Main examination

1.Those who qualify for the preliminary examination can appear for the main examination
2.Application for the main examination will be sent to the candidates by the UPSC itself
3.The main examination consit of written test interview/ personality test
4.12 or 13 times of vacant posts will be selected for main examination . The exam will be decscriptive form
5.Main examination is held in October/November in the state capitals
6.Main examination is held for 5 days
7.Paper 1 Optional language is held for the first day betwen 10 am and 1 pm. All the other 8 papers will be held on the remaining four days i.e, two papers per day
8.Duration of each paper is 3Hrs ( 3Hrs 30 min for visually challenged)


MAIN EXAMINATION PAPERS
It has descriptive form.It has nine papers .They are

Paper 1           Tamil -                              300 marks

Paper 2           English -                           300 marks
Paper 3           Essay   -                            200 marks
Paper 4           a) General studies -          300 marks
Paper 5           b) General studies -          300 marks
Paper 6           Optional 1 a) -                  300 marks
Paper 7           Optional 1 b) -                  300 marks
Paper 8           Optional 2 a) -                  300 marks
Paper 9           Optional 2 b) -                  300 marks
Total Marks                                            2600 marks
One has to choose two Optional subjects and they have to write four papers



Optional subject List
1.Literature (optional language )
2.Indian history
3.Geography
4.Economics
5.Commerce& accountancy
6.Political science & International relations
7.Mathematics
8.Physics
9.Chemistry
10.Botany
11.Zoology
12.Agriculture
13.Civil Engineering
14.Mechanical Engineering
15.Electrical Engineering
16.Statistics
17.Sociology
18.Management
19.Public administration
20.Philosophy
21.Law
22.Psychology
23.Medical Science
24.Animal husbandry & vertinary Science
25.Anthropology
26.Geology

Important UPSC rules
The following combination of subjects are not allowed for mains examination
1.Political science-Public Administration
2.Commerce & accountancy - Management
3.Anthropology-Sociology
4.Mathematics-Statistics
5.Agriculture - Animal husbandry & veterinary science
6.Management-Public administration
7.Animal husbandry & veterinary science-Medical Science
8.As far as engineering is concerned ,the candidate can choose any one of civil , electrical and mechanical Engineering (i.e.)A candidate cannot take two engineering subjects together.

The aim of this rule is that one who is specialized in that particular field must have experience in another field.The duration of the examination is 3Hrs ( for visually challenged it is 3Hrs 30 min )


Examination can be written in mother tongue also
Paper 1 and paper 2 are language papers
Paper 1 can be written in mother tongue
Paper 2 English is compulsory
The compulsory subjects such as Essay,General studies (3,4,5) can be written either in mother tongue or in English
Optional subjects (6,7,8,9) can be written either in mother tongue or in English

Note
1.While writing in mother tongue language the technical words must be written in English within brackets,else marks will be reduced
2.Though you write in mother tongue language ,questions are either in English or Hindi
3.The exams can be written in all recognized languages of Indian government such as Tamil,Malayalam,Kannada,Telugu etc.