The Main Examination is to assess the overall intellectual traits and depth of understanding of the candidates. The Written Examination in the Main Examination consists of 9 papers and is conducted according to the following pattern:

PAPER	SUBJECT	DURATION	MARKS	QUESTION TYPE
I	One Indian language from those included in the Eighth Schedule* of the Constitution	3 hrs	300	Essay Type
II	English	3 hrs	300	Conventional Type
III	Essay	3 hrs	200	Essay Type
IV&V	General Studies	3 hrs	300 for each	Essay Type
VI,VII,VIII & IX	Two papers in each of two Optional ** Subjects	3 hrs	300 for each	Essay Type

* Languages are: Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Marathi, Malayalam, Manipuri, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu.

** Optional Subjects for the Main Examination: Agriculture, Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science, Anthropology, Botany, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Commerce & Accountancy, Economics, Electrical Engineering, Geography, Geology, History, Law, Management, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Medical Science, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science & International Relations, Psychology, Public Administration, Sociology, Statistics, Zoology, Literature of one of the following languages: Arabic, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Marathi, Malayalam, Manipuri, Nepali, Oriya, Pali, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu.
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