In this article, aspirants can nd trend analysis of UPSC Prelims 2019 along with

marks distribution from 2011 to 2019 and videos of paper analysis.

UPSC Prelims Pattern and Syllabus

The IAS prelims exam round consists of two papers. The Prelims is essentially an
eliminating round in which, from about 5 lakh people (on average) who take the exam,
only about 10 – 15 thousand clear it. The marks secured in this exam decide whether
aspirants can go on to the next stage or not. It is important to prepare well and have
 a comprehensive understanding of the subjects covered in this exam. In this article,
we bring you an analysis of the trends in marks distribution according to various
 subjects covered in the exam over the past decade.
The prelims papers consist of objective type questions with negative marking for
incorrect answers. The structure of the prelims exam is as follows:

Paper Total No. of Dura Type Negative Nature

marks questions tion marks

General Studies 200 100 2 Objec Yes Merit

Paper 1 hour tive Ranking
s

General Studies 200 80 2 Objec Yes Qualifyin

Paper 2 (CSAT) hour tive g
s

UPSC Prelims Syllabus:

General Studies Paper I General Studies Paper II

Current events of national and international Comprehension

importance.

History of India and Indian National Interpersonal skills including

Movement communication skills

Indian and World Geography-Physical, Logical reasoning and analytical

Social, Economic ability

Geography of India and the World Decision making and problem-

solving Chat now
 Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution General mental ability

Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Basic numeracy (numbers and their
Policy, Rights Issues, etc. relations, orders of
Magnitude, etc.) (Class X level), Data
interpretation
(charts, graphs, tables, data
su ciency etc. — Class X

level)

General issues on Environmental ecology,
Biodiversity
and Climate Change – that do not require
subject
specialization

Economic and Social Development-

Sustainable

Development, Poverty, Inclusion,

Demographics, Social

Sector Initiatives, etc.

General Science

Candidates need to secure at least 33% in the General Studies Paper II and it is
compulsory to attempt both the papers to be eligible for evaluation. The candidates
who secure at least the minimum cut off marks for General Studies I and qualify in
General Studies II are invited to appear in the Mains exam.
About the UPSC Prelims Cut off Marks:
The prelims cut off marks refer to the minimum marks required in the GS Paper I to
qualify for the mains (provided candidates score at least 33% in the CSAT). This cut
off mark changes every year depending upon the performance of the candidates and
the number of vacancies.
Read more about UPSC cut off marks (https://byjus.com/free-ias-prep/upsc-cut-
off/)here. Chat now
 Subject-Wise Weightage & IAS Prelims Marks Distribution
The Subject-wise weightage for the number of questions in General Studies I from
2011 are as shown in the graph and table below:

As we can see from the above chart, only questions from the subject Environment
have shown a somewhat stable trend hovering around 15 to 18 questions most of the
years except two dips in 2015 and 2018. The other subjects show wide variations
every year.
For example, questions from Polity have ranged from 7 in 2016 to 22 in 2017. That is
a wide variation for one year. Similarly, questions directly related to current affairs
have ranged from none in 2013 to 27 three years later in 2016. Hence it is very
di cult to predict the UPSC prelims weightage for different subjects. This is
Chat now
intentional on the part of UPSC to deter pattern based studying as it is very di cult to