IPS Eligibility 2020 – Age Limit, Exam Pattern And Qualification
IPS Eligibility Indian Police Service (IPS) is one of the All India Job which gives the sense of serving your country from the top front and the essence of pride and prestige. The IPS Officers are selected by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) from the Civil Services Examinations which is conducted every year.
The UPSC conducts the Civil Services Examinations for various posts like IAS, IRS, IFS, and others. The Civil Services Examinations is the Common Entrance test for all these posts. Here we give you all the details about the IPS Eligibility 2020, Age Limit and Qualifications.

Important Information
Post Name | IPS (Indian Police Service) |
Exam Name | Civil Services Exam |
Official Website | Click Here |
Post Type | All India Service |
IPS Eligibility For Educational Qualification
To become an IPS (Indian Police Service) Officer you just have to qualify the Civil Services Exam. The Civil Services Exam consists of 3 stages of the Prelims Exam, Mains Exam, and Personal Interview Round.
The basic educational eligibility for appearing in the IPS Entrance test is to graduate. The details are given below. There are no basic percentage criteria in the Graduation level for appearing in the Civil Service Exam.
Post | Educational Eligibility |
IPS (Indian Police Service) | A Bachelor Degree from any recognized institute or organization from any stream. |
IPS Age Limits
For appearing in the Civil Services Exam the UPSC has decided some Age limits category wise. There are limits for appearing in the Civil Services Exam also. For general category candidates, the new revised upper age limit is 32 years.
For the SC/ ST/ Reserved Categories the age relaxation has done for 5 years. The upper age limit SC/ ST is 37 years. Here are the details of the IPS age limits category wise.
Category | Min Age | Max Age |
UR | 21 years | 32 years |
SC | 21 years | 37 years |
ST | 21 years | 37 years |
OBC | 21 years | 35 years |
PWD | 21 years | 37 years |
No Of Attempt In IPS
IPS Eligibility for number of attempts for the IPS exam for the unreserved category is 6 till 32 years of age. The number of eligible attempts for the SC, ST categories is unlimited until 37 years. The number of attempts for IPS for OBC candidates is 9 to 35 years.
Category | Attempts |
UR | 6 |
SC | Unlimited |
ST | Unlimited |
OBC | 9 |
PWD | Unlimited |
IPS Eligibility Selection Process
The IPS officers in India are selected by the Civil Services Exam which is conducted by UPSC every year. The Civil Services Exam consists of 3 stages: Prelims Exam, Mains Exam, and Personal Interview Round. The details are given below. IPS Officier Salary depends on many criteria. For full details about salary click on the link of Salary.
Prelims Exam
The prelims consisted of 2 stages: paper 1 and paper 2. The paper 1 consists of 100 MCQ type questions of various subjects like history, geography, political science, sociology, general awareness, economics, etc. the paper two which is also called General Studies consists of 80 questions of reasoning, aptitude, and English language.
The paper 2 is qualifying in nature. The candidate must secure 33% in paper 2 to be eligible for the merit list. There is a negative marking present of 0.33 marks for each wrong answer.
Prelims Paper | No. of Questions | Full Marks | Duration |
Paper 1 | 100 | 200 | 2 hours |
Paper 2 | 80 | 200 | 2 hours |
IPS Eligibility For Mains Exam
The mains exam consists of 9 papers: Essay, English, Regional language, GS 1, GS 2, GS 3, GS 4, Optional Paper 1, Optional Paper 2. The English and Regional language papers are qualifying in nature.
Mains Paper | Subject | Full Marks |
Paper 1 | Regional Language | 300 Marks |
Paper 2 | English | 300 Marks |
Paper 3 | Essay | 250 Marks |
Paper 4 | General Studies 1 | 250 Marks |
Paper 5 | General Studies 2 | 250 Marks |
Paper 6 | General Studies 3 | 250 Marks |
Paper 7 | General Studies 4 | 250 Marks |
Paper 8 | Optional Paper 1 | 250 Marks |
Paper 9 | Optional Paper 2 | 250 Marks |
Personal Interview
The personal interview consisted of 275 marks in total. This round is important to secure your name on the final rank list. There is no particular syllabus for Civil Service Exam Personal Interview which is conducted by UPSC.