Syllabus of General Studies Paper I

General Studies Paper I: Indian Heritage and

Culture, History and Geography of the World and
Society
Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms,
Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.
Modern Indian history from about the middle of the
eighteenth century until the present significant events,
personalities, issues.
The Freedom Struggle - its various stages and important
contributors or contributions from different parts of the
country.
Post-independence consolidation and reorganization within
the country.
History of the world will include events from 18th century
such as industrial revolution, world wars, redrawal of national
boundaries, colonization, decolonization, political
philosophies like communism, capitalism, socialism etc. their forms and effect on the society.
Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India.
Role of women and womens organization, population and
associated issues, poverty and developmental issues,
urbanization, their problems and their remedies.
Effects of globalization on Indian society.
Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism &
secularism.
Salient features of worlds physical geography.
Distribution of key natural resources across the world
(including South Asia and the Indian subcontinent); factors
responsible for the location of primary, secondary, and

tertiary sector industries in various parts of the world

(including India).
Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes,
Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc., geographical
features and their location - changes in critical geographical
features (including waterbodies and ice-caps) and in flora
and fauna and the effects of such changes.

Syllabus of General Studies Paper II

General Studies Paper II: Governance, Constitution,
Polity, Social Justice and International relations
Indian Constitution- historical underpinnings, evolution,
features, amendments, significant provisions and basic
structure.
Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States,
issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure,
devolution of powers and finances up to local levels and
challenges therein.
Separation of powers between various organs dispute
redressal mechanisms and institutions.
Comparison of the Indian constitutional scheme with that of
other countries.
Parliament and State Legislatures - structure, functioning,
conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising
out of these.
Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and
the Judiciary Ministries and Departments of the Government;
pressure groups and formal/informal associations and their
role in the Polity.
Salient features of the Representation of Peoples Act.
Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers,
functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional
Bodies.
Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.
Government policies and interventions for development in
various sectors and issues arising out of their design and
implementation.

 Development processes and the development industry- the

role of NGOs, SHGs, various groups and associations,
donors, charities, institutional and other stakeholders.
Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by
the Centre and States and the performance of these
schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies
constituted for the protection and betterment of these
vulnerable sections.
Issues relating to development and management of Social
Sector or Services relating to Health, Education, Human
Resources. Issues relating to poverty and hunger.
Important aspects of governance, transparency and
accountability, e-governance- applications, models,
successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters,
transparency & accountability and institutional and other
measures.
Role of civil services in a democracy.
India and its neighborhood- relations.
Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements
involving India and/or affecting Indias interests.
Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing
countries on Indias interests, Indian diaspora.
Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their
structure, mandate.

Syllabus of General Studies Paper III

General Studies Paper III: Technology, Economic
Development, Bio diversity, Environment, Security and
Disaster Management
Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization
of resources, growth, development and employment.
Inclusive growth and issues arising from it.
Government Budgeting.
Major crops cropping patterns in various parts of the country,
different types of irrigation and irrigation systems storage,
transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues
and related constraints; e-technology in the aid of farmers.
Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and
minimum support prices; Public Distribution Systemobjectives, functioning, limitations, revamping; issues of
buffer stocks and food security; Technology missions;
economics of animal-rearing.
Food processing and related industries in India- scope and
significance, location, upstream and downstream
requirements, supply chain management.
Land reforms in India.
Effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial
policy and their effects on industrial growth.
Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways, etc.
Investment models.
Science and Technology - developments and their
applications and effects in everyday life Achievements of
Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology
and developing new technology.

 Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics,

nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to
intellectual property rights.
Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation,
environmental impact assessment.
Disaster and disaster management.
Linkages between development and spread of extremism.
Role of external state and non-state actors in creating
challenges to internal security.
Challenges to internal security through communication
networks, role of media and social networking sites in
internal security challenges, basics of cyber security; moneylaundering and its prevention.
Security challenges and their management in border areas;
linkages of organized crime with terrorism.
Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate.

Syllabus of General Studies Paper IV

General Studies Paper IV: Ethics, Integrity, and
Aptitude
This paper will include questions to test the candidates attitude
and approach to issues relating to integrity, probity in public life
and his problem solving approach to various issues and conflicts
faced by him in dealing with society. Questions may utilise the
case study approach to determine these aspects. The following
broad areas will be covered.
Ethics and Human Interface: Essence, determinants and
consequences of Ethics in human actions; dimensions of
ethics; ethics in private and public relationships. Human
Values lessons from the lives and teachings of great
leaders, reformers and administrators; role of family, society
and educational institutions in inculcating values.
Attitude: content, structure, function; its influence and
relation with thought and behaviour; moral and political
attitudes; social influence and persuasion.
Aptitude and foundational values for Civil Service , integrity,
impartiality and non-partisanship, objectivity, dedication to
public service, empathy, tolerance and compassion towards
the weakersections.
Emotional intelligence-concepts, and their utilities and
application in administration and governance.
Contributions of moral thinkers and philosophers from India
and world.
Public/Civil service values and Ethics in Public
administration: Status and problems; ethical concerns and
dilemmas in government and private institutions; laws, rules,
regulations and conscience as sources of ethical guidance;

accountability and ethical governance; strengthening of

ethical and moral values in governance; ethical issues in
international relations and funding; corporate governance.
Probity in Governance: Concept of public service;
Philosophical basis of governance and probity; Information
sharing and transparency in government, Right to
Information, Codes of Ethics, Codes of Conduct, Citizens
Charters, Work culture, Quality of service delivery, Utilization
of public funds, challenges of corruption.
Case Studies on above issues.

Syllabi for the Preliminary Examination

Paper I: 200 Marks; Duration: Two Hours.
Current Affairs: Events of national and international
importance.
History of India and Indian National Movement.
Indian and World Geography - Physical, Social,
Economic geography of India and the World.
Indian Polity and Governance Constitution, Political
System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues,
etc.
Economic and Social Development Sustainable
Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics,
Social Sector Initiatives, etc.
General issues on Environmental Ecology, Biodiversity and Climate Change (no subject
specialization required).
General Science.

Paper II: 200 Marks; Duration: Two Hours.

Comprehension.
Interpersonal skills including communication skills.
Logical reasoning and analytical ability.
Decision making and problem solving.
General mental ability.
Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders
of magnitude etc.) (Class X level), Data Interpretation
(charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. - Class X
level).
English Language Comprehension skills (Class X
level).
Questions relating to English Language
Comprehension skills of Class X level. (Will be tested
through passages from English language only without
providing Hindi translation).

PSYCHOLOGY PAPER I
FOUNDATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGY
1. Introduction: Definition of Psychology; Historical
antecedents of Psychology and trends in the 21st
century; Psychology and scientific methods; Psychology
in relation to other social sciences and natural sciences;
Application of Psychology to societal problems.
2. Methods of Psychology: Types of research:
Descriptive, evaluative, diagnostic and prognostic;
Methods of Research: Survey, observation, case-study
and experiments; Characteristics of experimental design
and non-experimental design, Quasi-experimental
designs; Focussed group discussions, brain storming,
grounded theory approach.
3. Research Methods: Major steps in Psychological
research (problem statement, hypothesis formulation,
research designs, sampling, tools of data collection,
analysis and interpretation and report writing)
Fundamental versus applied research; Methods of data
collect ion ( interview, observation, questionnaire);
Research designs (ex-post facto and experimental);
Application of statistical technique (t test, two way
ANOVA correlation, regression and factor analysis); Item
response theory.

4. Development of Human Behaviour: Growth and

development; Principles of development, Role of genetic
and environmental factors in determining human
behaviour; Influence of cultural factors in socialization;
Life span development Characteristics, development
tasks, promoting psychological well-being across major
stages of the life span.
5. Sensation, Attention and
Perception: Sensation: concepts of threshold, absolute
and difference thresholds, signal-detection and
vigilance;Factors influencing attention including set and
characteristics of stimulus; Definition and concept of
perception, biological factors in perception; Perceptual
organization-influence of past experiences, perceptual
defence-factors influencing space and depth perception,
size estimation and perceptual readiness; The plasticity of
perception; Extrasensory perception; Culture and
perception, Subliminal perception.
6. Learning: Concept and theories of learning
(Behaviourists, Gestaltalist and Information processing
models); The Processes of extinction, discrimination and
generalization; Programmed learning, probability
learning, self-instructional learning, concepts; Types and
the schedules of reinforcement, escape, avoidance and
punishment, modeling and social learning.
7. Memory: Encoding and remembering; Short term
memory, Long term memory, Sensory memory, Iconic
memory, Echoic memory: The Multistore model, levels of
processing; Organization and Mnemonic techniques to
improve memory; Theories of forgetting: decay,

interference and retrieval failure: Metamemory; Amnesia:

Anterograde and retrograde.
8. Thinking and Problem Solving: Piagets theory of
cognitive development; Concept formation processes;
Information processing, Reasoning and problem solving,
Facilitating and hindering factors in problem solving,
Methods of problem solving: Creative thinking and
fostering creativity; Factors influencing decision making
and judgment; Recent trends.
9. Motivation and Emotion: Psychological and
physiological basis of motivation and emotion;
Measurement of motivation and emotion; Effects of
motivation and emotion on behaviour; Extrinsic and
intrinsic motivation; Factors influencing intrinsic
motivation; Emotional competence and the related
issues.
10. Intelligence and Aptitude: Concept of intelligence
and aptitude, Nature and theories of intelligence
Spearman, Thurstone, Gullford Vernon, Sternberg and J.P;
Das; Emotional Intelligence, Social intelligence,
measurement of intelligence and aptitudes, concept of IQ,
deviation IQ, constancy of IQ; Measurement of multiple
intelligence; Fluid intelligence and crystallized
intelligence.
11. Personality: Definition and concept of personality;
Theories of personality (psychoanalytical, sociocultural,
interpersonal, developmental, humanistic, behaviouristic,
trait and type approaches); Measurement of personality
(projective tests, pencil-paper test); The Indian approach
to personality; Training for personality development;

Latest approaches like big 5 factor theory; The notion of

self in different traditions.
12. Attitudes, Values and Interests: Definition of
attitudes, values and interests; Components of attitudes;
Formation and maintenance of attitudes; Measurement of
attitudes, values and interests; Theories of attitude
change; Strategies for fostering values; Formation of
stereotypes and prejudices; Changing others behaviour;
Theories of attribution; Recent trends.
13. Language and Communication: Human language
Properties, structure and linguistic hierarchy, Language
acquisition-predisposition, critical period hypothesis;
Theories of language development Skinner and
Chomsky; Process and types of communication effective
communication training.
14. Issues and Perspectives in Modern
Contemporary Psychology: Computer application in
the psychological laboratory and psychological testing;
Artificial intelligence ; Psycho-cybernetics; Study of
consciousness sleep wake schedules; dreams,
stimulus deprivation, meditation, hypnotic/drug induced
states; Extrasensory perception; Inter-sensory perception
Simulation studies.

PSYCHOLOGY PAPER-II
PSYCHOLOGY: ISSUES AND APPLICATIONS
1. Psychological Measurement of Individual
Differences: The nature of individual differences;
Characteristics and construction of standardized
psychological tests; Types of psychological tests; Use,
misuse and limitation of psychological tests; hical issues
in the use of psychological tests.
2. Psychological well-being and Mental
Disorders: Concept of health-ill health; Positive health,

well-being; Causal factors in mental disorders (Anxiety

disorders, mood disorders, schizophrenia and delusional
disorders; personality disorders, substance abuse
disorders); Factorsinfluencing positive health, well-being,
life style and quality of life; Happiness disposition.
3. Therapeutic Approaches: Psychodynamic
therapies ; Behaviour therapies; Client centered therapy;
Cognitive therapies; Indigenous therapies (Yoga,
Meditation); Bio-feedback therapy; Prevention and
rehabilitation of the mentally ill; Fostering mental health.
4. Work Psychology and Organisational
Behaviour: Personnel selection and training; Use of
psychological tests in the industry; Training andhuman
resource development; Theories of work motivation
Herzberg, Maslow, Adam Equity theory, Porter and
Lawler, Vroom; Leadership and participatory
management; Advertising and marketing; Stress and its
management; Ergonomics; consumer psychology;
Managerial effectiveness; Transformational leadership;
Sensitivity training; Power and politics in organizations.
5. Application of Psychology to Educational
Field: Psychological principles underlying effective
teaching-learning process; Learning styles; Gifted,
retarded, learning disabled and their training; Training for
improving memory and better academic
achievement; Personality development and value
education, Educational, vocational guidance and career
counseling; Use of psychological tests in educational
institutions; Effective strategies in guidance programmes.

6. Community Psychology: Definition and concept of

community psychology; Use of small groups in social
action; Arousing community consciousness and action for
handling social problems; Group decision making and
leadership for social change; Effective strategies for
social change.
7. Rehabilitation Psychology: Primary, secondary and
tertiary prevention programmes role of psychologists ;
Organising of services for rehabilitation of physically,
mentally and socially challenged persons including old
persons, Rehabilitation of persons suffering from
substance abuse, juvenile delinquency, criminal
behaviour; Rehabilitation of victims of violence,
Rehabilitation of HIV/AIDS victims, the role of social
agencies.
8. Application of Psychology to disadvantaged
groups: The concepts of disadvantaged, deprivation;
Social, physical, cultural and economic consequences of
disadvantaged and deprived groups; Educating and
motivating the disadvantaged towards development;
Relative and prolonged deprivation.
9. Psychological problems of social
integration: The concept of social integration; The
problem of caste, class, religion and language conflicts
and prejudice; Nature and manifestation of prejudice
between the in-group and out-group; Causal factors of
social conflicts and prejudices; Psychological strategies
for handling the conflicts and prejudices; Measures to
achieve social integration.

10. Application of Psychology in Information

Technology and Mass Media: The present scenario
of information technology and the mass media boom and
the role of psychologists; Selection and training of
psychology professionals to work in the field of IT
and mass media; Distance learning through IT and mass
media; Entrepreneurship through e-commerce; Multilevel
marketing; Impact of TV and fostering value through IT
and mass media; Psychological consequences of recent
developments in Information Technology.
11. Psychology and Economic
development: Achievement motivation and economic
development; Characteristics of entrepreneurial
behaviour; Motivating and training people for
entrepreneurship and economic development; Consumer
rights and consumer awareness, Government policies for
promotion of entrepreneurship among youth including
women entrepreneurs.
12. Application of psychology to environment and
related fields: Environmental psychology-effects of
noise, pollution and crowding; Population psychology:
psychological consequences of population explosion and
high population density; Motivating for small family norm;
Impact of rapid scientific and technological growth on
degradation of environment.
13. Application of psychology in other fields:
a. Military Psychology Devising psychological tests for
defence personnel for use in selection, Training,
counseling; training psychologists to work with defence

personnel in promoting positive health; Human

engineering in defense.
b. Sports Psychology Psychological interventions in
improving performance of athletes and sports. Persons
participating in Individual and Team Games.
c. Media influences on pro and antisocial behaviour.
d. Psychology of terrorism.
14. Psychology of Gender: Issues of discrimination,
Management of diversity; Glass ceiling effect, Selffulfilling prophesy, Women and Indian society.

PATTERN OF THE EXAM

(A) PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION
The Examination consists of two papers.
Paper I:General Studies (200 Marks, Duration Two Hours)
200 Marks
Paper II:Aptitude Test (200 Marks Duration Two Hours)
200 Marks
Total

400

Marks
Note: Both the question papers are of objective type
(multiple choice questions).
Medium English and Hindi

(B) MAIN EXAMINATION

The written Examination consists of the following papers.
Qualifying Papers :
Paper-A One of the Indian Language (One of the Indian
Language to be selected by the candidate from the

Languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the

Constitution).
300 marks
Paper-B English 300 marks
Papers to be counted for merit:
Paper 1 Essay
marks

250

Paper 2 General Studies - I

(Indian Heritage and Culture, History and
Geography of the World and Society)
250 marks
Paper 3 General Studies II
(Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and
International relations)
250 marks
Paper 4 General Studies III
(Technology, Economic Development, Bio-diversity,
Environment, Security and Disaster Management)
250 marks
Paper 5 General Studies IV
(Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude)
marks

250

Paper 6 Optional Subject Paper 1

marks

250

Paper 7 Optional Subject Paper 2

marks

250

Total Marks

1750 marks

(C) PERSONALITY TEST : 275 MARKS

Total (B) Main Examination - 1750 Marks + (C)
Personality Test 275 Marks = 2025 Marks