What is UPSC CSE Personality Test?
UPSC Interview or the Personality Test is the final lap of the UPSC Civil Services selection process. It carries 275 marks (with no minimum qualifying marks). Marks obtained by the candidates in the UPSC Main Examination (written examination) as well as UPSC Interview would determine their final ranking. Candidates will be allotted to the various services keeping in view their ranks in the Examination and the preferences expressed by them for the various services and posts.
The focal point of the UPSC interview as defined by UPSC in its notification is as follows: “The candidate will be interviewed by a Board who will have before them a record of his/her career. He/she will be asked questions on matters of general interest. The object of the UPSC interview is to assess the personal suitability of the candidate for a career in public service by a Board of competent and unbiased observers. The test is intended to judge the mental calibre of a candidate. In broad terms this is really an assessment of not only his intellectual qualities but also social traits and his interest in current affairs.”
Thus, the interviewers have two major concerns in their mind:
- the personality issue and
- the knowledge aspect of the candidate.
Features of Our Mock Interview Program
How to fill DAF II
1 Lecture
Imp. Current Affairs
Optional Subject based Class
1-1 DAF Analysis
Personal one to one sitting with one of our interview panelists
1 Mock Interview
UPSC Interview simulation with our panel comprising retired bureaucrats and subject experts.
Detailed Feedback
Based on performance in the mock-interview, a thorough feedback and valuable suggestions are given to the candidate
Mock Interview recording
Each UPSC mock Interview is video-recorded and provided digitally for reviewing own performance on the same day
INTERVIEW PANEL
Rau’s Interview Panel is composed of retired bureaucrats (IAS, IPS, IFS officers) and ex-UPSC Board members.
Ms. Aradhana Johari
IAS (Retd)
Ex-UPSC Board Member
Mr. B.L. Vohra
IPS (Retd)
Ex-UPSC Board Member
Dr. Mehar Singh
IFos (Retd)
Ex-UPSC Board Member
Amb. Niraj Shrivastava
IFS (Retd)
Ex-UPSC Board Member
Mr. Sharda Prasad
IPS (Retd)
Ex-UPSC Board Member
Mr. Shekhar Agarwal
IAS (Retd)
Ex-UPSC Board Member
Amb. Dr. Jayant Dasgupta
IAS (Retd)
Ambassador to the WTO
Mr. Kush Verma
IAS (Retd)
Ms. Meriel J.J. Michael
IRS (Retd)
Amb. Prabhu Dayal
IFS (Retd)
Mr. Rajiv Walia
IAS (Retd)
Amb. Suresh Goyal
IFS (Retd)
Mr. A.K.Puri
IPS (Retd)
Mr. Anil Upadhyay
IFoS (Retd)
Mr. Luv Verma
IAS (Retd)
Mr. Raj K Mahtolia
IFoS (Retd)
Dr. Raghubansh Sinha
Senior Journalist (International Relations Expert, JNU)
UPSC Mock Interviews
The focus of our interview panel is exactly that. Besides the knowledge aspects in relation to your bio-data, the interview panel will focus on refining candidates’ approach, attitude and aptitude to excel in UPSC’s personality test.
How to prepare for UPSC Interview | Interview Guidance by Ms. Aradhana Johri IAS (Retd.)
How to prepare for UPSC Interview | Interview Guidance by Mr. Shekhar Agarwal IAS (Retd.)
How to prepare for UPSC Personality Test
How to prepare for UPSC Interview
How to prepare for IAS Interview
FOCUS AREAS of the interview PANEL
The programme will focus on novel ways of presentation, communication, body language, emotional stability, sense of empathy and answering mechanism.
The interview panel, besides checking and updating candidates on their knowledge of day to day affairs of national and international importance, will specifically also check for qualities such as – balance of judgment, clear and logical exposition, intellectual and moral integrity, mental alertness and ability for social cohesion and leadership.
FEEDBACK
For
Introspection
Each interview is video-recorded and digitally provided to the candidate so that they can view their own interview and introspect their performance.
Post Interview Performance Analysis
Based on performance in the mock-interviews, a thorough feedback and valuable suggestions are
given to the candidate
Personal One-to- One Interaction
Personal sitting with any member of the interview panel of your choice with detailed and focused one-to-one learning.
program details
Interview Programs (Online/Offline)
1-to-1 DAF Analysis + Mock Interview
Commencement Date
25th December 2023
UPSC MOCK INTERVIEWS IN PROGRESS
IAS Toppers Interview
Ankita Agarwal, AIR 2, IAS 2021
UPSC Toppers Interview, Shubhankar
Pratyush Pathak, AIR 11, CSE 2021
Mock Interview of UPSC Topper
Sonali Dev, AIR 41, CSE 2021
IAS Toppers Interview
Himanshu Jain, AIR 4, IAS 2019
UPSC Toppers Interview
Pratibha Verma, AIR 3, CSE 2019
Mock Interview of UPSC Topper
Sanjita Mohapatra, AIR 10, CSE 2019
IAS Toppers Interview
Junaid Ahmad, AIR 3, CSE 2018
UPSC Toppers Interview
Shrushti J. Deshmukh, AIR 5, CSE 2018
Mock Interview of UPSC Topper
Vaishali Singh, AIR 8, CSE 2018
FAQs
What is the UPSC mock interview?
A UPSC mock interview is a practice interview that simulates the actual UPSC interview. It is conducted by experienced professionals who can provide feedback on the candidate’s performance.
Is UPSC interview difficult?
One must remember that the UPSC interview is an assessment of an aspirant’s personality and not the knowledge. What gets assessed is the truthfulness, integrity, courage of conviction, beliefs and values, motivational level, general attitude and other simple personality attributes. Knowing or not knowing an answer is not the grading criterion. But a truthful, unhesitating acceptance of not knowing the answer is certainly being looked for. From this perspective, being your natural self and being absolutely honest is the best strategy to make it a cake-walk and enjoy the experience of the UPSC interview.
How can I be confident in a UPSC interview?
Remember that confidence thrives on honesty. By being your true self, being forthright and having the belief that you are amongst the best few who have made it to this stage of UPSC interview, will give you confidence far beyond ! And ofcourse, as the saying goes, Practice makes a man perfect. Taking mock interviews will definitely help you prepare for the UPSC interview. Having said that, it is also important to remember that practice doesn’t make it perfect if done wrongly. One has to be mindful while choosing an IAS institute for taking mock interviews. An inexperienced interviewing board can cause damage to an aspirant’s confidence rather than helping constructively. It will be thus prudent to be selective while choosing an IAS institute.
How should I prepare for the UPSC interview?
Be thorough with the details you have filled in the Detailed Application Form (DAF). In addition, areas which merit attention for UPSC Interview are; current issues of national and international importance, thorough knowledge of the candidate’s own state and district, knowledge of your own specialised field of study, momentous developments of today, if any, in that subject; lively panoramic grasp of the optional subject, your hobbies and areas of interest beyond academics, your achievements in life.
How many members are there in the IAS interview panel?
Each UPSC Board is headed by one of the UPSC Members and assisted by four experts (total 5 interviewers) who can be retired civil servants, academicians, scientists and other distinguished persons. These experts are drawn from a large panel of names assembled after careful scrutiny by the UPSC. Usually, 5 to 7 Interview Boards simultaneously conduct the UPSC interviews. Experts are also rotated among these different Boards.
Before the commencement of UPSC Interviews, all the UPSC board members are briefed by Chairman and Members of the UPSC on the purpose and manner of conducting the UPSC Interviews. The Boards are asked to follow some common standards towards maintaining uniformity in assessment.
Is fluency in spoken English very important for a UPSC interview?
The answer is “Not at all”. The recruitment is not for a professorial position in English at a University. As long as you are able to convey your point clearly and concisely, that is enough. Moreover, those candidates who do not feel confident in English can opt to take the UPSC Interview in the language of their choice.
What should be the dress code for UPSC interview ?
Well, consider that you are on the other side of the table and there enters a candidate who is wearing unironed clothes, has not shaved and had taken the last haircut probably before the Mains examination! Surely, this candidate would not give a very pleasing impression. On the flip side you also don’t have to dress up like James Bond wearing a custom-made Tim Ford single breasted suit! Wearing neat, well ironed clothes and clean polished shoes is what is expected. If one can wear a necktie, it will be good. For girl candidates, wearing a Saree or Suit or traditional dress of the State is a norm.
UPSC TOPPERS MOCK INTERVIEWS REVIEWS
Yaksh Choudhary
AIR-6, UPSC CSE 2021
This was the best Mock I have ever appeared, because the board members were excellent, they were all the retired bureaucrats, they all asked very relevant questions. When the board have retired bureaucrats, the environment of the interview as well as the level of the questions improves. It almost resembles the actual interview of Civil Services, this was the best thing I find in Rau’s IAS.
Yasharth Shekhar
AIR 12, UPSC CSE 2021
It was great experience the feedback was extremely good and all the board members are highly qualified people from different spears of life, and they gave a very good feedback. Infact like exactly the way UPSC conducts its Interviews
Bhavisya
AIR 29, UPSC CSE 2021
It was really good, the panellists covered from bigger picture to small details. How should I behave, my body language and all. Rau's IAS mock interview mock was very closer to real upsc interview. I received very generic feedback of my interview which helped me to improve my overall interview preparation. Apart from this One on One DAF discussion was very helpful.
Sonali Dev
AIR 41, UPSC CSE 2021
The experience of the mock interview was very good; in fact, I expect my UPSC interview will also go like this. I also expect my performance will upscale from here. I got direction from the Interview support team related to my DAF, like what to prepare before the mock interview.
Aaksh Verma
Feb-2018
The mock interview was very good. I came to know about various aspects of my personality and the improvement points. I will be more careful in the UPSC interview now after this session.
Anant Kumar
Feb-2018
The feedback that I got from the panel members was very good and true. The experts at Interview panel are very nice, co-operative and humble. They identified my drawbacks which needs to be improved. They were encouraging and helped in boosting my confidence. It was a very good experience.
Arjun K R
Feb-2018
Very practical and cordial board. They are people with great experience and assess you promptly. They helped me in rectifying my mistakes and it gave a feel of UPSC interview.
Deepanshu Khurana
Feb-2018
Very Nice. Equal to UPSC interview that I gave last year. Genuinely told lot of weaknesses.Need to work on it.
Gubbala A R V Surya Teja
Feb-2018
I gave 2 mock interviews at Rau’s. Luckily, I had the opportunity to encounter with the same panel. Hence, they were able to judge me from previous interviews. I got honest feedback from the experts for my posture and my knowledge lacks in current affairs. It was very helpful.
Jagat Sai Rallapalli
Mar-2018
The mock interview I have taken was very insightful and gave me an enriching experience. It will be helpful very much to the actual interview.
John J Nalappat
Feb-2018
It was a fruitful interaction with the panel. Questions were asked from varied domains. It was a mix analytical and factual questions. As I got an idea of my strong and weak areas that can help me focus on my preparation further. The feedback being overall positive, will boost my confidence for the actual interview.
Mohit Kumar
Feb-2018
The interview panel was very good and somewhat was giving a feel of actual UPSC environment. Questions were comprehensive. Feedback given would help me much in my interview.
Nikhil Patil
Feb-2018
Identified pinpointed areas of improvement.
Helped me to identify resources that I should refer to.
Strong areas that I should capitalize were also highlighted.
Nitin Srivastava
Feb-2018
The mock interview with the esteemed panel as both informative and an eye opener on the areas of my strengths and weaknesses. The panel informed me about my shortcomings to which I would focus on.
Pankaj Chauhan
Feb-2018
Interview delved in number of different areas to which my exposure was limited thus I came to know about different facets of my DAF and current affairs making my preparation more holistic and comprehensive.
Rajesh Kumar
Feb-2018
Mock interview at Rau’s gave an impression of real interview. Questions were based on DAF. Duration of interview can be increased and questions may be asked on all the aspects of DAF.
Feedback given by the panel will help in improving the mind framework of candidate.
Sagar Nailesh Shah
Feb-2018
Board help me identify my weak areas, which I can improve. Further, they helped me in analyse diverse topics related to national and international affairs. They also helped in boosting my confidence to pass with flying colors in final UPSc interview.
Shashank Bhardwaj
Mar-2018
The mock interview was impressive because-
- The interview room atmosphere was similar to actual interview.
- The questions asked were in-depth
- The feedback given was very informative and elaborative
It helped me in knowing my weaknesses, pointing out my mistakes and providing me a feel of how UPSC interview would happen.
Sulekha Verma
Feb-2018
It was my first mock. It was very useful for me. All members of panel were very cooperative. They gave positive response. They also told me about my weakness. It is very useful for my UPSC interview.
Sunil Chauhan
Feb-2018
Good experience. The board members noted my strengths and weaknesses both and print out was given to me. I hope I can improve my weaknesses and even further my strengths. Overall a very good experience.
T. Rahul Kumar Reddy
Feb-2018
The board was very cordial
DAF was covered with pointed questions. They have given specific inputs on where to concentrate. They pointed out loopholes in preparations, which will help me to improve on my weak areas.
Raushan Kumar
Feb-2018
Questions were very much close to the UPSC board. Environment created by board was very good. The feedback was best that I have got till now. Video recording is helpful in self improvement. Board member’s personality was very encouraging.
Veer Pratap Singh
Feb-2018
Overall mock interview was good. Board members asked very prominent and relevant questions which will help me in preparing for UPSC interview. They told me my strengths and weaknesses and told how can I improve on these. Suggestions will help me in my strategy for preparation.
Vikas Ahlawat
Feb-2018
Relevant questions were asked. Focus was on personality test rather than knowledge. It will help me to perform well in the interview as meaningful feedback has been given for improvement.
In case your desired time slot is unavailable, please contact the Study Circle’s Delhi office at 7568054231 to discuss options.
