"A total of 15,008 candidates have qualified in the preliminary examination," UPSC Secretary Ashim Khurana told PTI.
As against a record number of 9,45,908 candidates who have applied for the exam, about 4.63 lakh had sat in the test on August 23, which is about 49 per cent of the total applicants.
"The results of the preliminary exam were declared within 50 days of conducting the exam. It is the shortest ever duration in which the results were declared," Khurana said.
All the qualified candidates are advised to fill up the Detailed Application Form online for civil services (main) examination, to be held from December 18, 2015, a statement issued by the UPSC said.
The civil services examination is conducted by the UPSC annually in three stages -- preliminary, main and interview -- to select officers of Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), among others.
The preliminary examination consists of two papers -- Paper I and Paper II of two hours duration each. There were 2,186 venues in 71 centres (or cities) across the country.
Candidates can also obtain information regarding their result by accessing Union Public Service Commission website -- www.Upsc.Gov.In.
