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April 25, 2024 12:16
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UPSC prelims exam analysis has shown enough evidence of increasing toughness over the years. From a high cutoff of 105.34 in 2017 to 75.41 in 2023, the difficulty level of the exam has grown tremendously. Let us analyse the UPSC CSE Prelims exam to get a better idea about preparation for future candidates.
UPSC Prelims Exam Analysis is a prerequisite to understand the pattern of the exam over the last five years. UPSC Prelims exam is held every year in the months of May or June. The prelims exam filters the majority of candidates appearing for the Civil Service Examination. Out of the total 11-12 lakh students, only 13000-15000 students qualify for UPSC mains.
The prelims exam consists of two papers. Paper 1 is the General Studies (GS) paper and Paper II is the CSAT paper. The GS paper consists of questions from topics such as history, polity, current affairs, etc while CSAT mainly focuses on numerical abilities, reading comprehension and reasoning. The score in the GS paper will be used to determine a candidate’s qualification for the next stage. The CSAT paper will just be qualifying in nature.
The Below table highlights the UPSC Prelims exam analysis and pattern for better understanding:
| UPSC Prelims Exam Analysis Highlights | |
| Exam Conducting Authority | UPSC |
| Mode of Examination | Paper and pen format |
| Examination Format | Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) |
| Papers | General Studies (Paper I)
CSAT (Paper II) |
| Total Marks | 200 each |
| Questions | General Studies: 100
CSAT: 80 |
| Value of Each Question | General Studies: 2 Marks
CSAT: 2.5 Marks |
| Negative Marking | 1/3rd (0.66 in GS and 0.83 in CSAT) |
| Cut Off | General Studies: Varies (Currently 75.41 marks)
CSAT: 66.7 (Fixed) |
UPSC Prelims requires candidates to study core subjects such as Polity, history, economy etc apart from current events of importance. The number of questions from each topic is not fixed but they have an approximate weightage.
The below table contains an approximate number of questions from each topic asked in the UPSC Prelims exam.
| Sections | Number of Questions | Difficulty Level |
| Polity | 12-15 | Easy to Moderate |
| Geography | 7-9 | Moderate |
| Economy and Development | 12-15 | Moderate to Difficult |
| Modern History | 2-5 | Moderate to Difficult |
| Ancient, Medieval History and Culture | 7-10 | Difficult |
| Science and Technology | 5-7 | Moderate to Difficult |
| Environment | 15-20 | Moderate to Difficult |
| Current Affairs and Miscellaneous | 20-25 | Moderate to Difficult |
Following the same trend as General Studies, the difficulty level of CSAT paper is also increasing. It is not just students from arts and commerce background who are facing difficulties; those with engineering backgrounds have also failed to score qualifying marks.
This is a clear indication that UPSC expects candidates to put significant efforts on CSAT and not ignore it like earlier. A breakdown of number of questions asked from different topics in CSAT exams is given below:
| Sections | Number of Questions | Difficulty Level |
| Reasoning Ability | 13-15 | Moderate to Difficult |
| Reading Comprehension | 23-27 | Moderate |
| Numerical Ability | 35-40 | Difficult |
Cutoff for the last five years of UPSC prelims exam will help candidates to understand how the UPSC prelims exam is undergoing a change. It will help them steer their preparation in the right direction.
The following table contains category-wise cutoffs of UPSC prelims for the last five years.
| Category | 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 |
UPSC prelims exam analysis will give us an idea about the number of questions asked from each sub-section. The below table contains a section-wise breakdown of questions from the last five years.
| General Studies | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Topics | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | ||||||||||||||
| Indian Polity | To Be Updated | 15 | 15 | 11 | 17 | 15 | ||||||||||||||
| Geography | To Be Updated | 16 | 16 | 10 | 10 | 14 | ||||||||||||||
| History | To Be Updated | 14 | 14 | 10 | 20 | 17 | ||||||||||||||
| Economy | To Be Updated | 14 | 14 | 16 | 15 | 14 | ||||||||||||||
| Environment and Ecology | To Be Updated | 14 | 14 | 16 | 15 | 14 | ||||||||||||||
| Science and Technology | To Be Updated | 12 | 12 | 14 | 10 | 7 | ||||||||||||||
| Current Affairs | To Be Updated | 15 | 15 | 17 | 18 | 22 | ||||||||||||||
| CSAT | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Topic | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | ||||||||||||||
| Reading Comprehension | To Be Updated | 27 | 27 | 27 | 25 | 30 | ||||||||||||||
| Reasoning Ability | To Be Updated | 14 | 18 | 17 | 15 | 24 | ||||||||||||||
| Numerical Ability | To be Updated | 39 | 35 | 36 | 40 | 26 | ||||||||||||||
Candidates preparing for UPSC prelims exam have to analyse question papers from the last few years to get an idea about the mindset of the examiner.
Candidates can download UPSC prelims exam question paper from the links given in the table.
| Year Of Exam | Question Paper Link |
| 2024 | General Studies |
| CSAT | |
| 2023 | General Studies |
| CSAT | |
| 2022 | General Studies |
| CSAT | |
| 2021 | General Studies |
| CSAT | |
| 2020 | General Studies |
| CSAT | |
| 2019 | General Studies |
| CSAT |
There is nothing called perfect attempts in the UPSC prelims exam. Candidates have to find their own optimal attempts that will enable them to clear cutoff marks. Over the years, the number of questions one can attempt has come down, owing to the difficulty of the questions.
The introduction of pair-based options has further increased the difficulty of the question paper, as evident by the lowest cutoff marks in UPSC prelims history. This has further increased the complexity of making predictions based on the number of good attempts.
Going by the cutoff marks, a candidate attempting 80-85 questions has a high rate of clearing the cutoff marks, based on their accuracy. However, those attempting more than 90 questions and less than 80 questions can also clear the cutoff marks, provided they answer the majority of questions correctly.
A close analysis of the prelims exam gives us some key points that can be used to score more than cutoff marks in the exam. Some key points are given below:
The UPSC Prelims exam is becoming more difficult day by day owing to the unpredictable nature of the questions asked by UPSC. An aspirant has to prepare well in advance for the tricky questions that one can expect during the exam. In addition, they must give enough time to the CSAT paper to ensure that they score 66.7 marks and qualify for the paper.
Looking for a One-stop-solution to prepare for the UPSC exam? Join online courses by Physics Wallah!
| Must Read | |
| NCERT Notes For UPSC | UPSC Daily Current Affairs |
| UPSC Blogs | UPSC Daily Editorials |
| Daily Current Affairs Quiz | Daily Main Answer Writing |
| UPSC Mains Previous Year Papers | UPSC Test Series 2024 |
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