IAS/UPSC Interview Questions PDF Download

IAS (UPSC CSE) Exam is held in three different stages- 

1. Preliminary Exam
2. Mains Exam
3. Interview Round

On the basis of marks obtained in the mains examination and Interview, a final merit list is prepared.

IAS- UPSC Interview: 

The UPSC interview questions test the candidates’ mental acuity, general awareness, social etiquette, and overall personality. The questions in the IAS interview are not meant to solely ascertain the theoretical knowledge so instead of mugging up, candidates should focus on their soft skills.

The IAS interview questions faced by Civil Service aspirants follow a similar pattern. 

Let’s look at a few of the broad categories of questions in the IAS interview and how candidates can prepare for them.

Questions on Self- Introduction

1. Tell us briefly about yourself
2. Tell us about your hometown
3. Why do you want to join Civil Services
4. What is the meaning of your name (first name/ surname)
5. Tell us about your family
6. What has inspired you to Join Civil Services?

To answer questions related to self-introduction in the IAS interview, which are open-ended and straightforward, aspirants should prepare 30-40 second coherent responses. These questions are merely setting a baseline i.e. the eminent UPSC board will use the information you give to ask follow-up questions.
Here are some questions and answers on Introduction given by IAS Toppers in various mock interviews:

Q.1. Tell us about yourself in such a way that we don’t need to read your application form.
Answer given by Anand Kumar Singh (Rank - 533, UPSC 2020)
My name is Anand Kumar Singh. I am from Behraich district in UP. Did graduation from BHU in History Hons. I have been selected at the position of Work Officer through UP PCS 2019

My hobbies are playing cricket, helping my father in farming-related work, and listening to songs.
Answer given by Satyam Gandhi (Rank - 10, IAS - UPSC 2020)
I am basically from Samastipur Bihar. I did my graduation from University of Delhi in 2020. It was BA Honours in Political Science. I completed my schooling from Kendriya Vidyalaya in Bihar itself and then moved to DU. From the last year, I am preparing for civil services. I have done a few internships during my college days and have also worked as a freelancer too.
Answer given by Saloni Verma (Rank - 70, IAS - UPSC 2020) 
My name is Saloni I was born in Jamshedpur but brought up entirely in Delhi. I graduated from Hindu College, University of Delhi in 2019 with a graduation degree in English honors. There on I've been preparing for this examination and I really like meeting new people and learning from new perspectives

Q.2. You are from which state and tell me about three problems of that state.
Answer given by Junaid Ahmed | UPSC CSE Rank:-03

I am from UP and the first thing i will say is the governance part, administration, law and order issue is a major one.
Second thing is the rural distress. It is there in other parts also. A population of  19 crores and mostly engaged in agriculture so it has become a major issue there.
Third is the industrial activity because mineral resources are not there in UP and electricity and other things are very costly so business investment is not that much so because of that GDP of UP is not upto its potential.
These are the three things which I think are the problems.

Questions on Educational Background & Inspiration

1. Which subjects did you study during school/graduation and do you think they are relevant to life in administration?
2. Which subject was your favourite/least favourite?
3. Why did you choose ‘xyz’ college/school?
4. What kind of projects did you do during school/graduation/PG?
5. Would you call yourself an average student? Why?
6. Why you want to be an IAS?

The basic educational qualification for the UPSC CSE exam is graduation. The questions in the IAS interview may be oriented towards your graduation subject or the latest trends in the same. However, if you don’t know the answer to a particular question then trying to bluff your way out is not advised. It’s better to be humble and truthful.
Here are some questions and answers on educational qualification given by IAS Toppers in various mock interviews:

Q.1. You just mentioned that you have done your graduation in B.A. honors from hindu

College and that was in english literature but i can't see english literature

written in your optional column you have taken PSIR why not english? 
Answer was given by Saloni Verma (Rank - 70, IAS - UPSC 2020) 
So, there were two main reasons one is that i studied political science as a generic ellective for two semesters it's an interesting subject and when i started preparing for GS- IR seemed very

interesting so i thought it would be nice to learn a new subject by virtue of this examination so that's why i chose PSIR.  I could have chosen english literature too but at that point

because i had studied literature for three years i thought it might be nicer to choose a new discipline although literature is also a fantastic discipline but i just wanted to try

Something else.

Q.2. What has inspired you to Join Civil Services?
Answer suggested by Srushti Jayant Deshmukh (AIR - 05, UPSC - 2018) 
“I believe it is a job as dynamic as being a civil servant that will utilize all my capacities and capabilities and it will be a journey to life of large mindedness where I will be able to care about other people’s lives, their dreams, their passions, apart from my own.”  
Answer suggested by Civil Servant Gaurav Kaushal (Cracked UPSC CSE 2012)

“ No career is a perfect career. Every career has its own negative and positive sides but there are a few factors that inspired me to be an IAS officer. Those important factors are:

• DIversified Work Profile 
• Exposure to different fields and exposure of different types
• A very big platform to work at such a young age.
• I love to take on challenges and this job is that type of job where you need to face challenges on a daily basis. (use this statement only if it matches with your temperament)
• I will be having an authority that I will use for the welfare of society.
• you can end your answer by a statement like that I feel IAS job will be a promising career for me through which I can do something impactful for society while being professionally satisfied and having good career growth. 

Questions on Recent News

1. What are today’s headlines?
2. Few important issues in news about India/your state/your hometown in the last few months
3. Reading newspapers and following the daily news is important from the UPSC IAS Interview perspective as well.

The IAS interview questions can refer to the latest news topics. Try to avoid giving one-dimensional opinion/information unless the question is relatively straightforward. (for e.g., What does the term ‘Petrodollars’ mean?)
Here are some questions and answers on Current Affairs given by IAS Toppers in various mock interviews:

Q.1. What are the challenges plaguing WTO?
Answer given by Sarthak Agrawal, Rank - 17, IAS - UPSC 2020
First of all the doha round hasn't been finalized yet due to frequent controversies. WTO is often

said to be a rich men's club, I think there are two reasons for that the first one being that it usually favors open markets and free markets that have traditionally been associated with rich

countries interest and secondly, it has also been hard for developing countries to win disputes against the policies of the ritual countries even though on occasion the us has lost.

Q.2. Since you are a police officer and you are from Delhi only so if you look at the recent controversy between Delhi government and the LG thing and police being the primary reason for which these two parties disagree with each other what exactly is the status why delhi police is such a bone of

contention between central government and Delhi Government.

Answer by Dr.Pooja Gupta, Rank - 42, IAS - UPSC 2020

Delhi has been given a special status under the constitution and it is under the control of central

government so particularly police is a matter of state subject. so delhi government has been demanding control over the police for better administration and for better control over the law and order situation so this is perhaps the bone of contention between the centre and the delhi government.

Q.3. What do you think about the policy of UP government of shooting in the leg?
Answer given by Junaid Ahmed | UPSC CSE Rank:-03 
You mean encounters? I will say this is the reactive reaction to solve the problems but according to me it will not properly solve the problem because encounters in itself have a negative connotation that police is killing the criminals that is not the job of police. Judiciary is there to decide who is right and who is wrong and supreme court has given certain guidelines in encounters that need to be taken care of and more focus should be there on the community policing which is an essential part of police rather than killing the criminals, that will help in improving the scenario. 

Questions on Work Profile

1. What were your roles and responsibilities at your job?
2. Why do you want to become an IAS/IPS/IFS officer?

Be prepared to answer questions about any gaps in your work history and how your previous experience is going to help in your career as an administrator.
Here are some questions and answers on your work profile given by IAS Toppers in various mock interviews:

Q.1. I think you are well placed now as a researcher in with the world bank

why do you want to quit that profession?
Answer given by Sarthak Agrawal, Rank - 17, IAS - UPSC 2020
As much as I enjoy research and I have enjoyed research in all my roles I am very eager to serve on the ground to implement some of which we already know works on the ground in india and try to understand the context over here and generally improve governance at the last mile.

Q.2. As an economist do you think policy making is less important than implementation?  

Answer given by Sarthak Agrawal, Rank - 17, IAS - UPSC 2020
I don’t think policymaking is less important than implementation so i don't think at all i think policy making is equally crucial but one thing i've noticed is that India especially has been extremely fortunate to have very good policies at most of its points of time but I think the crucial lag often lies in implementing those policies at the ground in which I think as a bureaucrat

as somebody well-versed in governance you can make probably more of an impact

Questions on Optional Subject

1. Why did you choose ‘xyz’ optional?
2. Why didn’t you pick your graduation subject as your optional?
3. Also, you might face some questions in IAS interview related to topics/theory/contemporary issues based on your optional subject.

Here are some questions and answers on Optional Subject given by IAS Toppers in various mock interviews:

Q.1. You have written here that your optional subject is anthropology. Why not physics, why not chemistry, mathematics not even electrical engineering. Why Anthropolgy? 
Answer given by: Srishti Singh - 78, IAS - UPSC 2020
While i was pursuing b tech there was an option in my final year to choose an optional

subject in those times I picked up a subject which had stories of tribals as its subject matter it really intrigued me and when I came to upsc since my subject was not available I was

intrigued by the syllabus of anthropology and thus decided to take it as my optional subject

Q.2.  Can you mention three books of anthropology which are not guide or help books?
Answer given by Srishti Singh - 78, IAS - UPSC 2020. (In continuation:) What methodology usually SC Dube Adopts.
The first is the study of man. The second is Primitive Culture. The third is indian village by SC dube. Usually SC Dube adopts methodology of case study he was studying southern india the kinship and political systems in southern india so as per my information he continued with

case study and administrative anthropological methods.

Questions on Hobbies & Interests

1. Here, the nature of questions varies depending on the hobbies you have listed in your DAF. 
2. For those who have listed sports as a hobby, the Panel has asked questions on famous sports persons or/and latest results. 
3. A few candidates have also been asked to sing during the interview process.

Q.1. You have this hobby of writing editorials and op-ed pages so recently we had a quiet summit and after that the four leaders, they wrote an op-ed article like i think it was titled something like the spirit of quiet I want to know which newspaper was it?
Answer given by Sarthak Agrawal, Rank - 17, IAS - UPSC 2020

The Washington Post
The purpose of the questions in the IAS interview is to check a candidate’s suitability to live in administration. It is not at all mandatory that one has to answer all the questions to get good marks in the UPSC Personality Test. Often, it is not about whether you know the precise answer to the question but how you actually come across as an individual when put under some pressure.

Few key points to avoid in an IAS interview

• Don’t stress out on the day before the Interview. Better be rested and calm.
• Don’t try to bluff your way out. The IAS interview is unlike any other interview you have encountered before, so don’t try bluffing strategies.
• Don’t be concerned about theoretical questions. It is more about how you approach any question which is being asked to you.
• Don’t argue with the panel members. It is a discussion but candidates should maintain decorum at all times.