
UPPSC Physics Notes, Syllabus & Exam Pattern: Download PDF Here!
The Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission conducts the UP PCS Exam to recruit the eligible candidates to become administrative officers in the Uttar Pradesh government. All the candidates must brace up themselves for a great start to their career!
Unlike UPSC, the UPPSC Exam is also a multi level exam as;
- Prelims
- Mains
- Interview
For the total papers, two are for preliminary and other eight are for the Mains Exam. To secure the selection it is mandatory to clear all the papers. Here it is the choice of the candidates to choose an optional subject. Choosing wisely is important because it will create a difference.
Our entire article is focused on the latest exam pattern of UPPSC, Syllabus, and every little detail about the exam and Optional Subject. Candidates who are to appear for the mains exam must go through the detailed UPPSC syllabus and exam pattern.
UPPSC Physics Notes & Syllabus
Every year UPPSC gives an official notification regarding syllabus and exam pattern. Here too we have provided the syllabus and notes of the UPPSC Physics Exam.
Paper 1- Physics Paper Mechanics, Thermal Physics, Waves & Oscillations and Optics | |
Mechanics | Conservation law, collisions, impact parameters, scattering cross- section, center of mass and lab systems with transformation of physical quantities, Rutherford Scattering. Motion of a rocket under constant force field. Rotating frames of reference, Coriolis force, Motion of rigid bodies, Dynamics of rotating bodies. Inertia tensor, Moment of inertia, Moment of inertia of sphere, ring cylinder, disc. Angular momentum. Torque and precession of a top. Gyroscope. Central forces, Motion under inverse square law.Kepler’s Laws. Motion of Satellites (including geostationary). Elastic constants and their interrelationship, Galilean Relativity. Special Theory of Relativity. Michelson-Morley Experiment, Lorentz Transformations-addition of velocities. Variation of mass with velocity. Mass- Energy equivalence. Fluid dynamics. Streamline and turbulent flow, Reynold number, Viscosity, Poiseuille’s formula for the flow of liquid through narrow tubes, Bernoulli’s equation with simple applications. |
Thermal physics | Laws of thermodynamics, Entropy, Canot’s cycle, Isothermal and Adiabatic changes, thermodynamic Potentials, Helmboltz and Gibbs functions. Maxwell’s relations. The Clausius-Clapeyron equation, reversible cell, joule-Kelvin effect, Stefan Boltzmann Law, Kinetic Theory of Gasses, Maxwell’s Distribution Law of velocities, Equipartition of energy, specific heats of gasses, mean free path, Brownian Motion, Black Body radiation, specific heat of solids, Einstein and Debye theories. Wien’s Law, Planck’s Law, solar constant. Saha’s theory of thermal ionization and stellar spectra, Production of low temperatures using adiabatic demagnetization and dilution refrigeration. Concept of negative temperature. |
Waves and Oscillations | Simple harmonic motion, mass, spring and LC circuits. Stationary and progressive waves, Damped harmonic motion, forced oscillation and Resonance, Sharpness of resonance, Wave equation, Harmonic solutions, Plane and Spherical waves, Superposition of waves. Two Perpendicular simple harmonic motions. Lissajous figures, fourier analysis of periodic waves-square and triangular waves. Phase and Group velocities, Beats. |
Optics | Huygen’s principle, Division of amplitude and wave front, Fresnel Biprism, Newton’s rings,Michelson interferometer,Fabry-Perot Interferometer.Diffraction-Fresnel and Fraunhoffer’s Diffraction as a Fourier Transformation. Fresnel and Fraunhofer diffraction by rectangular and circular apertures. Diffraction by straight edge, Single and multiple slits. Resolving power of grating and optical instruments. Rayleigh criterion. Polarization, Production and Detection of polarized light (Linear, circular and elliptical) Brewster’s law, Huygen’s theory of double refraction, optical rotation, polarimeters. Laser sources (Helium-Neon, Ruby and semiconductor diode). Concept of spatial and temporal coherence. Holography, theory and application, Doppler effect. |
Paper II- Physics Paper Electricity and Magnetism, Modern physics and Electronics | |
Electricity and Magnetism | Coulomb’s Law, Electric Field, Gauss’s Law and applications, Electric Potential, Poisson and Laplace equations for homogeneous dielectric, uncharged conducting sphere in a uniform field, point charge and infinite conducting plane. Biot-Savart law and applications. Ampere’s circuital law and its applications, Magnetic induction and field strength, Magnetic shell, Magnetic field on the axis of circular coil, Helmholtz coil, Electromagnetic induction, Faraday and Lenz’s law, self and mutual inductances. Current electricity, Kirchoff’s laws and its applications; Wheatstone bridge, Kelvin’s double bridge, Carey foster’s bridge Alternating currents L.C.R. Circuits, series and parallel resonance circuits, quality factor. Maxwell’s equations and electromagnetic waves. Transverse nature of electromagnetic waves, Poynting vector Magnetic fields in Matter. Dia, para, Ferro, Antiferro and Ferri Magnetism (Qualitative approach only). Hysteresis. |
Modern Physics | Bohr’s theory of hydrogen atom, Electron spin, Stern-Gerlach experiment and spatial quantization, Vector model of the atom spectral terms, Optical and X-RaySpectra, fine structure of spectral lines. J-J and L-Coupling Zeeman effect. Pauli’s exclusion principle, spectral terms of two equivalent and non-equivalent electrons. Gross and fine structure of electronic band spectra. Raman effect, Photoelectric effect, Compton effect. De-Broglie waves. Wave Particle duality, uncertainty principle, postulates of quantum mechanics. Schrodinger wave equation and application. (i) particle in a box. (ii) motion across a step potential, One dimensional harmonic oscillator, eigenvalues and eigenfunctions. Radioactivity,Alpha, Beta and Gamma Radiations. Elementary theory of the Alpha Decay. Nuclear binding energy. Mass spectroscopy, semi empirical mass formula. Nuclear fission and fusion. Elementary Reactor Physics, Elementary particles and their classification, strong and weak interactions. Particle accelerators, cyclotrons. Linear accelerators. Elementary ideas of superconductivity. |
Electronics | Classification of solids into conductors, insulators and semiconductors on the basis of energy bands. Intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductors, P.N. junction, Reverse and forward biased P.N. junction, Thermistor, Zener diode, solar cell. Use of diodes and transistors for rectification, amplification, oscillation, modulation and detection of r.f. waves. Transistor receiver. Boolean Algebra, Logic Gates and their truth table, some applications,Adder and subtractor. |
Download the PDF format of the UPPSC Physics Syllabus here!
Go through the complete Physics syllabus for UPPSC & formulate a comprehensive approach for better results.

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UPPSC Physics Notes & Exam Pattern
The Prelims Exam of UPPSC is just a qualifying tradition. For the main exam, all the papers are important and conducted in descriptive mode. Total of 8 eight papers out of two are optional. Check the exam pattern below:-
- There will be two optional papers- Physics.
- Paper 1 – Physics Paper- Mechanics, Thermal Physics, Waves & Oscillations and Optics
- Paper 2- Physics Paper – Electricity and Magnetism, Modern physics and Electronics
- Both the papers will be of 200 marks each with a duration of 3 hours each. Descriptive in nature.
Check out the previous UPPSC Civil Services exam pattern and marking scheme & prepare with the most accurate approach.

How can you prepare for UPSC Physics Optional Subject?
In order to master your optional subject & get success it is important to have a better picture of the real exam. PYPs are at your service! To understand the complete pattern, syllabus & trends of the questions. You will also get a new & unique idea of how the questions are asked and how effectively you can answer them.
If you are already familiar with the subject then it becomes more easy to learn and interpret the course. All you need to understand the exact pattern & questions trends so that you can answer them to score maximum marks.
Solve the UPPSC Physics Optional Question Paper and analyze your performance. Focus on your weaknesses & plan your scholar strategy wisely. Understand the latest pattern of paper & prepare accordingly.
Previous Years Question Papers for UPPSC Physics Optional Subject
To help Candidates prepare fully for the UPPSC Physics Syllabus, here we have provided links to some previous years papers which will help the candidates get an actual interpretation of the examination and know about the type of questions which they can expect under the Mains Physics section. Download them for free today!
UPPSC Physics PYPs | ||
Year | Paper I | Paper II |
2014 | UPPSC Physics Paper – I | UPPSC Physics Paper – II |
2015 | UPPSC Physics Paper – I | UPPSC Physics Paper – II |
2016 | UPPSC Physics Paper – I | UPPSC Physics Paper – II |
2017 | UPPSC Physics Paper – I | UPPSC Physics Paper – II |
2018 | UPPSC Physics Paper – I | UPPSC Physics Paper – II |
2019 | UPPSC Physics Paper – I | UPPSC Physics Paper – II |
2020 | UPPSC Physics Paper – I | UPPSC Physics Paper – II |
2021 | UPPSC Physics Paper – I | UPPSC Physics Paper – II |
For a lot more vivid range of study materials for optional subjects, previous year papers,mock tests, test series, practice sets you can download our mobile application TestbookApp.