Civil Services Examination is conducted for recruitment of candidates for 24 different posts for a certain number of vacancies. For Civil Services 2016, there are a total of 1079 vacancies. The selection process for these vacancies is a two stage process. The first stage is Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination. The nature of the examination is objective type and is conducted for the selection of the candidates for Main Examination. The second stage is Civil Services (Main) Examination. The number of candidates admitted to the MAIN examination(Written Test & Interview) is usually 12 to 13 times the number of vacancies.

The Civil Services(Prelims) exam will have two objective type papers. Each of the two papers carries a total of 200 marks. Each paper is of 2hr duration. This exam is only a screening test. It implies that the marks that you score in the Preliminary exam will not be carried forward for final merit list. Preliminary exam marks are useful in taking you to the Main exam. After that, the marks scored in the Main exam will only matter for the final selections.

The MAIN examination comprises Written Test And Interview. The Written test comprises nine papers (which includes two qualifying papers and seven compulsory papers) of conventional essay type. As per the notification released by UPSC in March 2013, each of the seven compulsory papers carries a marks of 250. Thus, the maximum possible marks obtainable in all the seven compulsory papers put together is 1750. The interview carries 275 marks. Marks, thus, obtained by candidates in the MAIN examination (out of a maximum possible 2025) will determine their final ranking. Candidates will be allotted various services keeping this final ranking and their individual preferences.