New Delhi: The Union Public Service Commission has finally put a hold on the mystery and released the fresh calendar of the UPSC Prelims 2020. Earlier UPSC Prelims was going to held on 31st May 2020, but the notice has brought a lot of panic amongst the students. The candidates were in immense pressure when the exams were postponed citing Covid-19 pandemic. but now the students will be overjoyed to check the new calendar of the UPSC exams. The calendar covers fresh dates of all the exams that are being conducted by them.
UPSC Preliminary 2020 Timeline
The timeline as released by the UPSC official website is given in the below table:
| Important Events | Dates |
| Notification Date | 12-02-2020 |
| Last Date of Payment of Fees | 03-03-2020 |
| UPSC Prelims Exam | 31-05-2020 (Delayed) |
| Total Vacancy | 796 |
Union Public Service Commission Updated Calendar
The updated UPSC Time table is available on the website, the candidates can check it on the website. Refer to the below table to get a hold on the new dates for various exams.
| Exam | Dates |
| UPSC Prelims Exam | 04-10-2020 |
| NDA Exam | 06-09-2020 |
| IFS Prelims Exam | 04-10-2020 |
| UPSC Mains Exam | 08-01-2021 |
How to check the new calendar of UPSC?
The updated UPSC calendar 2020 is available on the official website. The candidates have to follow all the basic steps released by the exam authorities:
- Visit the official website of the UPSC.
- Check the Examination tab.
- Click on the updated calendar 2020.
- Check the dates of the corresponding exams
- Lastly, take a printout of the time-table and keep it for future use
UPSC Exam Pattern
Check out the syllabus of UPSC
We will now discuss the Exam pattern of the UPSC Prelims and Mains as well:
UPSC Preliminary Exam
The preliminary exam will be solely objective-based, it will have two papers. The questions asked in this level will be from mainly General studies, to have a detailed idea refer to the given table:
| Subject | Question | Marks | Duration |
| Paper 1 – General Studies | 100 | 200 | 2 hours |
| Paper 2- CSAT | 80 | 200 | 2 hours |
Paper 1 and 2 are compulsory, they also carry negative marking with them. For each wrong answer, 1/3rd marks will be deducted from the total marks.
UPSC Mains Exam Pattern
The Mains of the UPSC is the make or break point of the exam, this is the toughest part of the whole selection process. This is an entirely descriptive based exam and students have to write the answers to the questions asked. The pattern of the UPSC Mains is very different from the Preliminary exam in every aspect. There are a total of 9 papers for which a candidate has to appear, it includes optional and language papers also.
| Subject | Marks | Duration |
| Paper 1- Indian Language | 300 marks | 3 hours |
| Paper 2- English | 300 marks | 3 hours |
| Paper 3- Essay | 250 marks | 3 hours |
| Paper 4- General Studies I | 250 marks | 3 hours |
| Paper 5- General Studies II | 250 marks | 3 hours |
| Paper 6- General Studies III | 250 marks | 3 hours |
| Paper 7- General Studies IV | 250 marks | 3 hours |
| Paper 8 – Optional paper I | 250 marks | 3 hours |
| Paper 9- Optional paper II | 250 marks | 3 hours |
UPSC Personality Test
This is the 3rd and the last stage of the UPSC exam, where the students are judged and assessed on their personality. This phase also judges the decision-making skills of the student. This is the stage of the UPSC exam where the student is trial and tested for his leadership, communication skills. This stage carries 275 marks and the student has to qualify this level with decent marks for final selection.
