IPS Exam 2020 – Dates, Application, Eligibility, Syllabus

The Full form of IPS is Indian Police Service, or Bhartiya Police Seva is a policing service on all India level. IPS is one of the three topmost coveted services under governmental control. It is directly under the power of the Ministry of Home affairs. The IPS exam is conducted by the Union Public Service Commission every year on an annual basis. This is a competitive examination conducted on an all India basis.

The main role of IPS officers is to safeguard the peace and tranquility of the nation and its fellow people. Maintaining law and order in the country by safeguarding the interest of the larger public is also the task of IPS officers. IPS officers are recruited in various important and highly confidential units of the police department like the Intelligence Bureau (IB), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Crime Investigation Department (CID), etc.

IPS Exam 2020 – Important Dates

The official gazette contains the exact number of vacancies that the UPSC plans to recruit candidates through the IES exam. The most important dates for candidates applying for IES 2020 are indicated below:

IPS Eligibility Criteria

Nationality

• Citizens of India are eligible to apply for the exam. Refugees of Nepal, Burma and Tibet who resided in India till 01st of January 1962 are also eligible to apply.
• Candidates who are originally from India but resided in other countries like Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka or East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire and Ethiopia or from Vietnam are eligible to apply, provided they settle down permanently in India upon successful selection.

Education Qualification

Any candidate who has completed graduation in any stream from any university recognized by the UGC or the Government of India or any foreign recognized university is eligible to apply for the exam. Also, candidates who have appeared for the final year degree exam and awaiting results can also apply for the examination.

Age Limit

Candidates who have completed 21 years of age and have not exceeded 30 years as on 01st of August 2020 must apply. Candidates not falling in the age bracket should strictly not apply. In other words, only those candidates can apply who were born between 02nd of August 1989 and 01st of August 1999.

Age Relaxation

The age relaxation is not common to every category. Different categories have different age relaxations and the same is tabulated below for information:

Number of Attempts

There is an upper limit on the number of attempts a candidate can make when attempting the IPS examination. Refer the table below for information:

IPS Application Form 2020

Once a candidate checks his eligibility criteria and finds himself qualifying to attempt the exam, he can apply for the IPS 2020 exam by filling up the requisite application form. The application has to be filled online only. The time window wherein the applicant can successfully submit the application form plus pay the fees is between 12th February 2020 to March 03, 2020.

The applicant can download the application form from the official UPSC website and submit with all the documents through online submission only. No applications will be entertained after the deadline.

The candidates can follow these instructions while filling up the application form:

• Visit the official website of UPSC and click to apply on IPS 2020 exam.
• After proper selection of the exam, fill in all the details properly in the application form.
• Cross check the details twice in both part 1 and part 2 of the application. Part 1 consists of all the personal details of the applicant like name, permanent address, contact details etc.
• Based on your category and other criteria, make sure you attach all requisite documents along with the application form. Keep a scanned photograph ready for uploading after filling up the application form.
• Also attach a scanned signature along with the documents submitted.
• Pay the requisite fee along with the application form.
• After paying fees, revise the application form again and make sure you haven’t missed out on any attachments. Thereafter, click the submit button to send the application.
• Once your application is successfully sent, you’ll receive a registration number of the sent application which you should use as reference for all future communications related to the exam.

IPS Application Fees

Payment of fees for the exam can be made in two ways:

• Online mode: You can avail facilities like credit card/ debit card payments or internet banking facilities etc to make the payment through online mode.
• Offline mode: Pay the requisite fee at any of the government recognized SBI branches and receive the challan as acknowledgement for the fee deposited. Soon after, this challan number can be entered in the application form so that your fee payment is successfully done.

Candidates belong to SC/ST categories, physically handicapped applicants and females are exempted from making any payments for the examination.

Below is the detailed fee structure for candidates:

IPS Admit Card

• The admit card is a very important document for the candidate and has to compulsorily carry it to the examination hall.
• The admit card suggests important details of the candidate like his name, contact details, registration no etc.
• Right after the candidates are screened and eligible candidates selected for attempting the prelims, the authorities will issue an admit card. The same can be downloaded from the official website of UPSC.
• For the prelims, the admit card can be expected to be available on the website before May 2020.
• Further, for candidates selected for the mains exam, the admit card shall be made available before September 2020.

IPS Exam Pattern

The UPSC conducts the Civil Services examination or CSE for recruitment of candidates to IPS cadres. The examination consists of three phases, the prelims phase, the mains phase and the interview phase. Candidates who successfully clear the prelims phase get notified for the mains exam.

Successful candidates in the main exam get notified for the further interview process. The final selection of candidates happens in the interview / personality test round. After the final screening, list of selected candidates is put up on the official website. According to their ranking, candidates are allocated different posts and cadres.

Prelims phase

• Exam comprises mostly of objective type of questions.
• Exam consists of two papers, paper 1 and paper 2, both being multiple choice questions.
• The total duration for both the papers is 2 hours.
• The exam is of qualifying nature and a candidate needs to score at least 33% to get eligible to attempt the mains exam.
• Papers will be set both in English and Hindi mediums.
• The 1st paper is the General Studies carries a total of 200 marks.
• The 2nd paper is the CSAT or Civil services Aptitude Test and carries a total of 200 marks.

Some of the topics essential for Paper 1 preparation are as follows:

• General Science
• Current affairs, both national and international levels.
• Politics and governance
• Socio-economic development of the country.

Some of the topics essential for Paper 2 preparation are as follows:

• Math ability
• General and logical reasoning.
• Analytical problems.
• Data interpretation.
• Communication skills, etc.

Mains

• Exam paper consists of theoretical questions.
• There are a total of 9 papers to be attempted.
• The language papers and the English language papers (Papers A and B) are of qualifying nature.

Interview / Personality test round

The interview round also carries a total of 275 marks.
Overall the mains and the interview round carry a total of 2025 marks.

IPS Exam Syllabus

Prelims

For the general studies paper, focus on following topics which are just indicative.

• Indian economy, politics and governance.
• History with special focus on independence struggle.
• General science.
• Technology in India.
• Current affairs – both national and international.
• Environment and forestry.

For the CSAT paper, focus on the below given indicative list:

• Numerical problems.
• Data interpretation.
• Logical reasoning.
• Analytical thinking.
• Comprehension.
• Decision making.
• Communication skills.

Mains

The UPSC mains exam for IPS 2020 consists of two qualifying papers, namely Indian language plus English language. The syllabus in general shall cover the following elements:

• Essay.
• Comprehension.
• Precise answer writing.
• Translation.
• Grammar and language usage.

Paper 1 is purely an essay paper. The candidate has the flexibility to write the essay in the language he chooses.

Paper 2 is the General Studies – 1 paper which mainly consists of Indian heritage and culture, history and geographical studies, both of India and the world.

Paper 3 is the General studies – 2 paper which mainly consists of constitution, governance, politics, social justice and international relations.

Paper 4 is the General studies – 3 paper which mainly consists of technological development, environment, ecology, biodiversity security aspects and various facets of disaster management.

Paper 5 is the General studies – 4 paper which mainly consists of ethics, integrity and a host of aptitude questions.

Paper 6 and Paper 7 consists of the optional subjects that the candidate has to choose from. There are a total of 48 subjects that the candidate can choose from.

Interview

• There is no prescribed syllabus for the interview round.
• The candidate is engaged in an active conversation by a panel of judges who will question him/her for his suitability if he gets appointed for any of the positions as per merit order.
• His personality will be assessed based on his judgment, decision making ability, analytical and sharp reasoning and problem solving approach.

IPS Exam Results

• The results for the prelims will be announced before October 2020.
• The results for the mains exam will be published by December 2020.
• Interview and personality test rounds are usually conducted in the month of April/ May every year and the final list of selected candidates can be expected by May 2021.
• Students can check their result on the official UPSC website by providing the relevant registration number and obtain their result.
• Separate result lists will be provided after every phase of the examination. Candidates expecting results should check the website from time to time for any notifications from the authorities concerned.

7 Best Preparation tips to crack IPS Exam

1. Reading is a very essential ingredient for success in IPS exams.
2. Two very important things to note are, precise answer writing plus monitoring the word count for every answer. Without the candidate spelling out the answer as per the requirement of the question, he would be judged wrongly by the evaluators.
3. Logical thinking and good comprehension skills need to be built from the very early stage.
4. Understand and be thorough with your basics. Basic knowledge plus good factual information at your fingertips will go a long way in helping you clear the examination.
5. Specialise in the subject area you have chosen. For the general studies part, going in-depth with each and every topic you come across is really not required.
6. Attempt previous year question papers. Take up as many mock tests possible.
7. Provide supportive elements in your answers like diagrams, flowcharts and illustrations.

How to become an IPS officer?

A candidate who aspires to become part of the coveted police services and serve the country should take up the UPSC Civil Services examination and emerge successful with a high ranking in order to choose the IPS cadre. This is summarized in the points below:

• Apply for the UPSC Civil Services Examination.
• Check for eligibility criteria and attempt the examination.
• Upon successfully clearing the prelims exam, go higher up to attend the mains exam.
• After clearing the mains exam, prepare yourself for the interview round.
• Once you emerge successful in the interview round, you will be allotted IPS cadres according to the order of your ranking. Thus you can become a successful IPS officer after successful induction and training thereafter.

Roles and Responsibilities of IPS officer

• To promote security by exchanging information’s’ with the Indian Intelligence agencies like R&AW, CBI, CID, IB
• Serve people of the nation with full dedication, commitment, and bravery
• Leading and dealing with Central Armed Police Force(CRPF) and interact with them for day to day surveillance
• Fulfill responsibilities and duties for
  • border integrity,
  • maintain public peace and order
  • prevent crime,
  • collect intelligence report, patrolling on the border,
  • policing on the railway,
  • taking care of VIP security,
  • act proactively for counter terrorism,
  • drug trafficking,
  • controlling smuggling,
  • be a part of disaster management,
  • enroll in socio-economic legislation.
• Coordinate, update, and plan with the Indian Revenue Services (IRS), Indian Armed Forces, primarily for the assistance of the Indian Army.