How to Become an IAS Officer: Step by Step

You become an IAS officer through UPSC's Civil Services Examination (CSE). The same exam fills 23 services, and the Indian Administrative Service is one of them. Whether you get it depends on three things: clearing every stage of the exam, your final rank, and the order in which you list the services you want.

Below is the official path in eight steps, as UPSC's CSE 2026 notice and the Government's rules describe it. Each step links to the guide that covers it in detail.

Step 1: Check that you are eligible

• Nationality. For the IAS, the IFS and the IPS you must be a citizen of India. Some other services in the exam also accept a few other categories with a Government eligibility certificate.
• Age. You must be at least 21 and must not have reached 32 on 1 August of the exam year. SC and ST candidates get five more years, OBC three and PwBD candidates ten. See age limit and attempts, or work out your own years with the age calculator.
• Education. You need a graduate degree from a university of the kind the notice lists, or an equivalent qualification; the notice sets no condition on the subject. You can apply in your final year, as long as you show proof of passing within the time UPSC allows once you qualify for the interview.
• Attempts. Six for General and EWS candidates, nine for OBC candidates and for PwBD candidates of the General, EWS and OBC categories, and no limit for SC and ST candidates within the age limit. An attempt counts only if you sit at least one prelims paper.
• Fitness. You must meet the physical standards in the Rules for the exam.

The full conditions are in UPSC eligibility criteria. Note that a serving IAS or IFS officer cannot sit the exam again.

Step 2: Apply when the notice comes out

UPSC's calendar lists the CSE 2027 notification for 13 January 2027, with applications closing on 2 February 2027. You apply online on UPSC's portal: a one-time registration, a common application form, and then the form for that year's exam, where you also pay the fee and pick your centre.

Two choices made here are hard or impossible to undo:

• Optional subject, medium and language paper. You choose them in the exam form, and the notice says no change will be entertained afterwards.
• Service preferences. You must list, in order, the services you want. The Government will consider you only for those, so if the IAS is not on your list you cannot get it. IAS and IPS candidates also give a home cadre preference when UPSC asks for it.

More in notification and application form, exam fees and service preference.

Step 3: Clear the preliminary exam

The prelims has two objective papers of 200 marks each, two hours each, on the same day. GS Paper II (CSAT) only needs 33%. Your place on the list for the mains depends on your GS Paper I marks, and wrong answers cost one-third of a question's marks. The prelims is a screening test: its marks do not count towards your final rank.

UPSC admits about 12 to 13 times the number of vacancies to the mains. For CSE 2026 it shortlisted 13,343 candidates. The CSE 2027 prelims is scheduled for 23 May 2027.

See the prelims syllabus, the prelims strategy and the prelims cut-off.

Step 4: Write the main exam

The mains has nine essay-type papers of three hours each. Two are qualifying language papers: you need 25% in each, or UPSC does not count your other papers. The other seven (Essay, four General Studies papers and two papers of your optional subject) carry 250 marks each, 1,750 in all, and decide your written rank. UPSC's 2027 calendar has the mains starting on 20 August 2027.

See the mains syllabus, optional subjects and answer writing.

Step 5: Face the interview

UPSC calls about twice as many candidates as there are vacancies to the Personality Test. It carries 275 marks, with no minimum qualifying mark. A board assesses your personal suitability for a career in public service. Before it, you update your details online and upload proof of your degree, and UPSC checks your original documents. See the UPSC interview guide.

Step 6: UPSC recommends, in order of merit

Your final rank comes from your mains written marks and your interview marks together, out of 2,025. UPSC then recommends candidates in order of merit. For CSE 2025 it recommended 958 candidates against 1,087 vacancies reported by the Government, of which 180 were in the IAS.

See UPSC result and the cut-offs for every stage.

Step 7: The Government allots services and cadres

UPSC recommends; it does not allot services. The Government allots them, keeping in view your rank and the preferences you gave. The notice points candidates to the Department of Personnel and Training's websites for service allocation and cadre allotment. So the IAS comes to you only if it is on your list and your rank is high enough to reach one of that year's IAS vacancies. IAS officers are then allotted a state cadre under the Government's cadre allocation policy.

See rank-wise service allocation and cadre allocation.

Step 8: Training at LBSNAA

IAS training starts at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) in Mussoorie and includes a year in your allotted state.

What comes after training is in the IAS officer career journey and LBSNAA and IAS training.