UPSC Civil Services preparation, from the official record

The Civil Services Examination — the UPSC CSE, the exam that recruits to the IAS, IPS and IFS — runs in three stages: a Preliminary screening test, a descriptive Main examination, and a Personality Test. Two of the Main examination papers are language qualifying papers, and unlike an ordinary qualifying paper, failing one means your other papers are never evaluated at all.

The Main examination also carries two papers in a candidate-chosen optional subject. Neev does not cover the optionals: there are around twenty-five of them, two papers each, and we hold no data for any — so the syllabus tree here deliberately excludes them rather than pretending otherwise. Everything below covers the compulsory papers.