UPSC Prelims 2024: Check out the detailed syllabus of Civil Services Preliminary exams, Important points to remember
Candidates appearing for the UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) exams 2024 need to cover a range of topics as part of the syllabus. Check out in this article.
The UPSC Civil Service Prelims Exams 2024 is set to be held from June 16, 2024. The examination was postponed owing to the impending General Elections 2024. The exam was scheduled to be held on May 26 earlier.

Candidates who are preparing for their exam preparations or are aspiring to take the exam in the future need to cover a range of topics to qualify the preliminary examinations. In this article, we will look at this year's syllabus and time allotment of both papers of the Preliminary examinations – Paper I or Paper II.
Candidates need to keep in mind that it is mandatory for them to appear in both the Papers of Civil Services (Prelim) Examination for the purpose of evaluation. A candidate will be disqualified in case he/she does not appear in both the papers of Civil Services (Prelim) Examination
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We will first look at the components of Paper I:
The Paper I will consist of 200 marks, and candidates will be allotted 2 hours to complete the paper.
The Paper will consist of the following topics:
- Current events of national and international importance.
- History of India and Indian National Movement.
- Indian and World Geography-Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.
- Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
- Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.
- General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change - that do not require subject specialization.
- General Science.
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Paper II
The Paper II of the Preliminary examination will be a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%. Besides, the questions will be objective type. The Paper II too will include 200 marks and will be held for two hours.
The subjects included Paper II include the following:
- Comprehension
- Interpersonal skills including communication skills
- Logical reasoning and analytical ability
- Decision making and problem solving
- General mental ability
- Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc.) (Class X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. — Class X level).
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