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UPSC Civil Services syllabus

The full UPSC CSE syllabus for Prelims, Mains and every optional subject: 527 topics broken into 1,375 subtopics. Pick a paper to see all of it.

Prelims

Two objective papers on the same day. GS Paper 1 decides the cut-off; CSAT only has to be passed with 33%.

Prelims GS Paper 17 topics · 78 subtopics
Prelims CSAT (GS Paper 2)6 topics · 24 subtopics

Mains

Seven papers count for your rank: the Essay, GS Papers 1 to 4 and two optional papers, 1,750 marks in all. Two language papers are qualifying only.

Mains Essay4 topics · 4 subtopics
Mains GS Paper 17 topics · 79 subtopics
Mains GS Paper 220 topics · 102 subtopics
Mains GS Paper 320 topics · 82 subtopics
Mains GS Paper 48 topics · 26 subtopics

Optional subjects

You choose one optional; it has two papers in Mains, 500 marks together.

Agriculture24 topics · 42 subtopics
Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science20 topics · 12 subtopics
Anthropology26 topics · 98 subtopics
Botany20 topics · 9 subtopics
Chemistry24 topics · 14 subtopics
Civil Engineering20 topics · 3 subtopics
Commerce & Accountancy16 topics · 10 subtopics
Economics16 topics · 14 subtopics
Electrical Engineering16 topics · 3 subtopics
Geography20 topics · 94 subtopics
Geology16 topics · 11 subtopics
History24 topics · 115 subtopics
Law12 topics · 9 subtopics
Literature (any language)8 topics
Management16 topics · 1 subtopics
Mathematics14 topics · 1 subtopics
Mechanical Engineering13 topics · 2 subtopics
Medical Science12 topics · 3 subtopics
Philosophy14 topics · 56 subtopics
Physics12 topics · 1 subtopics
Political Science & International Relations19 topics · 87 subtopics
Psychology22 topics · 4 subtopics
Public Administration26 topics · 98 subtopics
Sociology19 topics · 76 subtopics
Statistics12 topics · 4 subtopics
Zoology14 topics · 1 subtopics

Mented's breakdown of the official UPSC syllabus into study-sized subtopics. For the syllabus as notified, see the Civil Services Examination notice on upsc.gov.in.