any more. Guessing will not work now, only wide coverage of the syllabus will. Another feature continued from Prelims is the addition of English comprehension together with precis, which means Hindi and other language candidates will need to work on improving their English language skills. Interview (personality test) marks have also been reduced to 275
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New IAS Mains Pattern from 2013 Notified - IAS Kracker

from 300 earlier. Some people feel interview marks should be scaled down even further as there does not seem to be much logic to the marks awarded to different candidates in Interview. Besides the entire interview process is quite opaque. Still this is an improvement. Another change is the elimination of qualifying but non-scoring papers which is welcome as it was unnecessary burden to prepare for these papers given their insignificance in the final tally. Also to choose a literature subject as optional, you need to graduate in that subject and it should be your main subject during graduation. This will obviously boost candidates with humanities background as they will face lesser competition from candidates with no background in that subject. Pali optional has been done away with and not for the first time. But this is rather surprising and disappointing since foreign languages like Nepali are present while a prominent classical language like Pali has been excluded. One can expect noises in Parliament over this issue. Overall, this is a very progressive Mains pattern introduced by UPSC and is bound to favour candidates with original thinking and unique answers rather than rote masters who reproduce coaching class answers quite accurately. Also, candidates can now focus on GS and just one optional subject rather than two previously. This will bring focus to their preparation and also be less burdensome. If I had to rate these changes to the IAS Mains pattern I will give it 8 points out of 10. What is your reaction to the changes introduced in the Mains pattern and are you satisfied with the changes? You can download the 2013 Civil Services Notification here. PRELIMS QUESTION BANK 50+ Tests on all topics of Paper 1 and 2 with negative marking and time limit based on actual Prelims pattern. All question types are covered like Sequence, Multiple-choice, and Matching. You also get Current Affairs and GK updates FREE along with access to Live Webinars and downloadable Word files. Test yourself before the UPSC tests you! Know More

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Filed Under: Blog, IAS Mains

Tagged With: civil services main pattern changes, ias

mains pattern changed, new ias mains pattern, new ias mains syllabus, UPSC ias mains pattern

Comments
Rakesh says: March 7, 2013 at 9:33 pm

Your analysis is right to a great extent. Had upsc made it compulsory of taking

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New IAS Mains Pattern from 2013 Notified - IAS Kracker

your graduation subject for optional I would have rated 10 out of 10. Reply

Rahul says: March 8, 2013 at 9:17 am

what about those engineering graduates who doesnt have their subjects in the list of optionals prescribed by the UPSC Reply

Ias Aspirant says: March 7, 2013 at 4:21 pm

Sir, I have read the new pattern with deep analysis , and just have come to know that Political Science & International Relation as optional will definetly help in almost avery aspect of all General Studies paper. so i have decided to choose it. Please suggest me some good Coaching institutes for Political Science & IR in Delhi . Medium : HINDI thank you. Reply

Praveen says: March 8, 2013 at 10:03 am

Completely agree with your views.I will give it a 9/10 rating.With this new pattern the exam will get a fuzzy perception but will help the well-prepared & knowledgeable students. Though, it is also giving the perception of having one particular subject in all the GS papers like pub ad, geography, sociology e.t.c. Reply

Gaurav says: March 8, 2013 at 11:33 am

Sir, please tell how to prepare geography now for gs. Reply

mahendra says: March 8, 2013 at 12:09 pm

sir. Which is best choice as optional which is helpful in gs papers also. as per new pattern .I have geog. And eco in my graduation or i should choose pol. Science plz reply than Reply

mahendra says: March 8, 2013 at 12:17 pm

we can say that 72% syllabus is common 4 all i.e 1300 out of 1800 and optional role is only 28% with scaling. If v add interview also then v can say that 76% (1575 out of 2075) is common 4 all Reply

Ranjith says: March 8, 2013 at 12:46 pm

Thanks a lot. You gave a clear picture about the changes.

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New IAS Mains Pattern from 2013 Notified - IAS Kracker

You mentioned Role of coaching institutes is bound to reduce drastically. I do accept the above point, but due to uncertainity & generic syllabus, people will be forced to join some or the other coaching institutes. The net result, the demand for the institutes will increase!! Reply

Goldrate says: March 8, 2013 at 5:10 pm

As per the notification, to choose literature as an optional one should have graduated in the same, as the main subject. What are the possibilities of taking a literature optional if one has an M.A in it, but graduation in a science subject? Reply

ASHISH VERMA says: March 8, 2013 at 10:20 pm

Also to choose a literature subject as optional, you need to graduate in that subject and it should be your main subject during graduation Im a student of engg from IT branch.. Which all optional subject are available for me?? Reply

abhishek singh parihar says: March 8, 2013 at 11:59 pm

sir if i have done man graduation in electronics enggthen tell me whether i can choose public admin for mains or not . Reply

Surojit says: March 9, 2013 at 9:59 am

I thought of choosing English Literature and Geography as my optionals but now with only one optional needed I am totally confused as to which one I should go with. Any help, please? Reply

k k bharti says: March 9, 2013 at 4:40 pm

sir, i will be appearing for cse in 2014. suggest me some standard books for ias mains (gs) preparation on the changed pattern and syllabus..plz help.. Reply

Girish says: March 9, 2013 at 9:19 pm

Sir, I am B.com Graduate in English Medium. But I had a Kannada language paper in first 2 years of my graduation as qualifying paper. As per new notification, can I write Public Administration optional and all GS papers in Kannada Language. Pls clarify, thanks & regards, Girish Reply

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Khemraj says: March 10, 2013 at 10:00 am

New IAS Mains Pattern from 2013 Notified - IAS Kracker

This new pattern is very nice. now upcoming IAS officers will be more powerful and intelligent. They will change the face of the nation. I liked this pattern very much. Ill give 9 out of 10. Reply

sana says: March 10, 2013 at 7:01 pm

sir the idea behind the pattern is very good but wt are the options for engineering computer science students what is the optional for them ? Reply

Deb says: March 15, 2013 at 7:42 am

Please tell us now how will we prepare for gs mains Reply

Lazylord says: March 16, 2013 at 8:24 pm

Pls use the search form on this site for Mains prep tips! Reply

daya kumari says: March 21, 2013 at 3:41 pm

res. sir i want 2 know a bout g s books Reply

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