The Union Public Service Commission publishes the previous year question papers for UPSC IAS prelims and mains exams only on their official website.
With this, all the candidates who are aspiring to appear in the upcoming UPSC Civil Services examination 2023 can also download UPSC IAS Prelims Previous Year Question Paper for practice purposes.
By solving UPSC IAS Prelims Previous Year Question Paper PDFs, the candidates will be able to understand the paper structure and marking scheme in a better manner.
Furthermore, they will gain an idea of the difficulty level and important topics of prelims and mains exams by practicing questions from the UPSC Prelims Previous Year Question Papers available at the PWOnlyIAS website.
UPSC IAS Previous Year Question Paper 2023- Overview
The overview of the UPSC previous year question papers with answers for the Prelims and Mains exam is shared below:
| Conducting Body | Union Public Service Commission |
| Exam Name | Civil Services Examination 2023 |
| Level of Exam | National |
| Frequency | Once a Year |
| Selection Process | Prelims, Mains, and Interview |
| UPSC IAS Prelims Previous Year Question Papers with Answers Sections | General Studies Paper I
General Studies Paper II |
| UPSC Mains PYQs Sections | Compulsory Subjects
Literature Subjects Optional Subjects General General Studies |
| Exam Mode | Offline |
| UPSC Civil Services Prelims Exam Date 2023 | 28/05/2023 |
| UPSC Prelims Previous Year Question Paper | Check Here |
UPSC IAS Prelims Exam Pattern 2023
Candidates should understand the IAS Prelims Exam Pattern before solving the previous year question papers of UPSC IAS prelims exam. This will help them to understand the exam in a better manner.
- The IAS Prelims exam comprises two compulsory Papers of 200 marks each.
- The question papers in the prelims exam will be of the objective type (multiple choice questions).
- The duration of IAS prelims for each paper shall be two hours.
- The language of question papers will be available in both Hindi and English language.
- The minimum qualifying mark for General Studies Paper-II shall be 33%.
| Subject | Maximum Marks | Duration |
| General Studies Paper I | 200 | 2 Hours |
| General Studies Paper II | 200 | 2 Hours |
Importance of Practicing UPSC Prelims Previous Year Question Paper
Here is a list of the benefits of practicing the previous year question papers for UPSC IAS prelims and mains exams from PWOnlyIAS discussed below.
- Firstly, candidates will gain an understanding of the actual paper format and marking scheme after solving the UPSC Prelims Previous Year Question Paper.
- Secondly, they get familiar with the difficulty level of each selection stage and exam trends with the help of UPSC IAS Prelims Previous Year Question Papers with Answers.
- Solving UPSC IAS PYQs will also allow them to analyze their performance and identify their strong and weak areas. This will help them to learn from their mistakes and strengthen their weak sections.
- Lastly, solving UPSC IAS Prelims Previous Year Question Paper PDFs will boost their analytical and problem-solving skills.
How to Practice UPSC IAS Prelims Previous Year Question Paper?
Candidates should adhere to the finest strategy to simplify their UPSC preparation. With this, they should use the best preparation strategies to practice the previous year’s question papers with ease.
Hence, we have mentioned below some of the best tips and tricks to attempt UPSC IAS Prelims previous year question papers.
- Firstly, candidates should cover the vast UPSC syllabus. As they will not be able to attempt any questions without building a strong grip on the basic concepts of the topics.
- Next, they should practice the last five UPSC Prelims previous year question paper in the last phase of their IAS preparation. Then, analyze their performance and focus on improving the weak areas.
FAQs
Q1. Is previous year questions enough for UPSC Prelims?
Ans. Solving UPSC Prelims Previous Year Question Paper from PWOnlyIAS is one of the best ways to strengthen the preparation level. However, candidates should also clear the basic concepts from the standard books and practice questions from mock tests for better results.
Q2. Does UPSC repeat questions in prelims?
Ans. Yes. UPSC does ask repetitive questions from the UPSC IAS prelims previous year question papers, but only for a few subjects.
Q3. Is 3 months enough for UPSC Prelims?
Ans. Although acing IAS prelims are no cakewalk, it is not impossible to prepare well for the UPSC prelims exam in three months. If the candidates allocate more time to the weak and focus on their strong sections to crack the IAS Prelims in 3 months.
Q4. Which field students crack UPSC most?
Ans. As per media reports, a humanities degree does help aspirants to stay ahead in the competition of the UPSC IAS exam. However, engineering graduate students are also performing well in the IAS exams.
Q5. Is cracking UPSC Prelims easy?
Ans. The UPSC IAS Prelims Exam is one of the most difficult exams in the country. Lakhs of candidates appear for prelims every year, and out of them, only 25% are declared qualified and shortlisted for the next stage i.e IAS Mains exam.
