IAS, IPS, IFS and other services - a guide for exam preparation

This is a No-Nonsense guide for  Civil Services Exam preparation. The Examination has three stages- Preliminary, Mains and the Interview.
IAS Exam 2010 Preparation Schedule

Prelims

The preliminary examination consists of two papers of objective type carrying a maximum of 450 marks. The optional paper is of 300 marks and the general studies (GS) paper is of 150 marks. The optional paper has to be studied extensively and one should aim at scoring 95-110 out of 120 questions. The GS paper has 150 questions and each question here has 1 mark compared to 2.5 for the optional. One should aim to score 95-105  out of the 150 to feel absolutely safe. A little bit of strategising may be helpful here as it may not be possible to cover all the topics in GS. 

Modern Indian History and Indian Polity can form the core of studies as they are important from the point of view of mains also. Current affairs has gained increasing prominence in the recent years.  Very roughly speaking, there may be about 40 questions from current affairs, about 20 from History, 30 from Geography, 30 from Economy and Polity, 15 from General Mental Ability and 15 from  General Science in the G.S prelims paper.
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IAS Mains Exam 

Scheme of the examination:
Paper-I: One of the Indian Languages to be selected by the candidate from the 18 languages included in the VIIIth Schedule to the Constitution   (Qualifying Paper)      300 Marks

Paper-II: English   (Qualifying Paper)    300 Marks

Paper-III: Essay

200 Marks

Papers IV & V: General Studies  (300 Marks for each paper)

600 Marks

Papers VI, VII, VIII & IX: Any two subjects (each having 2 papers) to be selected from the prescribed optional subjects (300 marks for each paper)

1200 Marks

Total Marks for Written Examination

2000 Marks

Interview Test    300 Marks

Grand Total     2300 Marks