Difference Between UPSC CSE and UPPSC PCS Syllabus

Hey aspirants, do you know the difference between the UPSC CSE and UPPSC PCS syllabus? The aspirants need to know about the major differences between the exam pattern and the syllabus to crack both of the exams with ease. Explore the Difference between UPSC CSE and UPPSC PCS Syllabus.

The UPSC Civil Service Examination (CSE) is a highly competitive examination conducted nationwide by the Union Public Service Commission. The CSE examination will be conducted every year to recruit civil servants in the Government of India. The CSE examination includes the selection of candidates for the Indian Administrative services too.

UPSC CSE Vs UPPSC PCS

The CSE examination is regarded as the most prestigious and the toughest of all the competitive examination. It is not easy for the candidates to pass the examination without an overall understanding of the syllabus structure and pattern of the examination. The difficulty level of the examination is high when compared to other exams. But the UPPSC PSC examination is the exam conducted by the state agency. This can be regarded as one of the major differences between the CSE and PSC exams. Know more regarding UPSC vs UPPSC.

The CSE examination is the national level exam and the PSC exam is the state level exam. This is the visible difference between both exams. Even though there is a difference in the syllabus and exam pattern of both the exams, the integral value of both the exams are high.

This article will help you to locate the major differences in the syllabus and exam pattern of CSE and PSC exams. There is only a slight variation in the syllabus structure with all the core areas being the same. There are some additional subjects and topic in the CSE exam when compared to the PSC exam. Let’s explore the basic difference in the syllabus of both exams. Both exams will have the prelims and mains as a part of the recruitment. Only those candidates who are selected from the prelims will only be selected for the mains exam. Those shortlisted candidates will be called for an interview. This is the usual procedure for both exams. Now let’s discuss the differences.

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UPSC CSE Syllabus: Detailed analysis

Now, let’s get a clear understanding of the proposed syllabus of the UPSC CSE exam. As this is a prestigious exam, the candidates should cover up the entire syllabus. The questions will be asked directly and indirectly from the syllabus.  So, the candidates should make sure to cover up the full syllabus systematically.

 General Studies Paper I: Prelims Syllabus

The major topics are as follows:

• Current events
• Significant national and international affairs.
• Indian history
• Indian National Movement.
• Indian and World Geography
• Indian and World economy
• Indian Polity and Governance
• Constitution
• Political System
• Panchayati Raj
• Foreign policies
• Rights and duties
• Economic and Social Development
• Sustainable Development
• Poverty
• Demographics
• Environmental issues
• Ecology
• Biodiversity
• Climate Change
• General Science
• General affairs

 CSAT Paper-II: Prelims Syllabus

Let’s now get to know about the CSAT paper2 syllabus:

• Logical reasoning
• Analytical ability
• Decision-making
• Comprehension
• Interpersonal skills
• Communication skills
• Basic numeracy – 10^th level, basics
• Problem-solving
• General mental ability
• Data interpretation- 10^th level, basics

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UPSC CSE Mains Exam

• The mains exam will be conducted for 170 marks
• 2nd phased Civil Services Examination.
• Candidates should strictly pass the prelims exam to get admitted to the mains
• Tests the candidate’s knowledge and academic base
• Time-bound exam
• Consists of 9 papers
• Out of 9 exams, 2 qualifying papers will carry 300 marks.
• Qualifying papers for the mains exams are: any Indian Language Paper (according to the candidates’ choice), English Language Paper

Language papers: General Structure

The questions for the language papers are moderate. The candidates will have to attend essay writing for 100 marks, Reading comprehension for 60 marks, Precise Writing for 60 marks. The candidates should also practise the translation questions which will cover 40 marks. Along with the translation the candidates should have to attend basic grammar and language usage questions for 40 marks. The rest of the papers can be attended in the preferred language of the candidates.

UPSC Mains: Syllabus

The given below table will help the candidates to understand the syllabus of the mains in depth. Have a glimpse of it!

• Paper I

Essay writing

the candidates are supposed to attend the essays on the given topics. The essays can be attended in any preferred language of the candidates.

Out of 250 marks

• Paper-II

General Studies – I – the questions will be asked from the major topics like

Indian Heritage

Indian Culture

History of India

World history

Geography of the World

Out of 250 marks

• Paper – III

General Studies – II

Governance

Constitution

Polity

Social Justice

International Relations

Policies and formulations

Out of 250 marks

• Paper – IV

General Studies – III

Technology

Economic Development

Biodiversity

Disaster Management

Security system

Out of 250 marks

• Paper – V

General Studies – IV

Ethics

Aptitude

Integrity

Out of 250 marks

• Paper – VI

Optional Subject – Paper I

Out of 250 marks

• Paper – VII

Optional Subject – Paper II

Out of 250 marks

There will be 48 optional subjects for the CSE Mains

• Agriculture
• Zoology
• Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science
• Assamese (Literature)
• Anthropology
• Bengali (Literature)
• Botany
• Bodo (Literature)
• Chemistry
• Dogri (Literature)
• Civil Engineering
• Gujarati (Literature)
• Commerce & Accountancy
• Hindi (Literature)
• Economics
• Kannada (Literature)
• Electrical Engineering
• Kashmiri (Literature)
• Geography
• Konkani (Literature)
• Geology
• Maithili (Literature)
• History
• Malayalam (Literature)
• Law
• Manipuri (Literature)
• Management
• Marathi (Literature)
• Mathematics
• Nepali (Literature)
• Mechanical Engineering
• Odia (Literature)
• Medical Science
• Punjabi (Literature)
• Philosophy
• Sanskrit (Literature)
• Physics
• Santhali (Literature)
• Political Science & International Relations
• Sindhi (Literature)
• Psychology
• Tamil (Literature)
• Public Administration
• Telugu (Literature)
• Sociology
• English (Literature)
• Statistics
• Urdu (Literature)

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 Interview

• Out of 275 Marks
• Those candidates who qualify for the UPSC CSE Mains Exam will only be called for the Interview’.
• The interview by a Board of UPSC authority.
• Assessing the personal ability of the candidate
• The candidates’ commitment towards society will be assessed
•  Purpose conversations
• Tests the mental qualities and analytical ability of the candidate.
• The written examination will be of 1750.
• A Grand Total of 2025 Marks will be awarded
• The final list will be announced on the official website after the interview immediately

On the other hand, Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission is yearly conducting the PSC examination for the state recruitment. The examination pattern will be revised each other. The examination will be based on the prelims and mains exams. The exams will be in the written mode. The prelims exams will be asked in objective multiple-choice format and Main’s exam will be in descriptive format.  The negative marking system is applicable for both the prelims and mains exam. One-third of marks will be deducted as negative marking. The exam pattern and structure of the exams will be revised every time.

UPPSC PCS Syllabus

The Syllabus, like exam pattern, is different for both Prelims and Mains exams. Have a look at the syllabus below:

Prelims

• Two main papers will be there
• Paper I – General Studies
• Current events
• National & International affairs
• The social, economic and political history of India
• freedom movement
• nationalism
• Indian Independence
• Indian Geography
• World Geography
• Indian Polity
• Governance
• Social and Economic Development
• Sustainable Development
• Environmental Ecology
• General awareness
• General Science
• Paper-II- General Studies – CSAT

Mathematics

• Arithmetic
• Algebra
• Geometry
• Statistics

General English

• Comprehension
• Active Voice
• Meaning of words
• Sentence Rearrangement
• Passive Voice
• Parts of Speech
• Spellings
• Vocabulary
• Fill in the blanks
• Idioms
• phrases
• Direct Speech
• Indirect speech
• Punctuation

General Hindi

• विलोम शब्द
• पर्यायवाची शब्द
• मुहावरे & लोकोक्तियाँ
• तत्सम एवं तद्भव
• शब्द रचना
• वाक्य रचना
• अर्थ
• अनेकार्थी शब्द
• देशज, विदेशी (शब्द भंडार)
• वर्तनी
• अर्थबोध
• हिंदी भाषा में होने वाली अशुद्धियाँ
• मुख्य बोलियाँ
• शब्द-रूप
• संधि & समास
• क्रियाएँ

UPPSC PCS Mains Syllabus

In the UPPSC PCS Mains exam candidates are supposed to attend eight papers. The candidates should prepare well to crack the examination

• Essay
• General Studies – I
• General Studies – II
• General Studies – III
• General Studies – IV
• optional Subject – Paper I
• Optional Subject – Paper II
• General Hindi

The syllabus for both the CSE and PSC exams are seemingly similar. But there are visible changes in the thrust areas of both syllabuses. The candidates who are aspiring for any of these posts should prepare well to crack the exams. The candidates should be thoroughly aware of the structure of the exam. Visit the official website of UPPSC and UPSC to download the syllabus at the earliest.

UPPSC PCS 2021 Syllabus for Optional Papers

Candidates can choose the optional papers from the list of 29 subjects. These subjects are:

• Agriculture
• Botany
• Mechanical Engineering
• Zoology
• Law
• Electrical Engineering
• Chemistry
• Animal Husbandry
• English Literature
• Physics & Veterinary Science
• Urdu Literature
• Mathematics
• Statistics
• Hindi Literature
• Geography
• Management
• Sanskrit Literature
• Economics
• Political Science
• Commerce
• Sociology International Relations Accountancy
• Philosophy
• History
• Public Administration
• Geology
• Anthropology
• Medical Science
• Psychology
• Civil Engineering

Exam Procedure

• Preliminary Examination (Objective Type & Multiple choices)
• Main Examination (Conventional Type, i.e. Written examination)
• Viva- Voce (Personality Test).

Here we will only focus on the UPPSC Prelims exam pattern. Below mentioned is the exam pattern for UPSC Prelims. Go through the given exam pattern and spot the difference.

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UPPSC Prelims Exam Pattern 2017

The Preliminary examination will consist of two compulsory papers. Candidates have to print their answers on OMR sheets. The papers will carry 200 marks each and the total duration to solve the said exams is two hours. Both the papers will carry objective Type MCQ format.

• Paper-II of the Preliminary Examination will be a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%.
• The Candidates must appear in both the papers of the Preliminary Examination for evaluation. Therefore a candidate will be disqualified in case he does not appear in both papers.
• The merit of the Candidates will be determined based on marks obtained in Paper-I of the Preliminary Examination.

General Studies Paper I & Paper II

The papers shall be 200 marks each and of two hours duration. Both the papers shall be objective Type & multiple choice in which there shall be 150-100 questions Respectively. The timing of paper I will be from 9.30 to 11.30 A.M. and paper II from 2.30 to 4.30 P.M.