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. In simple terms it is referred as UPSC examination, and is conducted in three phases: a preliminary examination consisting of two objective-type papers (General Studies Paper I and General Studies Paper II also popularly known as 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 followed by a personality test (interview). A successful candidate sits for 32 hours of examination during the complete process spanning around one year. Process The Civil Services Examination is based on the British era Imperial Civil Service tests, as well as the civil service tests conducted by old Indian empires such as the Mauryan Empire and Mughal Empire. It is one of the most difficult competitive examinations in India. A single attempt can take two complete years of preparation - one year before the prelims and one year from prelims to interview. On average, 900,000 to 1,000,000 candidates apply every year and the number of candidates sitting in the preliminary examination is approximately 550,000. Results for the Prelims are published in mid-August, while the final result is published in May of the next year. Stage I: Preliminary Examination - Held in June every year. Results are announced in August. Stage II: Mains Examination - Held in October every year. Results are announced in January. Personality Test (interview) - Held in March. Final results are usually announced in May. After the completion of Medical examination of the successful candidates and other necessary formalities, the training program for the selected candidates usually commences the following September. Eligibility Eligibility for the examination is as follows: Nationality For the Indian Administrative Service, the Indian Police Service and the Indian Foreign Service the candidate must be a citizen of India. For other services, the candidate must be one of the following: A citizen of India. A citizen of Nepal or a subject of Bhutan. A Tibetan refugee who settled permanently in India before 1 January 1962. A person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia