UPSC Interview: Personality Test

Interview / Personality Test: the last part of the Main Examination, after its written papers. At a glance: • 275 marks. There is no minimum qualifying mark: your interview marks are added to your written marks. • Candidates who reach the minimum qualifying marks the Commission fixes for the written part of the Main Examination are called for it: about twice as many candidates as there are vacancies. • Your final ranking is your marks in the seven written papers counted for merit (the Essay, General Studies I to IV and the two Optional papers: 1750 marks) plus the Personality Test (275 marks): 2025 marks in all. What the interview is: The candidate will be interviewed by a Board who will have before them a record of the candidate's career. The candidate will be asked questions on matters of general interest. The object of the Interview/Personality Test is to assess the personal suitability of the candidate for a career in public service by a Board of competent and unbiased observers. The Interview/Personality Test is intended to judge the mental calibre of a candidate. In broad terms this is really an assessment of not only intellectual qualities but also social traits and interest in current affairs. Some of the qualities to be judged are: • Mental alertness. • Critical powers of assimilation. • Clear and logical exposition. • Balance of judgement. • Variety and depth of interest. • Ability for social cohesion and leadership. • Intellectual and moral integrity. The technique of the Interview/Personality Test is not that of a strict cross-examination but of a natural, though directed and purposive conversation which is intended to reveal the mental qualities of the candidate. The Interview/Personality Test is not intended to be a test either of the specialized or general knowledge of the candidates which has been already tested through their written papers. Candidates are expected to have taken an intelligent interest not only in their special subjects of academic study but also in the events which are happening around them both within and outside their own State or Country as well as in modern currents of thought and in new discoveries which should rouse the curiosity of well-educated youth. Source: UPSC Civil Services Examination 2026, Examination Notice No. 05/2026-CSE, 4 February 2026.