The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has announced that the civil services preliminary examination that is conducted to select IAS and IPS officers will be held in June 2017 instead of August 2017. UPSC has preponed the date again after three years.
According to sources, the preliminary examination will take place on June 18, 2017. One of the senior officials of UPSC mentioned that the preliminary examination was held in the month of August in 2016, 2015 & 2014. However, in 2013 the prelims exam was held on May 26. He clarified that UPSC has taken this decision to complete the entire process of examination in time.
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Thousands of candidates appear for civil services examination every year. The candidates need to take three stages of examination which include prelims, mains and an interview. The candidates who qualify in all the three stages are further appointed as officers of Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Indian Foreign Service (IFS).
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Civil Services Examination (CSE) is regarded as one of the toughest examination in India. The preliminary examination includes two objective papers, i.e., General Studies and Aptitude Test.
The entire process of examination from conducting prelims, mains, interview and declaration of results roughly takes one year.
The candidates belonging to General category have only five chances to take the exam. Similarly, for OBC candidates, the limit is seven attempts, and there is no restriction for SC/ST candidates. They can attempt any number of times until the attainment of 37 years of age.