Can Final Year Students Appear For UPSC: UPSC Eligibility Criteria

Before one begins the preparation for the UPSC one must go through the detailed eligibility criteria. Let us have a look at the eligibility criteria as per the exam conducting body UPSC.

Let us begin with knowing about the exam conducting body that is UPSC. UPSC stands Union Public Service Commission. The headquarters of the commission are situated in New Delhi. The contact details and address is also mentioned below-

The exam is also referred by some other names like the UPSC examination, UPSC CSE and the Civil Services Exam.

It is a national level examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission- UPSC for recruitment in the services of the Government of India like the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service, and Indian Police Service. The UPSC CSE exam is conducted in three phases: 

1- a preliminary examination which consists of two objective-type papers 

2- a main examination that consists of nine papers that include essaywriting, in which two papers are qualifying and only marks of seven are counted

3- an interview round

Listed below are the services that one gets recruited on after the successful qualification the examination-

All India Services

• Indian Administrative Service (IAS)

• Indian Police Service (IPS)

Central Services (Group A)

• Indian Foreign Service (IFS)

• Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IA&AS)

• Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS)

• Indian Corporate Law Service (ICLS)

• Indian Defence Accounts Service (IDAS)

• Indian Defence Estates Service (IDES)

• Indian Information Service (IIS)

• Indian Postal Service 

• Indian P&T Accounts and Finance Service 

• Indian Railway Protection Force Service (IRPFS)

• Indian Revenue Service (IRS-IT)

• Indian Revenue Service (IRS-C&CE)

• Indian Trade Service (ITrS)

Central Services (Group B)

• Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Services (AFHCS)

• Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service (DANICS)

• Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Police Service (DANIPS)

• Pondicherry Civil Service (PCS)

• Pondicherry Police Service (PPS)

Eligibility Criteria for the UPSC examination-

In order to appear for the UPSC examination there are some eligibility criteria that need to be fulfilled by the candidate and in case any criteria is not fulfilled the candidate is not eligible to apply for the examination. 

Given below are the different eligibility criteria issued by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC):

The UPSC 2023 uploaded a notification on 1st February 2023. The age limit is a very important eligibility criterion so before the preparation starts one must go through the age eligibility criteria.

UPSC Age Limit – Minimum and Maximum Age for UPSC Exam-

The candidates must be 21 years old and should be less than 32 years as of on 1st August 2023 it means that the candidate should have born not before 2nd August, 1990 and not later than 1st August, 2001. 

UPSC Reservation Criteria-

There is no specific reservation for women in UPSC civil services examination. Although there is reservation in UPSC exam for categories such as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, and Economically Weaker Sections to promote social equity and diversity.

There are some age relaxations also, they are listed below-

Age Relaxation & Number of Attempts in UPSC

The age relaxations are given below-

UPSC Qualification Criteria-

• Minimum qualification for UPSC exam is that the candidate must hold a bachelor’s degree from Government recognised University or possess an equivalent qualification.

• Candidates who are in their final year or those candidates whoseresults are awaited are also eligible to appear for UPSC preliminary Examination but for main exam there must be a proof of qualification.

• Medical students who have passed the final year of MBBS, but are yet to complete their internship also have eligibility for the UPSC exam.

UPSC Eligibility Criteria – Nationality

For IAS and IPS:

• Candidate must be a citizen of India

All other Services:

• Candidate must be either:-

1. A citizen of India, or

2. A subject of Nepal, or

3. A subject of Bhutan, or

4. A Tibetan refugee who came to India before 1st January 1962 intending to settle in India permanently, or

5. A person of Indian origin (PIO) who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Ethiopia, Zaire and Vietnam intending to settle in India permanently.

Although there are some exceptions for recruitment in certain posts-

• The candidates belonging to categories (2), (3), (4) and (5) should furnish a certificate of eligibility issued by the Government of India

• A person belonging to categories (2), (3) and (4) is not eligible for appointment to the Indian Foreign Service (IFS).

The UPSC CSE exam is conducted in three phases: 

1- a preliminary examination which consists of two objective-type papers 

2- a main examination that consists of nine papers that include essaywriting, in which two papers are qualifying and only marks of seven are counted

3- an interview round

One must go through the details of the eligibility criteria before starting the preparations because if a person is unable to fulfill any of the eligibility criteria he/she is not eligible to take the UPSC exam.

Are Final Year Students Eligible To Apply For UPSC CSE?

The answer is YES. The final year students are eligible to apply for UPSC CSE exam. As per the official notification issued by the UPSC, the students who are in final year of graduation are eligible to apply for the UPSC CSE exam.

Following are some criteria that must be fulfilled by the final year students-

1- The student must fulfill the age limit criteria as issued by the exam conducting body UPSC.

2- When fill the DAF (DETAILED ADMISSION FORM) for the MAINS exam one needs to provide a proof of their bachelor’s degree from a recognized university.

So, the final year students can appear for the exam but they must make sure to fulfill the educational qualification criteria as per the UPSC before submission of the Mains exam form.

Other Related Posts-