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UPSC Prelims Cut Off 2024 for General is 87.98, EWS 85.92, and OBC 87.28. The UPSC Prelims Cut Off 2024 shows a significant increase from last year’s scores.
PWOnlyIAS
April 23, 2025
UPSC Prelims Cut Off: The UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2024 witnessed a highly competitive environment, and the cut-off marks released by the Union Public Service Commission offer valuable insights into the performance benchmarks across categories. UPSC Prelims Cutoff is the minimum marks that candidates have to score to qualify for the Mains stage of the Civil Services Examination. Over a span of 7-8 years, the cutoff marks have drastically fallen from the early 100s to the 70s. This is an indication that UPSC will not be reducing the toughness of the paper.
Read on to get the minimum qualifying marks for General, EWS, OBC, SC, ST, and PwBD categories. We also provide a comprehensive analysis of the cutoff trends, helping aspirants understand the evaluation standards and set realistic goals for the upcoming UPSC cycle.
UPSC has released the official category-wise cutoff PDF for the Civil Services Prelims 2024 on its website. The PDF includes the minimum qualifying marks for all categories, including General, EWS, OBC, SC, ST, and PwBD (Persons with Benchmark Disabilities). Aspirants can download the UPSC Prelims 2024 Cutoff PDF directly from the UPSC official portal to verify the official data and plan their preparation for future stages accordingly.
| UPSC Prelims 2024 Category-Wise Cutoff PDF |
| Click Here |
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has officially released the category-wise cut-off marks for the Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2024. These marks represent the minimum score required to qualify for the Mains exam. This year, the cut-off for the General category stands at 87.98, with other categories following closely. only the marks obtained in General Studies Paper-I are considered for the cut-off. GS Paper-II is qualifying in nature with a mandatory 33% passing mark. Here is the detailed minimum qualifying marks data as per categories:
| UPSC Prelims 2024 Cutoff (Category-Wise) | |
| Category | Expected Cutoff (Marks) |
| General | 87.98 |
| EWS | 85.92 |
| OBC | 87.28 |
| SC | 79.03 |
| ST | 74.23 |
| PwBD-1 | 69.42 |
| PwBD-2 | 65.30 |
| PwBD-3 | 40.56 |
| PwBD-5 | 40.56 |
Analyzing UPSC Prelims cutoff provides valuable insights into the competitiveness of the exam. These patterns and trends can help aspirants gauge the level of competition and strategise their preparation accordingly.
The cutoff marks for different categories in the UPSC exam have shown variations over the years. Generally, candidates from the general category have the highest cutoff, followed by EWS, OBC, SC, and ST categories. Persons with Benchmark Disability (PwBD) categories also have varying cutoffs.
However, in the last few years, the prelims cutoff has gone down drastically. The cutoff mark for the general category in 2019 was 98. This has fallen to 75.41 in 2023, owing to an increase in the difficulty level of the examination and the evolving pattern of the questions.
The cutoff marks have varied in the last five years, reflecting changing trends in the examination’s difficulty level and competition. It’s important for candidates to understand these cutoff trends to gauge their competitiveness and prepare accordingly.
| UPSC Prelims Cutoff for Last 5 Years | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | GM | EWS | OBC | SC | ST | PwBD 1 | PwBD 2 | PwBD 3 | PwBD 5 |
| 2023 Cutoff | 75.41 | 68.02 | 74.75 | 59.25 | 47.82 | 40.40 | 47.13 | 40.40 | 33.68 |
| 2022 Cutoff | 88.22 | 82.83 | 87.54 | 74.08 | 69.35 | 49.84 | 58.59 | 40.40 | 41.76 |
| 2021 Cutoff | 87.54 | 80.14 | 84.85 | 75.41 | 70.71 | 68.02 | 67.33 | 43.09 | 45.80 |
| 2020 Cutoff | 92.51 | 77.55 | 89.12 | 74.84 | 68.71 | 70.06 | 63.94 | 40.82 | 42.86 |
| 2019 Cutoff | 98 | 90 | 95.34 | 82 | 77.34 | 53.34 | 44.66 | 61.34 | 61.34 |
The UPSC Prelims 2024 cut-off reveals significant shifts in the competitive landscape when compared to the previous five years. Here’s an analytical breakdown highlighting trends and insights:
The General cut-off for 2024 stands at 87.98, showing a rise from 75.41 in 2023, which had seen a significant dip—likely due to a tougher paper or stricter evaluation.
This year’s figure aligns more closely with 2021 (87.54) and 2022 (88.22), suggesting a return to the usual difficulty and competition levels.
The EWS cut-off in 2024 is 85.92, a considerable jump from 68.02 in 2023, and close to the levels seen in 2021 (80.14) and 2022 (82.83).
OBC category cut-off at 87.28 nearly matches the General category, reinforcing the increasing competition in the non-reserved group. This trend has been persistent since 2020.
The SC cut-off increased to 79.03 from 59.25 in 2023, almost back to the 2021 level (75.41), showing a resurgence in performance and paper balance.
The ST cut-off rose to 74.23, reversing the sharp drop in 2023 (47.82). It’s the highest ST cut-off in the last five years after 2021 (70.71).
PwBD-1 and PwBD-2 saw moderate improvements, moving up to 69.42 and 65.30, respectively, compared to 2023’s 40.40 and 47.13.
PwBD-3 and PwBD-5 maintained the lowest qualifying marks at 40.56, similar to the previous years, where minimum cut-off thresholds are maintained to ensure inclusivity.
The 2024 Prelims cut-off indicates a rebalancing year after the anomalies of 2023.
With General, EWS, OBC, and SC/ST categories all showing upward trends, it’s clear that competition has intensified, and performance standards have normalized across the board.
The rise in cut-offs across most categories may also reflect a relatively easier GS Paper-I or improved candidate preparation strategies.
UPSC Prelims cutoff is decided based on multiple factors, such as the number of candidates, the difficulty level of the question paper, etc.
This is the reason why cutoff fluctuates every year and is difficult to predict.
Below are some factors that determine UPSC CSE Prelims cutoff:
UPSC CSE Prelims cutoff analysis is important because it will help candidates strategise for the exam. An analysis can help us find the correlation between the difficulty level of questions and the cutoff marks.
This can also be helpful when deciding the number of questions to attempt to successfully clear the preliminary exam.
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