We totally understand your excitement to become a part of India’s elite bureaucracy! However, the first thing you need to check before applying for the IAS exam is the UPSC Exam Eligibility criteria. Mentioned in the official notification released by the commission, UPSC Exam Eligibility 2021 is a set of different parameters including nationality, educational qualification, age, nationality, etc, that you must qualify in order to apply for this exam. We’ve discussed all of these in this article.
Important: The students who have given their last attempt in 2020 are also eligible to appear in UPSC Civil Services 2021 as an exception. The government has agreed to give the students a chance to reappear again this year.
Broadly, you need to qualify the below parameters to be eligible for the UPSC Civil Services Exam:
IAS Age Limit | 21 to 32 years |
Age relaxation | As per category (mentioned below) |
Educational qualification for UPSC Civil Services | Graduation from any recognized university |
Nationality | Indian |
UPSC has a fixed number of attempts and eligibility criteria with respect to age for the UPSC examination. Here’s the category-wise age limit and the number of attempts:
Category | Upper Age Limit for UPSC | Maximum Number of Attempts |
General | 32 | 6 |
Economically Weaker Section (EWS) | 32 | 6 |
OBC | 35 | 9 |
SC/ST | 37 | Unlimited (Up to age limit) |
Defence Services Personnel | 35 | 9 |
Persons with Benchmark Disability | 35 | 9 |
It is important to note that an attempt is counted when you appear for the Prelims examination. Hence, if you’ve filled the examination form and not appear for the exam, your attempt will not be counted.
The eligibility conditions for the UPSC exam with respect to educational qualification is given below:
For IAS and IPS:
All other Services:
Candidate must be either:-
Note: A person belonging to categories (2), (3) and (4) are not eligible for appointment to the Indian Foreign Service (IFS).
So, here is a brief overview of the UPSC Exam Eligibility Criteria. If you’ve any queries regarding the same, you can get in touch with our expert counselors. Career Launcher brings you comprehensive courses to prepare for UPSC CSE Prelims and UPSC CSE Mains from the convenience of your home. Enroll in our course and get an edge over your peers with our expert guidance. Get in touch with our course counselors to get more information regarding our courses.
The age limit for unreserved candidates is 32 years. However, there are certain age relaxations for category students which are mentioned in the table above.
A general candidate can appear a maximum of 6 times.
There is no such relaxation for EWS category students. Hence, the maximum number of attempts for the EWS category is 6 times.
An OBC category student gets 9 attempts for UPSC CSE.
There is no such criterion. You only need to have a graduation degree from a recognized university.