UPSC Civil Services Main Exam 2025 Schedule: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has announced the exam dates for the Civil Services Examination (CSE) Mains 2025. According to the announcement, the written examination will be conducted over five days, from August 22 to August 31. The exam will be conducted with two three-hour papers scheduled each day.
This year, a total of 14,161 candidates have qualified the UPSC Prelims 2025 to appear in the UPSC CSE Mains exam. These candidates will now participate in the written stage, following which the interview round is held for qualified candidates.
UPSC Civil Services Main Exam 2025: Complete paper-wise schedule below
| Date (Day) | Forenoon Session (9 am to 12 noon) | Afternoon Session (2:30 pm to 5:30 pm) |
| August 22, (Friday) | Paper I – Essay | No Paper |
| August 23 (Saturday) | Paper II – General Studies-I | Paper III – General Studies-II |
| August 24 (Sunday) | Paper IV – General Studies-III | Paper V – General Studies-IV |
| August 30 (Saturday) | Paper A – Indian Language
(List of languages below) |
Paper B – English |
| August 31 (Sunday) | Paper VI – Optional Subject – Paper 1
(List of subjects below) |
Paper VII – Optional Subject – Paper 2
(Same subjects as Paper VI) |
List of languages for Paper-A (Indian Language):
Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali (Devanagari / Olchiki Script), Sindhi (Devanagari / Arabic Script), Tamil, Telugu, Urdu
List of optional subjects for Paper-VI & VII:
Agriculture, Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science, Anthropology, Botany, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Commerce & Accountancy, Economics, Electrical Engineering, Geography, Geology, History, Law, Management, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Medical Science, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science & International Relations, Psychology, Public Administration, Sociology, Statistics, Zoology.
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This also includes literature of any one of the following languages – Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, English
UPSC Civil Services Main Exam 2025: When will admit cards be issued?
The Commission generally releases e-admit cards two to three weeks prior to the start of the examination. Given that the Mains are scheduled from August 22 to 31, candidates can expect the UPSC CSE Mains admit card to be issued in the second week of August 2025 on the official website of the Commission.
