UPSC Civil Services Prelims Analysis (2015-2024) PDF Download

• The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is all set to conduct the first stage of the Civil Services Examination (CSE) this year on 28th May 2023
• The UPSC GS1 Paper has been completed and the interested candidates can have a look at the analysis for the same.
• In 2020, approximately 10 lakh+ aspirants applied, and a similar number is expected for this year.
• The first stage of UPSC CSE is the preliminary exam which will consist of two papers i.e. General Studies and Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT).
• The General Studies paper consists of 100 questions for 200 marks and the CSAT paper covers 80 questions worth 200 marks.
• The duration of each paper is 2 hours.
• The UPSC Civil Services aspirants can check the exam analysis for the prelims exam 2020. In order to have a better understanding of this examination, the candidates can also have a look at the previous years' UPSC Civil Services Prelims Analysis.

UPSC Civil Services Exam Analysis 2023

Topic-Wise Weightage (Paper 1 - Prelims 2023)

The General Studies paper has been concluded. It covers a total of 100 questions asked for 200 marks. There will be a negative marking of 1/3rd mark for a wrong answer. The following is the UPSC CSE Exam Analysis for the prelims exam 2022.

Topic-Wise Weightage (Paper 2 - Prelims 2023)

The detailed distribution of questions from various topics in the CSAT exam 2023 was as follows. This section is qualifying in nature.

UPSC Civil Services Exam Analysis 2022

The GS Paper 1 was held between 09:30 AM-11:30 AM and included 100 questions in total. Whereas, the GS Paper 2 (CSAT) is conducted from 02:30 PM - 04:30 PM and comprised 80 questions. Both papers have negative markings. As per the UPSC Prelims Analysis, the overall level of the UPSC IAS Prelims questions paper was mixed as aspirants found economics questions to be tough while polity had direct questions.

Topic-Wise Weightage (Paper 1 - Prelims 2022)

Here is the topic-wise weightage of the UPSC Prelims Exam 2022. Check the number of questions asked in the UPSC Prelims Paper 1.

Topic-Wise Weightage (Paper 2 - Prelims 2022)

The UPSC Prelims 2022 Paper 2 (CSAT) comprised 80 Questions, each carrying 2.5 marks with a total of 200 marks. 

UPSC Civil Services Exam Analysis 2021

The General Studies paper has been concluded. It covers a total of 100 questions asked for 200 marks. There will be a negative marking of 1/3rd mark for a wrong answer. The following is the UPSC CSE Exam Analysis for the prelims exam 2021.
A. UPSC General Studies Paper 1 Prelims Analysis 2021
The General Studies paper mostly consisted of questions from Polity. The questions were straightforward. The questions at the end of the paper were easy to attempt. Here's the overview of the paper.

The major highlights of the paper are as follows:

• The questions from the field of sports were asked more for the first time. (for exp, ICC World Test Championship, Summer Olympics 2020, etc.)
• Economy questions were based on current trending topics like: RBI, Recession, Urban Cooperative Banks, Black Money, etc.
• Fair number of questions were asked based on conceptual logic and were analytical.
• History questions included mostly Art & Culture.

B. UPSC CSAT Prelims 2021 Analysis
The detailed distribution of questions from various topics in the CSAT exam 2021 was as follows. This section is qualifying in nature.

UPSC Civil Services Exam Analysis 2020

The General Studies paper covers a total of 100 questions carrying 2 marks each. There will be a negative marking of 1/3rd mark for every wrongly answered question. The following is the UPSC CSE Exam Analysis for the prelims exam 2020.

Analysis of 

UPSC General Studies Paper 1

The General Studies paper consists of questions across topics like Current Affairs, Polity, History, etc. The following is the topic/subject-wise weightage of the questions asked.

Important highlights of UPSC Prelims Paper 1:

• Key subjects were Geography & History.
• Current affairs questions were lower, as compared to previous years.
• Mixed/overlapping questions were asked more.
• Good Attempts: 65-70
• Difficulty level: Moderate to Difficult

Analysis of the UPSC CSAT Exam

The CSAT paper is qualifying in nature i.e. it is mandatory to score 33% marks in this paper. The score of this paper does not decide your merit ranking. The following was the topics-wise distribution of the questions asked in this paper.

Previous Years' UPSC Civil Services Exam Analysis

The UPSC Civil Services aspirants must thoroughly go through the previous exam analysis in order to figure out the trends regarding the questions covered in the exam. The candidates can have detailed topic-weightage in for the past five years in the analysis provided further.

General Studies

The following is the last 5 years' analysis for the prelims GS Paper.

Previous Year Trends

CSAT

The pattern of questions asked in the CSAT paper over the past 5 years is as follows:

UPSC Civil Services Prelims Analysis 2019

• For the 2019 prelims exam, the maximum number of questions were asked from the Current Affairs section. The following were the highlights of this paper:
• Maximum questions on History were based on Modern History as compared to post-independence history.
• The polity questions were based on topics like Fundamental Rights, Rights issues (tribes related), Basic, Judicial review, etc.
• The questions from Economics subjects covered areas like the balance of payments and international trade, fiscal policy, labor rights, etc.

UPSC CSE Prelims Analysis 2018

The GS paper for the year 2018 had few challenging questions related to IR (International Relations). In the year 2018, almost 50% of questions were part of Static General Knowledge.

UPSC CSE Prelims Analysis 2017

The main highlights for the 2017 prelims GS paper were as follows:

• More emphasis on Modern Indian History from history questions
• From polity, questions focused more on Executive & Legislative bodies in comparison to those on bills or acts.
• IR questions covered topics like Bilateral partnerships and international groups.

UPSC Civil Services Exam Analysis 2016

This year's General Studies paper consisted of the questions like:

• India's ranking in various Global Indices.
• India's an investment & manufacturing schemes or projects.
• International groups like Gulf Cooperation Council, ASEAN countries, etc.
• Belt & Road initiative
• Free Trade Agreements like RCEP, etc.

UPSC Civil Services Exam Analysis 2015

The main take-away points from the 2015 prelims GS paper were as follows:

Fifth Schedule and Sixth Schedule in the Indian Constitution.

Questions based on IndARC and other terms from Science & Tech.

Mixed type questions on Art & History.

Geographical questions based on regions like Savannah, Equatorial, Mediterranean, etc.