Civil Services are jobs like IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS etc. directly related to public service and are widely considered prestigious in India.

It comes out usually during the first week of December/January every year. The notification is published in Employment News and Rozgar Samachar.

Any graduation degree. It may be regular or distant. The candidate must hold a degree of any of Universities incorporated by an Act of the Central or State Legislature in India or other educational institutions established by an Act of Parliament or declared to be deemed as a University under Section-3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956, or possess an equivalent qualification.

Degrees (graduation) from any of the Universities incorporated by an Act of the Central or State Legislature or University approved by University Grants Commission are alone considered valid and eligible for UPSC Exam.

Yes, physically handicapped candidates belonging to the general category shall be eligible for 7 attempts.

Wrong. This is just another exam. The mother of all exams is Life. You can afford to fail in IAS, but not in Life. So, take IAS preparation as a phase in your Life, not as Life itself.

It is a three stage exam, with only successful candidates eligible to apply in subsequent stages. The first stage is the Preliminary Exam, open for all applicants. Upon clearing this, the successful candidate has to apply again to sit for the Mains Exam. Successful candidates at this stage are called for the Personality Test or Interview. Those passing the Personality Test are the ultimate successful candidates.

Check out the syllabus properly. Decide how much and what you have to study for each topic. Divide the course into subjects and then divide the subjects into small bits. The current syllabus is very topic wise. Decide the relevant books/material you will study for each topic. Then plan the number of days you will finish each topic in. Now divide the material for each topic into days, as in what will you finish on what day. Make daily targets of course and finish those! Make an easy schedule. Do not burden yourself too much. Also, keep a loose schedule so that if you are not able to finish any topic properly, then you have an extra day to run through it. Also keep enough time for revision.

If you are a beginner, then the best place to start should be the article CouchUp IAS has already solved your problem by introducing PT Planner, click here to view PT Planner.