UNION PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION EXAMS The Civil Services Examination ( CSE ) is a national competitive examination in India conducted by the Union Public Service Commission for recruitment to higher Civil Services of the Government of India , including the Indian Administrative Service , Indian Foreign Service , and Indian Police Service . It is also colloquially referred to as the UPSC examination , and UPSC CSE . [4] and is conducted in three phases: a preliminary examination consisting of two objective-type papers (Paper I consisting of General Studies and Paper II, referred to as the Civil Service Aptitude Test or CSAT), and a main examination consisting of nine papers of conventional (essay) type, in which two papers are qualifying and only marks of seven are counted; finally followed by a personality test (interview). [4] [5] A successful candidate sits for 32 hours ...