Information Related to the UPSC IES Exam – Answer Key, Exam Pattern, and More!
Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is conducted to recruit candidates for the Indian Engineering Services. It is among one of the toughest exams in India and it is considered a great opportunity for all the candidates that want a career in the Engineering field. There are three stages in the selection process i.e., Preliminary exam, Main Exam, and the final stage is a Personality Test. The Preliminary examination consists of objective-type questions. The main examination will have descriptive type questions. Candidates need to qualify each round to be eligible for the giving stage.
If you wish to crack the exam with a good score you will need a well-planned study schedule to make the best use out of your exam preparation time. You must know the UPSC IES Exam Pattern to be able to prepare a good time table. You also will require lots of practice of solving exam level questions which you can get by solving previous year papers and mock tests. You can know your performance by verifying them in the UPSC IES Answer key. Let us discuss some more details about the exam pattern and some tips you can follow to prepare for the UPSC IES Exam.
UPSC IES Exam Pattern 2021
As we have discussed earlier that the UPSC IES will be conducted in three stages which are –
| Stage | Stage Name | Marks |
| 1 | Preliminary Exam | 500 marks |
| 2 | Main Exam | 600 marks |
| 3 | Personality Test | 200 marks |
Let us discuss the pattern of each stage in detail.
Preliminary examination
The prelims exam will consist of two papers having objective type questions, namely, General Studies & Engineering Aptitude and a paper which will be based on the engineering discipline of the candidate. In this stage, each question will carry 2 marks and there will be a negative marking of 1/3rd marks for every incorrect response. The detailed prelims pattern is given below –
| Paper | Subject | Total No. of Questions | Total No. of Marks | Duration (hrs) |
| 1 | General Studies & Engineering Aptitude | 100 | 200 | 2 hrs |
| 2 | Concerned Engineering Stream (Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering /Civil /Mechanical /Electrical) | 150 | 300 | 3 hrs |
| Total | 250 | 600 | 5 hrs | |
Mains Examination
Candidates must clear the prelims test to be eligible for giving this stage. The Main exam will have descriptive type questions. It will have 2 papers which will be of 300 marks each. Both of the papers will have questions based on the respective engineering stream of the candidate.
| UPSC IES Mains Exam Pattern | ||
| Papers | Marks | Duration |
| Paper I Electrical/Civil/ Electronics & Telecommunication/ Mechanical | 300 | 3 Hours |
| Paper-II Electrical/ Civil/ Electronics & Telecommunication/ Mechanical | 300 | 3 Hours |
| Total | 600 Marks | 6 Hours |
Personality Test
To reach this stage of the exam, candidates will have to clear both the previous stages. In this stage, the candidates will be tested on their various capacities like leadership, tact and other social qualities, initiative and intellectual curiosity, powers of practical application, physical and mental energy, and integrity of character. This test will be of 200 marks.
UPSC IES Answer Key 2020
Every year the IES answer key is released by the UPSC officials so that candidates can check their score. The answer key can also be used while you solve previous year question papers while preparing to know how well you might perform and your study progress. Let us look at the steps to download the answer key for UPSC IES.
Steps to Get the UPSC IES Answer Key
Step 1: Visit the UPSC official website.
Step 2: Under the Examination, tab click on the link that says Engineering Services Examination.
Step 3: You will find a table that will contain a link to the answer key.
Step 4: You will get the answer key in PDF format after you click on the link.
Now that you have some basic idea about the exam, let us look at some tips you can use to follow for the IES exam preparation.
Preparation Tips for UPSC IES
- Prepare a suitable time-table
- After you study, always revise a topic multiple times.
- Be thorough with all the basic concepts
- Make a habit of taking notes
- Solve Practice previous years papers and mock tests.
- Improve your personality and communication skills daily
We hope that you found this article helpful on the UPSC IES Exam Pattern and Answer Key. You can mention any doubts you have about the IES exam below in the comment section.
