The IAS Interview is the final stage of the prestigious Civil Services Examination. After this stage, candidates are selected for various posts in other services including IAS. Many people think and argue about the usefulness of IAS interview after IAS Prelims and IAS Main comprehensive two-level examination. Generally, IAS Prelims and Mains examinations are conducted to test the academic and general awareness of the candidates in various subjects, on the other hand, IAS interview like any other recruitment test of the personality and temperament of the candidate.
IAS Interview Questions
The IAS interview panel includes eminent personalities from various fields and is chaired by a UPSC member. There is no fixed format or pattern of IAS interview and the interview panel is free to ask questions from candidates from technical, academic and non-academic fields as well. IAS interview questions can be from any subject, can be of any intensity, it can be bizarre or downright ridiculous.
The IAS interview is even more difficult because of the increased competition at this level. However, it is challenging but the interview should not be too difficult considering that the candidates have already passed the IAS Prelims and IAS Mains exam. Candidates only need to display different traits of their personality, show their mental alertness, social etiquette and use reasoning for targeted answers to impress the panel.
To help you understand the type and style of questions asked in IAS interview, we have listed some important questions below:
1. Why do you want to become an IAS officer?
This is a standard IAS interview question, which candidates are always asked. The purpose of this question is to get information about the work goals of the candidate after becoming IAS. This is one of the most important questions, as it gives a detailed overview to panellists about your passions, goals, interests and motivations which may prove helpful for you to join the civil services. Therefore, it is advised that the candidates prepare in advance for this question.
2. What about you? Or give a brief introduction about yourself
This is probably the most standard question asked in almost every interview. If you have been asked this question, then you can start by giving a brief background about your family, educational qualifications and professional work.
3. Explain your weaknesses and characteristics .
Explanation: Honesty and integrity along with academic knowledge and mental alertness are the main components of this question which are very important for an IAS officer. Usually, this question is not only asked by the IAS Interview Panel to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the candidate but also to assess how honest the candidate is. Candidates should keep in mind that the IAS interview panel also includes subject matter experts who have vast experience. In short, the UPSC panel should not give vague or misleading answers, be honest in your responses and describe your strengths and weaknesses to the best of your understanding and elaborate them with logical explanations and examples.
4. How can you leave a raw egg on a concrete floor without breaking it?
Answer: Concrete floors are very difficult to break!
Explanation: The purpose of this question is to test the mental alertness of the candidate.
5. If I run away with your sister, what will you do?
Answer: I will be very happy, because I can not find a better match for my sister than you.
Explanation: The objective of this question is not only a sense of humor, but also a positive mindset of the candidates.
6. The interviewer ordered a cup of coffee for the candidate. Coffee arrived and was placed in front of the candidate. Then the candidate was asked, What is before you?
Answer: T Comes Before U K The alphabet ‘T’ comes before ‘U’ and hence T comes before U.
Explanation: Generally, a candidate will answer, although know that the panelist has ordered coffee so that he or she can prepare this scenario He can ask this question so that some new thinking is required.
7. What happened when the wheel was invented?
Answer: The candidate who got selected Answered ‘It caused a revolution’
Explanation: The answer is on two levels, where at first, it explains the basic function of a wheel, which is to rotate. At a deeper level, a revolution of the world changes, as we know today, because of the foundational basis of the wheel’s invention mechanism. Thus, the logic of revolution is also true.
8. You are driving your car on a stormy night, it is raining heavily, then suddenly you go through a bus stop, and there are three people waiting for the bus: there is a quite old lady and she needs immediate help. Looks like; An old friend who once saved your life and is a person who seems to be the perfect life partner you were dreaming of. Only two people can sit in your car. What would you do in such a situation?
Explanation: This question is essentially related to the decision which puts the candidate in a moral dilemma. On the one hand, the candidate to be a good person wants to save the old woman’s life, on the other hand, he wants to seat his friend in his car to save him from the storm and the third option is of the person he was dreaming of. In such questions, the candidate will have to move away from the tradition and think of something unique so that he can satisfy everyone.
Answer: The candidate will give his car to his friend and that friend will take the old woman in the candidate’s car to the hospital, while they will stop at the bus stop with their dream partner.
9. What if one morning you woke up and found that you were pregnant? (Asked a female candidate)
Answer: I will be very happy and celebrate the good news with my husband.
Explanation: The purpose of this question is to test how a candidate reacts to some surprising news, however, the news may not only be negative and may also have positive results. In short, such an answer gives the IAS interview panel a glimpse of its positive mind.
10. Where did Lord Rama celebrate his first Diwali?
Answer and Explanation: This is a difficult question, as it includes both academic knowledge and practical knowledge. It is generally discovered that Lord Rama celebrated his first Diwali in Ayodhya, Mithila [Janaki’s place] or Lanka.
The festival of Diwali started after Rama and hence, Lord Rama did not celebrate Diwali at all.
Some other questions are as follows
11. A murderer sentenced to death. He was shown three rooms. The first room had a fire, the second had killers and the third has tigers, who have been hungry for three years. Which room should the killer go to?
Answer: Room number three, because hungry for three years, the lion must have died by now.
12. If 2 is a company and 3 is crowded, what will be 4 and 5?
Answer: 4 and 5 are always 9 .
13. What can you never eat for breakfast?
13. What can you never eat for breakfast?
Answer: Dinner.
Answer: Dinner.
14. Can you name Wednesday, Friday and Sunday three consecutive days without taking their name?
14. Can you name three consecutive days on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday without taking names?
Answer: Yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Answer: Yesterday, today and tomorrow.
15. Peacock is a bird who does not lay eggs, then how Peacock’s children are born?
15. Peacock is a bird that does not lay eggs, so how are peacock babies born?
Answer: The female peacock eggs, not the male peacock.
Answer: Female peacock lays eggs, male peacock does not
16. Twins (Adarsh and Anupam) were born in May but their birthday is in June. How’s this possible?
16. Two twins were born in May, but their birthdays are in June. How is this possible?
Answer: May is the name of the town.
Answer: May is the name of the city
17. If you had three apples and four oranges in one hand and four apples and three oranges in the other hand, what would you have?
17. If you have three apples and four oranges in one hand and four apples and three oranges in the other hand, what do you have?
Answer: Very large hands.
Answer: very big hands
