Read Comparison and Difference Between Prelims and Mains
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Difference Between Prelims and Mains
Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) conducts Civil Services Exam (IAS Exam) annually to select candidates for various Government posts.
The UPSC CSE exam is conducted in 2 stages: Preliminary and Mains. In this blog, we will look into the details of the two exams and the Difference Between Prelims and Mains.
What is a Prelims Examination?
Candidates are required to clear the cutoff marks score of the Prelims to qualify for the Mains examination. Thus, Prelims must be taken with utmost seriousness.
As per UPSC, only those candidates declared by the Commission to have qualified in the Prelims in the year will be eligible to appear at the Mains exam of that year, provided they are otherwise eligible for admission to the Mains.
The minimum educational qualification required by the candidate appearing for Prelims must be:
- a degree from a university incorporated by an Act of the Central Legislature in India
- a degree from any University incorporated by an Act of the State Legislature in India
- any other established educational institution by an Act of Parliament or a degree from any institute declared to be deemed as a University under Section-3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956
What are Mains Examination?
Candidates who qualify in the Prelims can attend the Civil Services Mains. The Mains Exam is conducted across 5-7 days. It tests the academic knowledge and comprehensive skills of the candidates and is descriptive in nature. The intention is to understand the candidates’ intellectual ability and coherent thought-process.
Outline of the Mains Exam
The Mains consists of 9 papers including various General Studies subjects for UPSC.
Since the Mains syllabus is extremely vast, it is important that candidates develop a deep understanding of all the subjects for UPSC. They should ideally start their preparation strategically to complete the lengthy syllabus.
Q. What is the Difference Between Prelims and Mains with regard to the number of selected candidates?
The Difference Between Prelims and Mains with regard to the number of selected candidates is that, currently, out of 15,000 candidates who qualify for the prelims, only 2700 candidates approximately qualify the mains to go to the final round, which is the Interview.
Q. What is the Difference Between Prelims and Mains with regard to the number of papers as per the UPSC syllabus?
The Difference Between Prelims and Mains with regard to the number of papers is that the Prelims stage has two papers – General Studies Paper 1 and General Studies Paper 2 (CSAT), while the UPSC CSE Mains stage has nine papers – out of which seven papers are counted for final ranking.
Q. What is the Difference Between Prelims and Mains with regard to the type of skills required by candidates?
The Difference Between Prelims and Mains with regard to the type of questions and skills is that Mains requires a lot of analytical thinking and writing skills, while prelims are only bound to be on an MCQ type of questions and require multi-logical thinking.
Q. What is the Difference Between Prelims and Mains with regard to the subjects covered?
The Difference Between Prelims and Mains with regard to the subjects is that Prelims cover Indian and World Geography, Indian History, Economics, Environment, Indian Polity, Science and Technology, and Current Affairs. Meanwhile, in Mains, the papers include a broader range of topics that cover an even wider syllabus.