Indian Administrative Services (IAS) is a kind of recruitment exam through which IAS officials are recruited. The entrance test is conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), which includes a three-stage combined selection process called the Civil Services Examination and is extremely challenging. Selected candidates can be placed by the central government anywhere in India or abroad. Selected candidates, who are looking forward for recruitment opportunity in civil services, have to qualify all the three stages of the exam.
The first stage of IAS exam is the Civil Services Prelims, which is composed of two objective exams - one of General studies and one of a subject of one's choice amongst the given list of subjects. The candidates can choose to be examined in about forty fields, from Civil Engineering and Medicine to Chinese Literature and Accountancy. Applicants who have qualified in the prelims are selected for the next stage called the Civil Services Mains. The second stage has nine papers of which two are only qualifying in nature. One has to choose two optional subjects of one's choice as compared to the one in the Preliminary stage. The third stage is the Civil Services IAS exam interview, which is for 300 marks. The candidates are asked to choose their preference of services before the interview. Repeated attempts of IAS exam are allowed for maximum number of 4 times.
